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DR. ROBERTO'NEILL

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ICONOLOGYOF TAROT

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INTRODUCTION
by Dr. RobertO'Neill

"The first function of history is to open our minds to the infinite wealth of
possibleworlds and to help us to understand that our own view, whatever it may
be, is precarious,limited, and open to sudden and radical change."(Russell l9S4
p.LZ).
The primary purpose of this seriesof essaysis to provide evidence that the Tarot
originated in northern Italy in the 15th century. This was the intellectual,
cultural, and religious milieu within which the Tarot was invented. The
fundamental evidence offered here is the images themselves.No earlier period
and no other geographic venue can claim the wealth of visual evidence rhat is
presentedhere.
We do not know what the first Tarot deck looked like. Given that simple fact,
there is no rationale for giving special weight to one or another of the surviving
hand.painted and woodblock printed decks. So for presenr purposes we will
consider all of the oldest decks that are available through the efforts of Stuart
'SUe
Kaplan (1,978,1986).
will look for contemporaryimagerythat resemblesall or
most of the surviving Tarot cards.
'!7e

do not know the original ordering of the Tarot cards. Dummett (1980) argues
that the surviving decks and contemporary documents fall into three major types.
For present purposes we will follow the Type B ordering. This ordering, which
differs from the familiar Tarot de Marseille numbering, appearsto have the best
documentary credentials for being the oldest arrangement. As we examine the
individual cards, we will find that the Type B ordering is also recommended by
the iconology of the Tarot symbols themselves.

The primary source of the imagery appearsto be the religious art that surrounded
the card-playerin every church, public building, and ptazza.Much of religious art
was deliberately allegorical and symbolic providing visual reinforcement for the
Church's moral message.Davidson (1989) shows this visual education carried
over into costumes and charactersin the 15th century morality plays. There can
be little doubt that the card-playerswere inundated with this imagery and its
significance.
In addition to the general religious and secular art of the period, there appear ro
be four parallel artistic traditions that were drawn upon as sourcesfor the Tarot

imagery.The relationship betweenthe early Tarot and illustrations of Dante's


Divine Comedyis consideredin a separate
article.
Moakley (1966) suggesteda second source in the epic poem "I Trionfi" by
Petrarch.\7e will deal with the details of Moakley'shypothesis in a separatearticle
but the artistic tradition will be considered here. The triumphal tradition actually
begins with Prudentius' "Psychomachia"in the 5th century which was preservedin
a number of illustrated manuscript from the 9th to the 13th centuries
(Katzenellenbogen1939). Sticca (1990) points out that there were a number of
other works based on the triumphal theme that preceded Petrarch. But Petrarch's
popular poem was the immediate stimulus for the artistic tradition in the 14th
and 15th centuries(Dodge 1990, Charney 1990, Eisenbichlerand Iannucci 1990.
Paoletti and Radke 1997).
The basic outline of Petrarch's poem portrays the moral and spiritual
development of a person as a seriesof trumphal chariots carried past the reader.
Each chariot bears an allegorical figure such as Love, Time, or Eternity together
with an entourage of historic and mythic figures. The poetic imagery inspired
many artists to illustrate the allegories.There are literally thousands of examples
preservedin the museumsof Europe (Carnelli I97I).
The triumphal tradition produced images that resemble the early Tarot cards.
However, the triumphal tradition is not a complete explanation of the Tarot
symbols. Petrarch'ssymbols appear in a different order. There are Taror symbols
that do not appear in the poem or the artistic tradition (e.g.,the Hangedman).
There are images in the triumphal tradition that are not included in the Tarot.
For example,the triumph of Fame is usually depicted as a winged woman atop a
globed chariot ('STelch1997) drawn by elephants and doesn't resemble anything
in the early Tarot. There are also examplesof the triumphal artistic tradition that
fit neither the Tarot nor even Petrarch'spoem, e.g.,the triumph of Venus (Meiss
1970) and the triumph of Truth (Nyhoom 1990).
The third artistic influence that we will consider is the Dance of Death tradition
which appears to be related to the first few Tarot symbols. The Dance of Death
originated as poetry that captured the medieval obsession with death and
judgment. Each stanza of the poetry records the final conversation of an
individual as each is carried off by the figure of death. The sequence of
individuals follows the medieval social hierarchy from beggar to Pope and
includes both males and females (Duby 1980, Gurevich 19BB). The poetry
inspired an artistic tradition that often appeared in public places to convey the
obvious moral lesson.

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The fourth and final artistic influence that we will consider is the Apocryphal
tradition which appearsto be related to the second half of the Tarot symbols.As
pointed out by Betts (1998), the end of the world was another medievalobsession.
In addition to John's Book of Revelations (Collins 2000), considerable attention
was paid to the old testament prophets, especiallyDaniel, Zacheriah,Ezechialand
Isaiah. Reinforced by the prophesiesof Joachim and the Spiritual Franciscans(see
separatearticle on Catharism and the Tarot), a number of non-canonical books
were available including the Apocalypse of Peter, the Apocalypse of Pau[, the
Apocalypse of Thomas, the Apocalypse of the Virgin, and the Revelation of
Stephen (JamesL924. There were also descriptionsof the end times in Judaic
writings such as the books of Enoch and books of Baruch, the Testaments of the
XII Patriarchs, and the Assumption of Moses (Charles 1913). Through the
influence of religious art and sermons, the card-playerswould have often thought
of themselvesas living in the last days(Emmerson 2000).
Visual representationsof the imagery in the Apocalypse appear for the first time
in Christian art in the 4th century. Later there began a tradition of illustrated
editions of the whole book of Revelations. But long before that, themes were
extracted and blended into religious art, particularly under the rubric of the Last
Judgment (Kinney I99Z). Given the cuitural importance of the apocalyptic theme
and the many public illustrations of the tradition, the imagery was readily
'SUe
will find that the second
available to the 15th century designersof the Tarot.
half of the Tarot symbols appearsto be drawn primarily from this source.
In addition to attempting to locate sourcesfor the imagery,we will also attempt to
reconstruct what the early Tarot imagesmight have suggestedto the 15th century
viewer. No definitive interpretation is really possiblewhen analyzingsymbols from
another culture (Baxandall 1985). The best we can do is to suggestinterpretations
by attempting to place ourselvesinto the mindset of 15th century Italy (Marino

1990).
For present purposes we will attempt to view the symbols as a 15th card-player
might have done. The Tarot is an urban phenomenon and our card-playeris more
likely to have been an artisan or craftspersonthan a rural peasant.Our card-player
is a Christian though not necessariiy a great lover of the decadence and
imperialism of Rome. Nevertheless,the card-playersare immersed in a Christian
culture and aimost daily exposed to the symbols of Christianity in churches,
religious feasts,and the sermons of Franciscansand Dominicans. They had been
exposedto the same imagery and symbolism in popular dramas (Anderson t963,

Meredith and Tailby 1983). So although our card-playersare not scholarsor


theologians,they are familiar with the imagery and the concepts of their culrure.
It is important for the modern reader to realize that the 15th century card,players
knew that symbolic images had multiple levels of meaning. The details of this
concept will be developed in a separatearticle (seeDante and the Tarot). For now,
it suffices to realize that sermons had introduced them to deeper meanings in
Scripture and Dante had introduced them to the application of the principle in
poetry. So when the card,playerssaw the Pope card they knew that it not only
representeda portrait of the present pope but also had an allegoricalmeaning as
the highest spiritual estateof man.
But while the literal and allegorical meanings of a symbol are familiar to the
modern viewer, the 15th century card,playerswould have been familiar with t'wo
additional levelsthat have been obscured or rejected in the 21th century. The first
of these deeper levels is rnagical.Belief in magic was universal in the 15th century
(seeseparatearticles on Magic and the Tarot) and symbolic imageswere a part of
that magical worldview. Icons of the Virgin could perform miracles and the stars
influenced material life (seeseparatearticle on Neoplatonism and the Tarot and
Astrology and the Tarot). Astrological image magic was condemned by the
Church over and over again becauseits efficacywas believed over and over again!
The emphasisin this seriesof essayswill be on establishingthe foundations of the
early Tarot images in the artistic traditions of the times and the milieu within
which the designers and card-playersmoved and"lived. In that spirit, the reader
must remain open to the possibiliry that the 15th century card-playerssaw magical
levelsof meaning in the images.
At a deeper level, the 15th century saw a mystical level of meaning in symbolic
images. Imagery was used by preachers to communicate not just dogma but also
religious experience (Verdon 1990). Christ on the cross was not a stony
theological image but a human being in agony. Deep contemplation of the
crucifixion and sympathy for the person elicited a religious experience.Religious
imagery filled churches and monasteries because of a prevalent Neoplatonic
concept of the spiritual and mystical influence of art (see separate article on
Neoplatonism and the Tarot).
No arguments will be offered about whether or not the Tarot designers
deliberately placed magical or mystical implications into the Tarot symbols.There
is a glaring lack of documentation for such implications. Nevertheless,it would be
cavalier for the modern reader to dismiss offhandedly the possibility that the 15th
century card-playeroccasionallysaw these deeper implications.

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ICONOLOGYOF THE FOOL CARDS


by Dr. RobertO'Neill

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INTRODUCTION
Figure1 showsthe four intact cardsfrom the 15/L6th centurydecks.The
fool appearsin a varietyof guisesfrom the goiteredidiot with feathersin his hait
to the homelessman with bells to warn of his approach.In rwo cases,he is being
playedwith or tormentedby children. In all caseshe is carryingan objectta staff,
a branch, or a belt of bells. In rwo caseshe has a foolscapwith the ears of a
jackass.
In all caseshis clothingis inadequate.

There is a fifth image, a sliver of a card in the Caryifale woodcut sheet (Kaplan
7986, Volume II, p. ?.86),this shows a man walking to the viewer's right with a
staff and perhaps a pack on his back or perhaps it is a hat with chinstrap that has
been thrown back. He appearslessdisheveledthan the fools in Fig. 1 with a cloak
.STalker
(1984, fie.
and boots and looks like a medieval image of a pilgrim, e.g.,
76). The sliver of a card is shown in Figure 2. I have chosen to show this example
separateiy because of an interesting relationship with the Bagatto card that
appears to its left. Notice that the three-tiered pack (or hat) on the Fool's back
appears to be the same, or simiiar, to the three-tiered pack (or hat) on the
'SUe
Bagatto'sback. A relationship is also suggestedin another woodcut (1).
will
return to the interesting relationship benveenthese two cards later in the chapter.

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Imagesof the Fool were common in Medieval and Renaissanceartistic traditions.
Secular sources,such as Brant's "Narrenschiff' (BasIe,I49$ show the fool with
foolscap, crutch or staff, barefoot and with leggings falling. Images from this
sourceare discussedby Hind (1935)and an examplecan be seenhere (2).
A fool image also appearsin the "Tarocchi of Mantegna" as Misero (3). Another
secular image appearsin a " 1403 treatiseon astrology(Figure 3). Here the Fool
appearsas a disheveledlunatic, pointing up to the moon and under its dominion.

RELIGIOUSTRADITION
The Fool commonly appearsin general religious art. Giotto illustrated one in the
fresco of Foolishness,one of the sevenvices illustrated in the Arena Chapel in
Padua(1306) (4). The Fool appearsbarelegged,
with feathers in his hair and a staff/club that resemblesone of the early cards (Fig.

1).

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A typical Fool image appears as beggar in a 13th century illustrated life of John
the Baptist (Figure 4. The image shows the foolscap, cane, and bare feet.
Interestingly, this version
shows,not a pack, but a child being carried on the Fool'sback.

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The Fool often appearsin illustrated Psaltersbecauseof Psalms13 and 52: "The
Fool saysin his heart: 'there is no god"'. Figure 5 appearsin an early 15th century
psalteras an illustration of Psalm52. The Fool wearsan animal skin and carriesa
stick under his arm. A similar illustration showing the Fool dancing while the
king prays can be found in Davidson (1989, Fig. 4). Other examplesfrom 14th
century psalterscan be seenat (5), (6), (7), (8), and (9).

TRIUMPHALTRADITION
The Fool does not appear in Petrarch's poem and is rare in the Triumphal
tradition. The only example I am aware of appearsin the middle tier of imagesat
the Palazzo
Schifanoisin Ferrara,under the Triumph of Minerva (I476.1484) (10).

foolfigurc5
Moakley(1966) identified the Fool as a characterin her Petrarchianfestival.But
the imagerydoesnot appear.The only real possibilityis that the Fool representcd
Petrarchhimself - the non participant in the procession,that is occasionally
illustrated on a hillside in the background observingand learning. But this
identification seemsforced and really isn't justified by the imageryin the early
Tarot cards.

DANCEOF DEATHTRADITION
The Fool seldom occurs in the artistic tradition associatedwith the Dance of
Death. The only examplesthat I am aware of can be seen ar (11) and (12). The
rarity is likely due to the enigmatic position of the Fool in the Moral Theology of
the Middle Ages. The Dance of Death representsthe allegory of various estaresof
persons, forced to face the moral consequencesof their actions. But to commit a
serious moral evil, a person must be fully conscious and aware of their action.
Fools and madmen are like children and were not morally responsible. Their
exemption from punishment after death appears as early as 1Zth century tracts
(Gurevich t9B8) and was confirmed by the Scholastictheolosians such as Thomas

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Aquinas (Davidson 1996).The Fool was outside the normal 'estates'and could
facedeathwith impunity.

APOCALYPTICTRADITION
The Fool does not appear as a character in Revelationsand the image of the Fool
does not appear in the artistic tradition based on Revelations.

