Hi friend!

I open this thread to discuss the earlier order of the trumps.

Standard deck – Tarot de Marseille

0. Le Mat
I . Le Bateleur
II. La Papesse
III. L'Impératrice
IV. L’Empereur
V. Le Pape
VI. L'Amoureux
VII. Le Chariot
VIII. La Justice
IX. L’Hermite
X. La Roue de Fortune
XI. La Force
XII. Le Pendu
XIII. La Mort
XIV. La Tempérance
XV. Le Diable
XVI. La Maison Dieu
XVII. L'Étoile
XVIII.La Lune
XIX. Le Soleil
XX. Le Jugement
XXI. Le Monde

***********************

Begin with the literary sources

1. c. 1500. North Italian: Sermón Steele.

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. In Archaeologia or Miscellaneous tracts relating to antiquity, vol. LVII (1900). Society of Antiquaries of London. (Pags. 185 – 200).

on line: http://www.tarock.info/steele.htm

[0] El matto
[1] El bagatella
[2] Imperatrix
[3] Imperator
[4] La papessa
[5] El papa
[6] La temperantia
[7] L'amore
[8] Lo caro triumphale
[9] La fortezza
[10] La rotta
[11] El gobbo
[12] Lo impichato
[13] La morte
[14] El diavolo
[15] La sagitta
[16] La stella
[17] La luna
[18] El sole
[19] Lo angelo
[20] La iusticia
[21] El mondo

2. 1521, Perugia: Notturno Napoletano. Gioco de triomphi ingenioso che fanno quattro compagni detti Delio Timbreo Castalio e Caballino con due sonetti in laude del Bembo composto per Notturno.

I cant find it.

Reference: http://edit16.iccu.sbn.it/scripts/iccu_ ... 10&i=58767

3. 1522, Roma: Pietro Aretino. Pasquinate sopra il Conclave del 1521. In G. Berti y A. Vitali (eds.). Le carte di corte. I tarocchi. Gioco e magia alla corte degli Estensi, 1987. (Pág. 108).

on line: (Huck and Ross) http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=117862

Disorder:

Stella - Farnese
Traditore - Egidio
Imperadore - Santa Croce
Sol - Vico
Bagatella - Grimano
Imperatrice - Grassi
Papessa - Como
Amore - Mantova
Mondo - Ancona
Orsino - Angelo
Matto - Siena
Monte - Luna
Iustizia - Colonna
Diavol - Soderino
Ruota di Fortuna - Flisco
Vecchio - Punzetta
Carro - Armellino
Casa - il frate in vesta bianca e bruna
Temperanzia - San Francesco
Morte - Jacobacci
Fortezza - Santi Quattro
Papa - Medici

4. 1534, Venezia: Troilo Pomeran. Triomphi de Pomeran da Cittadela composti sopra li terrocchi in laude delle famose gentil donne di Vinegia. 1534 (Reference in G. Berti, 2007).

[0] Matto
[1] Bagattella
[2] Imperatrice
[3] Papessa
[4] Imperatore
[5] Papa
[6] Temperanza
[7] Carro Triomphale
[8] Amore
[9] Fortezza
[10] Rota
[11] Tempo
[12] Traditore
[13] Morte
[14] Diavolo
[15] Foco
[16] Stella
[17] Luna
[18] Sole
[19] Angelo
[20] Giustitia
[21] il mondo

5. 1538, Milano: Andrea Alciati. De ludis nostri temporis (Parergon Iuris).

on line: http://www.tarotpedia.com/wiki/Alciato_on_the_Trumps

[0] Matto (extremò stultus)
[1] Oste (caupo propinat)
[2] Flaminica
[3] Regina
[4]Re
[5] Sacerdote (sacerdos)
[6] Giusto (justo)
[7] Forte (forti)
[8] Amore (amor)
[9] Carro (quadrigas)
[10] Fortuna fortuna)
[11] Vechio (senem)
[12] Croce (Crux)
[13] Morte
[14] Fama (Fama)
[15] Demonio (daemon)
[16] Fulmine (fulmine)
[17] Stelle (stella)
[18] Luna (luna)
[19] Febo (Phoebus)
[20] Angelo (Angelus)
[21] Mondo (Mundus)

6. 1525 / 40, Pavia: Giambattista Susio (¿?). Motti alle signore di Pavia sotto il titolo de i Tarochi. Ms. published by Rodolfo Reinier (1894).

on line: http://www.tarock.info/renier.htm

[0] matto
[1] Il Bagatella
[2] l'Imperatrice
[3] la Papessa
[4] l'Imperatore
[5] il Papa
[6] l'Amore
[7] la Giustizia
[8] il Carro
[9] la Fortezza
[10] la Ruota
[11] il Vecchio
[12] il Traditore
[13] la Morte
[14] la Temperanza
[15] il Diavolo
[16] il Fuoco
[17] la Stella
[18] la Luna
[19] il Sole
[20] l'Angelo
[21] il Mondo

7. 1527, Venezia: Teofilo Folengo (Merlin Cocai). Chaos del Tri per uno, overo dialogo delle Tre etadi.

on line: http://www.tarotpedia.com/wiki/Caos_Del_Triperuno
on line: http://www.folengo.com

Disorder

1° son.
1. giustizia - 2. angelo - 3. diavolo - 4. fuoco -5. amore

2° son.
6. mondo - 7. stella - 8. rota (fortuna) - 9. fortezza - 10. temperanza - 11. bagatella

