The Origins Of The Tarot de Marseilles

About the origin of the Tarot de Marseilles, we know few things but we can however say that the Tarot de Marseille play appeared in France under the reign of the king Charles VI.  When this poor king became insane, he was locked up in a castle by his wife Isabeau of Bavaria.  She provided him a mistress, Odette de Champdivert, who offered a deck of Tarot cards to him.In fact, these Tarot cards were composed by 56 pieces of paperboard decorated with figures and signs. This play was used by Sarasins in the Eastern countries.Charles VI asked to Jacquemin Gringonneur to redraw the figures in order to make them look prettier.  Some claim that the first illuminations of the cards appeared in Italy during the 16th century but the work of Jacquemin Gringonneur is indexed on the journal of Charles VI's banker (15th century).The Tarot we talk about here was not a divinatory Tarot but well a card play ; which still exists and is still used in Mediterranean countries as a simple cards play.Since there are no documents establishing the year when the Tarot cards were created, the opinions are divided and the experts seldom agree between them.The divinatory "Tarot de Marseilles" was born from the play offered to Charles VI. Twenty-two major arcana were associated to the fifty-six basic cards (minor arcana). Fortune-tellers use more often the major arcana deck than the minor arcana deck.The graphics of the Tarot de Marseilles look medieval style and reflect perfectly the concerns of our ancestors, who were very superstitious and interpreted all what they saw.Here are the 22 major arcana:

• I.      The Magician,
• II.     The High Priestess
• III.    The Empress
• IIII.   The Emperor *
• V.      The Pope
• VI.     The Lovers
• VII.    The Chariot
• VIII.   Justice
• VIIII.  The Hermit *
• X.      The Wheel of Fortune
• XI.     Strength
• XII.    The Hanged Man
• XIII.   Death (or The Noname Arcana)
• XIIII.  Temperance *
• XV.     The Devil
• XVI.    The Tower
• XVII.   The Star,
• XVIII.  The Moon,
• XVIIII. The Sun *,
• XX.     Judgement,
• XXI.    The World,
• XXII.   The Fool **

* for example, classification "IIII" and not "IV" highlights the progression of the Tarot de Marseilles play.  ** The Fool is the 22nd arcana but is generally not numbered.The 56 minor arcana are split into four suits:

• Spears,
• Cups,
• Coins,
• Swords;

which include each 14 cards that are numbered from 1 to 10, or Ace through 10 and 4 noble cards ; which are: the Page, the Knight, the Queen and the King.During the Middle-Ages and later, these suits were associated with the social classes: Coins with the Traders, Cups with the Clergy, Swords with the Nobility and Spears with the Peasants.