Knight (playing card)
A mounted court card in Italian, Spanish, and tarot packs.
A knight (or cavalier) is a playing card depicting a man riding a horse, serving as a standard court card in Italian and Spanish packs. It ranks between the knave and the king within its suit, replacing the queen which is absent from these packs. The card also appears in tarot and tarock packs, where in French-suited versions it is called the cavalier and ranks between the jack and the queen.
Quick Facts
- Spanish name
- caballo
- Italian name
- cavallo
- French tarot name
- chevalier
- German tarot names
- Cavall or Reiter
- Rank in italian/spanish packs
- between knave and king
Facts from the source article.
History
In the original Mamluk Egyptian deck, the three court cards were the malik (king), the nā'ib malik (viceroy or deputy king), and the thānī nā'ib (second or under-deputy). The latter two evolved into the knight and the knave when playing cards entered southern Europe, with the knave often depicted as a foot soldier or squire. Early tarot decks, such as the Cary-Yale deck, added female ranks including queens, mounted ladies, and maids, but knights were dropped in favor of queens in non-tarot French decks. In the Spanish-suited Aluette pattern of Brittany and the Vendée, knights have an androgynous appearance.
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