DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28460#0022
6
Earljj German and Flemish Woodcuts.
1. Use of
playing-cards.
2. Habit of
going on
pilgrimages.
It has been explained by two facts in tlie social life of the time, the
popnlarity of card-playing and the popularity of pilgrimages.
The earliest authentic date for the introduction of playing-cards
into any part of Germany is 1377.1 There, as in other parts of Europe,
the vice of gambEng became so rife towards the close of the xiy century
that cards were prohibited in many places, as at Nuremberg, 1380-
1384, at Ulm, 1397, at Augsburg, 1400,1403, and 1406. Card-playing
remained iilegal at Eordlingen till 1440. The earliest playing-cards,
no doubt, were painted, and the people who manufactured them
continued throughout the xv and xvi centuries to be called
“ Kartenmaler ” or “ Kartenmacher,” never “ Ivartendrucker.”2 But
considering the enormous popularity of cards at the end of the xiv
century, and the fact recorded by Eelix Eabri in his “ Descriptio
Suevise ” that they were manufactured in such quantities at Ulm that
they were exported “to Italy, Sicily, and tlie fartliest isles of the
sea,” it is probable that a mechanical process of making them was
introduced quite early. This, however, remains a mere conjecture,
for there is no documentary evidence of the existence of printed
playing-cards earlier than 1441, when the Signoria of Yenice forbade
the importation of foreign printed pictures and cards (“ carte e figure
stampide ”). “ Kartenmodel ” (blocks for printing cards) were among
the offerings collected about the middle of the xv century for the
building of Ulm Minster. No extant woodcut playing-cards seem to
be older than about 1460. Herr W. L. Schreiber believes three cards
in the Ottingen-Wallerstein collection at Maihingen to be the oldest
specimens.3
There is no doubt, however, tliat religious woodcuts of a much
earlier date than tlxis liave been preserved in considerable quantities,
for the most part owing to the accident of their having been pasted
into the covers of books. These religious woodcuts were produced
chiefly for distribution to pilgrims at popular shrines. The practice
of going on pilgrimages was frequent in the xiv century, but
1 B.M. Eg. MS. 2419. See Atheneeum, Jan. 19, 1S7S. pp. S7-S. Archxologia, 1900,
lvii, pp. 189, 195.
2 Four card-makers are recorded by name at Nuremberg in tbe first balf of the xv
century, in 1438, 1438, 1441, and 1445. At Augsburg the “ Kartenmaler ” formed a
separate guild as early as 1418 At a later date “ Kartenmaler ” seems to be hardly
distinguishable from “ Briefmaler”; at least, if the crafts remained distinct, they were
often exercised by the same persons.
3 The anecdote quoted by Hckreiber about St. Bernardino of Siena, though its
authenticity may not be above suspicion,isof interest as suggestiug tliatthe professioual
manufacture of playing-cards preceded the professional manufacture of religious cuts.
The saint is said to liave preached on May 5, 1423, agaiust card-playing with such
eft'ect that his liearers burnt their cards and renounced playing. Then a card-maker
asked the preackcr, “ How shall I earn my livelihood heuceforth ? ” The saint took a
piece of paper, drew the sacred monogram upon it, and said, “Make pictures like this.”
Earljj German and Flemish Woodcuts.
1. Use of
playing-cards.
2. Habit of
going on
pilgrimages.
It has been explained by two facts in tlie social life of the time, the
popnlarity of card-playing and the popularity of pilgrimages.
The earliest authentic date for the introduction of playing-cards
into any part of Germany is 1377.1 There, as in other parts of Europe,
the vice of gambEng became so rife towards the close of the xiy century
that cards were prohibited in many places, as at Nuremberg, 1380-
1384, at Ulm, 1397, at Augsburg, 1400,1403, and 1406. Card-playing
remained iilegal at Eordlingen till 1440. The earliest playing-cards,
no doubt, were painted, and the people who manufactured them
continued throughout the xv and xvi centuries to be called
“ Kartenmaler ” or “ Kartenmacher,” never “ Ivartendrucker.”2 But
considering the enormous popularity of cards at the end of the xiv
century, and the fact recorded by Eelix Eabri in his “ Descriptio
Suevise ” that they were manufactured in such quantities at Ulm that
they were exported “to Italy, Sicily, and tlie fartliest isles of the
sea,” it is probable that a mechanical process of making them was
introduced quite early. This, however, remains a mere conjecture,
for there is no documentary evidence of the existence of printed
playing-cards earlier than 1441, when the Signoria of Yenice forbade
the importation of foreign printed pictures and cards (“ carte e figure
stampide ”). “ Kartenmodel ” (blocks for printing cards) were among
the offerings collected about the middle of the xv century for the
building of Ulm Minster. No extant woodcut playing-cards seem to
be older than about 1460. Herr W. L. Schreiber believes three cards
in the Ottingen-Wallerstein collection at Maihingen to be the oldest
specimens.3
There is no doubt, however, tliat religious woodcuts of a much
earlier date than tlxis liave been preserved in considerable quantities,
for the most part owing to the accident of their having been pasted
into the covers of books. These religious woodcuts were produced
chiefly for distribution to pilgrims at popular shrines. The practice
of going on pilgrimages was frequent in the xiv century, but
1 B.M. Eg. MS. 2419. See Atheneeum, Jan. 19, 1S7S. pp. S7-S. Archxologia, 1900,
lvii, pp. 189, 195.
2 Four card-makers are recorded by name at Nuremberg in tbe first balf of the xv
century, in 1438, 1438, 1441, and 1445. At Augsburg the “ Kartenmaler ” formed a
separate guild as early as 1418 At a later date “ Kartenmaler ” seems to be hardly
distinguishable from “ Briefmaler”; at least, if the crafts remained distinct, they were
often exercised by the same persons.
3 The anecdote quoted by Hckreiber about St. Bernardino of Siena, though its
authenticity may not be above suspicion,isof interest as suggestiug tliatthe professioual
manufacture of playing-cards preceded the professional manufacture of religious cuts.
The saint is said to liave preached on May 5, 1423, agaiust card-playing with such
eft'ect that his liearers burnt their cards and renounced playing. Then a card-maker
asked the preackcr, “ How shall I earn my livelihood heuceforth ? ” The saint took a
piece of paper, drew the sacred monogram upon it, and said, “Make pictures like this.”