The Playing-Card Volume 36, Number 1

THIERRY DEPAULIS
Early Italian Lists of Tarot Trumps

L
ists of Tarot trumps, particularly when they are arranged in a specific
order, have been an important clue to determining the three “orders”
and, thence, the three fundamental centres —Bologna (A), Ferrara (B), and
Milan (C)— for the early development of the Tarot that Michael Dummett so brilliantly
set up in his book The Game of Tarot (1980). Since then Florence has been recognised
as a serious competitor of Bologna as the reference centre of the type A order, while
a mixed type, that we may call C’, based in Piedmont and Savoy, offers a hybridization
between type C and type A.
Some recent gleanings allow me to add two sofar unknown lists of trumps, both
type A, an order which had almost no early text evidence, and to bring some light on
a well-known list, that published by Robert Steele in 1900.

1. The Steele Sermon revisited

The “Steele” Sermon is a late medieval Latin sermon against gambling which
owes its name to Robert Reynolds Steele (1860-1944), a British librarian and editor,
who had found it in a manuscript volume of sermons which he had acquired shortly
before publishing it in Archaeologia, in 1900.1 The sermon gives a list of the Tarot
trumps, the earliest known sofar. After some hesitation Steele dated the sermon of
around 1480, a date that is supported by the card games which are listed in it and
which were all known in the second half of the 15th century.2
Steele seems to have sold his manuscript to USPCC some time after 1900. It is
described by C.P. Hargrave as having “a bookplate, a crest, lettered ‘From the Library
of Robert Steele, Wandsworth Common.’”.3 It is not starred as all items coming from
the collection of George Clulow are.
According to Ron Decker4 the volume contains 407 folios, with copious marginal
notes, written by the same hand. Most pages are made of paper which, still according
to Decker’s careful examination of the watermarks, would come from Venice and its
vicinity and would date from c.1500, so a little later than Steele thought. This is not
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1
Robert Steele, “A notice of the ‘ludus triumphorum’ and some early Italian card games with
some remarks on the origin of the game of cards”, Archaeologia, Vol. LVII (1900) = Second Series,
Vol. VII (1900), pp. 185-200. For a complete on-line version of Steele’s article, visit
www.tarock.info/steele.htm. A photograph of f. 208v is reproduced in S. Kaplan, The
Encyclopedia of Tarot, New York, 1978, p. xvi.
2
Most card games are already mentioned in a 1458 document, but fuxo or fluxus (both forms are
used), standard Italian flusso (English flush), is not attested before 1467. The Steele Sermon
describes it as “Ludus cartularum noviter inventus”, “a card game newly invented”.
3
C.P. Hargrave, A history of playing cards and a bibliography of cards and gaming, Boston - New
York, 1930; rp. New York, 1966, p. 384.
4
Ron Decker, “The Steele manuscript”, ThePC, XVII/3 (Feb. 1989), pp. 73-7.