3° son.
12. luna - 13. appiccato - 14. papa - 15. imperatore -16. papessa

4° son.
17. sole - 18. morte - 19. tempo - 20. carro - 21. imperatrice - 22. matto

5º son.
Amor, sotto ’l cui impero molte imprese
Van senza tempo sciolte da fortuna,
vide morte su ’l carro orrenda e bruna
volger fra quanta gente al mondo prese.
Per qual giustizia, disse, a te si rese
Né papa mai, né papessa alcuna?
Rispose: chi col sol fece la luna
Tolse contra mie forze lor difese,
Sciocco qual sei, quel foco, disse amore,
ch’or angiol or demonio appare, come
temprar sannosi altrui sotto mia stella.
Tu imperatrice ai corpi sei, ma un cuore
Benché sospendi, non uccidi, e un nome
Sol d’alta fama tienti un bagatella


8. 1543, Venezia: Aretino, Pietro. Le carte parlanti. Dialogo di Partenio Etiro nel quale si trata del Gioco con moralità piacevole . (Reference: Berti, 2007).

[0] Il matto
[1] Il Bagatella
[2] l'Imperatrice
[3] la papessa
[4] lo Imperatore
[5] il papa
[6] l'Amore
[7] la Giustizia
[8] il carro trionfale
[9] la fortezza
[10] la ruota
[11] il vecchio
[12] il traditore
[13] la morte
[14] la temperantia
[15] Plutone
[16] la casa di Plutone
[17] le stelle
[18] la luna
[19] il sole
[20] le Trombe
[21] il mondo

9. c.1530-1560, Ferrara: Anonymus. Due sonetti amorosi, in Gaspare Sardi, Adversaria…, cod. lat. 228 = ά. W. 2, II, due piccoli fogli tra le cc., Modena, Biblioteca Estense.

on line: http://www.associazioneletarot.it/I-Tar ... 9_ita.aspx

Disorder

Par che l’angel, la stella, il sol, la luna
Col mondo, et chi con lui di viver brama,
Odiano la beltà, che il ciel aduna
Nel viso altier de la signora Mama.
Forsi per esser tra le Dee queste una
Che lor spogli del ben, che ‘l valor ama,
O pur, per che ne morte, o ria fortuna
Dal fermo suo voler maj la richiama:
Però dee creder fermamente ognuno
Ch’un spirito malvagio habbia costei
Supposta solamente al Bagattino,
Per poter dire i buon tarocchi mej
Saran, s’avien ch’io giuochi, et questi uno
Vo trarre il Matto che ‘è cervel divino.

10. c. 1530 / 1560, Ferrara: Anonymus. Trionphi de Tarocchi appropriati.

on line: http://www.tarock.info/bertoni.htm

[0] il Matto
[1] il Bagatino
[2] l'Imperatrice
[3] l'Imeradore
[4] la Papessa
[5] il Papa
[6] la Teperanza
[7] il Carro
[8] l'Amore
[9] la Fortezza
[10] la Ruota
[11] il Gobbo
[12] il Traditore
[13] la Morte
[14] il Diavolo
[15] la Casa del Diavolo
[16] la Stella
[17] la Luna
[18] il Sole
[19] l'Agnolo
[20] la Justicia
[21] il Mondo

11. 1559, Roma: Paolo Giovio (¿?). Gioco di Tarocchi fatto in Conclavi. (Reference: G. Berti, 2007).

[0] il matto
[1] il bagatello
[2] l'imperatrice
[3] la papessa
[4] l'imperator
[5] x
[6] l'amore
[7] la giustizia
[8] il carro
[9] la fortezza
[10] la rota di fortuna
[11] x
[12] juda
[13] la morte
[14] la temperanza
[15] il diavolo
[16] la casa del danato
[17] la stella
[18] la luna
[19] il sole
[20] lo angelo
[21] il mondo

12. c. 1550, Venezia: Lollio et Imperiali. Invettiva di M. Alberto Lollio Academico Filareto Contra il Giuoco del Tarocco y la respuesta de M. Vicenzo Imperiali.

on line: http://www.tretre.it/menu/accademia-del ... html#c1268

(Imperiali. vs 250 et passim) [14. Morte? Little disorder?: dangerous]

[0] Pazzi
[1] Buffoni et giocolari
[2-5] [Disorder] Papa con l’imperatore et le sue donne (Cuore sacro, cuore santo)
[6] Temperanza
[7] Carro
[8] Amor
[9] Forza
[10] Fortuna / Ruota
[11] Vecchio saggio
[12] [Bilancia] Giustitia
[13] Prudenza
[14] Morte [!]
[15] Demonio
[16] Inferno
x
[18] [Guida di naveganti] Stella
[19] [Sorella del Sol] Luna
[20] Sol
[21] Angel del Ciel
[0] Giustitia
[0] Mondo

13. 1550, Bologna: Benedetto Clario Cieco. Gioco de primiera, con una nova gionta composta per Benedetto Clario Cieco Venetiano.. (Reference: Dummett, Il Mondo e l’Angelo, 1993).

Disorder and not complet

“In alto con triumphi & con Tarocchi
Uno che lasciate gir
Angel giustitia
Stella Militia
Il Diavol, Matto
Bagatellato
Sol, Luna, Mondo
Vechio giocondo
Che la primiera de gli altri giochi è’l fior.

