Spanish-suited playing cards
Spanish-suited cards are used in Spain, Southern Italy, parts of France, Hispanic America, North Africa, and the Philippines.
The Spanish word naipes is loaned from nā'ib, ranks of face cards found in the Mamluk deck.
[3] The earliest record of naip comes from a Valencian rhyming dictionary by Jaume March II in 1371, but without any context or definition.
Valencia's town council issued a blanket ban on un novell joch apellat dels naips (a new game called cards) in 1384.
The popularity of the stripped deck is due to game of ombre, which became a craze throughout Europe during the 17th century.
The four suits are bastos (clubs), oros (literally "golds", that is, golden coins), copas (cups) and espadas (swords).
Unlike the suits found in northern Italy, Spanish swords are straight and the clubs resemble knobbly cudgels instead of ceremonial batons.
[6] Two surviving early decks did have intersecting clubs and swords as in Italian or Mamluk cards.
The three face cards of each suit have pictures similar to the jack, queen, and king in the French deck, and rank identically.
They are the sota, which is similar to the jack/knave and generally depicts a page or squire, the caballo (knight, literally "horse"), and the rey (king) respectively.
[8] Standard patterns are card designs in the public domain that have been printed by multiple publishers in the past or present.
It was designed and published by Heraclio Fournier in 1889 and by the early 20th century had displaced the older patterns in Spain.
Fournier made some noticeable innovations to Spanish cards such as giving the kings beards, adding faces to the coins, dagger-like swords, and red cups.
[10] The knights wear wide brim hats but its most notable feature is the conversion of all the knaves to females.
[13] This decision meant that the Madrid, Toledo, Valencia, and Seville patterns were no longer printed.
Usually, the knave of coins features a goat (originally a dog) tethered to a pole in the background like in the Parisian Spanish pattern.
It uses the old golden chalice of the Spanish National pattern and the knight of cups has the archaic inscription "AHI VA" printed on it.
Kings wear long robes that expose their feet while lower courts have puffy shoulders and quilted trousers.
A hand is holding the Ace of Clubs in a manner reminiscent of the Tarot de Marseille.
Sometimes, the four of coins depict a sea monster in the middle like some Spanish National decks.
[24] Although extinct in its original form, it has given rise to the following patterns, all of which lack la pinta and numeric indices.
Located at the northern edge of the Papal States and San Marino, the Romagnole pattern is another derivative of the Aluette deck but has remained irreversible.
While this pattern died out in the 18th century, it left descendants in Southern Italy where Spain had a lasting influence over the former Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily.
The two interrelated patterns below were created during Spanish rule and replaced earlier "Portuguese"-suited cards.
These cards are also found in other parts of southern Italy where some players prefer them over the Neapolitan pattern.