39
incompatible: the USPCC collection of sermons might have been compiled around
1500 from earlier materials.
The sermon ends with a list of the Tarot trumps, from “Primus dicitur El bagatella”
to trump 21, “El mondo cioe Dio Padre”, followed by the Matto “sie nulla nisi velint”.
The list has been identified as belonging to the type B order, popular in Ferrara and
Venice. If we accept a dating between 1480 and 1500, the sermon “De Ludo” is the
oldest surviving list of trumps.
I have no particular comment to offer on the list itself, but a series of investigations
through Franscican sermons against gambling have led me to discover a source of
the Steele Sermon.
In a private communication sent to the LTarot Internet “discussion group” in
2004, Ronald Decker suggested: “The author was definitely a monk. One of the
sermons is about the stigmata of St. Francis, so I think it likely that the monk was a
Franciscan.” This is confirmed by the sermon “De Ludo” too: I have discovered that
it is mainly based on one of St. James of the Marches’ sermons, Sermon 10 “De Ludo”
(c. 1460), which is known from two autograph manuscripts and has been published
by Renato Lioi in his edition of the Sermones dominicales in 1978.5 St. James of the
Marches — in Italian Giacomo della Marca (born Domenico Gangale) —was born at
Monteprandone, Marche, in Central Italy, in 1393, and died at Naples in 1476. He
was a disciple and follower of St. Bernardine of Siena. Like St. Bernardine he was an
Observant Franscican, and was similarly obsessed with sodomy, gambling and
usury. He was canonized in 1726.
As it is, the “Steele” Sermon is only a part of St. James’s sermon, namely Chapter
V, “Quinta consideratio: Quis invenit ludum”. It is an almost verbatim copy, though
extra remarks have been inserted, together with some card games that are not
mentioned in St. James’s original text;6 moreover, two further paragraphs have been
added at the end: “De secundo ludorum genere scilicet cartularum…”, on card gaming,
and “De tertio ludorum genere, scilicet triumphorum”, on the Tarot. In other words
the description of the ‘ludus triumphorum’ and its list of trumps are interpolations
owed to the anonymous Franciscan monk who is responsible for the final version of
the Steele Sermon. It is clear that this monk had access to St. James of the Marches’
sermons. Although they were not printed — Lioi’s edition is their first ever printed
publication —handwritten copies were circulated. According to Maarten van der
Heijden and Bert Roest on their website “Franciscan Authors, 13th-18th century: a
catalogue in progress”,7 manuscript collections of sermons by St. James of the Marches
are to be found in Naples, Monteprandone, Falconara (Ancona), Modena, Foligno,
Rome, Padua, and Venice. There surely was one from which the author of the Steele
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5
Sermones dominicales / S. Iacobus de Marchia, ed. Renato Lioi, Ancona, 1978-1982, Vol. 1, p. 190-
205. On the many flaws of this edition see Adriano Gattucci, “I ‘Sermones Dominicales’ di S.
Giacomo della Marca”, Picenum Seraphicum, XV (1979-1980), pp. 123-84 and Lioi’s “Risposta al
Prof. Adriano Gattucci…”, ibid., pp. 259-308.
6
See Appendix.
7
http://users.bart.nl/~roestb/franciscan/index.htm, visited in April 2005 and June 2007.

40
 The Playing-Card Volume 36, Number 1
Sermon could copy the final chapter of St. James’s sermon “De Ludo”. Was he a
disciple of the saint? It is difficult to say but it is a likely hypothesis. We can only say
that his knowledge of the Tarot was acquired in the area where the Ferrarese order
(type B) was used and where the paper of his volume came from. We may assume he
belonged to a younger generation who preached in the late 15th century. Only a
careful study of the whole volume would bring some more light. Unfortunately, as
all the USPCC collection of playing cards and books, it is stored in boxes waiting for
an uncertain future.

2. The Song of the Tarot

It is a short, unremarkable, sofar unnoticed strambotto (a kind of song), whose
eight lines form a list of the Tarot trumps. It is printed with other such songs in an
anonymous, undated little book of around 1500, entitled Strambotti d’ogni sorte &
sonetti alla bergamasca gentilissimi da cantare insu liuti & variati stormenti [sic]8 (no
place, no date...). The text of the song appears on the seventh page and reads thus:

Strambotti de triumphi
Miracomãdo aquel angelo pio,
al mõdo al sole alla luna & lostello
alla saetta & aquel diauol rio
la morte el traditore el vechiarello
la rota el caro & giustitia di dio
forteza & temperanza & amor bello
al Papa Imperatore & Imperatrice
al bagatello al matto più felice.9

Four different printings of the book are known to exist,10 two being, fortunately,
in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, one in the Réserve des Imprimés, the other,
with the Baron James de Rothschild Collection, in the Manuscript Department. A
close inspection of the typographic material allows book historians to identify the
printers who are behind these pamphlets. A copy now in the Pierpont Morgan
Library, Dept. of Printed Books, in New York (Sander 7095), is assigned to Eucharius
(Eucario) Silber who came to Rome in 1480 and was active until 1509, when his son
Marcello took over his workshop. It is not unreasonable to date it “around 1500”.
The BnF Rothschild IV. 2. 54 (or “Picot, Rothschild, 1029” = Sander 7094) copy is
attributed to another German-born printer active in Rome, Johann Besicken, who

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
8
“Very nice songs of various kinds and Bergamo style sonnets, for singing with the lute and
other various instruments”. Stormenti is clearly a mistake; it is corrected as instrumenti in what
seems to be a slightly later printing (BnF, Imp., RES- YD- 623).
9
Here given from BnF, Imp., RES- YD- 623.
10
Max Sander, Le livre à figures italien, depuis 1467 jusqu’à 1530 : essai de sa bibliographie et de son
histoire, III, Milan, 1942 ; rp. Lodi, 1996, nos. 7093-7095, to which must be added the Réserve
des Imprimés copy (RES- YD- 623), probably a post 1510 printing.