14. 1561, Venezia: Alessandro Citolini. La tipocosmia.

on line: http://books.google.es/books?id=K50h72d ... &q&f=false

(Pág. 482-483)

[0] Il matto
[1] Il gabbattèlla (sic)
[2] La imperatrice
[3] La papessa
[4] L’imperadore
[5] Il papa
[6] La temperanza
[7] Il Carro
[8] L’Amore
[9] La Fortezza
[10] La ruota
[11] Il vècchio
[12] L’impiccato
[13] La morte
[14] Il diavolo
[15] Il Fuoco
[16] La Stélla
[17] La Luna
[18] Il Sole
[19] L’Angelo
[20] L’Giustizia
[21] Il Mondo

15. c. 1565?, Monte Regale: Francesco Piscina. Discorso sopra l’ordine delle figure dei Tarocchi . In Explaining the Tarot. Two Italian Renaissance Essays on the Meaning of the Tarot Pack. Marco Ponzi, Ross Caldwell y Thierry Depaulis (Eds). Maproom Publications, Oxford. London, 2010.

[0] Pazzo / Matto
[1] Il Bagato
[2 - 5] Imperatori e Papi (More strong, Imperatore)
[6] Cupido / Amor
[7] Giustitia
[8] Carro Triomphante
[9] Fortezza
[10] Fortuna
[11] Vecchio Gobbo
[12] L’Impiccato
[13] La Morte
[14] Temperanza
[15] Demoni
[16] Fuoco
[17] Stelle (¿?)
[18] Luna
[19] Sole
[20] Paradiso Celeste / Agnolo
[21] Santissimi Evangelisti / Mondo

16. c. 1560?: Anonymus. Discorso perchè fosse trovato il giuoco et particolarmente quello del Tarocco (). IIn Explaining the Tarot. Two Italian Renaissance Essays on the Meaning of the Tarot Pack. Marco Ponzi, Ross Caldwell y Thierry Depaulis (Eds). Maproom Publications, Oxford. London, 2010.

[0] Matto
[1] Bagattello
[2] Cardinale
[3] Papa
[4] Re
[5] Imperatore
[6] Prudenza
[7] Fortezza
[8] Amore
[9] Carro
[10] Fortuna
[11] Gobbo / Tempo
[12] Traditore
[13] Morte
[14] Diavolo
[15] Stella
[16] Luna
[17] Sole
[18] L’Angelo
[19] Giustizia / Iddio
[20] Giudicio
[21] Mondo

17. 1585, Venezia: Tommaso Garzoni. La Piazza universale di tutte le profesioni del mondo. .

on line: http://www.tarock.info/garzoni.htm
Original: http://books.google.es/books?id=vpY_AAA ... &q&f=false

[0] il matto
[1] il bagatella
[2] l'imperatrice
[3] l'imperadore
[4] la papessa
[5] il papa
[6] la temperanza
[7] il carro
[8] l'amore
[9] la fortezza
[10] la ruota
[1] il vecchio
[12] l'impiccato
[13] la morte
[14] il diavolo
[15] il fuoco
[16] la stella
[17] la luna
[18] il sole
[19] l'angelo
[20] la giustitia
[21] il mondo

An interesting article by Tom Tadford for beging the collective think.

http://tarothermit.com/ordering2.htm

For Notturno:

mmfilesi wrote: 2. 1521, Perugia: Notturno Napoletano. Gioco de triomphi ingenioso che fanno quattro compagni detti Delio Timbreo Castalio e Caballino con due sonetti in laude del Bembo composto per Notturno.

I cant find it.

Reference: http://edit16.iccu.sbn.it/scripts/iccu_ ... 10&i=58767

That's a comedy written 1521. Franco Pratesi reported about it in the I.P.S.C journal more than 20 years ago. The text is called "rare", I don't know it.

For which reason ever, the list of trumps in the comedy is not complete (according Franco) ... either this was made artfully by the author or the author didn't knew any more trumps.
If I understand it correctly:

* Bagatella
* Matto, which is higher than "Imperator, Pope and Cardinal"
* Imperator
* Papa

* Fortezza
* Temperanza
* Giustizia
* Carro

* Rota
* Vecchio

That's it. The comedy proceeds 30 pages longer with mentioning further names, as Franco tells it. The "game comes from Spain" ... so it is said (not by Franco). Other cards (for instance "smaller arcana") are not mentioned. The "cardinal" stays not explained.

My idea of it ... possibly it's a part of the comedy, that the cards are of Spain and not complete (as "comical elements"). Franco's report is 20 years ago, the perception of Tarot was then different from nowadays. Or another way to interpret: It really was a Spanish game and it was attempted to play (or to "translate") it with Italian cards.
Or the whole has political background, which somehow related to "Spain" (= new Roman king Charles V.), in 1521 an interesting topic.

Any further understanding demands a new reading. Franco's source ...

"... a scarce booklet which existed in the 18th century in Capponi's library and whose reported title already indicates its interest for the history of tarot: Notturno Napolitano Gioco de trionfi, che fanno quattro compagni, detti Delio, Timbreo, Castalio, e Caballino, con due sonetti in laude del Bembo. Perugia per Cosmo da Verona detto il Bianchino s.a.(#). Therefore, it did not escape attention by the few Italian scholars who seriously attempted to collect and discuss the literary evidence about the game (#). Both Cian and Renier, however, could not examine a copy of the book, due to its rarity, and only mentioned the title as derived from the Capponi catalogue. Also in the known work by Sander (#) the booklet is only mentioned, under Caracciolo Antonio, among others by same author and printer, with the statement that any presence there of engravings was still unknown. Nowadays, more catalogues exist, and bibliographical researches are easier to carry out to the required depth. In this case, a copy of the book was found to exist in the British Library, where from a microfilm copy was obtained for study."

