Divination With Cards in 1540

Due to another thread that was interesting and quite off topic for Amaya and her question- the topic of Divination with cards was most interestingly discussed.
My Goodness me! Here is some proof earlier than Casanova.

From the bibliography in Stuart R. Kaplan's Tarot Classic 1972 (Origin and development of Tarot cards and guide to Tarot Classic Deck)

"Marcolini, Francesco. _Le Sorti di Francesco Marcolini da Forli, intitulate
Giardino di Pensieri, allo Illustrissimo Signore Hercole Estense, Duca di
Ferrar_. Venice. 1540. Illustrated. Text in Italian.
One of the earliest known books employing cards for divination. Contains
99 woodcuts. Depicts the suit of deniers. Questions are answered
depending upon a kind of oracular triplet to which one is directed based
upon the drawing of one or two cards. A second edition was published in
1550."

Here is a quote about it from Wendy Thompson
Department of Drawings and Prints, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In the mid-sixteenth century, Francesco Marcolini da Forli, renowned for his typography and his fine printing, was one of the most important publishers. Marcolini had a particular interest in architecture; he composed treatises on clocks and on engineering, designed a much-praised wooden bridge in Venice, and published a number of architectural texts, including the early editions of Sebastiano Serlio's Regole generali and Il terzo libro and, in 1556, Daniel Barbaro's splendid edition of Vitruvius, illustrated in large part by Palladio . Marcolini is perhaps best known for his fortune-telling book of 1540, Le Sorti, one of the most fascinating publications of the sixteenth century. This book was the third of its kind, and can be seen as a response to an equally lavish picture-book/fortune-telling game devised by Sigismondo Fanti of Ferrara and published by the Giunta in Venice fourteen years earlier . Whereas Fanti's book required the use of dice to learn one's fortune, Marcolini's was designed to work with a pack of cards. The rhyming responses to the list of questions in Marcolini's Le Sorti were penned by the well-known Renaissance poet Lodovico Dolce, one of several authors with whom Marcolini enjoyed a close friendship. Foremost among these was Pietro Aretino, whose writings, prior to 1547—when the publisher traveled to Cyprus—were all issued by Marcolini. As a leading member of the informal association of artists and writers known as the Accademia dei Pellegrini, Marcolini also had close ties with the painters Titian, Tintoretto, Giuseppe Porta, and Francesco Salviati, and the engraver Enea Vico. Salviati provided designs for woodcuts in at least two of Marcolini's publications, Le Sorti and Aretino's Life of the Virgin of 1539. Another book by Aretino, the Stanze, published by Marcolini in 1537, contains an unusual frontispiece in the form of a chiaroscuro woodcut that is usually attributed to Titian.

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It is interesting to note that Marcolini was a Catholic.
~Rosanne

There are several threads that include posts on the subject of Marcolini that might be of interest, this one includes several links to others:

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=63206&page=1&pp=10&highlight=marcolini

Marco has produced a page on the subject for Tarotpedia:

http://www.tarotpedia.com/wiki/Marcolini,_Francesco

There are also the late 15th and early 16th century German Losbuchs that used cards.

Kwaw

"Gambling houses" did exist in medieval Europe as early as the 13th
century. (I mean *legal* gambling houses. Illegal ones have been in
existence for centuries.) Gambling houses were made legal in Castile in
1276 by King Alfonso El Sabio (the one who compiled the famous Book of
Games, 1283). Such houses were also opened in many Northern-Italian cities
between c.1250 and 1400, until Bernardino of Sienna started his fight
against them. There were public gambling houses in some German cities
(Mainz, Frankfurt), and the Burgundian Low Countries - what is now Belgium
and the Netherlands - had authorized gambling places.

On the contrary the kingdoms of France and England had laws against all
forms of gambling, and an ordinance was passed by Louis IX of France
against the making of dice and the places were dice were played.

There were not so many many gambling games to be played there: dice games,
'quackboard' (English) or 'dringuet' (French) (rolling the dice into a
chessboard and betting on black/white). Playing cards did not become
popular before the end of the 14th century. Loteries are later.

The medieval gambling houses had different names according to the local
languages: they were called 'tafurerias' in Castilian, 'baratterie' in
Italian, 'brelans' in French, 'Spielhäuser' in German, 'dobbelen schoole'
("schools of dice") in Dutch.