41
was in business between c. 1500 and c. 1508.11 The BnF Réserve des Imprimés copy,
with corrected title, might have been printed at a later date by Eucario Silber’s son
Marcello, who is known as a printer and publisher in Rome from 1510 to 1527.
A fourth printing, assigned to Verona and dated “c.1500” by Sander (Sander
7093), must be in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Vittorio Emanuele in Rome.
Most of its contents was published by Mario Menghini in his edition of Serafino de’
Ciminelli’s poems.12 Here is how Menghini published the “Song of the Tarot”:
Strambotti de triumphi
Mi racomando a quel angelo pio,
al mondo, al sole, alla luna & lo stello,
alla saetta & a quel diavol rio,
la morte, el traditore, el vechierello,
la rota, el caro & giusticia di Dio,
forteza & temperanza & amor bello,
al papa, imperatore, imperatrice,
al bagatello, al matto più felice.
A strambotto is a kind of Italian song, usually composed of a single stanza of eight
hendecasyllabic (11-syllable) lines. It is considered as an ancestor of the madrigal as
well as a source for the French Renaisssance chanson. Serafino de’ Ciminelli, known
as Serafino Aquilano (1466-1500), was one of the main composers of strambotti in his
time. Some of his works were published together with other, generally anonymous
songs. The booklet Strambotti d’ogni sorte & sonetti alla bergamasca gentilissimi includes
some of Ciminelli’s works.
From Menghini’s version it is easier to see that not only is it a list of trumps, with
their most conventional names, but that the list is arranged into a specific order, that
which Dummett calls type A. For the benefit of comparison I have added the Strambotti
de triumphi to this table taken from The Game of Tarot (1980), p. 399:13

Tar. Bolognese Minchiate Rosenwald Strambotti

de triumphi
– Angelo – Trombe – Angel angelo
– Mondo – Mondo – World mondo
– Sole – Sole – Sun sole
– Moon luna – Moon luna
16 Stella – Stella – Star stello
15 Saetta XV Casa del Diavolo – Tower saetta
14 Diavolo XIIII Diavolo / Demonio – Devil diavol
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11
Bibliothèque Nationale, Catalogue des incunables, II, Paris, 1983, p. 613, n° S-475.
12
Le rime di Serafino de’ Ciminelli dall’Aquila, 1, ed. Mario Menghini, Bologna, 1894 (1896), pp.
XLIII-XLIV.
13
This table is slightly adapted. I have kept only the most relevant columns and substituted Italian
names, when they are known, to the English names used by Dummett. Like Dummett I have
limited the Minchiate list to the common series, omitting the extra trumps.

42
 The Playing-Card Volume 36, Number 1
13 Morte XIII Morte – Death morte
12 Traditore XII Impiccato – Hanged Man traditore
11 Vecchio XI Gobbo/Tempo XII Hermit vechierello
10 Roda (Ruota) X Carro [XI] Wheel rota
9 Forza VIIII Ruota X Chariot caro
8 Giusta VIII Giustizia VIIII Fortitude giusticia
7 Tempra VII Fortezza VIII Justice forteza
6 Carro VI Temperanza VII Temperance temperanza
5 Amore V Amore VI Love amor
– Papa IIII “Papa quattro” V Pope papa
– Papessa III “Papa tre” IIII Emperor imperatore
– Imperatore II “Papa due” III Empress imperatrice
– Imperatrice — II Popess
– Bagattino I Uno I Bagatto bagatello
– Matto Matto Fool matto