ICONOLOGICALANALYSIS
The Fool would have been a familiar and recognizablecharacter in the ciry,states
of northern Italy where the Tarot was designed. Living on charity and exempt
from the moral and civic obligations of other citizens, the Fool moved freely
through late Medieval urban society.Husken (1996) points out that as a stree?
person the Fool participated in religious,royal, and theatrical processionsjust as
postulatedby Moakley (1966).
The Fool frequently appears as a character in late Medieval and Renaissance
dramas. These plays provide a unique opportunity to analyzehow the Fool was
viewed within the society that produced the Tarot. In 15th century morality plays,
the Fool appearsas a charactercalled "Nought" who is subjectto derision because
he plays no attention to morality (Davidson 1989). In an early poem, "A Tale of
Three Score Fools" the Fools are under the patronage of Bishop Nullatensis
(Davidson 1989). In both these cases,the associationof the Fool with zero is
clear.
But the Fooi also appearsas a far more complex character. In some instances,he
falls inwith a trickster (Leslie 1996),an associationthatwas pointed outearlier in
connection with Fig. 7. The distinction is made between the 'natural' Fool who is
ignorant and mentally disturbed and the 'artificial' fool who is actually perfectly
sane, a sly trickster who pretends to be a fool (Happe 1996). This associationmay
help explain the juxtaposition of the Fool and Bagatto cards in the Tarot deck.
This was an associationthat the card-playeris likely to have seenbefore.
In the medieval moraliry play, the Fool who lacks discipline and morality is seen
as an evil example and temptation for the society around him. In a few
illustrations ( see Davidson 1989, Fig. 3), the Fool is depicted as the Devil. In
turn, the character Titivillus is acrually the Devil but becomes a sillv and comic

enigmatic Fool,/Devil
character that causes little harm (Gifford l97q.This
associationdoes not appear to have carried over into the Tarot.
In a i6th century morality play, the main characters find three ladders which
symbolize the three estatesr church, nobiliry, laboring classes- each ladder has 7
rungs. This shows an interesting parallel to the structure of the 21 Trumps, but
probably simply reflects the importance of the numbers 3 and 7 in the
numerology of the times. More interestingly, the church ladder has prudence as
its first rung. However, the character in play saysit is actually folly (Husken 1996).
Perhapsthis is another hypothesisto explain the missing virtue of Prudence in the
Tarot?
There is a second body of literature which does not bear directly on the
Renaissance image of the Fool, but on the combined Fool/Magrcian as an
archetypic image. Radin (1977) points out that the "trickster" appears as a
characterin ancient Greece,in Chinese and Japanesestories and in the Semitic
world as well. Most of the 300 native American ffibes, belonging to 7 different
language families, have trickster tales. Pelston (1980) discussesthe trickster
archetypein West African stories.The universaliry of the trickster, acrosscultures,
was the primary criterion used by Jung to argue for the archetypic nature of an
image. Jrrrtg argued that such images were produced by the unconscious rather
than being transmitted through cultural means(Jnt-tg195q.
Lindquist (1991) examinesthe \il/innebago legendsand developsthe theme that
'everyman'.A life symbol embodying the foolishness,spontaneous
the trickster is
wisdom, and human errors of everyone.However, the trickster remains very much
a religious figure. The tales are moral lessonson the pitfalls of maturation.
What becomes clear from the study of medieval drama and the archetypic myths
of the trickster is that the Fool,/Magician is, like all archetypic images,enigmatic.
The Fool is lacking in clear rational thought, but can surprise the wisest with
spontaneouswisdom. One is reminded of a modern Fool, Yogi Berra, who said
that if you don't care where you are going, "You ain't lost". The Fool is devilish in
the tricks it plays, but innocent of any moral consequence of the tricks. This
enigmatic character is typical of archetypic images.For example, the simple figure
"O" can mean both zero/nothingness and also can be a symbol for completion.
The essentialquestion is askedby \Uilleford (1969, p. XV)'
" \/hy is the fool, as bumpkin, merrymaker, trickster, scourge, and scapegoat,
such an often recurring figure in the world and in our imaginative representations
of it? WhV do fools from widely diverse times and places reveal such striking

similaritiesl\fhy arewe, like peoplein many other timesand places,fascinatedby


fools?"

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INTERPRETATION
'When

we take the archetypic image of the Fool into the environment of the 15th
century card-player,severaladditional aspectsof the image should be emphasized
'VTalsh
(Swain I93Z).
(1996) points out that the Fool, even the Fool supported by
the ducal court, was not an honored guest. He was given only table scrapsro ear,
often beaten, ridiculed and subjectedto the playful harassmentshown on some of
the earlyTarot cards(Fig. t).

The possibihty that the fool could do evil through ignorance was never forgotten.
But in literature and drama there is also a recognition that the Fool is also a
model for the hoiy (Happe 1996). The Fool was never given the glowingly positive
qualities attributed to the Tarot Fool in the modern period (Davidson 1996). But
there was alwaysthe reminder that the devout would also appear as fools because
of their rejection of society'srules (Saward1980).
HernAllen (I979) points out that "Fool" is a term used for the spiritual aspirant
in many religious paradigms including Islam and Zen Buddhism. The term was
used for some of the early Christian desert Fathers (Krueger 1996). The card.
player may not have been aware of these references,but was well aware of 1
Corinthians 4:10 ("we are fools for Christ's sake") and would have heard the
reveredSaint Francis of Assisi referred to as a fool (Green 1983). So although the
homelessFool of the streetswould likely have been the first impressionto strike
the mind of the ordinary card-player, it is also reasonable to assume that the
religious image was suff,icientlyfamiliar to have arisen as well.

THE FOOL'SJOURNEY
Modern interpretations of the Fool card often interpret this card as the initiate
setting out on a quest for self-development,the Fool's Journey. So the question
arises as to whether this concept could have been in the minds of the 15th
century designers.The answer,surprisingly, is that the proposal is quite feasible!
The concept of the religious pilgrimagewas, of course,a familiar one: rr...straitis
the gate and narrow is the path which leadeth to life and few there are that find
it." (Matthew 7:14). The card,playerprobably knew someonewho had journeyed

to a shrine or repository of a miraculous (i.e., magical)relic or icon. The venacular


epics of Dante and Petrarch were well-known examplesof the ignorant poet being
ro a sequential hierarchy of experiencesthat ied to wisdom. Dozens of
"*por.d
the 14th.1?th century epic/chivalrous poems feature a journey/pilgrimage into
hell (Turner lg93). Apocalyptic themes were assimilated into the grail quest
literature by the 14th century (Emmerson 2O0O).In addition, the image in Figure
2 looks more like a pilgrim than the typical Fool.
Even if the card.playershad limited accessto the courtly poets, they were certainly
familiar with the dozensof folk legendsof otherworldly journeys (Haas 2000). It is
beyond the scope of the present study to review these stories in detail and the
interested reader is referred to Gurevich (1988) and Gardiner (1989). These
traditional stories range from moral allegory to thinly veiled mystical journeys.
And we must agree that at least one of the l5/16th century cards (Fig. Z) show
the Fool as a journeyer.
The evidence is not strong enough to demonstrate that the theme of the Fool's
However, the theme
Journey played an important role in the design of the cards.
was a part of the cui1ure in which the cards were designed.Therefore, we cannot
dismiss offhandedly the suggestionthat a hierarchical pilgrimage or quest played
some role in the design and early interpretation of the cards.

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ICONOLOGYOF THE BAGATTO CARDS

by Dr. RobertO'Neill

INTRODUCTION
In the 15th century, the modern Magician card
was known as ,,Bagatto,,.
The five
surviving imagesof the Bagatto from the I5/l6th
century ur" ,ho*. in Figure 1.
All show a man standing or sitting at a table. They
wear a variety of hats, but it is
interesting to note one Bagatto wearing a foolscap.
This shows the connection
betweenthe Fool and Bagattothat was noted in
the last chapter.A similar image
showing the mixture of Foor and Bagattoimagery
can be seenat (1).
Two of the early Tarot images show the audience
that is being entertained.
Aithough it is difficult to seein some of the cards, three
of the flgur"esare wearing
the long, pointed shoes that were hlgh fashion
in the 15th ..rr,rry. The table
holds objects that range from balls and cups ro
dice and knives. In three of the
images,the Bagattoholds a wand.
Becauseof the table and the variety of objects, the
figures in Fig. 1 resemble
images of the artisan or alchemist, such as that
found in the 'tarocchi of
Mantegna'(2).

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Similar imagesof the artisanalso appearin

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of the planetsand
woodblock images
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(e.e.,^Hind
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table
at
a doctor performinga dissectionand a couple
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(alchemist?)
ba[s.A^ i*ug" oith" artisanasgoldsmith
glasses,

glassin the Milan


also appearsin stained
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tools,and
I48o)wherethe objectson the table includebowls,

(4) , (5), often bear a distinct


a ring. Contemporary images of the artisan
resernblanceto the early Bagatto card'

of 15t5 (Fig'
yet another image of the artisan appealsin an astrologicalwoodcut
the artist, Erhard Schoen' is known to
3). Figure 3 is primarily of irrt"r"rt because
have produced woodcuts for German
to find that entire woodcut
playing cards. Therefore, it is probably not sulpfising
early Tarot images'As a result' we
appearsto contain severalimagesthat resemble
of times in future chapters as images
will return to this same woodcut a number
tovers,wheel, hangedman and death all
that may be related to the emperor, PoPe,
implied associationof the Tarot image
appear in this ,i.rgl. nativity .ul"r,dur. The

images of
divination
may seem tenuous, yet other
the
with
magrcian/astrologer/diviner (6) do bear some resemblance to the early Tarot
image.
And although it may'lead to greater confusion than enlightenment, we must also
report an image of Jupiter from an early manuscript (Fig. 4). The image shows
Jupiter as emperor standing before a table with cups, discs, knife and holding a
scepterl
These imagesof the artisan, suggestingassociationswith alchemy and
astrology,show sufficient resemblanceto the early Tarot cards that one can argue
to an intended association.The statusof the artisan as a distinct "estateof man"
also seemsto fit the other estatesrepresentedin later cards. However, it is difficult
to argue that the images in Fig. 1 represent an artisan in his workshop, rather
than a street entertainer.

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The contemporary images of the street entertainer seem a closer fit to Figure 1.
For example an image of Bosch, known as the Magician (7), shows a man behind
a table playing tricks for the attentive audience and seemscloser to the early Tarot
images.Likewise, the 1573 image of the "Charlatan" by Van Leyden (Fig. 5) seems
closer to the mark with the array of cups, balls, and rods on the table. Another
example, (8) shows the mountebank peddling wares. Other contemporary images
shows the peddler as dentist (9) and there is even an image that implies that
Bagatto could be taken for a doctor (10) It appears that the available l5/16th
century imagery could justifii the idea of the Bagatto as artisan. But the imagesof

the magician or charlatan seem closer to the early cards in Fig. 1. The Bagattowas
likely thought about as a sort of street magician that could play a trick or fix a
toothachewith equal ease.

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RELIGIOUSTRADITION
I am not aware of any Christian imagery that represents the Bagatto. This is
probably due to the fact the theology of the times suspectedthe
"juggler" as being a magician. In a I?th century tract designed to guide the local
pastor in directing his parishioners,the question is askedwhether a 'jongleur'will
be saved.The answer is no - for they are servantsof Satan (Gurevich 1988). There
is also an Inquisition record of a jester who was accusedof distilling and selling
magicalcures(Ginsberg 1986).

TRIUMPHALTRADITION
I am also unaware of any imagery in the Triumphal tradition that correspondsto
the early cards in Fig. 1. One might argue that the street entertainer would have
been part of the spectacleenvisioned by Moakley (1966). One might argue that
the Bagatto might be viewed as Fool's guide who, like Petrarch'sVirgil, explained
the passingspectacleto the Fool. However, this interpretation seemsforced and is
not evidenced by anything in the early cards, Petrarch's poem, or the artistic
tradition associatedwith the Triumphs.

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DANCEOF DEATHTRADITION
Insofar as the early cards can be identified with the artisan, then this card can be
associatedwith the Dance of Death. The poems and illustrations include the
'estates
artisan as one of the lowest
of man' and is one of the first characters
danced off to their death. But if the early cards are taken to represent a street
entertainer and magician, then this figure does not appear in the poems and I am
unaware of any imagery that resemblesthe Bagattosof Fig. 1.

APOCALYPTICTRADITION
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The character of the artisan or street entertainer does not enter into the book of
Revelations and I am not aware of any imagery in this tradition that can be
associatedwith the earlv cards.

ICONOLOGICALANALYSN
The street entertainer was a familiar figure in 14/l5th century Northern Italian
cities. The same individual might juggle balls, sell medicines, extract teeth, tell
stories,sing, dance, and do some sleightof hand (Burke 1973). Mixed in with the
entertainerswere wandering holy men who preached. This same collection of
street entertainers could still be found in European cities in the late 19th and
20th centuries(Berouet and Laurendon I99r.
Although the entertainers were merely fficksters, their feats were often so
impressivethat they were thought of as magicians(Burke 1978, p.9q. Thus, we
shouid not be too surprisedto discoverthat the Bagattoimageof the 15th century
street entertainer eventually become known as the magician.
As we discussedin the previous chapter on the Fool, tales of the Foo/Trickster
seem to fulfill Jung's concept of an archetypic image (Eliot et al 1990). They are
enigmatic and cross-cultural. The specific examples of this archetypic myth in
which the Trickster is the artificial Fool (i.e., aware of the deceit) seem to fit the
images of the charlatan or joglar of the early Tarot cards (Fig. 1). Among Native
Americans, such tales can be found in the Great Plains (Goble 1996 anci the
Pacific Northwest (McDermott 1993). Similar legends exist in \7est Africa
(Bennett I99q and in the \il/est Indies (Hamilton 1997).It is particularly difficult
to avoid the archetypic nature of these legendswhen one discoverssimilar stories
in Hawaii (Thompson 199$ and Amazonia (Basso1987).

=.

