Minchiate is an early 16th-century card game, originating in Florence, Italy. It is no longer widely played. Minchiate can also refer to the special deck of 97 playing cards used in the game. The deck is closely related to the tarot cards, but contains an expanded suit of trumps. The game was similar to but more complex than tarocchi. The minchiate represents a Florentine variant on the original game.
Florence is one of the contenders for the birthplace of tarot. The earliest reference to tarot cards, then known as trionfi, is dated to 1440 when a notary in Florence recorded the transfer of two decks to Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta.[1]
The word minchiate comes from a dialect word meaning "nonsense" or "trifle", derived from mencla, the vulgar form of mentula, a Latin word for "phallus".[2] The word minchione is attested in Italian as meaning "fool", and minchionare means "to laugh at" someone. The intended meaning may be "the game of the fool", considering that the card "The Fool", also called "The Excuse", features prominently in the game play of all tarot games. In tarocchini, sminchiate is a signal used to communicate to a teammate.
Popess from the Rosenwald sheet.
The earliest reference to minchiate is found in a 1466 letter by Luigi Pulci to Lorenzo de' Medici. However, this game was believed to be played by a 78-card deck as evidenced by the Rosenwald sheets, uncut sheets of Florentine tarots dated from 1480 to 1500.[3] There are two other differences from 97-card minchiate. First, in 97-card minchiate the sequence for some of the lower trumps goes from lowest to highest: Fortitude, Justice, Wheel, and Chariot. In the Rosenwald ordering it is Justice, Fortitude, Chariot, and Wheel. Second, the Rosenwald sheets contains the Popess as the second trump which is not found in the 97-card deck. In a Florentine song written around 1500, the trumps in a tarot deck were listed as almost exactly as the Rosenwald sheets with the exception of the missing Popess which likely means that this card was dropped from the deck by that time.[4] The song also ranks the other trumps as Fortitude, Justice, Chariot, and Wheel, which suggests it is a transitional stage from the Rosenwald sheets to the 97-card deck's order.
97-card minchiate was first known as germini, after the Gemini (XXXV) card, the highest of the newly introduced trumps. The earliest record of germini dates to 1506.[5] This deck was created by inserting the 20 new trumps as a single block between trump 15 and The Star, which is now trump 36. The new deck proved so much more popular that the 77-card deck ceased production and the older name of minchiate was transferred over to the larger deck during the 17th century. The game spread from Florence to the rest of Italy and France during that century. In Sicily, it was called gallerini while in Liguria it was known as ganellini but the rules used in these regions are lost save for cryptic references that they were quite different from the Florentine game. All surviving rules are derived from the type played in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Papal States.
By the 18th century, minchiate had overtaken the original game of tarot in popularity in Italy. Paolo Minucci published a commentary on the game in 1676, and the game is described in detail by Romain Merlin in Origine des cartes à jouer, published in Paris in 1869. It was also known in Germany during the late 18th century. The game was still played in Genoa in the 1930s, but its popularity declined in the late 19th and early 20th century.
The minchiate deck differs from other tarot decks in several features. The first and most obvious difference is that the trumps have almost doubled in number; there are 40 trumps in the minchiate, in addition to the unnumbered card the Madman, The Fool or the excuse. Minchiate uses additive Roman numerals for its trumps. Due to the large number of trumps, players generally called them by their number with the exception of the arie.
Suit Minchiate
Suit
English
Swords
Cups
Coins
Clubs
Italian
Spade
Coppe
Denari
Bastoni
Spanish
Espadas
Copas
Oros
Bastos
Minchiate decks come in two standard patterns, earlier and later, which coexisted for almost two centuries. Earlier Minchiate dates from the early 16th century or even the late 15th century.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] There are the four standard Latin suits of swords, batons, coins, and cups; these contain pip cards from ace to ten, and four face cards: a jack, a knight, a queen, and a king.[citation needed] In the minchiate deck, however, in the suits of cups and coins, the "knaves" or "pages" (Italianfanti) have been replaced by "maids" (fantine). The knights, mounted figures in the tarot of Marseilles and similar designs, are centaurs or sphinxes in many minchiate decks. The suits follow the Portuguese pattern with the exception of the batons which follows the northern Italian suit-system. This pattern died out around 1900.