A striking result is that the Strambotti de triumphi is almost identical to the

Rosenwald sheet14 which shows a complete series of trumps, arranged (and for
some numbered), in the A order. The Strambotti is a priceless document because it
offers the names of the trumps. As far as we know, it is the only early textual evidence
for the type A order. While the other orders are attested by many 16th century texts
(including the Steele Sermon), the Bolognese/Florentine tradition relied only on cards,
not on texts, and we had no idea how the trumps were called actually before the 17th
century. Therefore, the Strambotti de triumphi nicely fills the gap.
Another outstanding point is the absence of the Papessa. It is certainly no mistake.
I interpret this omission as a witness of the transition between the 78-card Tarot pack
as known in Florence towards the end of the 15th century, of which the Rosenwald
sheet is probably an example, and the forthcoming Minchiate (or rather Germini),
where the Papessa has disappeared, perhaps to comply with Papal recommendations.
Pope and Popess have always been subject to hot discussion due to their somewhat
sacrilegious theme.
A list I have left apart is the so-called Tarot de Charles VI. As has been remarked
some of the trumps bear handwritten numbers. These numbers have sometimes been
misinterpreted (notably by myself), and I want first to set the list as exactly as we can
do. The main point is what number the Chariot bears. I (wrongly) published it as
“IX” in Tarot, jeu et magie (1984), while Michael Dummett read it as “viiij”,15 both for
nine. Ross Sinclair Caldwell is of the opinion that the only possible reading is “x”. It
is certainly not “viiij”, and cannot be “ix” because “the number system uses the
additive not the subtractive method – so […] the World (19) is ‘xviiii’ not ‘xix’. Thus
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
14
For the Rosenwald sheet, see Cristina Fiorini, “I tarocchi della Collezione Rothschild al Louvre:
nuove proposte di lettura”, ThePC, 35-1, Sept. 2006, pp. 52-63, sp. p. 60-61.
15
In Il Mondo e l’Angelo, Naples, 1993, p. 227.

43
if the Chariot was 9, we would expect ‘viiii’ not ‘ix’.” 16 We therefore can list the
Charles VI trumps and compare them with the Strambotti de triumphi:

Charles VI Strambotti de triumphi

xx Angel angelo
xviiij World mondo
xviii Sun sole
xvii Moon luna
stello
[xv] Tower saetta
diavol
xiii Death morte
xii Hanged Man traditore
xi [?] Hermit vechierello
x Chariot rota
caro
viii Justice giusticia
vii Fortitude forteza
vi Temperance temperanza
v Love amor
? Pope papa
iii Emperor imperatore
imperatrice

bagatello
Fool matto

As Michael Dummett has pointed out, the Charles VI pack “differs from the
Bolognese order in that the virtues are ranked below the Chariot”,17 a feature which
seems to be a Florentine hallmark. We have seen that the Strambotti d’ogni sorte &
sonetti alla bergamasca collection was very probably printed in Rome, a city which
was highly dependent on Florence for its playing and tarot cards. We may add that
the anonymous Strambotti de triumphi is set in the Tuscan form (abababcc).18
All this invites us to specify a “sub-order” which we may call ‘Florentine’, distinct
from the Bolognese order, of which the Rosenwald sheet and the Strambotti de triumphi,
both dated c.1500, are good witnesses. That the Tarot de Charles VI belongs to this
‘Florentine’ branch rather than to the Bolognese one is now more obvious.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
16
Ross Sinclair Caldwell, private e-mail, 16/03/2006. I am grateful to Ross to having called my
attention on this. What one can read on the Chariot looks like the lower part of a large X. In all
case it cannot be the bottom of a “viiij” as Michael Dummett assumed.
17
Dummett, Il Mondo e l’Angelo, p. 228 (my translation).
18
A strambotto can follow one of three kinds of rime set: Tuscan (abababcc), Sicilian (abababab), or
Romagnolo (ababccdd).