There are publications which deal with gambling in the Middle Ages, but
none in English.
Thierry Depaulis

Now it was Bernadino of Sienna that was one reason many edicts and ordinances against gambling came about- not Divination practice. Bernadino preached against gambling from about 1420 all around Italy and further afield. and this is said about this campaign

He would castigate vice and then hold up a placard with the sign of the name of Jesus, "IHS," written on it, urging the congregation to turn to the one symbolized by those letters. People became so enthused that they even had IHS painted on houses. Throughout Italy people spoke of the wonderful benefits of his preaching. Once a man whose livelihood came from making playing cards complained that Bernardino had so successfully fought against gambling that the trade was ruined. Bernardino gave him a new, even more profitable trade, printing cards with the sign IHS.

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At the same time the Catholic Church began to respond to the pressures both of the multiple heresies that had spread throughout southern France and northern Italy and the challenge of Protestantism. As Martin Luther emphasized the direct participation of the laity in the divine and the importance of the sermon, the monastic orders, in particular, needed to be reformed. Instead of remaining cloistered and speaking only the liturgy, some, like Bernardino of Siena, attempted to preach directly to the public. The effect was both to stem the inroads of Protestant evangelism and to make the populace more aware of orthodox dogma. So edicts against gambling- not Divination were the order of the day. The Church had made him a Saint in 1450- he was the Patron Saint of Gambling addictions- what else could the Church do? Gambling was thought to have contributed, by its immorality to the Plague and other misfortunes. Personal prophecy was not the issue.~Rosanne

Thanks Kwaw!
I am trying to indicate that sermons against Cards were directed at Gambling- not Divination- because preachers and ordinances did not mention 'fortune telling/divination- it is not an indication that the cards were not used this way.
There are indications that divination was used to decide which pilgrimage to go on by the drawing/reading of images on cards. I guess they would be called postcards today. ~Rosanne

Rosanne said:

There are indications that divination was used to decide which pilgrimage to go on by the drawing/reading of images on cards.

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To journey through 'locations' in a 'book of fate' to one's final arrival at the 'oracle' was also treated as a type of 'imagined pilgrimage', in imitation of ancient pilgrimages to the sites of oracles.

On pilgrimage as an imagined journey, with some interesting notes also on medieval monastic 'books of fate' and the use of 'astrolabe like' volvelle's in such, see for example Imagined Pilgrimage in the Maps of Mathew Paris by Daniel Connolly:

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-58926046.html

If you have problems with that link try:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0422/is_4_81/ai_58926046

Or 'if you have JSTOR access it is also available through their gateway:

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0004-3079(199912)81:4<598:IPITIM>2.0.CO;2-0

Kwaw

There was an exampler written by a wealthy Frenchman for his 15 year old orphan bride- known as The Menagiers Wife it is known as as A Paris Housewife in the 14th Century written 1392-1394. It is divided into sections, about manners and cooking and all sorts of expectations on how the Menagier's wife would/should run the household- what she would wear, behave and look after him. It was a very big book. I would like to talk about one section, about pastimes. It was an area that was going to be larger but I am presuming the older menagier died before completing it.

Menagier's version of the story of Lucrece, when he describes the Roman
ladies 'some gossiping, others playing at _bric_, others at _qui fery_,
others at _pince merille_, others at cards or other games of pleasure
with their neighbours; others, who had supped together, were singing
songs and telling fables and stories and wagers; others were in the
street with their neighbours, playing at blind man's buff or at _bric_
and at several other games of the kind.'

In those days, before the
invention of printing had made books plentiful, medieval ladies were
largely dependent for amusement upon telling and listening to stories,
asking riddles, and playing games, which we have long ago banished to
the nursery; and a plentiful repertoire of such amusements was very
desirable in a hostess. The Menagier was clearly anxious that his wife
should shine in the amenities as well as in the duties of social life. (From the Author talking about the book)
The underlined word "wagers" is interesting because we think of this as a bet or a gamble. It meant more like a fortune telling than a bet. Wagers were when women took omens from images or devices and used them to foretell, for example the sex and time of a babies birth, or when a women would meet her husband or would a holiday be in good weather- much like we read Tarot in some cases. Everyday concerns foretold is called divination in one sense today.
I am sure such a diligent Frenchman was not talking about his wife gambling with cards- but wagering with them.
You can see this book on the web- it is very interesting window into French Medieval life.
~Rosanne
here is a site that talks about the book
http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/3/1/4/13144/13144.htm

Shortcut to a few of the books mentioned, with examples

I apologize, but it is easier for me to understand Roseanne and Kraw's postings, when I do see the woodcut examples in context, the way the museum presented information.

