VII of Hungary (chief cook)

THE HOFÄMTERSPIEL The Hofämterspiel is a late mediaeval deck containing 48 cards, all of which have survived. Together with other playing cards, it belonged to the great collection of art treasures gathered in the 16th century by archduke Ferdinand of Tirol, and it is mentioned in the collection's catalogue [1], the only known record of the deck. These large cards measure 97 mm x 140 mm (3¾ in x 5½ in); they feature wood engravings skilfully decorated with vivid colours, and a few additions in finely embossed silver and gold leaf. It is impossible to assess the precise age of the deck, though around the mid 15th century appears to be a quite reasonable dating. It is also very likely that the geographic area where the cards were made was southern Germany, i.e. today's Austria [1].

THE SUBJECTS Unlike other known decks of the same age belonging to German culture, such as the Hofjagdspiel, whose illustrations featured hunting scenes, and whose suits were falcons, ducks, deers, etc., the Hofämterspiel was basically inspired by the standard social structure of royal courts during the late Middle Age. The illustrations picture the many different members of a typical household [2], with their names in archaic German, whence the name Hofämterspiel given to the cards (literally meaning "householder's deck"). Therefore, what makes these cards particularly interesting is not only their intrinsic value for the early history of playing cards, but also the direct evidence they provide for the knowledge of social hierarchy and everyday's life in late mediaeval courts.

IX of France (marshal)

king of Germany	On the basis of written sources which describe no longer existing decks, it has also been suggested that the concept of playing cards whose values were inspired by social levels probably already existed in the late 14th century: this would mean that the "household" system might have been an earlier creation than the "hunting" system [1], thus representing the very first variety of local deck in the German world.	queen of Bohemia

III of France (tailor)

THE SUIT SYSTEM Another important difference with the above-mentioned "hunting" decks is the choice of suits: in the Hofämterspiel they are represented by four different shields. The emblems are those of Germany (a black eagle on yellow background), France (golden fleur-de-lys on blue background), Bohemia (a white rampant lion on red background) and Hungary (white and red horizontal stripes): by the 15th century, these were the four main countries in central Europe. Therefore, the author's intention was probably to celebrate with this deck a local monarch or ruler, eventually Ladislas Postumus, king of Hungary and Bohemia from 1453 to 1457, according to a theory by Arpad Weixlgärtner [1]. Obviously, the choice of suit symbols in the Hofämterspiel provides an interesting analogy with the Shields suit of Swiss playing cards, still in use today (see also the Swiss gallery).

THE 48 CHARACTERS AND THEIR RANKS

Each of the Hofämterspiel's cards features a different character, almost as a pack made of 48 courts. In each suit, the values rank from I (the lowest) to X, and they end with a queen and a king (the highest card). The king and queen do not feature a number, and are also the only two cards not stating the character's occupation, so that they might be considered the actual court cards of the deck.
In all four suits, the I shows a fool (Narr, or its female equivalent Narryn), while the two highest cards next to the king and queen are the master of the household or major domo (Hofmeister, X, who was in charge of the court during the ruler's absence), and the marshal (Marschalk, IX, in charge of any duty that involved the use of horses or carriages, such as the king's travels, etc.).

X of Germany (household master)

With the exception of two subjects (the Jungfrawe, lady-in-waiting, card VI in all suits, and the Trometer, trumpeter, card IIII in Germany and Hungary), all other characters are individual, changing from suit to suit. The social rank of each of them may be easily understood, according to the higher or lower value the relevant card is worth in the deck. Therefore, for instance, a doctor (Artzt, Bohemia suit) would have occupied more or less the same social level of a chaplain (Capplan, Germany suit), or of a chancellor (Kanzler, Hungary suit), or of a household mistress of a queen or a princess (Hofmeistryn, France suit), so all these subjects appear on cards VIII belonging to different suits. A full list of the characters and their values is shown in the following table: for an easier reference, subjects not appearing in all four suits are shown in pale green.

TABLE OF THE HOFÄMSTERSPIEL'S CHARACTERS

value suit		BOHEMIA	FRANCE	GERMANY	HUNGARY
... ... X IX VIII VII VI V IIII III II I		König king Königin queen Hofmeister household master Marschalk marshal Artzt doctor Kammer[mei]ster chamberlain Junckfrawe lady-in-waiting Valkner falconer Trometer trumpeter Herolt herald Hefneryn potter (female) Narr fool	König king Königin queen Hofmeister household master Marschalk marshal Hofmeistryn household mistress Schenk cup-bearer Junckfrawe lady-in-waiting Koch cook Marstaler master of the stables Hofsneider tailor Jeger huntsman Nerryn fool (female)	König king Königin queen Hofmeister household master Marschalk marshal Capplan chaplain Truchses steward Junckfraw lady-in-waiting Kellner wine-cellar man Parbirer barber Renner jouster Bott messenger Narr fool	König king Königin queen Hofmeister household master Marschalk marshal Kantzler chancellor Kuchenmeist[er] chief cook Junckfrawe lady-in-waiting Schutz archer Trometer trumpeter Vischner fish-monger Pfister baker N[er]ryn fool (female)

Ranking by social hierarchy appears similar to that of Mantegna's Tarot's first group of cards.
Among the list of subjects, the lowest cards of the series seem to have elements in common with other obsolete decks, though not as old as the Hofämterspiel.

I of Bohemia (male fool)	The Bavarian-Austrian Hexenspiel, belonging to the so-called group of Cuckoo decks (see Cards Without Traditional Suits, page 2), had a card named Narr which featured a fool (although the same subject in German and Austrian tarot decks is called Sküs, after the French l'Excuse, and looks like a joker). In some respects, the four Narr and Narryn also link to the knaves of the Minchiate deck, which featured two male and two female characters; also German decks from the 16th century, such as the Ulmer Spiel and the Stuttgarter Spiel, had two male knaves and two female ones [4].	I of France (female fool)

Which game or games the Hofämterspiel was specifically created for is virtually impossible to tell, since no other source except Ferdinand of Tirol's catalogue entry specifically mentions the deck or it's use. Due to the very fine quality of the cards, and because of the particular structure of the ranks (six matching subjects in all four suits, and six mismatching ones, with a fool as last card of the suit), it appears likely that the Hofämterspiel was used for playing a trick-taking game, in which the Narr and Narryn might have acted as jokers ^[3].
However, it is interesting how several female characters too were part of the card game, as well as of daily life at court, at many different hierarchic levels: queen, mistress of the household (VIII), lady-in-waiting (VI), potter (II), fool (I).

IIII of Hungary (trumpeter)	II of Bohemia (female potter)

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page I classic tarots	page II regional tarots	page III trump card arrangements	page IV modern & non-standard	page V theMulûk wa-Nuwwâb	page VI the Visconti Tarots	page VII the tarot of Marseille

page VIII the Tarot de Paris	page IX Viéville's Tarot	page X the Minchiate	page XI Mitelli's Tarocchino	page XII Mantegna's Tarot	page XIV the deck by Jost Amman	page XV the Italy 2 Moorish deck

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INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY	MULTI-LANGUAGE GLOSSARY	THE FOOL & THE JOKER	INDEX TABLE	REGIONAL GAMES	PLAYING CARD LINKS

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