44
 The Playing-Card Volume 36, Number 1
3. Germini in 1534
The beginnings of Minchiate, the Florentine expanded variant of the Tarot, are
difficult to clear out. First, minchiate is not the original name for the game, which was
instead called Germini. The earliest mentions of Germini date back to the 1530s.
Franco Pratesi has discovered the earliest references to Germini: the Capitolo in lodo
delle zanzare by Agnolo Allori, better known as “il Bronzino” (1503-1572), and the
story Sopra un caso accaduto in Prato, by Agnolo Firenzuola (1493-1543).19
The first of these texts is a capitolo whose first part reads:
Ponete mente il giorno delle feste
Dove si giuoca a Germini, ed allora
Vi fian le mie parole manifeste.
L’Imperadore e’l Papa che s’adora
Vi son per nulla, e le virtù per poco,
Fede e Speranza, ed ognaltra lor suora.
Il zodiaco e’l mondo, e’l sole e’l fuoco,
L’aria e la terra, ogni cosa si piglia
Con quelle trombe alla fine del giuoco.
A few trumps are here named – Imperadore, Papa, Fede (Faith) and Speranza
(Hope), two characteristic trumps of the Minchiate series, “zodiaco” (the twelve
cards bearing signs of the zodiac), mondo, sole, fuoco (the Tower), aria (Air), terra
(Earth), and “trombe alla fine del giuoco”. Bronzino’s poem was composed in the
decade 1530-40.
Pratesi added a possibly earlier source, Agnolo Firenzuola’s novella Sopra un
caso accaduto in Prato, which he dated c.1538, but modern editors prefer to date it
c.1541.20 In it a character says: “se fa a germini e dica al compagno: “Dà uno di quei
piccioli” e ‘l compagno die ‘l trenta dua, e’ dice: ‘Bene!’; se dice: ‘Dà un dell’aria’, e
colui die una salamandra, ‘e dice: ‘Buono, buono, compare’.” (If he plays Germini
and tells his partner: “Give one of these small cards”, and the partner gives out the
XXXII, and he says: “Well done!”; if he says: “Give one of the ‘arie’ [i.e., one of the top
five trumps, known as arie]”, and with it he gives out a salamander [Fire, trump 20,
probably mistaking Aria “Air”, one the four elements, of which Fire is one, for arie],
and he says: “Good, good, my friend.”)
There are, though, two earlier references. They both date from 1534. The first one
is just a mention of Germini, as gemini, in Pietro Aretino’s play La Cortigiana (second
version, 1534),21 Act V, scene 11, where Rosso says, rather obscurely, “poco starete a
far gemini de i tarocchi con Livia.”
But the other source is much more explicit and gives a long list, though incomplete,
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
19
See F. Pratesi, “Italian cards, new discoveries, 5: Tarot in Florence in the XVIth century: its
diffusion from literary sources”, ThePC, XVI-3 (Feb. 1988), pp. 78-83, sp. pp. 80-1, and M.
Dummett, Il Mondo e l’Angelo, p. 254.
20
A. Firenzuola, Opere, ed. Delmo Maestri, Turin, 1977. Maestri (p. 47) dates the «Novelle del
periodo pratese» to c.1541, so at the end of Firenzuola’s life.
21
The first version of the play, written in 1525, does not have this text.

45
of trumps. It is another capitolo, Niccolò Martelli’s Capitulo de’ trionfi del passo col
Matto e l’Amore facti in Prato l’anno MDXXXIIII.22 It is a kind of ‘tarocchi appropriati’,
where trumps are assigned to known persons, here ladies of Prato. The poem starts
thus:
Senza giudicar, Donne, a passïone
di voi s’è facto i Trionfi del passo,
però stia ognuna u’ ’l iuditio la pone.
E udirete, mentr’andiamo a spasso,
e mentre l’un ragiona e l’altro canta
chi l’ha di voi più alto e chi più basso.
Quella di Marïan ch’ha in sé tanta
bellezza che potrìa far arder Giove,
la Tromba fia, de’ Germini el quaranta.23
etc.
Other trumps, named in the poem, are:
“il Mondo … el trentanove”, “el Sole”, “la Luna che da ognun vien dicta el
trentasepte”, “Per trentasei … la Stella alta e divina”, “el trentacinque”, “Quel discret’
animal che pasce el fièno” (= the bull, Taurus, trump 34), “trentatrè”, “Il trentadua
che Ganimede viene”, “i Pesci del trentuno”, “Il trenta”, “’l ventinove”, “el
Capricorno” (trump 28), “La Pecora faremo el ventisette” (literally the goat, for Aries,
the Ram, trump 27), “el ventisei”, “un altr’angel che del regno celeste venne” (=
Virgo, the Virgin, trump 25), “virgo sarà con bilance in mano” (the Scales, trump 24),
“Il ventitrè”, “El ventidua”; the 21 and 20 are alluded to in a metaphoric way, then
there is “el dicianove” (19), and no more trumps are mentioned; the capitolo ends
with these lines:
Ècci due altre cose che non vanno
l’un senza l’altro, ch’è ’l Matto e l’Amore,
però fra queste ancor si noteranno.
[…]
Or se tu domandassi me, lectore,
quel che d’esti trionfi pare a me,
risponderei, per far al vero onore,
che sare’ chi avessi el quaranta per sé.24
IL FINE
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

22
Published in Emilio Bogani, Il Giardino di Prato : lieti convegni e molli amori del ‘500 pratese e
fiorentino nelle testimonianze poetiche di Nicolò Martelli e Bindaccio Guizzelmi, Prato, 1992, p. 143-
151.
23
A full translation of this passage would be extremely difficult.
24
“Here are two other things which cannot come one without the other, that is, the Fool and
Love, but between these one may still think. […] If you ask me, dear reader, which of these
trumps appeals to me, I will respond, complying to true honour, that I will be with whom has
trump 40.” (This uncertain translation is mine; but the text is very difficult to understand, even
for its editor whose many footnotes try to clear it out.)