For your interest to have an object to compare with other rows it doesn't seem appropriate. It simply isn't clear, what this is about.

Great. Thanks, friend!

*****

More material - Deck

IMPORTANT: All dates are estimates. There are no guarantees.

1. c. 1441, Milano: Cary – Yale (Not Number + Not Titles):

Imperatrix • Imperator •Amore • Caro triumphale • Morte • Fortezza • Angelo / Giudicio • Mondo / Fama / Glory • Hope • Faith • charity


2. c. 1441, Milano: Brambilla (Not Number + Not Titles):

Imperatore • Ruota

3. c. 1451, Milano: 14 Bembo cards (Not Number + Not Titles):

Matto • Bagatella • Imperatrix • Imperator • Papessa • Papa • Caro triumphale • Iustitia • Amore • Ruota della Fortuna • Morte • Impichato • Vecchio • Angelo

4. c. 1468??: + 6 cards add (PMB)

Temperanza • Fortezza • Stella • Luna • Sole • Mondo

5. c. 1461 – 1465, Firenze: Medici Deck (aka Charles VI) (Not Number + Not Titles):

(Long time after the deck is made, some numbers are added, almost illegible, I not included by spurious).

Matto • Imperator • Papa • Amore • Carro • Morte • Impichato • Fuoco (Tower) • Vechio • Temperanza • Fortezza • Iustitia • Temperanza • Luna • Sole • Angelo • Mondo / Prudentia


6. c. 1473. Ferrara: Este Deck (Not Number + Not Titles):

Matto • Bagatella • Papa • Temperanza • Stella • Luna • Sole • Mondo


Sheet of 16 century:

7. Rothschild sheet (Not Number + Not Titles):

http://trionfi.com/0/j/d/rothschild/

Carro • Morte • Ruota • Vechio • Impichato • Diavolo • Fuoco (Tower) • Stella • Luna • Sole • Angelo • Mondo

8. Cary sheet (Not Number + Not Titles):

http://trionfi.com/0/j/d/caryyalesheet/

See too, the important analisys of Andi Pollet: http://l-pollett.tripod.com/cards69i.htm

Hanged Man • Wheel • Chariot • Lovers • Justice • Strength • Popess • Emperor • Empress • Pope • Sun • Moon • Star • Magician • Fool • Tower • Devil • Temperance


9. Rosenwald sheet. No TITLES. Only numbers.

http://trionfi.com/0/j/d/rosenwald/

[0] x
[1] El bagatella
[2] La papessa
[3] Imperatrix
[4] Imperator
[5] El papa
[6] L'amore
[7] La temperantia
[8] La iusticia
[9] La fortezza
[10] Lo caro triumphale
[12] El gobbo

Not numbered:
La rotta • Lo impichato • La morte • El diavolo • Fuoco (Tower) • La stella • La luna • El sole •
El mondo • Lo angelo

10. . Various printed sheets. No TITLES. Only numbers.

http://trionfi.com/0/j/d/sheets/

0 Fool
1 Magician
2 Empress
3 Popess
4 Emperor (?)
5 Pope
6 Temperance
7 Chariot
8 Love
9 Strength
10 Wheel
11 Hermit
12 Hanging Man
13 Death
14 Devil
15 Tower
16 Star
17 Moon
18 Sun
19 Angel
20 Justice
21 World


DECK FRENCH – 1500 / 1600

11. . 1557, Lyon:[/b] Catelin Geofroy. No TITLES. Only numbers.

http://trionfi.com/0/j/d/geofroy/
http://www.poker168.com/bwg/bwg_tl6.htm

Bagatella
[II] Papessa
[III] Imperatrix
[IV] Imperatore
[V] Papa
[VII] Carro
[IX] Vechio
[XII] Impichato
[XIII] Morte
[XIV] Temperanza
[XVI] Orfeo et Euridice (The tower)
[XX] Angelo

FRENCH – 1600 / 1700

12.. Paris: Parisian tarot (Number and Titles)

http://trionfi.com/m/d0yyyy.php?decknr=2258

Le fous
I - Le Bateleur
II - La Papesse
III - Linperatrice
IIII - Lanperreut (l'imperatore)
V - Le Pape
VI - Lamoureus
VII - Le Chariot
VIII - Justtice
VIIII - Lermite
X - La Roue de Fourtune
XI - Force
XII - Le Pandut
XIII - La Mort
XIIII - A Trempance
XV - Le Diable
XVI - La Fouldre
XVII - Lestoille
XVIII - La Lune
XVIIII - Le Soleil
XX - Le Jugement
XXI - Le Monde

13.. 1643 / 1664, Paris: Vieville (Number and Titles)

I - Baga
II - Papesse
III - L'imperatryce
IIII - Anpereur
V - Pape
VI - Amoureux
VII - Yustice
[VII - Le Chariot]
IX - Force
X - La Roue De Fortune
XI - Vielart
XII - Pendu
XIII - [La Mort]
XIIII - [La Temperance]
XV - Dyable
XVI - La Foudre
XVII - Les Etoilles
XVIII - La Lune
XIX - Le Soleil
XX - Trompe (Giudizzio)
XXI - Monde

14.. Tarot de Marseille I and Tarot de Marseille II = Standard

**********

Well... Another day I put the regional varieties (such as minchiate, tarocchino...) and another earlier decks (Ingold, Michelino). But maybe with this material we can start with the blocks ^^.