INTERPRETATION
It is not difficult to imagine the 15th century card-player seeing the street
magician in the early card images.The itinerant mountebank was a familiar urban
figure. The'pentitentials (books written for parish priests advice them on how to
'cariagus'
handle sins that they might hear in the confessional)warn againstthe
or
juggler as a puweyor of pagan magic (McNeill and Gamer 1938). This homeless
figure was surely assignedto a low estateand yet had a degreeof skill and wisdom
(today we would call it 'street smarts') that the card,playermight have related to.
The images in Fig. 1 might have been seen by some as an artisan, particularly by
those card-playerswho were artisans themselves.The artisan as alchemist is also a
possible interpretation but unlikely to be the first association made by the
ordinary card-player.
In addition to being the lowest estates,the Fool and Bagatto also relate to the
archetypic trickster/magician. This characterwould have been known to the card.
player through folk tales and public morality plays. So the Bagatto probably also

elicitedthe idea of the wise fool, an entertainingjugglerand sleightof-handardst


- but with a deeperpracticalwisdom.
But perhaps the greatestinsight into the strangejuxtaposition of Fool and
Trickster may be found in the popular religious tracts. The Elucidarium was
written by Honorius of Autun at the turn of the lIth/l?th century.The intent
was to translate the complexities of orthodox theology into terms that the layman

could understand(Gurevich 1988). This "Catechism"was used by clergyfor


centuriesand was a major sourcefor instruction and explanation.In this popular
and well-knownwork, we find the Fool and Trickster as another dualiry of basic
good and evil: "Do jongleurs have any hope?None, for they are servantsof
Satan...Asfor madmen,they are like children and shallbe saved"(Gurevich1988,
ppI540. So it is feasiblethat the Fool-Bagattopairing is a deliberatejuxtaposition
o{ good/evil or innocence,/deceit
that might havebeenfamiliar to the card-player.
The Foolr/Bagattopairing also has interestingconnotations if one regardsthe
Tarot as representingthe Fool'sJourney.It appearsthat the first personthat the
Fool encounterson his journey is a street-wise
trickster/diviner/magician.

ICONOLOGY OF THE EMPRESSCARDS


by Dr. RobertO'Neill
INTRODUCTION.
In the early ordering (Type B) of the Tarot trumps, the Empress card appearsas
trump #2. \Uith the Empress card we move from the lowest estatesof man,
representedby the Fool and Bagatto, to the highest. In all of the I5th/f6th
century orderings, the next four cards are always found together as a group
though their numerical valuesdiffer. The quartet representsthe highest positions
that a man or woman can achievein the lay and cleric social hierarchiesof the
late Medieval and early Renaissanceperiod.

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Figure 1 shows the four surviving Empress cards from the I5/I6th century
period. The images alwaysshow an enthroned woman with a crown and scepter.
Such formal portraits of Empresses,such as Theodora (1) date back to Roman
times (Grabar 1968, fig.70I).In rwo of the early tarot cards,she hoids an orb and

in three casesshe is shown with a shield bearing the Black Eagle, the heraldry
symbol of the Holy Roman Emperor. In one image, the eagle is doubled, a
heraldry device resewed for the Emperor. In the other two images, the eagle is
single.headed. The Emperor allowed the use of the single,headed eagle as a
heraldrv device to certain vassals,such as the duke of Milan.

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As the highestestateof woman, the Empressfrequentlyappearsas an allegorical
in medievalmanuscripts
figure.For example,Venus is representedas an Empress
(2) (seealso,Seznec1953,Fig.61). In a woodcutof 1500we find the enthroned
EmpressrepresentingPhilosophy(Fig. 2). Here she holds books in her lap rather
than orb or shield,but the imageis still recognizable.
Other imagesshow the Empressas\fisdom (3). In an examplefrom 1556,she
appearsas as the personificationof Knowledgeor \Wisdom enthroned atop a
castle(Fig. f). The Empressalso appearsas the personificationof the female
principle in 16th centuryalchemicaltexts(4).

Iffiilost H*uruS

THE RELIGIOUSTRADITION
The allegorical use of the Empress figure continues into religious art where the
Empressis used as a personification of the Church (5), (6), (7) . Figure 4 showsa

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12th century example in which the crowned woman, catchesblood from the
crucifiedJesus.In this symbol of the Church, the Empressis enthroned on the
tetramorph,a symbolwhosefour headsand legsrepresentthe four evangelists
of
the New Testament.

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The most common religiousimagewould havebeen of the Madonna enthroned
as Queen/Empressof Heaven(8). Figure5 showsan examplefrom the Lateran
Palacein Rome (lZth cenrury).This imageis particularlyinterestingbecauseof
the wings of the rwo angelsstanding behind the main figure. I have often
wonderedif the angelwingsweretransformedinto the drapedthrone behind one
of the earlyEmpressimages(Fig. 1) and whether the angelwingswere eventually
transformedinto wingson the Empressherselfin later decks.

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Emffserflilrrc f;
Another image of the enthroned Madonna is given in Figure 6 from Pisa.Notice
that in this case.the image is enclosed in a mandalora. Additional examples of
this framing are given in Figs. 9 and 10 in the chapter on the \il/orld card. Further

examplesof the enthroned Madonna can be found in Ferguson(I954,Plate30)


and Meiss(1970,p. 59).
In addition to rheseimagesof the enthronedMadonna,there are alsoa wealth of
imagesof the Coronation of the Virgin. Examplescan be found
in Meiss(1951,Plates54-57),Paolettiand Radke(1997,Figs.1.41, Z1\, 3.22,
typically
4.17. 4.55),and Cole(1980,Plates7,8,13,33,36,40,66).Theseimages
show Mary and Jesuson adjacentthrones with Jesusplacing the crown onto
Mary'shead.The imagesdo not resemblethe earlyTarot asmuch asFigs.5 and 6.
the imageswere so common that the associationof the early
Nevertheless,
Empresscardswith the coronationand enthronementwasquite likely.

[NutrumfiilurpS

THE TRIUMPHALTRADITION
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The Empressdoes not enter into Petrarch'spoem. The closestreferencemight be


found in the Triumph of Love. Discussing the captives of Love, Petrarch honors
Caesar: "First of us all, is Caesar,whom in Egypt Cleopatra bound, amid the
flowers and grass."But the identification of Cleopatra with the images in Fig. 1
seemstenuous at best.
In the artistic tradition of the Triumphs, the Triumph of Love is often associated
'captives' over whom Love has triumphed.
with the illustration of the various
However, I am not aware of any imagery that shows the Empress as one of the
captives.
In some of the triumphal imagery, not directly derived from Petrarch, one can
find women representing Minerva or Venus enthroned atop a triumphal chariot.
However, the symbolic accoutrement associated with these images is quite
different from the early tarot images.

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THE DANCEOF DEATHTRADITION


As one of the highest estatesof humankind, the Empressdoes enter into the
Danceof Death tradition (9), though not in everyexampie.\7i11iams(1994,p. 89)
showsa woodcut of Hans Holbein the Younger("1518). The Empressis being
led to her graveby deathdressedasan old hag.

THE APOCRYPTIC TRADITION


The Empressimagemay be relatedto Revelationsl7:l "...awoman clothedwith
the sun, standingon the moon, and with the I7 starson her headfor a crown."
The feasibilityof a connectionis reinforcedby severalthings.First,the \Uoman of
the Apocalypsewas interpretedto be Mary by exegetesof the Church and this
would tie into the resemblancebetween the early cards and the enthroned
Madonna.Second,in the apocalyptic
literatureof the period,the final agewould
beginwith the formation of a new world order under the rule of the Holv Roman
Emperorand this would tie into the black eagleon the earlycards.

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The apocalyptic tradition contains a wealth of imagesillustrating Revelations 12:1


thatbear a resemblanceto the earlyTarot Empress(10), (11). Figure 7 is an early
(I?th century) example that shows the woman seated and with the sun behlnd
her, a crown o{ 1,2 stars and the moon at her feet. Figure B is a stained glass
window from the 13th century in which the crown of stars looks rather like a
papal tiara. Perhapsthe most impressiveof these imagesof the woman is on an
altarpiece 1437. The image is shown in Figure 9. In this representation, the
woman wears an eiaborate crown and the 12 stars can be seen floatins above and
behlnd rhe crown.

flflwr ff
tmnram
Other relevantimagesof the Woman of the Apocalypsecan be found in Meiss
16, 13th
(1951, Plate 164, 13th century)and in van der Meer (1978, Plate
-t245;
Plate
century;Plate60,-500; Plate67,- 1000,Plate75,1047;Plate108,
149,l5th century).

ICONOLOGICALANALYSIS

Images of the Empress, as the highest estate of lay women, were common in the
late Medieval period. Images resembling the early Tarot were used as
personifications of philosophy, knowledge, and the Church. An urban resident of

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Northern Italy could not fail to be familiar with the universal imagesof the
Coronation and the enthronedMadonna.
Mendicant preachers of this period, particularly the Spiritual Franciscans,laid
great emphasis on the coming Apocalypse. In the literature of the time, the new
agewould be marked by the rise of a great universal leader, usually identified with
the Holy Roman Emperor. Therefore, the black eagle on the early tarot images
might well have been identified with the coming Age of the Holy Spirit. So in the
context of the period, the associationof the Holy Roman Empress with the
'Woman
of RevelationsI7:I, would not have been as far-fetchedas it mav seemto
us today.

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INTERPRETATION
The immediateimpressionthat the Empresscard would have had on the 15th
centurycard-playerwas the highestranking woman - the Holy Roman Empress.
Indeed,the imageof the Empressis often immediatelyassociated
with the image
of the Emperor (12) The immediateassociations
would probably have been
maternaland benevolent.
Secondaryimpressionsmight have referencedthe many imagesthat the card.
'S7oman
playerhad been exposedto of the enthroned Madonna and the
of the
Apocalypse.Thesemight haveelicitedreactionstypicalof the maternalarcherype:
merciful,protective,loving.

ICONOLOGY OF THE EMPERORCARDS


by Dr. RobertO'Neill

u""\

Irnilnrwfisilfff1
INTRODUCTION
The Emperorappearsastrump card #3 in the typeB orderingwe arefollowing in
this essay.A number of examplesof the Emperor card have suwived from the
15/I6th centuries(Fig. t) althoughit is clearthat someof the imagesare copies
or adaptationsof others.A11of the Emperorsare on throneswith sceptetand orb,
though in one casethe orb is on the top of the scepterinsteadof being held in
the hand. Six of the 9 cardsshow the black eagle,the heraldry emblem of the
Holy RomanEmperor.

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The emperor was a familiar figure in 15th century ltaly. For example,the
Imperator appearsas one of the 'estatesof man' in the so-calledtarocchi of
Mantegnaat www.levity.com,/alchemy/mantegna.html.
Five images of " Otto III from the 11th century can be seen at
'-ingship \ 'nuscripts
www.ishi.lib.berkeley.edu'istory155/slidgs
)ttonians
There
also
are
images of
Emperor Frederick
www.dielegende.de'ilder exterq'arbarossa mit Soehnen.jpg

Barbarossa:

So it seems obvious that, first and foremost, the Tarot image would have been
recognizedas the Holy Roman Emperor.

'show
Someof the Tarot images(Fig. 1)
a crown that looks like the one usedby
Henric of Luxembourg in the I4th cenrury. This crown is shown at
www.levity.com lchemy rrdreaecrest.html.
None of the Tarot Emperorswears a crown that resemblesthe earlier,traditional
crown of the Holy
Roman Emperor which can be seen at
'mages
"inst
www.uno.edu
"nc
"own.jpg.

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Thus, it would be difficult to argue that the Emperor cards in Figure 1 were
producedearlierthan the coronationof Henric in the 14th centurv.
Hind (1835, p. 87) showsa woodcut of the Emperor on horseback.This image is
interestingbecausethe woodcut is a German playing card "I470. The image of
the Emperor can also be seenin the astrologicalwoodcut (Frg.7,1515) by Schoen
that was mentioned in the chapter on the Bagatto.As in the early Tarot cards,the
Emperor appearsseated,with a domed crown, scepterand orb.
Like many of the trump cards, the Emperor might be thought of as an archetypic
image. In this case, the image would be related to the 'father' archetlpe:
protecting, stern, wise, and just. Like other archetypic images, the Emperor was
used as a symbol or personification of a mythic god.

However,no one seemedto agreeon which god! In the 14th century,he appears
asSaturn (Fig.3). ln 1470he appearsasApollo (Fig.4) with the auraof the Sun
behind his head. And he also appearsin the 15th century as Jupiter (Fig. 5)
completewith black eagles.

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THE RELIGIOUSTRADITION
Although the Emperor was a symbol of temporal rule, similar imageswere used in
a religious context as well. For example, Emperor and Pope appear together in a
14th century image (Ragg 1907, p. 48). Images similar to the Emperor were used
to depict David as the great ruler of the spirirual kingdom of Israel (Figure 6).
This image of David from 1402 shows many similarities to the Tarot Emperor
with crown and scepter, canopied throne, bearded, and with his feet crossed.
Voelkle and L'Engle (1998, p. 141) show a similar image of David enthroned with
crossedlegs.

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THE TRIUMPHALTRADITION
The Emperor occurs as an incidental image in the artistic tradition based on
Petrarch. The only reference in the poem itself is the same as that we quoted for
the Empress:"First of us all, is Caesar,whom in Egypt Cleopatrabound, amid the
flowers and grass".This doesn't really fit the imagery of the early cards.
Representationsof the Emperor in the artistic tradition deviate quite a bit from
the description in Petrarch'spoem. Crowned figures,that don't resembleCaesar.
appear following along behind the chariot in the Triumph of Love. The Emperor
also appearsin representationsof the Triumph of Death. Typically, the chariot of
Death is shown rolling over a number of figures, including the Emperor.
Characteristic imagery will be shown in the chapters on the Lovers and Death
cards.

ffinsru firum$

THE DANCE OF DEATH TRADITION


;

The Emperor also appears as one of the rrestatesof man" in the dance of death
tradition. In a woodcut illustration o{ 1485 (see Death chapter, figure 5) the
Emperor is being led away, holding an orb and the double.headed easle of the

Holy Roman Emperor.\7i11iams(1994, p. 89) showsthe enthroned Emperor


with swordand orb beingcrownedby Death(- 1518).