46
 The Playing-Card Volume 36, Number 1
Martelli’s Capitulo de’ trionfi del passo is followed by Stanze facte a l’improviso lungo
el Bisentio sopra una parte de l’insegne de’ trionfi (op. cit., p. 152-162), of the same year,
with many allusions to Germini,though without details.
If we list Martelli’s trumps, we have:
Tromba = quaranta [40]
Mondo = trentanove [39]
Sole [38]
Luna = trentasepte [37]
trentasei [36] = Stella
trentacinque [35]
(Taurus, trump 34)
trentatrè [33]
trentadua [32]
Pesci = trentuno [31]
trenta [30]
ventinove [29]
Capricorno [28]
Pecora (Aries) = el ventisette [27]
ventisei [26]
(Virgo, trump 25)
bilance [24]
ventitrè [23]
ventidua [22]
21 (Water)
20 (Fire)
dicianove [19]
(…)
Amore [5]
Matto

Twenty-four trumps are mentioned. As expected, the top five trumps, known as
arie, are referred to by names – Tromba, Mondo, Sole, Luna, Stella – and the other
trumps are just called by their numbers. Apart from l’Amore, which later sources
would call “Papa cinque”, Martelli’s list does not differ from a “modern” (18th or
19th century) enumeration of Minchiate trumps.25
It seems Germini were rather familiar in Prato. If Niccolò Martelli was able to use
trump metaphors so freely, we must allow the game a longer history, at least in Prato,
before 1534. It is here tempting to connect Agnolo Firenzuola’s novella Sopra un caso
accaduto in Prato. Indeed, Firenzuola, who was born in Florence, spent the last five
years of his life in Prato.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

25
For a detailed description of Minchiate trumps see M. Dummett, The Game of Tarot
(1980), pp. 339-40.

47
Appendix
(Blank spaces in the left column are intentional)

St. James of the Marches Steele Sermon

[V. Quinta consideratio : Quis invenit
ludum]
Ad quintam principalem, quis invenit, Ad cujus evidentiam queritur, quis
dico secundum Thomam ubi supra, art. 4 in invenit ludum? Respondeo quod tria sunt
2 responsione et Chrisostomum quod genera ludorum fortunae, viz.: Taxillorum,
dyabolus invenit ludum, quia Deus non dat Cartularum, et Triumphorum. Que omnia
ludere, eo quod in primitiva ecclesia per secundum Thom. &c. et multos alios, a
omnes civitates fuerunt hedificati dyabolo inventa sunt ut potest patere
episcopatus, ecclesie parochiales ac cappelle, discurrendo per singula hoc modo. Nam in
et ordinaverunt episcopos et sacerdotes primitiva ecclesia per omnes civitates fuerunt
parochianos et cappellanos et sacristas hedificati episcopatus, ecclesie parochiales,
retinentes reliquias sanctorum et altaria et et capelle, et ordinaverunt episcopum et
calices et hostias. sacerdotes parochiales et capellanos et
sacristas retinentes reliquias sanctorum et
altaria et calices et hostias.
Et omnes fideles concurrebant ad Et omnes fideles concurrebant ad
ecclesias et maxime in Navitate Domini. Et ecclesias et maxime in Navitate Domini. Et
tanta erat laus divina cum canticis organis tanta erat laus divina cum canticis organis
&c. quod totus mundus et aer replebantur &c. quod totus mundus et aer replebantur
laudibus Dei. Et exinde demones fugerunt laudibus. Et exinde demones fugerunt ad
ad infernum. Quos interrogavit Sathan infernum. Quos interrogavit magnus Lucifer
magnus qua de causa fugerent. Surrexit qua de causa fugissent. Tunc surrexit quidam
quidam diabolus nomine Açarus, qui dyabolus nomine Azarus […] et dixit totum
secundum Ieronimum, idest oriens, ordinem dicte fuge parabolice. ‘Sed si tu vis
«quomodo recidisti qui mane oriebaris?», et mihi obtemperare, ego faciam pervertere
dixit totum ordinem dicte fugationis quicquid illi fecerunt in contumeliam dei et
parabolice. ‘Sed si tu vis mihi obtemperare, tui ipsius amorem.’ ‘Et quid facies,’ inquit
ego faciam pervertere quicquid illi fecerunt ille? ‘Constituam,’ ait, ‘in civitatibus et castris
in contumeliam Dei et tui ipsius honorem et villis episcopatum seu baratariam, et
[var.: amorem].’ ‘Et quomodo facies?’, inquit episcopum baraterium verum. Et in nocte
ille, cui dixit: ‘ego in qualibet civitate et Navitatis Domini plus veniret ad ecclesiam
castris et villis constituam primo nostram quam ad ecclesiam Dei. Et ecclesie
episcopatum in civitate, scilicet baracteriam, nostre parochiales erunt taberne. Et
et episcopum baracterium nostrum. Et in sacerdotes erunt tabernarii, et capelle nostre
nocte Navitatis Domini plus venient ad erunt apothece, et capellani erunt apothecarii.
ecclesiam nostram quam ad ecclesiam Dei. Et sacristie nostre erunt domus
Et ecclesie nostre parochiales erunt taberne. macellariorum ubi stabunt reliquie nostre,
Et sacerdos erit tabernarius, et cappelle seu taxilli, ossa nostrarum sanctarum
nostre erunt apothece, et cappellani erunt bestiarum. Et carte erunt ymagines. Altare
apothecarii. Et sacristie nostre erunt domus erit banchum. Lapis consecratus erit
mercariorum ubi stabunt reliquie nostre, tabulerium. Calix erit cyathus vini. Hostia
scilicet taxilli, ossa sanctorum nostrorum, erit ducatus aureus. Missale nostrum erit