A interesting article by Ross:

http://ludustriumphorum.blogspot.com/20 ... -card.html

Number 13 and the Death card

Number 13, Friday the 13th and the number 17

The Death card is so firmly associated with the number 13 in the Tarot that most people simply assume that the superstition that “13 means death” was well established in medieval Italy. Surprisingly however, no literary documentation of this association has been found dating from this era or before, and not until the 19th century in Italy. The Tarot is itself the earliest evidence for it.

All writers on Tarot, who have taken notice of it, have taken the association of 13 with misfortune, and by extension death, for granted - except for Etteilla, who explicitly rejects it, for dogmatic reasons that may be connected to the number 17 (see below):

"The false savants have said that the number or sign of death was 13, and in consequence they assigned Death 13. But this Book takes man in his creation, and it is recognized that Adam was in no way subject to death at the number 13 but at that of 17."


(from the Deuxième Cahier, quoted by Jacques Halbronn in "Etteilla: L'astrologie du livre de Thot (1785), suivie de Recherches sur l'histoire de l'astrologie et du Tarot", p. 31)

But in not a single case have any, whether esoteric moralizers or scientific historians, offered evidence external to the Tarot from the early 15th century or earlier for it. This could be because there is none to be found. Some have added ad hoc explanations or evidence, while others have simply stated it without corroboration. In the following quotes, note the use of terms like “always”, “universally”, or “traditionally” – a rhetorical hand-wave in the direction of the reader’s prejudice, which in reality misdirects, away from the true obscurity of the “traditional” association. Everybody points to the traditional and well-known superstition, but nobody provides any evidence of it from the time and place of Tarot’s origin.

Antoine Court de Gébelin (1781, p. 375), on number XIII, Death: “It is hardly surprising that it should be placed under this number; the number thirteen was always regarded as unfortunate. It must be that long ago some great misfortune happened on such a day, and that the memory of it had influence on all the ancient Nations. Might it be as a result of this memory that the thirteen Tribes of the Hebrews were never counted as other than twelve?”

Comte de Mellet (1781, p. 398): “Thirteenth; this number, always unfortunate, is dedicated to Death, who is shown mowing down heads both crowned and common.”

John Shephard (1985, p. 105): “The number thirteen, following the perfection of twelve, has always been associated with death. It was a reminder of the Last Supper of Christ with his twelve apostles.”

Robert V. O’Neill (1986, p. 314): “The number thirteen is universally the number of death and disaster. Many large hotels have no thirteenth floor because the prejudice against thirteen is so common even in our society.”

Alessandra Uguccioni (writing in “L’iconografia degli arcani maggiori”, in Berti, G. And A. Vitali, eds., 1987, p. 175): “In the most recent examples a similar iconography is preserved, and the numeration also remains constant, being always the number 13, or the unlucky number.”

Paul Huson (2004, pp. 118-119): “... many decks designed specifically for cartomancy have kept this card in the traditionally unlucky thirteenth position in the trump sequence...”

Robert M. Place (2005, p. 150): “In all the known early orders of the trumps Death is always number thirteen. As thirteen is a number associated with bad luck and death, this suggests that Death was given this number for symbolic reasons.”

In books treating the symbolism of numbers through history, we do not in fact find that 13 was always, traditionally, or much less “universally”, considered unlucky. In fact the earliest symbolism gives it a positive connotation. Epiphany is the 13th day after Christ’s birth, the Golden Legend notes (“Epiphany”). Two particularly important discussions of the earliest evidence for the superstition are Hopper’s “Medieval Number Symbolism” (pp. 130ff.) and Nathaniel Lachenmeyer, 13: The Story of the World’s Most Popular Superstition (pp. 42-43). Lachenmeyer, writing in 2004, seems unaware of Hopper as a source, but like Hopper 80 years earlier, concludes that the superstition had its origins in the belief that Judas or Jesus was the 13th at the table in the Last Supper.

The earliest reference to a superstition about “13 at a table” yet known was found by Hopper 80 years ago, in the Essais of Montaigne (Bk. III, c. viii; ca. 1585). Montaigne writes:

“It seems to me excusable if I prefer the odd to the even number, a Thursday to a Friday, if I like more the twelfth or fourteenth than a thirteenth at the table...”



Hopper finds the first negative connotations of the number given by Pietro Bongo in “Mysticae Numerorum” (editions of 1584 and following years):

“Petrus Bungus is the first arithmologist to recognize any evil inherent in the number. He records that the Jews murmured 13 times against God in the exodus from Egypt, that the thirteenth psalm concerns wickedness and corruption, that the circumcision of Israel occurred in the thirteenth year, thus not reaching the satisfaction of the Law and the Evangelists, which are figured by 10 and 4. As 11 is a number of transgression, because it goes beyond the 10 Commandments, so 13 goes beyond the 12 Apostles. Therefore, hic numerous Judaeorum taxat impietatem. The previous absence of any such explanation in the arithmologies gives the impression that popular belief had forced upon the priest this painful and rather unconvincing interpretation of the Commandments and the Trinity. Montaigne’s intimation that the superstition was widely in vogue would tend to push its origin back at least to the Middle Ages.”



Montaigne’s allusion to it, among a list of other superstitions, implies, as Hopper notes, that it was a popular belief (as opposed to a forced and learned speculation), which would be very difficult to trace in written literature. The Tarot therefore seems to be the earliest witness that a baneful association with the number existed at all.

The relevant passages from Hopper and Lachenmeyer follow.

