Well, Karnöffel ...
... of course, there was a devil in this game, and, of course, there is a devil in Tarot.
However, was it the same devil?
Studying Master Ingold, living in Karnöffel's early time, we learn, that he describes (to our regret) only two decks, both with 4x13-structure:
The first has a King and a Queen ... and third court card, which has raised the irritation of Ingold, is a junkfraw,
in other word a second female, and Ingold's mind, open to prohibition of all kind, realizes his "work of the devil": That's a representation of a king with a queen and a second wife for his immoral desires.
Well, and that's the devil.
In the second deck Ingold realizes 8 professions (though likely a copyist made an error, cause the first row has only 7)
Row 1 (7 figures):
* ackerman
* edelman
* wuchrer
* pfaffen
* toypel (female)
* riffian
* wirt
Row 2 (8 figures, the missing weinman is added)
* edelman
* wuchrer
* pfaff
* täppelweib (female)
* riffian
* wirt
* weinman
* pauman der den wein pauwen soll
"Nun sind auf dem kartenspil fier küng mit iren wauppen, und hat ieglicher under im XIII karten, das macht an ainer sum LII, und hat ieglichü das zaychen irs küngs. Etlich kartenspil hat dar zu fier küngin und fier junkfrawen, etlich haben den ackerman, den edelman, den wuchrer, den pfaffen, die toypel, den riffian, den wirt; und gewint ie ains dem andern ab: dem edelman der wuchrer, dem wuchrer der pfaff, dem pfaffen das täppelweib, dem täppelweib der riffian, dem riffian der wirt, dem wirt der weinman, dem weinman wider umb der pauman der den wein pauwen sol, der nimpt das gelt wider von dem wirt."
Well, from these 8 professions 7 are male nd one is female, and this reminds me on the chess game, in which is one Queen and 7 other guys presenting the chess officer row:
Rook - male
Knight - male
Bishop - male
Queen - female
King - male
Bishop - male
Knight - male
Rook - male.
The Queen has the fourth position, and in the row of Ingold's game, the Toypelweib (that's translated a "prostitute"), has also the position, and the following 5th position, in chess the noble king,is in Ingold's game connected to the Riffian (and the Riffian is translated a "pimp").
So, a morally "very wrong world", and we have to suspect in the real producer of this deck form a man with some satiric ambitions and that, what he presents, is really funny, a social critique of his time. Oh, well, of course, that's again the devil.
I don't follow this into detail, but's it's to recognize, that we have here the oldest known "funny deck" ... surely there were others before it, and it's not surprizing, that we have the touch of some erotic in it (as in the case of the 4 Kings and there 8 female counterparts).
The erotic deck has is traditions as the Tarot cards have one and the satirical deck also.
Well, playing cards were perhaps the first everyday pictures for the small man, and they had some Pin-Up-girl function. So, there's the devil, how Ingold saw it, Belial's daughters, as he calls them.
In other words, at least the old German cards connected women to the devil - which seems to have been a far spread view of the world, at least in the mind of medieval men, who are mostly responsible for the most, what we are able to detect in "old sources". Women had been rare writers, as we know.
Now to the rules of Karnöffel, as they are knon from 1537 ...
the 7 is connected to the devil
the 6 is connected to the pope
the 2-5s are connected to the 4 Emperors
... but the Karnöffel beats them all
In Tarot rather constantly the Pope had Number 5, and number 6 belonged to the card "Love", this are other numbers. However, German decks of this time had no Aces, no number 1. So naturally the row was raised with "+ 1" and then we have
Tarot Pope 5 (+ 1) = Karnöffel Pope 6
and
Tarot Love 6 (+1) = Karnöffel Devil 7
and then we have it, that the German devil (rather connected to erotic intentions) was transformed to an Italian "Amore".
For the "4-Emperors" (2-5) we have then with the (+1)-condition in Tarot
4 - Emperor ... developed from "King"
3 - Empress ... developed from "Queen"
2 - Papessa ... developed from Junkfraw, but also from "Knight" or Ober or upper marshall
1 - Magician ... developed from Unter or from lower Marshall
... in other words "Emperor + family .. ", so the plural of Emperor. Imperatori.
We have to realize, that in many modern games points are used, likely going back to very old traditions ...
... a card-King counts 4
... a card-Queen counts 3
... a card-Jack counts 2
and in Tarot rules
... a card-King counts 4 or 5
... a card-Queen counts 3 or 4
... a card-Knight counts 2 or 3
... a card-Jack counts 1 or 2
It's easy to see, though the things differ slightly cause some inner developments, that's all one family, well, rather simple, cause the Karnöffel/Imperatori - game (and the very normal card deck without additional trumps) is the father of the later Tarot cards. In other words ... the natural origin of Tarot in many small evolutionary steps.
No deep riddles about the Papessa ... it's the Junkfraw, and it has its first appearance to our eyes in the manuscript of Johannes of Rheinfelden (1377), then as the maiden of the playing card queen. It's very old.
What do we see? A queen and a junkfraw ...
Going back from 1537 we have to study Meisner's Karnöffel poem, likely written around 1450, possibly a little earlier:
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=416
Well, it's different from that, what is known from the later Karnöffel version. We have to assume, that Karnöffel developed and changed as Tarot or Trionfi developed and changed.
...
... there is no chance to describe all and everything, what happened at all the billions of card tables and in the mind of the players ... one can only paint this "picture of playing card development" in rough lines based on that, what we definitely know. And simple ideas should be preferred against too complex ideas ... .-) ... and the very simple line says, that Tarot developed from the usual card deck. And it likely didn't develop in one stormy night or one man's single ideas, but in a heavy competition of many ideas, from which most are lost and some survived and it's not accidently so, that the "most successful" survived. Well, and its logical, that, when many runners start a marathon race, that finally some runners really reach the goal and are the first, or the second or are "simply successful".
This victory doesn't prove, that they've been really the best playing card ideas, that history has ever seen ... .-)
... Yes, but no 