THE APOCALYPTIC TRADITION

Hfi}Sru]fl$HffrI
The symbolic meaning of the Emperor in the Triumphal and Dance of Death
traditions is primarily the fallibility of man. If the Emperor, the highest temporal
state of man, is subject to love and death, then so must we all be. In the
Apocalyptic tradition, the Emperor plays a more important role and his fallibility
is taken an additional step since now he also appearsas a sinner. Figure 7 shows
the sinful ruler being subjected to the wrath of God. The image in Figure 7 is
particularly interesting becauseit shows the ruler in the same image with Moon,
Sun, Devil, and falling Towers. As we will seein numerous other illustrations, the
symbolsof the Tarot appear in associationwith each other. Saxl (I957, fig. 150)
shows a Durer woodcut in which the avenging angels are slaying both Emperor
and Pope.
The antithesis of the punished Emperor is also represented in the Apocalyptic
Tradition. For we also seeGod as the Emperor, ultimate ruler of all things (Figure
8, 1495), wearing the domed crown characteristicof the Emperor. Similar images
(Anonymous 1999, p. 67) show God as the enthroned Emperor (- 1373) with the
river flowing from the throne (ApocalypseTT:L).

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ICONOLOGICALANALYSIS
Looking across the various ways in which the Emperor image was used in the
I4/15th centuries we find a dichotomy. On the one side, the Emperor is the
highest temporal state that a man can achieve. The Emperor was seen as the
symbol of power, and perhaps even as divinely appointed, prefigured by David.
Certainly a paternal figure to be admired. The Emperor, like any other human,
could aspireto the archerypicmodel of God as divine ruler.
On the other side of the coin we find that even the greatestof men are fallible
and responsible for their sins. The greater the status,the greater the potential fall.
Thus, temporal achievement, wealth and power are seen to be secondary to
spiritual development.
There is also an esoterictradition that saw the ruler as a magical figure. His health
and masculine vitality maintained the fertiliry of the land and the power of the
kingdom (\7illeford 1969). Seznec(1953, Fig.3) shows a lOth century image of
Apollo Medicus - the enthroned Emperor as the wise medical doctor maintaining
the health of the empire in his own vitality.
In the traditions of the late medieval world, the magic of the Emperor can be
contrasted with the magic of the Fool. The Fool, the lowest estare of man, is
magicaibecausehe is outside the domain of conventional society.The Emperor,
the highest temporal estate, operates within conventional reality and by rising
above convention, becomes its magical foundation. This magical status is
representedin a 15th century alchemicaltext, the Codex PalatinusLatinus 4I7, as
the double headed eagle of the Holy Roman Emperor being hatched from the
philosophical eggwearing the papal and temporal crowns.

INTERPRETATION
The 15th century card,player would most likely have seen the Emperor as the
supremetemporal estateof man. This would have elicited a senseof admiration,
perhapstinged with jealousy.But in an age of belief, rebellion againsta divinelv
appointed ruler was not an option so the jealousy would not have been
overbearing.
The Holy Roman Emperor would likely have been seen as a paternal archetype.
The ruier-father was protective, stern but just. The Emperor was a magical father,
maintaining the good order and the fertiliry of the empire. As divinely appointed,
the Emperor symbolizedGod's order in the laic sphere:justice and order. Thus,
the Emperor was a spiritual symbol as well as a temporal figure.
The card-player would also have been familiar with the moral aspects of the
Emperor symbol. Even the highest estateof man was subject to human fallibiliry.
Even the Emperor was subject to death. Even the Emperor would be punished for
immorality. And if the Emperor cannot escapedeath and punishment, then
surely the card-playerwould be subject to the same human fallibility and the same
death and judgment.
Like the rest of western Christianity, the 15th century card-playerwas convinced
of the imminent end of time. The prophesiesof Joachim of Fiore had been widely
preached by the mendicant friars. These final times would begin with the
appearanceof a great temporal leader,a final Holy Roman Emperor. So it is likely
that the appearance of the Emperor card would have occasionally prompted
apocalyptic thoughts in the card-player.

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ICONOLOGY OF THE EARLY PAPESSCARDS


by Dr. RobertO'Neill

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The five suwiving Papessimages(card #4) are shown in Figure 1.
All of the imagesshow a seatedwoman wearing the triple papal tiara. Two have a
staff topped with a cross, t'wo have a bishop's crozier and the last holds a key, the
key of Peter as a symbol of the papacy.Three have a closed book in their laps arrd
one is reading from a book open on a reading stand. Two show a tonsured
assistantas found on some Pope cards.
There are a number of candidatesfor the source of this symbol. The Papessmay
represent Isis who, surprisingly, was very much a part of Late Medieval thinking.
Peter Comestor wrote an influential history of God's People in 1160 that
discussesIsis as the inventor of letters and writing. This book was very popular
and continued to be published into the 16th century. Isis also appears as a
compietechapter in the History of Jacopoda Bergamo(1483).And we should not
forget Plutarch's influential work: "Isis and Osiris". An image of Isis appearsin the
Appartmento Borgia in the Vatican (Figure 2). She is seatedon a
throne bet'weent'wo pillars with a veil stretched between them and a book in her
lup. Figure 2 shows a distinct resemblanceto the early Papesscards except that

imageof Isiswith the


shedoesnot wear a triple tiara. There is alsoa Renaissance
orb and horn crown (seeShumakerI97Z p.247).

g
fnffi*wffiilrr?ft
of Venus.
represents
Venus or a Priestess
A secondpossibilityis that the Papess
of Venus in chapter31 of Leon Battista
There is a figure of the High Priestess
Alberti's "HypnerotomachiaPoliphili" (1499). The image can be seen at The
ElectronicHypnerotomachia.
As with the images of Isis, the image at this site resemblesthe early Papesscards
but the priestesswears a bishop's mitre rather than the triple tiara.

The resemblanceof the earlyPapesscardswith Isis or Venus may be incidental.


They are simply imagesof a femalereligiousfigure on a throne and, therefore,
may not be the actual modelsfor the Tarot figure. But even if thesecandidates
werepart
are rejected,they do indicatethat imagesof a goddessor High Priestess
imagination.
and parcelof the Renaissance

THE RELIGIOUSTRADITION:
If the woman on the early tarot cards is thought of as an actual person, rather
than a symbol, then there are three possible candidates:Pope Joan, Manfreda or

M"ry.

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Pope Joan was an Englishwomanwho


allegedly entered a monasdc order
disguisedas a man' she rose in prominence
and was electedpope,only to have
her secretrevealedwhen she collapsedin
childbtth during u iro."rrion. The
legend was quite popular during the time
of the invention of the tarot, and
persistedfor centuries'For example,
she appearsamongthe historicalpopes
in
the 15th centurycathedralof sienna.However,
PopeJoanis ordinarilydepicted
in the act of givingbirth or holding_
her baby.eop" Joanresources
oniine include
Commonplacebook.com
pope
and
Joaninfo._urio.r.

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The imagesof PopeJoan are mostlyPost


Reformationand designedto ridicule
the Papacy' Unlike the earlyTarot cards,
the imagesinvariablyshow the infant.
In addition,the earlyTarot cardsshow
no hints of ribaldryor ridicule that was
associated
with imagesof popeJoan.

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Another possibilityis that the papessrepresents


Manfreda. Moakley(1966)has
called attention to a small heretical...t,
trr" c.rglielmites,which was activein
Milan about a centurybeforethe tarot cards
wers invented.They electedone of
their members,Manfreda' as pope (Newman
1gg5)!Manfredawas a relation of
the visconti family who ruled Milan and
commissionedthe earliesrsurviving
tarot cards'In that deck,the Papessis shown
in the habit of the Umiliata, the
order to which Manfreda belonged. However,
beyond the J..k specifically
produced for the visconti about 1450,
the local Miranese;h;;"-.non
of
Guglielmitesis unlikely to be the source
for the image on earlier decks,for
example'the 1447deckmentionedin an inventory
of the Esteestatein Ferrara.

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Yet anotherpossibiliryis that the imageon


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the earlypapesscards
tht,Mo:h.t.M1ty._Figure 3 showsan imageof Mary with a book in her

\Jr LIIC
IICACI
resemble the early Tarot images. However,
her crown is not shown as a triple
tiara.

;FrEues
J

It is also possible that the image on the early Tarot cards is not meant ro represenr
an actual person but is an allegorical symbol, like the women on other cards such
as the virtues. In this case,the Papessprobably representsMother Church.
Kaplan (1986 p.160) showsa reproduction of a painting by Vassarithat celebrates
the victory of Spain, Venice and the Church over the Turks. Here the Church is
represented by a female Pope, such as pictured in the Glossary Of Medieval
Architecture.
In most cases,the image of Mother Church is shown wearing a royal crown. Ar,d
although the image is often shown holding a cross as on the early Tarot cards, she
ordinarily also carriesa chalice(e.g.,Bynum 1995, plate 1).

THE TRIUMPHALTRADITION,
Petrarch's poem never mentions a papess and this card does not appear to be
related to the traditional imagery associatedwith Petrarch. The only remote
possibility is found in the Triumph of Chastity (line 746) where the processionis
described as passingby the Sybil's dwelling place. As we will seebelow, a Sybil is
another possiblemodel for the Papesscard.

THE DANCEOF DEATHTRADITION:


Since the Papesswas not an estateof man and probably didn't representan actual
person,the image does not appearin the Dance of Death tradition.

THE APOCALYPTICTRADITION:
The apoca\ptic tradition yields two candidates for the early Papessimage. The
first is the \Uhore of Babylon
often shown with a papal tiara (Figure 4). \Uith the triple crown and chalice this
and similar imagesseem to identifii the'S7hore with Mother Church. So Figure 4
may actually reinforce the hypothesis that the early Papesscards were meant to
represent the Church.
The early Papess image may also represent a Sibyl. The Sibyls were pagan
prophets who were believed to have predicted the Virgin Birth and other aspecrs
of Christianity. Although unfamiliar to us, the Sibyls (Figure 5) were an important

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part of iate medieval culture becauseof the Sibylline Books, the earliest dating
back to the 4th century. Cohn (1957, p. 33) points out that "...uncanonica1and
unorthodox though they were, the Sibyllines had enormous influence - indeed
save for the Bible and the works of the Fathers they were probably the most
influential writings" known to medieval Europe. They often dominated the
pronouncements of dominant figures in the Church, monks and nuns such as St.
Bernard and St. Hildegard whose counsel even popes and emperors regardedas
divinely inspired...From the fourteenth century onward translations began to
appear in the various European languages...these
books were being read and
studied evetywhere." Imagery derived from the books was widespread and
therefore available to the card-player. Finiguerra's "Picture Chronicle, - 1460
contains 99 images representinghistory and includes the Sibyls. Phillippus de
Barberiis"'Opuscula" (1481) has illustrations of the 12 Sibyls. The Sibvls were
common illustrations in prayerbooks and Books of Hours.

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The Sibyls were also represented in publicly available art. They are found on
French Cathedralsof the period. The church of San Francescodi Rimini (- I45O)
has imagesof Sibyls as does the Cambio of Perugia and the library of Pope
Julius
II in the Vatican. Sibylls are in the pavement of the Sienna Cathedral. They were
probably a part of the original floor plan (- 1400) and were executed" 1480. The
easiestaccessto imagesof the Sibyls is in Levensonet al. (1973). There you will
find, for example,the Sybil of Persia:seated,elaboraterobe, book in her lap, face
partially covered by a veil. An image of the Tiburtine Sibyl can be seen in Andre
(1996 plate 58). The Cumean Sibyl (c1448) can be found standing with book in
hand in Meiss (1970, p.I49). Imagesof the Sibyls can also be found at Classical
Mythology and the Sibvl Gallery.

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ICON O LO GICAL ANALYSIS:
yieldsa number of possibilities
An objectivesurveyof the contemporaryimagery
imageis the femaledual of
for the imageon the earlyPapesscard. Logically,the
Emperor' The logicaldual
the Pope,just asthe Empressis the femaledual of the
this simple logic does not
of the celibatepope is Mother Church. However,
excludethe other candidates'
necessarily
imageasan allegoricalfemale
The 15th centuryviewermight havesimplyseenthe
even as a sorceress(Gurevich
religious figure ,rr.h u, u Sibyllirr. proph.tessor
public places'
1988). Imagesof the Sibylswefereadilyavailablein
viewer was familiar with the
\7e must keep in mind that the 15th century
Papessdoesnot necessarily
allegoricaluse of a femalefigure. So the imageof the
popular drama, The Day of
imply that it representsan historical person. A
centurymanuscript(Emmerson2000)' The
Judgment,is knorvn from a mid-14th
in the popular culture'
drama illustratesthe common use of allegoricalduals
Thus' the Mother of Christ as
Essentiallyeverycharacterin the dramahas a dual'
the mother of the antichristrepresentedby the
Queenof Heavenis playedagainst
apocryphal\7hore of BabYlon'

INTERPRETATION:
It is clear that the 15th century card-playerwas familiar with imagesof a variety of
female religious figures. Therefore, the image of the Papessmight have elicited a
number of associaticins. The educated humanist might have thought of Isis or
Venus. The court of Milan would likely have seenManfreda.
The ordinary card-playermight have associatedthe Papesswith familiar imagesof
Mother Church, Mother Mary, or a Sibyl. Depending on the amount of wine
consumed during the game,one can easilyenvision a player drawing associations
with PopeJoan or a witch.
But whatever the specific identification, one underlying interpretation seemsto
emerge: a dominant female figure of spiritual power. Thus, the occultists'
transformation of the image into the High Priestessseems to be insightful.
-Within
the 15th century Italian culture, duality was a common allegorical ploy.
So the Papessmay have been seen as a female dual of the pope (e.g.,Mary or
Mother Church) or as an evil dual of the Pope (e.g.,\Whore of Babylon). But
inescapably, any reasonable interpretation seems to necessitate two concepts:
"female"and "spiritual power".