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 The Playing-Card Volume 36, Number 1
bestiarum. Et carte erunt ymagines ad altare. taxillus: carte hujus missalis erunt cartule et
Altare erit bancum. Lapis consecratus erit triumphi.’ Qui quidem taxillus habet 21
tabulerium. Calix erit ciatus vini. Hostia erit punctos dyabolo consecratos. Qui quidem
ducatus aureus. Missale nostrum erit taxillus puncti 21 sunt gradus unius scale
cum 21 punctis sicut missale Christi, cum 21 descendentis in inferum. Et nota quod quilibet
dyabolo consecratis. taxillus habet 6 stantias: in quibus collocati
sunt isti gradus; qui designant 21 ludos
fortunae quibus utitur lusor, et sunt nomina
demonum.
In prima stantia erit una domuncula ubi Nam in prima stantia est unus punctus
stabit as nomen dyabolicum. Et quando quod dicitur As nomen dyabolicum. Et
vocatur «as», vocatur dyabolus ut adjuvet se quando vocat «as,» vocat dyabolum ut
frangere spatulas. adjuvet se frangere spatulas.
In secunda stantia sunt due cellule : in In secunda stantia sunt duo puncti,
prima est ambas, in secunda bidas. designantes duos ludos quorum primus
dicitur Scartago, secundus Assobini, duo
nomina demonum.
In tertia [stantia] sunt tres cellule : in In tertia stantia tres sunt puncti, quorum
prima est suçço, in secunda Açaru, in tertia primus dicitur Sozo (vel ydiomate nostro
sequentia. Scartabellare, ludus cartularum valde
damnosus), nomen illius demonis sic vocati.
Et quando barateus potest, dicit «Tra a quilli.»
Et tunc socius ait, ‘Sozo, diavolo,’ honorando
auctorem suum. Et socius respondit, ‘Chel te
possa portare et cavarte uno ochio, et
strascinarte per questa scala.’ Secundus
punctus dicitur Azaro (vel potius, La Basseta,
ludus cartularum qui ponit lusorem al basso).
Tertius Sequentia. Iste ludus fit cum tabulis.
In quarta sunt quatuor cellule : in prima In quarta stantia sunt quatuor puncti qui
est menarecto corto, idest ad furcas significant quatuor ludos. Quorum primus
senectutem ; in secunda menarecto longo, dicitur Menoretto curto, id est, ad furchas ante
idest ad hospitale toto tempore vite sue ; in senectutem. Secundus dicitur Menoretto
tertia sbaraglio tota la robba ; in quarta longo, id est, ad hospitale toto tempore vite
sbaraglino, cioè lo corpo et l’anima. sue. Tertius dicitur Sbaraglio, id est tutta la
roba. Quartus Sbaraglino, id est, lain
[l’anima] e lo corpo.
In quinta sunt quinque cellule : in prima In quinta stantia sunt quinque puncti
est perdo et venco [sic], idest disconfiare la figurantes quinque ludos. Quorum primus
borsia ; vel buffa aragiato ; in quarta scarca dicitur Perdi o vinci […]. Secundus dicitur
l’asino, idest quicquid habet in domo et Sette o sey. Tertius Buffa Aragiato, aut Ronfa,
remansit levis et nudus ; in quinta a uno tracto id est desconza hay la borsa (del buffa
e meçço. aragiato). Et est crudelis ludus, quia multos
ducit ad paupertatem. Quartus dicitur Scarga
lasino, id est quicquid habet in domo. Et
remansit nudus et levis. Quintus A uno tracto
e mezo. Aliter in quinta sunt Ronfa, ludus
cartularum, Crica ludus trium cartularum.