Vincent Foster Hopper, “Medieval Number Symbolism” (1938; various reprints) pp. 130ff.:

“The famous ‘unlucky 13’ and especially the ’13 at table’ is, I believe, somehow connected with this tradition [of 12 previously discussed]. Böklen [Die unglückszabl Dreizebn und ihre mythische Bedeutung] has attempted to prove the prevalence of the superstition as early as Homeric times, but his evidence is drawn from his own discovery of instances where a misfortune is said to have occurred to one of 13 individuals. I cannot believe this type of evidence to be valid, since the number is never asserted to be the cause of the misfortune nor is it ever directly labeled as ‘unlucky’ in any discussion of significant numbers or elsewhere. The first specific mention of the unlucky 13 which I have been able to find occurs in Montaigne: ‘And me seemeth I may well be excused if I rather except an odd number than an even... If I had rather make a twelfth or fourteenth at a table, then a thirteenth... All such fond conceits, now in credit about us, deserve at least to be listened unto.’ [Essais, Bk. III, Essay VIII, ‘Of the Art of Conferring’ (Florio translation)].

“The fact that the number was associated with Epiphany by the Church, and appears not have been considered other than holy by any of the medieval number theorists leads to the inference that the unlucky 13 was a popular superstition entirely disconnected from the ‘science of numbers.’ Petrus Bungus is the first arithmologist to recognize any evil inherent in the number. He records that the Jews murmured 13 times against God in the exodus from Egypt, that the thirteenth psalm concerns wickedness and corruption, that the circumcision of Israel occurred in the thirteenth year, thus not reaching the satisfaction of the Law and the Evangelists, which are figured by 10 and 4. As 11 is a number of transgression, because it goes beyond the 10 Commandments, so 13 goes beyond the 12 Apostles. Therefore, hic numerous Judaeorum taxat impietatem. The previous absence of any such explanation in the arithmologies gives the impression that popular belief had forced upon the priest this painful and rather unconvincing interpretation of the Commandments and the Trinity. Montaigne’s intimation that the superstition was widely in vogue would tend to push its origin back at least to the Middle Ages. To find a 13 which might popularly achieve baleful connotations is so easy that I should rather assign the superstition to a confluence of factors, rather than to a single source.

“With nearly every traditional 12, a 13 is somehow associated. Earliest in time is the intercalated thirteenth month, which Böklen asserts was regarded as discordant and unlucky [Op. cit. pp. 8-9]. Webster agrees that such was sometimes the case [Rest Days, p. 276]. There is a slender chance that a tradition, even as uncertain as this, might have been orally transmitted to the Middle Ages. There is a much better chance that the omnipresent 13 of the lunar and menstruation cycle made the number fearsome, or at least unpopular.

“At the same time, the number may have become popularly associated with the diabolical arts. In Faust’s Miraculous Art and Book of Marvels, or the Black Raven, 13 are said to compose the Infernal Hierarchy [Conway, Demonology, p. 229]. This must be the same astrological 13, since the Raven is the thirteenth symbol in the intercalary month year, as well as the effigy for the moon [Böklen, op. cit., pp. 8-9]. Simultaneously, cabalistic lore may have introduced the 13 Conformations of the Holy Beard, also astrological in origin and magical in common belief. In Britain, 13 became associated with witchcraft. Whether for the same reason or because the inclusion of a leader with any group of 12 makes a thirteenth, as seems to have been the case in Druidic ceremony, a witches’ koven was ordinarily composed of 13, or a multiple [Murray, The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, pp. 16, 50, 191].

“It will be noted, however, that the specific superstition mentioned by Montaigne is that of 13 at table. Here the connection is indisputably with the Last Supper. One wonders how much the legend fo the Siege Perilous had to do with drawing attention to the thirteenth unlucky chair. True enough, the Siege Perilous was sanctified, but it was also Perilous and distinctly unlucky for the wrong person – ‘wherein never knight sat that he met not death thereby.’ [Le livre de Lancelot del Lac, XXXIX] This is something more than a guess, because, although the thirteenth chair is ordinarily reserved for the leader – Charlemagne in the Pelerinage [line 118]and the All-Father in the temple of the Gods at Gladsheim [MacCulloch, Mythology of All Races, III, 327] – Boron’s Joseph assigns the vacant seat to Judas, and the Modena Perceval to ‘Nostre Sire’ in one place but to Judas in another [Weston, The Legend of Sir Perceval, II, 132]. It is also possible that ‘Nostre Sire’ might have been the author’s intention but that the copyist and public opinion altered it to Judas.”



From Nathaniel Lachenmeyer, “13: The Story of the World’s Most Popular Superstition” (Running Press, 2004) pp. 42-43:

“In lists of lucky and unlucky days prior to the nineteenth century, there is no pattern of Friday the 13th or the 13th day of the month being viewed as significant. In fact, I was unable to turn up a single nineteenth-century reference to Friday the 13th, which is consistent with the idea that the superstition did not emerge until the twentieth century. As for the general belief that 13 was an unlucky number, an extensive search of Western writing turned up no consistent references to unlucky 13 prior to the seventeenth century, when the earliest references to 13 at a table appear. Even in book about superstition, 13 is conspicuously absent. Reginald Scot’s The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584), for example, lists more than thirty contemporary superstitions like spilling salt, putting a shirt on inside out, stumbling, and a cat crossing one’s path. Yet there is no mention of 13 being unlucky. What significant references there are before then to 13 – e.g. the 13th man in Beowulf , and the 13 seats Merlin constructed for King Arthur’s Round Table – do not constitute superstitions, and, furthermore, seem, like 13 at a table, to be evocations of the Last Supper.