ICONOLOGY OF THE POPECARDS


by Dr. RobertO'Neill

p0sstrlglfrst
INTRODUCTION
Figure 1 shows the 6 extant Pope cards from the 15th and 16th centuries.As with
the Emperor, all of the figures are enthroned. The keys of St. Peter are shown on
three of the cards, claiming custodianshipover the temporal and spiritual world.
All of the figures wear heavy robes appropriate to the status of the Pope. The Pope
is crowned though he does not alwayshave the traditional triple tiara. On three of
the cards, the pope has the right hand raised in the traditional 3 fingered papal
blessing.
Only 2 of the early cards show the pair of cardinals or acolytes that became an
important feature of later decks.

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There is certainlyno lack of papal images in late medieval ltalian culture and the
card-player
would have immediately recognizedthe figure.

Some, like the 14th centuryimage in Figure 7,bear a distinctresemblanceto the


early Tarot cards. Figure 3 is from the late 15th century Borgia apartments of the
Vatican and shows the Pope and Emperor seatedtogether.
The pope is also represented in the so-calledTarocchi of Manregna, representing
the highest estate of"man. The card-playerwas also likely to have been familiar
with the public imageson the papal tombs (e.g.,seeRugg 7973,pagesZ,23,and

48).

The pope also occasionallyappearsas a symbolof the planetJupiter(Figure4).


Rare examplesof the pope as Aries also can be found but the identificationwith
Jupiter is more common.

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RELIGIOUSTRADITION

It hardly needs to be argued that images of the Pope appear commonly in the
contemporary art of the religious tradition.

But for the sake of making the imagery more widely accessible,it is
providing a few examples.Figure 5 is a woodcut from Ferrara 1478. Here
pope appearswith 2 cardinaland hand raisedin blessing.Notice that it is the
hand that is raised, a common error in woodcuts where the original carving in the
wood appearsin reverseon the printed image.A similar woodcut from 1476 can
be found in Hind (L945, p.261).

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Figure 6 is an imageof PopeMartin (1419-1421)from the Milan cathedraland


showsthe typical imagewith triple crown and papal blessing.Figure 7 (- 1470)
againshowsthe 3-fingeredblessingand the full,facepostureshown on 4 of the 6
survivingPopecards(Figure1).

TRIUMPHALTRADITION

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The figure of the Pope doesn't appear in Petrarch poem. However, like the
Emperor, the Pope appears in the artistic tradition associatedwith the Triumph
of Death. In Figure 8, Death in papal tiara appears riding a bullock. Although
there is no triumphal chariot, the bullock is traditionally associated with

representations
of the Triumph of Death. In this illustration from a 15th century
Psalter,Deathis shownwith bow and arrowaimedat ruler and pope.

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Figure B is clearly a mixture of the Triumphal and Dance of Death traditions. The
Pope appearsas Death itself, triumphant dispenserof ultimate justice. The pope
also appears as victim of death though he represents the highest estate of man.
Figure 8 is also interesting because,once again, it shows two of the Tarot svmbols.
Emperor and Pope, in the sameimage.

In other examplesof the triumphal tradition, we find the Pope fallen under
triumphant Death, e.g.,www.

DANCEOF DEATH
As the highestestateof man, the Popealso appearsin artisticrepresentations
of
the Danceof Death. In a 1485woodcut (seechapteron Iconologyof the early
Deathcards,Figure5) the Popeis beingled off by death.And hereagainthe Pope
and Emperorappearin the sameimage.
In a 1485 fresco(seechapteron Iconologyof the earlyDeath cards,Figure6) we
seeDeath triumphant with the Popeand Emperorat his feet.

APOCALYPTICTRADITION
In many apocryphal image of the Last Judgment, we seeimagesof Popesbeing led
off to punishment or reward at the end of time. The representationsare similar to
those of the triumphal and dance of death traditions.
Perhaps more interesting are the apocryphal scenesin which God is represented
as the Pope, as the ultimate and final spiritual power. Figure 9 (- I43Z) shows
God as Pope as a dominant figure in a representation of the Last Judgment. In a

15th centurypsalter,(Meiss7972, Fig. LFllv) God is representedwith a long


white beard,3-fingeredblessingand pair of keys.In this image,Justiceis shown at
the right sideof God.

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ICONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
The first associationof the Pope image is, plain and simply, the individual who
has been elected to this position. This is clear from the extensiveuse of the
traditional imageryon portraits, tombs, and public statues.As the first association
of the Emperor image would have been the Holy Roman Emperor, so the first
associationof the Pope imagewould have been the bishop of Rome.
It is interesting, therefore, that two of the crowns shown on the early cards (Figure
1) are not very accuraterepresentationsof the familiar triple tiara. It is possible
that the artist or woodcarver was simply cutting corners by drawing a simpler
version of the crown. But it is also possible that that the simplification is
deliberate.The triple tiara representedthe papal claim to jurisdiction over (1) the
Papal States,(2) the temporal world and (3) the spiritual world. In the northern
Italian city.statesof the early 15th century, when the Tarot was first designed,the
extent of the pope's temporal jurisdiction was very much a matter of controversy.
So the image with a single crown (Figure 1) may hint that the artist only
acknowledged the pope's spiritual rule. The image with a double crown might
acknowledge the pope's spiritual rule and temporal jurisdiction over the Papal
States,but not over the other city.states.
Beyond the obvious representationof the bishop of Rome, the Pope image also
was a familiar representation of the highest estate of man. This is probably the
reason that he so frequently appears alongside the Emperor, representing the
highest temporal estate.The rwo highest estatesappeared together so frequent\
that the 15th century card-playerwould not be surprised to see the rwo images

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juxtaposedand would not have seen the Tarot majors as independent


and
unrelatedsymbols,Indeed,the card-playermay havebeenexposedto a mixture of
symbolsthat seemsto blend the Emperorand pope into a singleimage.

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Figure 10 shows an enthroned figure with elaboraterobes giving the papal
blessing.But the figure wearsthe domed emperor'scrown and is holdlrrg orb
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in his lap. So the figure could alsobe the Holy Roman Emperor.The mixture
of
symbolsis probably explainedby the halo. This is a representationof God the
Fatheras ultimate ruler of both temporaland spiritualrealms.A similar image
with papalblessingand orb is seenin Figure 11 and seemsclearlyto blend the
symbolsof temporaland spiritualrule into a representation
of God.

But if the Popewere seenas the spiritualrepresentation


of God on earth.the
apocalypticvision of the 15th century would also have seen him as the
prophesizedAntichrist who would appear in the last days.Although far less
common than the traditional spiritual role, imagesfrom late 15th cenrurycan be
found that equaterhe Popeand Devil.
Two examplesare found at:
www.godecookerT.
com/macabre/ga11ery3/macbrgO.j
pg and

www.godecookery.com
nacabreg.lleryl

^cbrZO.htm.

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INTERPRETATION
card'player
Much as we see among Roman Catholics today, the 15th century
supreme pontiff,
would have viewed the Fop" with a deep reverential awe. As the
pinnacle of the sacred
the Pope was christ's representative on earth and the
institution of ChristianitY.
again eliciting a
The Pope was the highest achievable estate of man, once
position since he
respectfulawe. For some, the Pope held a particularly respected
birth'
by his peers, rather than acquiring the position by accident of
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were largely
However, .orr,.rrrporary with the invention of the Tarot the Popes
aristocrats.
power over the
As the head of the Church, the Pope held unquestionable
and cut off the
spiritual realm. He alone held the authority to excommunicate
the hierophant,
transmission of grace to an individual. He was unquestionably
would have elicited
opening (a.d cloling) the path to eternal life. Once again, this
a respectful awe from the card-player'
to the card'player'
But the picture would not necessarilyhave been so crystal clear
the surrounding
The Pope was also the absolute fuler of the city of Rome and
have been seen as a
area,known as the Papal States.As a temporal ruler he would
was constant
potential threat to the card.player in anothel city-state. Thete
and the P.pe
conflict and intrique among these competitive political entities
'good guy', perhaps even bringing out a senseof
wasn't alwaysto b. seen as th.
competition or even fear. The Pope could be a dangerousfoe'
papacy didn't carry with it
It was also abundantly clear that election to the
was still fallible and
canonization - few Popeswele saints. As a human, the Pope
the office was
still subject to death and judgment. For many, such as Dante,
the despotism
sacred but the occupant often was not. So for many card'players,
of institutions such as
and wealth of the indlvidual pope along with the tylanny
with strong negative
the lnquisition would have tempered the reverential awe
feelings.
apocalyptic spirit in 15th
We must also keep in mind the prevalence of the
Franciscanpreachers
century ltaly. Th. flug.l|ant confraternities and the Spiritual
of Fiore's
saturated the curtures with the expectarion of the final times. Joachim

prophesyto the coming of the Antichrist followedby the saintlypope must have
left many wondering exactly where they were in the sequence.
So the image of the Pope must have been associatedwith a complex constellation
of reactions in the card'player. There was reverence and respectful awe on one
hand. There was suspicion, jealousy and often hatred on the other. The
distinction between office and occupant might have been clear to theologians but
must have been confused in the emotions of the card.player.

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ICONOLOGY OF THE THREE VTRTURECARDS


by Dr. RobertO'Neill

The three Tarot trumps that represent cardinal or moral virtues (Temperance"
Fortitude, Justice)will be covered in separatechapters. However, the virtues form
an integral subset of the symbolic system and some general observations are in
order.
In the religious art of Christianity, the virtues are typically displayed as women.
This allegorical personification is traditional and dates back at least ro the
Psychomachia,i.e., soul battle, written by the Christian Latin poet Prudentiuslate
in the 4th century (Nugent 2000). In many cases,the female symbols for the
virtues show distinctively masculine characteristics,for example,being dressedin
male battle armor.
The basic symbolic representationof the virtues appearsto have been established
by the 9th century (Katzenellenbogen L939, fig. 3Z). prior to this time, they
weren't necessarilycarrying anything and were just imagesof women with a label
identifuing them. After the 9th century, they appearwith symbolic irems.
Justiceis
shown with a scale and sometimes sword and scale. In early representations,
Temperance is represented with a flame in one hand and emptying a pitcher of
water with other hand. Later, the familiar image of pouring water from one
pitcher into another became more common. The imagery for Fortitude was the
most variable. Fortitude frequently appearsin armor with shield and spear. In
other cases,she is breaking a column with her bare hands.The Tarot imageof the
woman controlling a lion is also found as the 15th century approaches.
The virtues often mentioned and illustrated as a group. For example in the
,
Cambio in Perugia, Prudence and Justice appear together in one panel and
Fortitude and Temperance appear together in a second panel (Gomrich Ig7Z,
plate 80). The virtues often appear together in the old psalters(Davidson 1989,
fig. 19). The virtues are mentioned as a group in Petrarch'sepic poem in the
Triumph of Chastity. \When Cupid aftacks Laura, "'With her, and armed, was the
glorious host of all the radiant virtues that were hers, hands held in hands that
clasped them, two by two." By the 13th century, the cycle of the virtues and vices
were incorporated into the epic representationsof the last things and thus became
incorporated into the apocalyptic tradition (Katzenellenbogen1939).
In many of the iate medieval and renaissance representations, the individual
virtues are shown in the four corners of an illustrated page or around the

circumferenceof a circle (seeexamplesin Katzenellenbogen1939).In such cases,


there is no particular order or sequencethat can be assignedto the virtues and
therefore no ciues as to how the virtues might originally have been sequencedin
the Tarot trumps.

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However,in other cases,the virtues appearin a definite order. The typicalorder
found in the late medievaland renaissance
periodsis: Prudence,Temperance,
Fortitude, Justice. This is the ordering that appears in a 1355 illustrated
manuscriptfrom Milan (Gombrichl97Z).

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In other cases,the virtues appearas individual rungs on the ladder of virtue, i.e.,
the upward path leading to sanctity. An example of this ordering can be seen in
Figure 1 from a Florentine illustration of I477.
This is the same ordering of the three Tarot virtues that appears in Dummett's
(1980) rype B order. The same ordering is found in the so-calledTarocchi de
Mantegna: 14 Temperance, 16 Fortitude, 1? Justice.Justice also appearsas the
dominant virtue in the Neoplatonic symbolism of the Tempio Malatestiano
(Godwin Z00Z). This agreementas to the order of the three Tarot virrues is one of
the reasons why the type B ordering is the best candidates for the original
ordering of the Tarot trumps and is the ordering adopted in this seriesof essays.
Just as the ordering of the sequenceof virtues was subject to change in later Tarot
decks, so also did occultist authors debate over the missing virtue, Prudence.The
solution to the puzzle appearsto be very simple. Prudence isn't omitted because

the Tarot trumps are not displayingthe four moral virtuesof Christianitybut

'Life
of Pythagoras'
three virtues of the Pythagoreansystem!According to the
Iamblicus, the soul was composed of three hierarchical levels. The lowest or
animal soul was concerned with appetities and governed by the virtue of
Temperan.'". A second part of the soul was concerned with ambition and power
and was governed by the virtue of Strength or Fortitude. The hlghest soul was the
rational soul that sought after wisdom and cultivated the virtue of Justice to
balance the parts of the soul and the individual human with other humans and
the universe. The three virtues are discussed in three consecutive chapters of
Iamblicus which was readily availableat the beginning of the 15th century.