Earlier Minchiate cards, 17th century, from Smithsonian Digital Collections
The Republic of Lucca produced their own version of Minchiate decks which were very similar to the ones used in nearby Florence but with several graphical differences.[7] Kings are seated under arches, knights are humans riding horses, all knaves are male, and the Fool is playing with a dog. This pattern died out in the eighteenth century.
The Later Minchiate pattern appeared around the early 18th century as a luxury edition.[16][17][18][19] In this version, the eight highest trumps lose their red backgrounds. Around 1820, this pattern was redesigned to give it a flatter, plainer appearance with changes to a quarter of the trump and court cards while restoring the red background to the high trumps.[20][21] This pattern survived in Liguria until the 1930s.
The trumps of the minchiate deck, and their corresponding Tarot of Marseilles and the de Poilly cards are:
December, November, September, October, August, July, June, May, April, March, February, January
none
(XXXVI to XXXVIII, but usually unnumberred)
La stella, la Luna, il Sole
The star, the moon, the sun
The Star, the moon, the sun
XVII L'étoile, XVIII La Lune, XVIIII Le Soleil
(XXXVIIII, usually unnumbered)
il Mondo
the World
the World
XXI Le Monde
(XL, usually unnumbered)
Le trombe
The trumpets
Renown
XX Le Jugement
Trump VII, La Fortezza
Later Minchiate (18th century)
Later Minchiate (19th century)
By comparing the Rosenwald sheet with 16th century trump lists, the Popess (II) was likely dropped in the late 15th century which shifted every trump above the first down one rank.[4][24] The Empress, Emperor, and Pope became the new II, III, and IIII respectively, the latter now wearing a secular crown as opposed to a papal tiara. Since the five lowest trumps were collectively known as the papi (popes), Love was added to this group after its demotion. The identification of middle papi was largely forgotten for centuries as players generally called cards by their number (pope 2, pope 3, etc.) French writer Romain Merlin (1869) is the only source that called trumps II, III, and IIII the Grand Duke, Western Emperor, and Eastern Emperor.
Minchiate is a southern tarot pattern so it shares many qualities with the Bolognese and Sicilian tarots as opposed to the western patterns like the tarot of Marseilles. While the Tower is called The House of God in the Marseilles tarot, it is called the House of the Devil or Hellmouth in the minchiate deck and it depicts a nude woman fleeing a burning building. The Moon depicts an astrologer studying the moon instead of the tarot of Marseilles howling dogs and lobster. The card corresponding to the Hermit is often called Time, or the Hunchback; it depicts an elderly man on crutches with an hourglass in the background. Like other southern decks, the final card in the series is not the World, but Judgement. The minchiate completes the series by adding all the zodiac signs (in random order) and the four classical elements.
The eight highest ranking trumps have a red background while the top five (the arie) are unnumbered. A 98th card was made for some decks.[22] It is a trump with a red background and is also unnumbered like the arie. It depicts a nude woman running in a wheel, probably representing Fortuna. While 98-card decks were mentioned as being played in Sicily during the early 18th century, only a few examples from Genoa survive. It is uncertain how this card ranked and how it affected the versicole sequences in the game. Also unknown is how it relates to the 98-card version of de Poilly's Minchiate described below.
Educational Minchiate
Educational decks were produced in Florence during the 18th century.[25][26] Instead of the usual figures and pips, each card would have text explaining a certain topic. One history deck has each suit teaching the history of Assyria, Persia, Greece, or Rome with the trumps teaching myths and legends. Geography decks contained maps of the known world.