“There is, however, one possible precursor to unlucky 13 at a table that does not have any obvious connection to the Last Supper: since its invention in Italy in the fifteenth century, the Death card in Tarot has consistently been the 13th card. According to Sir Michael Dummett, one of the preeminent philosophers of the twentieth century and an authority on the history of Tarot, the association of 13 with Death ‘occurs more frequently than the association of a particular number with any other card... It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the cardmakers, or those for whose tastes they were catering, regarded this association as particularly appropriate, and strove to arrange it.’ This implies that there may have been a symbolic link between 13 and death in fifteenth-century Italy (which may or may not have also been inspired by the events of the Last Supper). However, an association is not the same thing as a superstition, and in the absence of any evidence that an unlucky 13 superstition existed in Western Europe prior to the seventeenth century, independent of its association with the Last Supper, it is safe to conclude that 13 at a table was the original 13 superstition.”



On the other hand, it seems that the number 17 is the unlucky number, explicitly the number of death, in Italy. It seems that 17 has a long history of being associated directly with death, because according to Bongo

"in the dream books (Oneirocritica), if you hear seventeen, or see it written, in numbers it is XVII, which for us (i.e. Italians) can signify nothing else but VIXI ("I have lived"=I am dead), and therefore the presence of the number means death."



Simply typing "vixi", "xvii", and "la morte" or "death" into Google will bring up hundreds of pages showing how prevalent this still is in Italian culture. E.g. from wikipedia -

"In Italian culture, the number 17 is considered unlucky. When viewed as the Roman numeral, XVII, it is then changed anagramtically to VIXI, which in the Latin language it translates to "I have lived", the perfect tense implying "My life is over." (c.f. "Vixerunt", Cicero's famous announcement of an execution.) The Italian airline carrier, Alitalia, does not have a seat 17. Renault sold its "R17" model in Italy as "R177."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17_(number)

Another -


The trouble with numbers

Until quite recently, 13 was considered a lucky number in Italy—or was thought to be as harmless as other digits. According to Catholic tradition, however, there were 13 people at the table during the Last Supper, and Jesus was crucified on Friday the 13th. Thus, Italy has adopted the popular European belief that 13 invites as much misfortune as the country’s traditionally unlucky number—17. The reasoning behind 17’s stigma is twofold. If you re-arrange the Roman numeral XVII, it spells the Latin word vixi, a phrase often inscribed on tombs and gravestones. It translates as ‘he lived’ and is considered a sure-fire way to tempt death to come to your doorstep. The digits 1 and 7 also evoke fatal imagery—the one represents a hanged man, while the seven recalls the gallows.


http://www.theflorentine.net/articles/a ... tocId=1749

Given its prominence in Italy, it would seem that if the Tarot designer wanted to have a card associated with death, it should have been at 17.

Yet even for the number 17, I cannot find a source that goes back beyond Pietro Bongo in 1584 which gives the "xvii=vixi" forumula, or considers XVII unlucky. I am not sure which "Onirocritas" he is referring to either. But like Montaigne's allusion to the 13-at-a-table superstition, Bongo's usage implies that an older popular tradition existed.

All of this raises an interesting question though. Is it possible that the Tarot itself is the origin of the superstition? Here is a scenario:

When people began numbering the trumps, they saw the Death card predictably as the most unsavoury subject, unlucky. Although the explicit notion of 13=death did not yet exist, the idea of it being unlucky to have thirteen at table did – this was already an indirect reading of some of the symbolism of the Last Supper and the mythology of the Siege Perilous, and that pushed the numberers to make Death number 13. Thus the Tarot became the standard-bearer for this link. Tarot was immensely popular in Italy and France for much of the sixteenth century, and into the seventeenth. It is from the later 16th century that we get the first indications of unease with the number 13, both in France (Montaigne, directly) and in Italy (Bongo, indirectly). The popularity of Tarot, with millions of players during that time, could easily have been the source of what became an easily-accommodated superstition, which, detached from its source, required ad hoc explanations on the part of people like Pietro Bongo. The popularity of the superstition on the Continent, developing in the course of the 16th century, gives plenty of time for it to be adopted in England, where we find it in sources from the 17th century.

The ease with which people have adopted the “Friday the 13th” superstition, although it was invented almost within living memory, is an example of how insidiously easy some superstitions can be.


(Filippo Maria Visconti (1392-1447) was also extremely superstitious about Friday, the Dies Infaustus (unlucky day); “And for him it was considered an impiety on Fridays, to meet someone who were shaved, or captured flying birds by hand, especially quail, in the field...”

Cfr. also the account of the composer Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868): “Rossini’s superstition caused him to dread Fridays and the number thirteen. He died on Friday, the thirteenth day of November, 1868!” (Nathan Haskell Dole, Famous Composers (1891) p. 258).

Again, Henry Sutherland Edwards, The Life of Rossini, 1869, p. 340: “[Rossini] was surrounded to the last by admiring and affectionate friends; and if it be true that, like so many other Italians, he regarded Friday as an unlucky day, and thirteen as an unlucky number, it is remarkable that on Friday, the 13th of November, he died.”)

Posted by Ross G.R. Caldwell at 15:01

Another list discover by Andrea Vitali:

http://www.letarot.it/Saggia-Pazzia--Pi ... 8_ita.aspx

Antonio Maria Spelta. Saggia Pazzia, Piacevole Pazzia. Pavia, 1607.