Kraw has the Metmuseum link posted, but not directly to Marcolini or Fanti images...Roseanne does quote the presentation, but I still needed the images to really grasp the information. I thought that perhaps the two page links posted here and the paragraph might be helpful as a shortcut to the illustrations.

Please scroll down to the second and third paragraphs

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/wivs/hd_wivs.htm

You'll also see Roseanne's quote and in addition, the illustrations cited on the page--which might be helpful to the discussion:

... Marcolini is perhaps best known for his fortune-telling book of 1540, Le Sorti, one of the most fascinating publications of the sixteenth century (37.37.23). This book was the third of its kind, and can be seen as a response to an equally lavish picture-book/fortune-telling game devised by Sigismondo Fanti of Ferrara and published by the Giunta in Venice fourteen years earlier (25.7). Whereas Fanti's book required the use of dice to learn one's fortune, Marcolini's was designed to work with a pack of cards. The rhyming responses to the list of questions in Marcolini's Le Sorti were penned by the well-known Renaissance poet Lodovico Dolce, one of several authors with whom Marcolini enjoyed a close friendship, etc....

But you also know Marcolini intended this probably as a game of amusement, I hope?

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/wivs/hob_37.37.23_av1.htm

By the way, Le Sorti was dedicated to Duke Ercole D'Este II (grandson of Duke Ercole I) of Ferarra... and by the 1540s to have a courtly game of rhyming poetry for the amusement of the D'Este family members probably was pretty understandable. After Boiardo's "Orlando in Love" of the 1490s and the continuing theme in Aristo's "Orlando Furioso," these poetic games might be seen as very much in keeping with the courtly mileau...hope this makes sense.

Anyway, this might help assist in context and be a shortcut to those who want to examine examples.

Sigismundo Fanti woodcut:

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/wivs/hob_25.7_av2.htm

Related...woodcuts in the 1500s...of interest might be Wheel of Fortune in Milan 1508 and Sigismondo Fanti's 1514 letterforms in a Venetian manuscript.
Fanti was listed not only as a designer, but also a mathematician and astronomer.

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/heavenlycraft/heavenly-16th.html

I can post this to the other related threads or delete this if it people feel this is redundant or not reasonable.

Regards,

Cerulean

Thanks Cerulean- that is great- especially the Games of Chance book. This could have well been in another thread to explain that first mentions of Divination were not in the 1700's. As usual you bring good sense and beauty. ~Rosanne

kwaw said:

There are also the late 15th and early 16th century German Losbuchs that used cards.

Kwaw

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Huck has posted in a few threads on the subject of Losbuch's, for example:

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=85351&highlight=losbuch

http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=1253807&postcount=11

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=81948&highlight=losbuch

See also Michael Hurst's timeline of cartomancy:

http://www.geocities.com/cartedatrionfi/Fragments/Cartomancy.html

Also I think Michael's detailed historical tracing of a famous 'card fortune telling example , the legend of Henry Cuffe, maybe of interest:

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=88767

Thanks for the links to Michael Hurst's discussions- especially the Pinkerton one. I also enjoyed the the possibility of Tarot in England. It explains something of my forebears interest in cards and the fact they bought them with them to the colonies. (I am talking about Tarot- not playing cards) I guess I am fortunate, that paternal ancestry was documented, by the fact that they were journalists and travelers who kept diaries and as far as can be told they were schooled in letters and script as far back as Guy Fawkes's time. I am reading at the moment 'Reminiscences in the life of a colonial Journalist' and note with interest in 1844 he payed one pipe smoking lady in Tasmania the sum of one shilling and sixpence for her Italian cards.(that seems a goodly sum to me!= 2 pounds sugar or an acre of land on the Mosquito Coast or the fine for a catholic soldier not attending a Anglican Church service when ordered to)
It occurs to me that much History that we look for is in these sorts of personal diaries (though this particular one was syndicated back to England and America) and has to come from the pen of those who could write (naturally) and were used to doing so on an informal basis like diaries and letters home.
Cerulean: Yes I do agree these 'divination' examples were games, I think more likely is the term 'pastimes' and in general were the domain of women in their homes and Gaming/Gambling was the pastime of men.
~Rosanne