ICONOLOGY OF THE TEMPERANCECARDS


by Dr. RobertO'Neill
INTRODUCTION

"

The six Temperance cards surviving from the 15th and 16th century are
shown in Figure 1. In the ordering we are adopting here, the temperancecards are
numbered six of the ffumps. The imagery is perhaps the most consisrenramong
all of the Tarot trumps symbols. A11six figures show as woman pouring water
from one pitcher to another. Even the gowns are similar with the same high
waistband. The only real difference among the imagesis which hand ls uppermost
and the vote is even:3 to 3,

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The symbolismfor the virtue of Temperancewasstandardized
by the 15th century
and a similarimageappearsin the so-called
Tarocchide Mantegna:

THE RELIGIOUSTRADITION:
The representations of the virtue of Temperance appear to be restricted to the
religious art tradition. Though rare examplesmay existed, I have never located an
image of Temperance in the Triumphal, Dance of Death, or Apocryphal
traditions. However, within the religious art tradition the image is quite common.
Hourihave (2000) lists the location of 7I representationsof Temperance.
The example in Figure 2 is from a psalter 1402 and shows a woman in a long
funic pouring from one vaseto another. Other examplescan be found

in Ferguson (1954, plate 60) and Gombrich (7972, plate 80). A Tem
image from the 11th century can be seen in Katzenellenbogen (1939,fig. 341Another representation can be seen at:
www.wfl oe.fs_n
et. co.uVws ub s1file s/s o cpwater-2.j p g

ICONOLOGICALANALYSIS:
Temperance is a Greco-Roman natural virtue that was adopted by Christianity as
one of the Cardinal or Moral Virtues. It is the first and lowest of the Platonic and
Pythagorean virtues, governing the lowest part of the soul, the basic animal
instincts. By the time of the Tarot in 15th century ltaly, the imagery was quite
consistentand unmistakable.
As far as I have been able to determine the image was not used in other
contemporary artistic traditions. The evidencedoes not seem to support the idea
that the image had other esoteric connotations. There are later (17th century)
alchemicalsymbolsthat bear some resemblanceto the Temperancesymbol but it
speculative to argue that this relationship would have been recognized two
centuriesearlier.

INTERPRETATION:
The 15th century card,playerwould haverecognizedthe symbolfor the virtue of
Temperance.The symbolism was quite consistent and readily available in
churchesand public art of the 15th century.The symbolwould most likely have
elicited a senseof moral obligation to control the appetitesand live a life of
moderation.
A better educated player might have recognized the first of the Pythagorean
virtues that they had read about in Iamblicus. This might have elicited additional
responses in the form of a challenge to overcome the lowest instincts in the
human soul and rise to a life with more control and moderation.
There is alwaysthe possibility that some would have seen alchemical connotations
in the figure of a woman handling a fluid and perhaps carefully measuring

ingredientsinvolvedin an alchemicalprocedureor evenmixing a magicalpotion.


But while such connotationsare possible,the evidencesupportsnothing more
than a literal translationof the imageof Temperance.

ICONOLOGY OF THE LOVERSCARDS


by Dr. RobertO'Neill

INTRODUCTION
Six examplesof the Lovers card have survived from the 15th/16th centuries
(Figure 1). In the type B ordering, the Lovers cards are number seven.The
imageryis quite consistentand shows a young couple with a cupid hovering
above.One card showsthree coupleswith rwo cupids.The last card (lowerright)
is a fragmentbut probablyalsohad the typicalCupid above.
One might expect to see a referenceof Venus on this card. But the usual
representationof Venus, for example in the so-calledTarocchi de Mantegna,
doesn't look very much like the Tarot
www.levity.com,/alchemy/mantegna.html
image.There is, however,some resemblanceto an image of the Triumph of
Venuswhich showsa number of couplesto the sideof the picture (Meiss1970,

p.r67).
The Tarot is similar to the common secular imagery of courting couples, such as
Duby (1988, p. 126) and Figure 2 from the 14th century. Another contemporary
examplecan be seenat:
'b
nanuscripts " ighlights 3K uk.html
www.kb.nl

THE RELIGIOUSTRADITION:
1
1
r
.
The image on the early Tarot cards is basicallya secular symDol
but slnce
courtship is a normal part of life, the image also appearsin religious contexts,
such as monasteries.'

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Here is an exampleof such an image:

One also frequently finds representationsof wedding ceremoniescomplete with


minister and witnesses(Meiss and Kirsch 1972, p. BR1), (Hlnd 1935,p. 293),

(Voelke1990,p. 1.46).A number of additionalexamplescan be found


in Meiss
(195 I, figures101.10i).

THE TRIUMPHALTRADITION
Love is a major symbol in Petrarch's poem since the first section is entitled The
Triumph of Love. The central image in the poem is Cupid: "...Four steedsI saw,
whiter than whitest snow, and on a fiery car a cruel youth with bow in hand and
arrows at his side. No fear had he, nor armor wore, nor shield, but on his
shoulders he had two great wings of a thousand hues; his body was all bare. And
round about were mortals beyond count..."
There is a part of the Triumph of Love that may have influenced later Tarot cards
which show a man standing between two women: "...Behold then Theseus,
captive, though so famed, led between sisterstwain who both met death: One set
her love on him, he loved the other."

But although love is a major symbol in the poem, the typical a


representation of the Triumph of Love focuses more on Cupid than on
courting couple. Cupid ordinarily appears on a chariot with a tall pedestal
drawn by 4 white horses,
www.adh.bton.ac.uVschoolofdesignVA.COURSE'T TPetO1.html

Another examplefrom the 15th centuryis givenby \7l11iams(1994,p. 60) and


16th centuryexamplecan be seenCarnelli(I97I, plate 12).The triumphal image
that mostcloselyresembles
the compositionof
the early Tarot card (Figure 3) is a woodcut from 1497/3 that shows the
blindfoldedCupid directlyabovean isolatedcouple.
DANCE OF DEATH TRADITION:
Death is a very individual experience. The imagery of the Dance of Death
tradition deals with single individuals being carried off to their own death. So it is
probably not surprising that couples are not involved in the imagery nor is the
image of Cupid.
APOCALYPTIC TRADITION,
Nothing resembling the early Lovers card appears in the apocalyptic tradition.
Perhapsthe closestconnection can be found in Dante's Divine Comedy where i11.
fated lovers occupy a no?so,terrible place in the upper regions of hell. Images
illustrating this section of Dante's apocryphal journey can be found in the
separatearticle on Dante and the Tarot.
ICON O LO GICAL ANALYS IS :
The early Tarot images are a representation of human love. Comparison with
contemporary images point to a relatively simple interpretation: love as a normal
part of the human experience.
It is reasonable to posit an influence of the Triumphal artistic tradition on the
early Tarot image. Petrarch's poem would have been a logic referencefor the artist
or woodcutter and the illustrations for the poem certainly feature Cupid as the
symbol of Love. However, the poem refers to a fiery chariot and white horses
rather than a cloud overhead. So the most likely direct source of the Tarot image
was the secular and religious imagesof courtship and marriage.

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INTERPRETATION:
Upon seeing the Lovers card, the card-playerswould most likely have thought of
their own experiencesof love. According to Petrarch, love enslavesall estatesof
man and is a shared experience,almost at the same level of universaliry as Death.
For most, love is the first and most powerful experienceof the non-self. The love
act and the experienceof orgasm is an ecstatic union of the opposites that might
be thought of as the temporal equivalent of the ecstaticmystical experiencehinted
at in later cards. Perhaps some card-playerswould have seen the Lovers card as
representing the integration of the tempora/spiritual and male/female dualities
represented by the Papess/Empress/Emperor/Pope cards that preceded it.
Perhapssome few would have seen a referenceto the esoteric sexual magic rituals
designedto elicit transpersonalexperiences.

ICONOLOGY OF THE CHARIOT CARDS


by Dr. RobertO'Neill

INTRODUCTION
Figure 1 shows the seven extant Chariot cards from the l5th/ t6th centuries. The
Chariot card was number eight in the rype B ordering. The Chariot on the early
cards appearsas a 2-wheeledchariot pulled by white horses.Indeed, that is all we
can say about the fragment in the lower right corner. Two appear to be war.
chariot with a male victor within. One is a king and the other appears to be a
duke, judging from the hat. The other four appear to be processional chariots
since the rider is atop, rather than within, the chariot. One appears to be an
Empress, perhaps representing Petrarch's Triumph of Chastity. Another appears
to be a victorious duke. The third appearsto represent the Triumph of Mars or
Mercury. The fourth partial card appearsto show Cupid as the central figure and
a couple seatedin the chariot, perhaps representing Petrarch'sTriumph of Love.

Representations
of the chariot as a war vehicle are common even from ancient
times. chariots appearon Roman medals(Grabar 1968,fig. g3) and in pagan
(Portella1990,p.7$. Examplescanbe found in Egypt
catacombs

Thebes

Greece

and Rome:

11 the astrologicalimageryof the 15th cenrury,one often finds Mars depictedin a


Chariot (Figure Z). A similar image can be found in the so.calledTarocchi de
Mantegnaprints:
home9.inet.tele.dVmha,/tarot/manmar.j pg
Other examplesof Mars in the Chariot can be found at

and

THE RELIGIOUSTRADITION:
The religious tradition goes back to Ezechiel'svision of the Chariot. Elijah was
also carried to heaven in a fiery Chariot. Saints, such as Francis of Assisi, were
also depicted as being taken to heaven in a Chariot:

-SF-chariops.jpg
www.christusrex.org'.'v,,w1''-ancis

THE TRIUMPHALTRADITION:
It would have seemed clear to the 15th century card.playerthat the Chariot canl
representeda triumphal procession.In ancient times, such processionswould be
held to celebrate great victories. In late medieval times, triumphal processions
were held whenever a foreign dignitary entered a city. An example can be seen in
the triumphal processionof Maximillian:
w ww .a i c.sta n fo rd .e d-o
u nspec' ' ' ' pg nnual' 14'

p14- 07q.jpg

One of the eariy Tarot cards (Figure 1) appearsto represent the Triumph of Love.
Examples of the traditional imagery associatedwith that triumph can be found in
the chapter on the Lovers card.
Another of the early cards (Figure 1, upper left) seem to represent Petrarch's
Trir-rmph of Chastity: "She wore, that day, a gown of white, and held the shield
that brought Medusa to her death." Perhaps the representation on this early card
was chosen to honor the duke's wife when the hand.painted deck was
commissioned.The Tarot card resemblesthe traditional image of the Triumph of
Chastity though the chariot is usually depicted as being drawn by unicorns (Figure

3,1488).
Otherexamples
of 15thcenturyimagescanbe found in Gombich (L972,plate
143)and Carnelli(197l, plates1 and 6). Another imageis accessible
on the web:
^hoolofdesign
\ ^.COURSE'TPet0Z.html
www.adh.bton.ac.uk

DANCEOF DEATHTRADITION:
No imagery resembling the Chariot card occur in the Dance of Death tradition.

APOCALYPTICTRADITION:
The prophets Daniel and Ezechiel discussvisions of the throne of God as a
chariot. These visions were an integral part of the Judeo.Christian tradition of the
apocalypse. However, the chariot only rarely occurs in the artistic tradition
associated with the Book of Revelations. I located only a single example

representingEzechiel'svision of the Chariot combined with Christ's ascension


(Grabar1968,plate 1).

ICONOLOGICALANALYSIS
Although there was a religious and apocryphal tradition associatedwith the
chariot, the early Tarot cards do not seem to draw on these artistic traditions. The
early Tarot imagesappear to fall squarely into the triumphal tradition. Two of the
early cards appear to represent the Triumphs of Love and Chastity from the
Petrarchian tradition. Three others appear to represent a ffiumphal processionof
a ruler or victor.
One of the early cards appears to be an astrological image. The reference is
probably to the war god Mars. But it is difficult to make hard and fast rules as to
which planetary god might be represented since many of the planets are
representedin this way (Seznec1953, p. 169). One can certainly find imagesof
Mercury and Mars (Seznec 1953, pages 75, 129, and 190f0. One also finds
representationsof the Triumph of Apollo with the nine muses:
www.adh.bton.ac.uk .hoolofdesign \4A.COURSE

o'SYM0O.html

This image is interesting for the association of the Chariot of Apollo who
representsthe Sun and is accompanied by Fortitude with broken column, Justice
with sword, and Temperance pouring from a vase.

ttt_
L_

t_
t_-

INTERPRETATION
The most likely associations
that the Chariot card (+8)would havebeen starusor
victory. The card-playerwould haveseenor heard of triumphal processionsafter
local victories or the triumphal entry of visiting dignitaries.But the Wheel of
Fortune card (# 10) might well have reminded the player of the foolishnessof
suchhubris and display.
The playerwould also have known the poem of Petrarchand might well have
caught the associationof the Triumph of Chastiry (#8) following immediately
after the Loverscard (#7). This might haveelicited feelingsabout the moral and
spiritualjourney describedin Petrarch'spoem.

The card.player would also have seen triumphal images of the planetary godr
Such imageswere often found in public art. Some level of belief in astrologvras
almost universal and although divination was condemned by the Church, the
card.playermay well have had the experienceof consulting an astrologerprior to a
wedding or a'major businessdeal.
The more spiritually minded card-player might have seen a reference to the
mystical vision of Daniel and Ezechiel in the Chariot card. Even the illiterate had
heard the stories of the old testament prophets in sermons.The player might also
have seen or heard stories of the ascendof St. Francis in a chariot. So the Chariot
card might have elevatedthe player's mind to thoughts of the spiritual life.