De Poilly's packs
Momus as the Fool in the 97-card deck
French engraver François de Poilly (1623–93) produced a French-suited Minchiate deck in the late 1650s after his return from Italy. Each of the plain suits represent a different continent; spades for Africa, hearts for Europe, clubs for the Americas, and diamonds for Asia. The engravings share motifs with both the Italian Minchiate and the later Tarot Nouveau as well as taking unique motifs from Roman Mythology.[27][28]
The September and October cards are out of order, apparently in error. The eight highest trumps have a red background just like in the Italian cards. All trumps use Arabic numerals as corner indices while the plain suits lack them.
After his death, his son François (1666-1741), inherited his engravings. He should not be confused with his identically named cousin (1671-1723). Circa 1715-1730, he reused his father's engravings to create a copper-colored monochrome 98-card deck. Possibly out of ignorance of the original game, he rearranged the order of many trumps. Momus is no longer the Fool but a numbered trump card. The lowest trump is the newly introduced "Le Chaos". The resultant deck cannot be used for any known Minchiate ruleset.
He or another member of the family also reused the engravings to create a 78-card tarot set. It has 21 numbered trumps and Momus as the Fool. Based on the order of the two highest trumps, it is arranged like the Tarot of Marseilles.
Momus as the Fool, #1 Mercury, #2 Amor, #3-8 Virtues and Fortune (Hope, Fortitude, Fortune, Justice, Charity, Prudence), #9-12 Age (Old age, Youth, Adolescence, Infancy), #13-16 Elements (Water, Fire, Earth, Air), #17 Star, #18 Moon, #19 Sun, #20 Renown/Judgement, #21 World.
The de Poilly family's packs are the oldest know French-suited tarot decks, predating even the Animal Tarots that appeared around 1740.
Piatnik's pack
Mysterious French-suited decks produced by Piatnik of Vienna around 1930 also featured forty trumps.[31][32] It resembles the Industrie und Glück decks used for Central European tarock. Like the 54-card Industrie und Glück pattern, the plain suits consists of only 32 cards while the 40 trumps feature rustic genre scenes. With the Sküs (the Fool), the total number of cards is 73. Compounding the mystery is that the packaging is in French. Industrie und Glück type decks are not known to have a community of players in any French speaking country while the game of Minchiate is thought to have been restricted to only a few players in Genoa by the 1930s.
Game
Minchiate can be played by two to four players with the most common version played by four players divided into two partnerships.[22] The game, like other tarot games, is a trick taking game in which points are scored by capturing certain cards and sets of cards. As in most tarot games, the pip cards in cups and coins are in reverse order and play is counter-clockwise. The lowest five trumps were called papi ("popes") while the highest five trumps (Star, Moon, Sun, World, Trumpets) were called arie ("airs") and have a special high scoring value in the game. Minchiate is similar in many ways to tarocchini played in Bologna. In these games, combinations (melds) of cards are more important than the value of individual cards.
Cards
Points
Trumps 36-40
10
The Fool, Kings, and Trumps 1, 10, 13, 20, 28, (29), 30-35
5
Trumps 2-5
3
All others
0
The last trick is worth 10 points. Trump 29 is a unique card, by itself it is worth nothing but when used in combinations (versicole), it is worth 5 points. Versicole are formed through a sequence of three or more of consecutive point cards. In addition, there are four irregular versicole:
Versicola del Matto: Trumps 1, 40, and the Fool
Versicola del Tredici: Trumps 1, 13, and 28
Versicola delle diecine: Trumps 10, 20, and 30; or 20, 30, and 40; or 10, 20, 30, and 40
Versicola dei Regi: Three or four kings
All versicole have to be declared at the beginning of the game. At the end of the round, each team will assemble versicole from their captured tricks. Trumps 1, 3, 13, 20, 28, and 30-38 are considered valuable cards to capture or protect because they are required to form some versicole or to deny the opposition the same. The Fool can be added to every versicola.
The minchiate deck was also used to play two games that don't use normal tarot rules, Al Palio and A sei tocchi.
2-player rules
This is the simplest version of the game; it was not considered serious but only as an introduction to the more complex four player versions. Jetons are used to keep track of scoring. The dealer gives 25 cards to his opponent and himself. His opponent leads the first trick but instead of letting the dealer play, she declares any meld she has and scores. The dealer then declares his melds and scores. Each takes back their own cards and the dealer finishes the first trick. Players must follow suit. If they are unable to do so, they must play a trump. If unable to play a trump, then any card can be discarded. The winner of each trick immediately scores from the captured cards and leads to the next trick.
