In what deck did the Hanged Man originally appear?

Melisandre

I just started the new Philippa Gregory book, The Lady of the Rivers. The book is at least partially about tarot, and I was excited about this because I love her books and obviously am interested in tarot.

The book takes place in the time of Joan of Arc (early 1400's). Within the first 15 pages, the author describes in detail the imagery of the standard RWS Hanged Man. I was under the impression that The Hanged Man was originally a RWS card, which would mean that this card wasn't in existence until MUCH later, and that the author's historical accuracy is quite off. But then, I am rather new to this and could be mistaken, so I am asking those of you who know more than I do to clarify this for me!

Thanks in advance :)
 

Zephyros

I don't know what deck the card first appeared, but the Hanged Man is not an RWS innovation (I don't think the RWS innovated on the Majors that much, other than their placement, but I could be wrong), it appears at least in the Marseilles decks, as Le Pendu. There have been discussions here where he is named a "Traitor" as in being hung upside down to be humiliated and things thrown at him.

Probably others who know more about Tarot history will be able to tell you more, though.
 

PathWalker

A man hanging upside down by one foot appears in the earliest known sets of painted cards, so that's from one of the states that now make up Italy, and we see dates suggested of 1440 onwards.

Your author may have used a little poetic licence to suggest cards much earlier, and in France, although lack of evidence is not, of course, to say it could not be so.

Enjoy the book though.

Pathwalker
 

Melisandre

I don't know what deck the card first appeared, but the Hanged Man is not an RWS innovation (I don't think the RWS innovated on the Majors that much, other than their placement, but I could be wrong), it appears at least in the Marseilles decks, as Le Pendu. There have been discussions here where he is named a "Traitor" as in being hung upside down to be humiliated and things thrown at him.

Probably others who know more about Tarot history will be able to tell you more, though.

A man hanging upside down by one foot appears in the earliest known sets of painted cards, so that's from one of the states that now make up Italy, and we see dates suggested of 1440 onwards.

Your author may have used a little poetic licence to suggest cards much earlier, and in France, although lack of evidence is not, of course, to say it could not be so.

Enjoy the book though.

Pathwalker

Thank you both! This clears it up for me, although Pathwalker is right, it does still seem a bit early. The author does make a point of referring to them as playing cards, however, so that might make a bit more sense of things. In any case, I'm glad to see that the author, who I looove, wasn't off as much as I thought :p Thanks for helping out a newbie!
 

Huck

Thank you both! This clears it up for me, although Pathwalker is right, it does still seem a bit early. The author does make a point of referring to them as playing cards, however, so that might make a bit more sense of things. In any case, I'm glad to see that the author, who I looove, wasn't off as much as I thought :p Thanks for helping out a newbie!

The "Hanging Man" symbol was used for Traitors earlier than Joan d'Arc. Famous is the story, that Muzio Attendola, father of Francesco Sforza, was attacked with such a shame picture by pope John XXIII. This should have happened 1412. The earliest extant Trionfi card with Hanging Man is considered to be from c. 1452. An earlier painted Hanging Man appeared on a fresco in a church in Bologna (c. 1410).
Pictures at ..
http://www.letarot.it/page.aspx?id=124&lng=ENG
... use the "figura" links