ICONOLOGYOF THE FORTITUDE CARDS

by Dr. RobertO'Neill

& it iit
r

filffiilililrils
filnnrut

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t

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t

The ninth Tarot trump according the type B ordering is the virtue Fortirude
and
the five surviving cards from the l5th/ 16th century are shown in Figure 1. Two
of
the cards show a woman in a long tunic holding or breaking a pillar. Two cards
show a woman or man closingthe mouth of a lion. One showsa man about to hit
a lion with a club,
The image of a woman wrestling with a lion is a common representatjon
of
Fortitude. Figure 2 shows a typical examplefrom L355 in Milan. Hind (1935, p.
151) showsa 1464 woodcut of a woman forcing open the jaws of a serpent.The

ffirtltirdffffiftrtg

image is similar but is not explicitly identified as a virtue. Another example bv


Bellini (1470) can be seenat:
www.getty.edu ''rt :ollections

'mages

a033B01.jpg

The second image in the early cards is woman holding/breaking a column which
is also a traditional symbol for Fortitude. An example from 1435 can be seerrdr:
'
www.gallery.euroweb.hu tml

r rccello prato

The figure breaking a column is also the representation used in the so.called
Tarocchi de Mantegna:
/forteza.gif
www.users.erols.com/bcccsbs'.soterica
Hourihane (2000, pages 705{f) provides a list of the location o{ 73 images of
Fortitude.
The man wrestling the lion is related to the traditional image of Hercules (Figure
3, 1473). Hercules had been adopted during the middle agesas a symbol for
Fortitude, so this is not a representation unique to RenaissanceHumanism
(Godwin Z00Z). Hercules with club and lion skin can be seen as a svmbol of
Fortitude in a 1260 image from Pisa:
www.kfki .hu,/ arthp,/html /p,/p isano /ni cola,/1pi sa fo.html
Another exampleof Herculescan be seenin Seznec(7953, fig. 5).

THE RELIGIOUSTRADITION:
Ali of the representationsof the woman with column or lion belong, of course, to
the Religious artistic tradition. The image of Hercules might be thought to be an

exceptionand yet has a long history in Christian art where the Greek hero is
replacedby a biblical character.The visualimagesof Daniel in the lion's den go
(Grabar1968).
backto the Romancatacombs

t#ffirffis

Figure 4 is a 4th century imageof Samson(|udges I4:5f0 from the catacombs.


Another image of Samsonforcing open the lion's mouth can be seen in Saxl
(1953,{ie,70) from a I}th cenrurycolumn capital.Figure5 is a l5th cenrury
image of Samsonfrom a psalter that also showsthe rypical imagery.Another
imageof Samsonastridelion and forcingopenits mouth canbe seenat:
www.mmlc.nwu.edu
:303' -vav,v.-ood2.html

t
t
t
r

I
I

Similar imagesof David opening the lion's mouth and savingthe lamb are less
common but also can be found, e.g.,Figure6. Bouche(2000)showsa similar
imageof David from a psalterof 113L-1I43.\il/illiams(1994,p. 81) givesanother
examplefrom a l}th centurybible. Weinstein (1997, p. 66) has another from a
1ZthcenturyPsalter.

THE TRIUMPHALTRADITION,
Hercules is briefly mentioned in Petrarch's Triumph of Love: "...with him is
Hercules, for all his strength love still captured him..." Hercules occasionally
appearsin imagesof the
Triumph of Love walking alongsidethe triumphal chariot and carrying a column.
I am not aware of any imagesresembling the Fortirude card that appear in either
the Dance of Death or the Apocryphal artistic traditions.

lsffifgil#:flaryr*
fi
ICONOLOGICALANALYSIS
The symbolism associatedwith the virtue Fortitude was alwaysvariable. The mosr
common representationswere a woman/Hercules/Samson/David with a lion and
a \7oman holding or breaking a column. A third representation,which does not
appearin the early Tarot cards shows a woman in armor. An examplefrom 1,470
can be seenat:

rtchi
The woman in armor tends to be earlier in time. Katzenellenbogen(1939, figs.32
and 33) showsexamplesfrom a 9th century bible and from " 1130.
There are also a number of examplesin which the various symbols are mixed in a
single image. Figure 7 shows a 13th century image of Fortitude in which the
woman in armor is carrying a club and has a lion on her shield. The Viscounti
psalter of I4I2 (LFI?9v) has Fortitude as a woman with a lion skin as headress
and cape and carrying a shield and staff.

INTERPRETATION
The 15th century card-player would have recognized the various symbols of
Fortitude and would have known this virtue as related to the courage and stamina
'stay
neededto
the course' and resistthe temptations of life. This would probably
have been the first thing that came to mind upon seeingthis card.
Perhaps the player would have noted that Fortitude (#9) followed the martial
image of the Chariot (#8). Fortitude was the inner strength needed to gain
spiritual victory. Perhapsthe card-playerwould have noted a transition from the

externalhuman life representedin earlier cards.The idea of a transition might


'!7heel
(#10) symbolizingthe temporarynature of
have been reinforced by the
human victory and leadingto a need for a deeperspirituality,representedby the
Hermit (#11).

4:

ICONOLOGYOF THE WHEEL CARDS


by Dr. RobertO'Neill
INTRODUCTION
The six surviving \il/heel of Fortune cards (#10) from the l5th/ 16th cenruq-aie
shown in Figure 1. The same basic theme appearson all of them. There is a figure
ascending,atop, descending,and beneath the wheel. In two cases,the figure cf
blind fortune appearsat the center. On some cards,the figures have captions in
Latin: "l shall reign", "I reign", "I have reigned","I don't reign".

The foolishness of depending on Fortune is symbolized by the figures growing


ears and tails. In two casethe figure on top is shown as an animal. The basicidea
seems to be that relying on fortune reduces one to the status of an animal.
Humans with reason (and faith) do not need to do that. Some contemporary
images(Thomson 2000, p. 17) show the
figures as asses.Notice that the first two cards in Figure 1 (upper left) treat the top
figure rather more kindly. These nvo cards come from hand.painted decks that
were commissionedby ruling families. Clearly the artist had the good sensenot to
depict his patron as an ass!
'Wheel
The basic image of the
of Fortune was common and the card.playerwould
have been familiar with it. Figure 2 shows a typical 16th century example. Notice
that the central figure, representingbhnd fortune, is without eyes.In two of the

earlyTarot cards(Figure1) sheis representedasblindfolded.Another


exampleof
a contemporaryimagecan be found in \rilleford (1g6g, Plate 33),
X similar
medievalimagecanbe seenat:
www.stavenhagen.net
tories I ilgrimcmt.html
The symboldatesback at leastto the late 1Zth century(Figure3). Another
image
from 1730can be seenin Panofsky(1960,fig. 59).

THE RELIGIOUSTRADITION:

t
t
:

Slraelt

Although the image of the \X/heelof Fortune is basicallya secularallegory,


its
moral overtoneswere taken up and usedin the religioustradition aswell.
One
interesting version from the late l}th cenrury (Figure 4) shows the wheel
displayingthe virtuesand variousother componentsof true religion.Figure
4 is a
mneumonicdeviceto assistone in memorizingthe variouselements.This is one
of the clearestexamplesof a Tarot symbol connectedwith the Art of Memory
(o'Neill 1986).A similar devisewith the 4 cardinalvirtues and
4 evangelists
can
be found in Katzenellenbogen
(1939,tig. 69).In anothervariationfrom a psalter
(Davidson 1989, fig. 19), the wheel becomesthe various ages
of a man and
illustratesthe inevitabiliryof deathand ludgment(Figure5).

si

?.*

THE TRIUMPHALTRADITION'
Fortune is only mentioned once in Petrarch'spoem, in the Triumph of Death: "l
into bitterness."
take my course,ere Fortune strike at you, turning your sweetness
However,Fortune appearsas a distinct triumphal figure in the artistic tradition
(Panofsky1939,Plate46). The imagesusuallyshowa blindfoldedFortuna,but do
not contain the typicalwheelsymbol.

ffi6*f *SKt

THEDANCEOF DEATHTRADITION:
'!/heel
of Fortune doesn't appearin the illustrationsof the Danceof Death.
The
'S7heel
of Forrunethat showthe estatesof
However,there are a few imagesof the
by figuresaroundthe wheel(Figure6, from 155q.
man represented

THE APOCRYPHALTRADITION:
The'!7hee1 of Fortune also does not ordinarily appear in the apocryphal tradition.
The only example that I have located (Link 1995, p. 113) shows a wheel in the

t
t_

centerof an imageof the last judgment.However,this is not the full imagewith


figuresascendingand descendingon the wheel.

ffi*l ffism $
ICONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS:
There is anotherrepresentationof 'Fortuna' that wascommon during the
Middle
Ages, and appearsto have becomedominant in the late Renaissance
and later
periods. This symbol shows 'Fortuna' as a blindflooded woman,
standing
baiancedon an unstablesphere.This imageis often with a sail depicting
the
'winds
of fortune'. This is the imagethat appearson the so.calledTarocchi de
Mantegna print of Forrune (\7ind 1958, fig. 53). This representationof
the
Romangoddessof Fortunemay havereplacedthe'STheelimagebecauseit better
conveyedthe later Humanist Renaissance
desireto incorporateclassicalimagery.
An exampleof the 'Fortuna'symbolcanbe seenat:

t
t
t
r
i-

It is likely that the card,playerwould have seen the symbol of the \rheel
of
Fortune or the goddess'Fortuna' associated
and contrastedwith relatedsymbols.
Figure7 contrastsfortune with astrology.Fortune is blindfolded and standingon
an unstablesphere.Astrology is representedas knowledgestandingon a stable
cube.The implication is that knowledgeof the natural world through astrology
permitsone to escapefickle forrune.Notice that Figure7 alsocontainsimages
of
a Tower, stars, Moon, sun, and the Empressas wisdom atop the tower of
knowledge. \7e will see a similar gathering of Tarot symbols in many
contemporaryimageswhich indicatesthat the card-playerwould have seenthe
Tarot trumps asrelatedto eachother, rather than asa random miscellany.
Figure8 from 1510showsan imagesimilarin intent to FigureZ. Hereblind

W,W

Iffirfifl flsille I

fortune is contrasted with Sapientia, i.e., wisdom. Notice, once again, that the
frame around'STisdom'smirror contains Stars,Moon, and Sun. The referenceto
astrology is clear and once again we see the juxtaposition of different Tarot
symbols that seem unrelated only to the modern viewer.

#*rlr* &
l-l$ilffi$:
The association
of symbolsis evenmore complexin Figure9 from a 1576book of
divination. Here the central (1) \7heel is the celestialsphere with the (2) Pope in
the reigning position. Fighting for control of the wheel are an (3) Angel and a (4)
Devil. The image also contains a (5) Tower with a (6) Sun on its side and an
astrologer that resemblesthose of some of the early (7) Star cards. The book
contains no reference to Tarot, but the associationof the Wheel with fortune and
divination is clear. It is hard to ignore the presence of 7 Tarot symbols in an
illustration for a book of divinationl
Figure 10 is a horoscope from 1515. Starting at about the 7 o'clock position, we
find an artisan resembling some of the early Bagatto card, the Lovers at about 2
o'clock, the Death, Pope, Emperor, Wheel, and a man in stockade perhaps
representing the Hangedman. In an inner circle we find the zodiacal signs of the

Stars.\Tithin the circle of starswe find the planetswith Moon and Sun and Mars
possiblyreferencingthe Chariot. At the hub of the circle is the World as it
appearsin the earlyTarot cards.So herewe seeas many as a dozenof the Tarot
imagesrepresentedon the greatcircle of time and associated
with astrologyas a
divinatorytool.

Figures7 to 10 provide empirical evidencefor the contemporaryassociationof


the Tarot symbolswith astrologyand divination. The evidencefor an association
with white magic is more tenuous.However,we do know that the 15th century
saw the representationof divinatory devicesinto circles (Wade 1998). One
examplewas the use of a circle and spinner to locatefortunesin a book. We also
know that this transformationwaslargelyinfluencedby the Ars Brevisof Ramon
Llull (Bonner1993).The art of Llull wasseenby contemporaries
asmagical.The
complexstory of Llull potential influence on the Tarot will have to be delayed
until a iater article.

I
'

l$ft*mf
Htrrr*1S

'STheel
of Fornrne
The circumstantial evidence for the association berween the
image and magic involves the Ars Notoria (Camille 1998). More detailed
information on this form of ritual magic can be found in the separatearticle on
late medieval magic. For present purposes,it will suffice to point out that, as a
memorf device,'the complex magical incantations involved in the Ars Notoria
were displayed as a "rota", a Latin word for wheel. Figure 11 shows a 13th century
image of a rota. The first thing to notice about Figure 11 is the crucifixion scene
in the center and symbols for the four evangelists in the cotners. Although the
Ars Notoria was condemned by the Church, the inventor of this form of ritual
magic developed it as an orthodox Christian ritual and symbolic system.
The second thing to notice about Figure 11 is almost too obvious to desewe
ignorant of the
mention. It can be argued that the 15th century card-playerwas 'lUaite
'Wheel
certainly
of Fortune symbol, but A. E.
magical connotations of the
'rota'
in Figure lt with the card drawn by Pamela
wasn't! A comparison of the
Colman Smith indicates why the \Taite,Smith deck added the symbols of the
'rota'
to the card. Clearly these are hidden teferencesto
evangelistsand the letters
the ritual magic of the Ars Notoria.

ffiiltss]SIgwtfx
INTERPRETATION'
The symbolismof the W'heelof Fortunewascommon in the l5tVt6th centuries
and there is little doubt that the card,playerwould haverecognizedthe imagery.
The card.player'sreaction to the symbol would have been multi-layered.The
ficklenessof fate was an important concept in the medievalculture (Gurevich
1988). Unpredictable and uncontrollable famine, plague, and war often
overwhelmedthe feebleeffortsof man. No matterhow high one rose,one still fell

victim to the turning of the wheel and the old man is represented as crushed
beneath. Perhapsthe card-playerwould have associatedthe wheel with the forrure
and guilt associatedwith the experienceof a lifetime.
Nevertheless,hope springs eternal and the foolishness of depending on blind
fortune was contrasted with knowledge and wisdom gained from seeingthe future
in astrology and other forms of divination. Contemporary symbolism seemsto
bring out the hope of overcoming the ignorance of faith with the wisdom of
'science'
in the form of astrology.
'Wheel
The connection berween the Tarot symbol of the
of Fortune and
divination is indirect. There is no hint of divination in the Tarot. But
contemporary imagery associatedwith divination (Figures 7 and B) seemsto draw
out a connection with the \7heel of Fortune symbol. Thus we find evidence of 7
Tarot symbolsin Figure 9 and as many as 12 in Figure 10. This cannot be taken
as proof that the card-playerrecognizedthe Tarot as a divinatory tool. But clearly
somebody saw an associationof the Tarot symbolswith other forms of divination.
The association of the \7heel of Fortune symbol and the ritual magic of the Ars
Notoria would probably not be apparent to the ordinary card,player.But the fact
remains that some segmentsof the 15th and 16th century Italian culture were
well aware of the Ars Notoria and the intellectual debatesabout its orthodox. So
it would not be at all surprisingif contemporaryscholarssawthe sameconnection
with the'STheelof Fortune that'W'aitesaw.

f'

ICONOLOGY OF THE HERMIT CARDS


by Dr. Robert O'Neill
TNTRODUCTION
centuqCard number 1L, the Hermit, has five survivorsfrom the L5tV16th
(Figure 1). All of the imagesshow an old bearded man. Four of the figures
cylindrical
,rrfpor, themselveson cfutches,cane' or walking stick' One carriesa
Two appearin travelingcapeand wear large
lantern and fwo have hour glasses.
hats.One wearsafmof. One haswingsand a pillar in the background'

HXm*1
llmrmK
RELIGIOUSTRADITION
Two of the early cards show a figure in traveling robes and look like
(Figure 2, I5th century).
contemporary representations of pilgrims and hermits
in
Anothei example of a pilgrim that resemblesthe early Hermit cards can be seen

'Walker(t984,
Fig.26).