The Fool excuses the player from following suit, it can neither capture nor be captured. The player gives a worthless card from his trick pile in exchange to his opponent.
At the end of the round, each player adds to their running total the captured cards, melds from the captured cards, and the last trick bonus. The player who has captured more than 25 cards gets a bonus point for each extra card. The two players then compare their sums with the loser having to pay the winner the difference.
In cartomancy
Although no divination system using this pack of cards ever existed in previous centuries, and because of this allegorical and cosmological content, in recent years tarot occultists have proposed systems of divination and cartomancy that use the minchiate deck. In Charles Godfrey Leland's 1890 book Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, an incantation is given that mentions the use of "40 cards", which are renamed in the spell as 40 gods who are being invoked to compel the goddess Laverna to do the caster's bidding.[33]Paul Huson has speculated that these 40 cards are the 40 trumps of the minchiate deck.[34] He has also pointed out that Leland's book Etruscan-Roman Remains in Popular Tradition (1892) contains a spell that is cast with tarocco cards,[35][36] to invoke Janus.
Related Research Articles
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The Tarocco Piemontese is a type of tarot deck of Italian origin. It is the most common tarot playing set in northern Italy, much more common than the Tarocco Bolognese. The most popular Piedmontese tarot games are Scarto, Mitigati, Chiamare il Re, and Partita which are played in Pinerolo and Turin. This deck is considered part of Piedmontese culture and appeared in the 2006 Winter Olympics closing ceremony held in Turin. As this was the standard tarot pack of the Kingdom of Sardinia, it was also formerly used in Savoy and Nice before their annexation by France. Additionally, it was used as an alternative to the Tarocco Siciliano in Calatafimi-Segesta, Sicily. Outside of Italy, it is used by a small number of players in Ticino, Switzerland and was used by Italian Argentines.
Tarot games are card games played with tarot packs designed for card play and which have a permanent trump suit alongside the usual four card suits. The games and packs which English-speakers call by the French name tarot are called tarocchi in the original Italian, Tarock in German and similar words in other languages.
The Tarocco Siciliano is a tarot deck found in Sicily and is used to play Sicilian tarocchi. It is one of the three traditional Latin-suited tarot decks still used for games in Italy, the others being the more prevalent Tarocco Piemontese and the Tarocco Bolognese. The deck was heavily influenced by the Tarocco Bolognese and the Minchiate. It is also the only surviving tarot deck to use the Portuguese variation of the Latin suits of cups, coins, swords, and clubs which died out in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Tarocco Bolognese is a tarot deck found in Bologna and is used to play tarocchini. It is a 62 card Italian suited deck which influenced the development of the Tarocco Siciliano and the obsolete Minchiate deck.
Industrie und Glück is a pattern of French suited playing cards used to play tarock. The name originates from an inscription found on the second trump card. This deck was developed during the nineteenth century in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The earliest known examples were made in Vienna in 1815. After the collapse of the empire in World War I, it remained the most widely used tarot deck in Central Europe and can be found throughout the former parts of the empire.
Scarto is a three player trick-taking tarot card game from Piedmont, Italy. It is a simple tarot game which can serve as an introduction to more complex tarot games. The name comes from the discarded cards that were exchanged with the stock, which is also the origin of the name for the Skat card game.
The Fool is one of the 78 cards in a tarot deck. In tarot card reading, it is one of the 22 Major Arcana, sometimes numbered as 0 or XXII. However, in decks designed for playing traditional tarot card games, it is typically unnumbered, as it is not one of the 21 trump cards and instead serves a unique purpose by itself.
↑ Fara, Rudolf and Salles, Maurice (2006) An interview with Michael Dummett: from analytical philosophy to voting analysis and beyond. Social Choice and Welfare, 27 (2). pp. 347-364. ISSN 1432-217X
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