Mondo
Giustizia
Angelo
Sole
Luna
Stelle
Fuoco
Diavolo
Morte
Impiccato
Vecchio
Ruota
Fortezza
Amore
Carro
Temperanza
Papa <- Not exist
Papessa <- Not exist
Imperatore
Imperatrice
Bagatto <- Not exist
Matto <- Not exist

I read through Ross' post above, but didn't see any mention of the Templars. I've always understood this to be one of the primary source of the unlucky 13th superstition.

Pen

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar

On Friday, October 13, 1307 (a date sometimes linked with the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition)[24][25] Philip ordered de Molay and scores of other French Templars to be simultaneously arrested. The arrest warrant started with the phrase : "Dieu n'est pas content, nous avons des ennemis de la foi dans le Royaume" (free translation " God is not pleased. We have enemies of the faith in the kingdom").[26] The Templars were charged with numerous offences (including apostasy, idolatry, heresy, obscene rituals and homosexuality, financial corruption and fraud, and secrecy).[27] Many of the accused confessed to these charges under torture, and these confessions, even though obtained under duress, caused a scandal in Paris. All interrogations were recorded on a thirty meter long parchment, kept at the "Archives nationales" in Paris. The prisoners were coerced to confess that they had spat on the Cross : "Moi Raymond de La Fère, 21 ans, reconnais que (J'ai) craché trois fois sur la Croix, mais de bouche et pas de coeur" (free translation : "I, Raymond de La Fère, 21 years old, admit that I have spit three times on the Cross, but only from my mouth and not from my heart"). The Templars were accused of idolatry.[28] The parchment mentions a red, monochromatic image of a man on linen or cotton, qualified as an idol by the interrogators. This suggests the presence of the Shroud of Turin. In 1307 few people knew of its whereabouts. After the sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the Shroud, that had been in the possession of the Emperor, disappeared for about one century. It reappeared in the small town of Lirey, in the Champagne region of France around the years 1353 to 1357 in the possession of Geoffroy de Charny and later in Chambéry in the possession of the Duke of Savoy.[26][29]

Pen wrote:I read through Ross' post above, but didn't see any mention of the Templars. I've always understood this to be one of the primary source of the unlucky 13th superstition.

Pen

That's because there's no evidence that it is, and no one suggested it as an explanation before the late 19th century. David Emery's article cited and linked in footnote 25 of the Wikipedia article explains it pretty clearly -

"A thoroughly modern phenomenon

There are problems with the "day so infamous" thesis, not the least of which is that it attributes enormous cultural significance to a relatively obscure historical event. Even more problematic for this or any other theory positing premodern origins for Friday the 13th superstitions is the fact that no one has been able to document the existence of such beliefs prior to the late 19th century. If folks who lived in earlier ages perceived Friday the 13th as a day of special misfortune, no evidence has been found to document it. As a result, some scholars are now convinced the stigma is a thoroughly modern phenomenon exacerbated by 20th-century media hype."

Continuing by explaining that the combination of Friday being a traditionally unlucky day (which it has long been, although not universally even in a given place and time (i.e. there have always been superstitious people and non-superstitious people)) combined with the superstition about the number 13 (which is does not possess in many places, mostly English-speaking ones, and all attested fairly late), ended up making a kind of urban legend of the 20th century.

I think that's right, personally. Bongo's number symbolism book, late 16th century, doesn't know of it, and there's no other evidence of it except for the Montaigne quote I cited, which considered it unlucky to be the 13th person at a table. That is easily seen as deriving from the Last Supper (not from the number 13 itself), but it doesn't explain why Tarots, when they became numbered, without exception give Death number 13. 13 = Death is not an association that has any documentary evidence - it is only in Tarot.



http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/histor ... 13th_4.htm

Re.

If folks who lived in earlier ages perceived Friday the 13th as a day of special misfortune, no evidence has been found to document it. As a result, some scholars are now convinced the stigma is a thoroughly modern phenomenon exacerbated by 20th-century media hype.

Should lack of documentary evidence mean that we have to dismiss or overlook possibilities, however slight? And the article did state 'some' scholars, rather than 'all'.

Ross G. R. Caldwell wrote:
13 = Death is not an association that has any documentary evidence - it is only in Tarot.

This is why (after reading the above) I was surprised that you didn't mention the Knights Templar, along with the other propositions that have been put forward for the number 13 equalling Death over the years, if only for the record.

It's worth noting though, that (in my experience at least), it's far more difficult to fit Death into 17th place than to leave it at the 13th.

Pen

I also found this when I tried to look for earlier order of the trumps:

What is known today about the trump ordering in early tarots, whose ranking in most cases was not written on the cards, is largely based on literary sources in which the names of the trumps are mentioned. The oldest one is a collection of preaches (Sermones de ludo cum aliis, "sermons about the game with dice") written by an anonymous monk sometime during the second half of the 1400s.

1
Sermones
(2nd half of the 1400s)

El bagatella
(the trivial performer)
Imperatrix
(empress)
Imperator
(emperor)
La papessa
(the popess)
El papa
(the pope)
La temperantia
(temperance)
L'amore
(love)
Lo caro triumphale
(the triumphal chariot)
La fortezza
(fortitude)
La rotta
(the wheel)
El gobbo
(the hunchback)
Lo impichato
(the hanged man)
La morte
(death)
El diavolo
(the devil)
La sagitta
(lightning)
La stella
(the star)
La luna
(the moon)
El sole
(the sun)
Lo angelo
(the angel)
La iusticia
(justice)
El mondo
(the world)
El matto
(the fool)

Dashquid
fatlossprofessional.co.uk
fatlossprofessional
mobilehelper
securetrip
whichpetcover
google
abc
facebook
craigslist