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 (‘Cruca’ melius sonaret. Nam in lingua sclava
dicitur panis; quia ludit panem filiorem. Et
ludit hoc ludo dando cartulas a 3 a 3.)
Milaneso; vel al 50, (ad quem numerum qui
citius pervenerint cum cartulis lucrantur),
ludus cartularum novus. Falcinelle (sive, A
la terza a la quarta) ludus cartularum. Fuxo,
volve cartam in principio. (Ludus cartularum
noviter inventus. Sed interpone l post f, quid
est fluxus. Et significat instabilitatem
denariorum, quia sicut fluxus emittat
sanguinem hominis sic ludus, &c.)
In sexta sunt sex cellule : in prima al bini In sexta stantia sunt sex puncti,
[?] ; in secunda a lo trenta per forza ; in tertia significantes sex alios ludos. Quorum primus
o chi bada l’as ; in quarta a lo imperiale ; in dicitur Spagnolo reverso, et est ludus
quinta a chi non piace la volta del compagno alearum. Secundus dicitur Al trenta // per
; in sexta passa dece. Et omnia ista sunt forza. Tertius, Ochabadalasso. Quartus, Lo
nomina dyabolica. imperiale. Quintus [James: sexta], Passa el
diece. Sextus [James quinta], A chi non piace
la volta la dia al compayno. (Vel. Ha un tracto
e mezo). Et omnia ista sunt nomina
demonum.
Et ista est ratio quia homines plus Et ista est ratio quod homines plus
blasfemant in ludis quam in aliis, quia tot blasfemant in ludis quam in aliis, quia tot
demones invocant ad sui ruinam quot puncti demones vocant ad sui ruinam quot puncti
sunt in datis. Et cum omnes perdant in ludo, sunt in dadis. Et quum omnes perdant in ludo,
opinio est quod isti denarii - ubi est sanguis opinio est quod illi denarii - ubi est sanguis
viscerum Dei, Christi, et sanctorum - viscerum Dei, Christi, et sanctorum -
reserventur in manibus dyaboli pro reserventur in manibus dyabolorum, qui eos
antechristo qui dispensabit omnibus distribuunt desperatis petentibus pecunias a
peccatoribus terre. Et multototiens ex malitia demonibus. (Habebit melius punctum et
dyaboli patetit melius punctum et sotius socius pejus - et tamen illud veniet. Et
peius et tamen illud veniet. Et quando non multototiens pones manum in tabulerio
pones, veniet illud de sotio. Et tunc dicens ‘Nolo quo modo valeat ille tractus et
blasfemabis. Et ultimo omnes erunt stentati veniet.’ Et quando non pones, veniet illud
in paupertate, et requiescent pro majori parte socii. Et tunc blasfemabis.) Et ultimo omnes
in furcis. Et cavete vos vicini ipsorum. erunt scentati in paupertate, et requiescent
pro majori parte in furchis. Cavete igitur a
ludis nisi, &c.
+ De secundo ludorum genere scilicet
cartularum dico quod si lusor cogitaret quod
in cartulis significatum est, forte ab eis
cavaret. […]
+ De tertio ludorum genere, scilicet
triumphorum. […]

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