In a l4Z3 woodcut (Figure 3) we see a kneeling hermit holding up a cylindricai


was
lantern. The phenomenon of the solitary hermit or wandering holy man
common in the medieval period. So the image on the early Tarot cards may

simply represent an individual who had rejected the world and


adopted a solitary
religiouslife.

TRIUMPHALTRADITION
In Petrarch'sepic poem' the Triumph of Time presentsan absffact
concept rather
than a concrete image on a triumphal chariot. However,
the traditional
representation of the Triumph of Time shows an old, winged
man on crutches,
i'e', Father Time. The examplesin Figures4 and 5 bearsa distinct
resemblanceto
one of the early Hermit images.This was the most common representation
of the
Triumph of Time and 15th century examplescan be found in
Gombr ich (1972,

plate L43),\ff/illiams(1994,p. 7z),and Nyhoom(1990,figs. rr, rz).


Another

examplecan be found on the web at,

. .coURSE'TpetO5.html
wuvw.adh.bton.ac.uk'hoolofdesign

W*ffix#ffir,**

The imagesof FatherTime usedin the Triumphal tradirion come from


an older
stratum of symbols.In theseolder images,FatherTime is the god Chronos
with
wings,a scytheand sometimeshooved,

F_

www.churchmousewebsite.co.uk :oadestnS'j p g

DANCE OF DEATH TRADITION

Dance of Death
The hermit was considered as a separateestate of man in the
friars that resemble
tradition. However, there are representationsof old men and
the early Tarot cards. For examPle,

'
'
www.godecookery.com lacabre oldod oldod33.htm

lmmfi Ssfi] S

APOCALYPTICTRADITION
role in the Book of
The figure of the Hermit or pilgrim doesn't play a cenffal
Revelations.However,
imagery' Figure
imagessimilar to the early Tarot cards do appear in contempolary
judgment in
1437 shows a group of holy men approaching the final
6 f-r.,
anticipation of their final reward in heaven'

ffiilffiffirs

ICONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS:
The conceptof the He_rmitmay seemsimple to us today,but the variableimages
in the earlyTarot cardsrevealsof a more complexconstellationof associations.
One of the
cardsclearlyrepresentsthe Greek god of dme, Chronos. But as pointed out
by
Panofsky(1939)the Latin namefor Saturn is Kronos and the confusionof names
led to a mixture of symbols.Saturn is the paffon of agricultureand therefore
Father Time sometimescarriesa scythe(Figure 7). The Hermit and monk
are
shown in depictionsof the 'children of Saturn' (Figr-rre
?). Time wasalsothought
of asthe 'revealer',as in the expression"time will te11",
and this probably,..orri-r,,
for the ffansformationof the hourglassinto a lantern.

Though it doesn't appear in the early Tarot cards, the typical representation
of
Saturn eating a human,
also gets transferred over into imagesof Time (Figure 8). Other imagesof Saturn
and the mixed imagerywith Father Time can be seen ar:
wwu'.chass.utoronto.ca"jpaehlke

-msaturn.JpG

www.levity.com lchemv nantegna.html

ill*mftflgumt
And as if the symbolism were not already confusing enough, there is yet another
possibleassociationwith the Hermit card. Figure 9 is a photograph of an Italian
confraternity brother. The robes and lantern resemble the early images of the
Hermit. This image is particularly intriquing because of the speculation that a
confraternity was the patron that commissioned the original Tarot deck. It was
common for the patron of a work to have their own image incorporated into the
product. Thus, a confraternity brother appearsin a Dance of Death that was
probably commissioned by a Confraternity:
www.geocities.comt pollefeys im1Oa.htm

INTERPRETATION
The mixed symbolismon the earlyTarot cardssuggesta rangeof interpretations
that might have occurred to the 15th century card.player.The first association
would probably have been Father Time, older and wiser after the experienceof
cruel fortune in the previouscard (#10 Wheel of Fortune).Perhapsthey would
haveseenthe imageasthe old man usuallydisplayedascrushedunder the \Wheel.
Perhapsthe imageof time and the old man would havebeen associated
with the
(#13)
Death card
that followslater in the deck.
A secondassociationmay well havebeen madewith the Hermit or pilgrim as a
person turning to a more spiritual life in old age.The Hermit might havebeen
seenas a logicalconsequence
of the dissatisfaction
with the victoriesof youth (#8
Chariot).The Hermit, pilgrim, or wanderingholy man wasa familiar figureto the
card-playerand probably much admired. The card.playerwould have heard
sermons by the mendicant preacherslauding the path of apostolic poverty.
Perhapsthe Hermit cardwould evenhavesuggested
a friar.

lfsrm$r
ffimnr,x
S
The identification of the Hermit as a holy man is interesting because it would
have mixed connotations at the time. If the Hermit were seen as friar, pilgrim, or
as a symbol of the need to prepare for an approaching death, then the Hermit
card is a total orthodox Christian concept. But if the symbol were seen as hermit
or itinerant holy man, then it's orthodoxy is questionable. Such individuals
appearedfrequently in the late middle agesand posed a problem for the Church.
They were often well,intentioned spontaneous mystics that preached the need to
repent in anticipation of the coming apocalypse.But they were not well educated
in theology and often preached errors to the annoyance of the Church. At other
times, the itinerant preacher was not so well.intentioned and delivered a more
radical anti'cleric and anti-papal messagethat was common at the time. So the
Hermit might also represent a more esoteric symbol, one that was far from
orthodox.
The educated card-playerwould have seen the association with Saturn and the
Hermit would have suggestedan astrological interpretation. Given the attitudes
toward astrology common at the time, the interpretation might have been an
orthodox associationwith the Hermit as a 'child of Saturn'. But the association
might also have been to esoteric concepts of divination and astrological image
magic.

The identification of the Hermit image with a confraternity brother must be


considered as speculative.However, the idea is not as fantastic as it might sound
on first reading. In the city states of Italy in the 15th century, many of the men
were members of such a confraternity. Thus, there is a fair likelihood that the
card-player would have been a member and predisposed to recognize the
associationwith the confraternities.

ICONOLOGYOF THE HANGEDMAN CARDS


by Dr. RobertO'Neill

INTRODUCTION
Five of the extant 15th and 16th century Hangedman cards (#IZ) are shown in
Figure 1. There is an additional fragment (Kaplan Volume Z, p.286) that shows
only the lower right hand corner of a card and does not add much. There is also a
card shown in Kaplan (Volume 7, p. 288) which seems to belong to a later
generation. The man is hanging from elaborate columns and his foot is tied bv a
ribbon.

I
I

The early images of the hangedman show a remarkable similarity compared to


other trump cards. All of the cards in Figure 1 show a man hanging upside down
by one foot. The gibbet is wooden and formed of rwo uprights and a crosspiece.
The uprights are smooth in 3 casesand rough.hewn in two. In two the arms are
tied behind, in the others the arms are hanging. In two the man is holding bagsof
money. The foot is tied by rope in four casesand by a ribbon in the fifth. The
man is hanging by the left foot in two imagesand by the right in three.

#ggfffiffiry*g
Moakley (1966) recognizedthe hangedmanas a 'pitrura infamante' (picture of
infamyor'shamepainting').Criminalswho escaped
justice
were often tried in absentiaand depictedon the outsidewalls of the jail in this
embarassing
invertedposition(Egerton1985).The imageswereonly expungedif
the criminal were capturedor if they madereparation.Traitors and conspirators
werealsotreatedto the sameinfamy on city walls or bridges.However,sincethese
public displayswereexposedto the elements,not a singleexamplesurvives.
\Tithout surviving examples,Moakley (1966) basedher discussionon wrirten
descriptionsof thesepitture infamanti. She apparentlywas unawareof published
versions(Freedberg1963,Shearman1965)of the chalk drawingsof Andrea del
Sarto.Thesepracticesketches,a few of which are shownin Figure2, weredone in
1530to preparefor a public "shamepainting"(Burke lgTZ).Thecommissioning
of talentedartiststo draw theseimageshad a long tradition. Andrea del Castagno
Q440) and Botticelli(1478)had both paintedsuchimageson the jail in Florence
(Burke197D.

'shame
painting' was not restricted to Italy. Figure 3 shows an image of a
The
disgracedGerman noble with his heraldry ( 1438). Figure 3 is interesting because
it shows the uprights and crosspiececharacteristicof the early cards.
A comparison of Figures 1 with Figures 7 and 3 is convincing evidence that the
'shame
paintings'were a source for the hangedman imagery. The sparseevidence

Joes not explain the tied hands or money bags which


may hold additional
svmbolism. But the general configuration of the imagesis quite
similar.
However, the puzzle of the Hangedman is not solved
by discovering the
similarities to the "shame paintings". It remains to be explained
why the inverted
image was associatedwith infamy. Saxl (1957, plate
4O), for example, shows an
earlier l4th century image of Saturn falling in the inverted
position. This
astrological image implies a more general ,y^bllirrn involved
in the falling figure
than simply a secularimagethat would embarrassthe unpunished.

THE RELIGIOUSTRADITION
The many implications that might be associatedwith the
hangedman image in the
mind of the 15th century card-player only begin to
become clear when we
examine the religious art tradition. Consider, fo, .*"-ple,
the commonplace
image of the eariy Christian martyr, St. Sebastian (Figure
4). Here we find the
head thrown back, the hands tied behind and one foot
crossedbehind the other.
so the body position is correct, but the figure is not inverted.
Here the
symbol is a blessed and faithful martyr. By inference,
the inverted image would
imply the opposite: the unfaithful, the ffairor. Thus,
we find Dante portraying the
traitorous Pope Nicholas III as stuffed upside down in
a rock (Inferno Canto 19).
We also find a 12th century bas.relief (Figure 5) that shows
Simon Magus falling
from the sky. Traditional imagery also depicted the prideful
Lucifer being cast
headlong from heaven.

#6ffiwf'#fffi**

The contrastberweenFigures4 and5 would suggesra simplegoodfiad dichotomv


involved in the inverted figure. The upright figure denotesfideliry and sanctinand the inverted figure implies the reverse,treacheryand evil. As we will seein
the following section, falling figures were common in the Apocalyptic
representations
of hell and punishment.

But the religious tradition also provides an important counterexamplein the


martyrdom of St. Peter.Figure6 showsa typical examplefrom a 1435altarpiece
at Pisa.Similar imagescan be found on the 15th cenrurydoorsto the Basilicaof
St. Peter'sin Rome(Welsh1997,p. 245)and in an altarpieceof - I3ZOby Giotto
(Girardi 1999, p. 119).This imagerycomesfrom the apocryphalActs of peter
(James
IgZq which describesPeter as requestingcrucifixion in the invertedposition
becausehe was not worthy to die in the sameposition as Jesus.Thus, the 15th
centurycard'playerknew a familiar exampleof the invertedposition as a symbol
of the humility of Petercontrastedwith the pride of Lucifer.

Imagesrelated to the hangedman do not appear in the triumphal tradition or in


the dance of death tradition. Once again we find that the imagesare drawn from
a variety of sourcesand no single tradition explains all of the trump symbols.

THE APOCALYPTICTRADITION
The Apocalyptic tradition provides a treasury of images that resemble the early
Tarot card. A11 of the examples inverted figures being thrown into hell and
subjected to punishments at the Last Judgment. Some of the images,such as the
1500 fresco by Signorelli at the Orvieto cathedral (Figure Z) are true

masterpieces.
Very similar invertedpositionsare assumedby sinnersbeingthrown
into hell in a 13th century illustrated Apocalypse(Bynum rgg5, plate
zg).
Giotto's frescoin the Arena Chapel in Paduashowsa cleric with hands
behind
his backand both kneesbent (Edgerron19g5,p.zg; Morganand Morg
an 1996,
p' I}q. The unfortunate sinner is hung from a rough-hewn
branch and
suspended
by a rope tied to his genitals.

llffistil & S

Figure8 is a small detail from a 15th centurymanuscriptshowinga noble being


punishedin hell. He is
hung by the heelsfrom a gibbet that resemblesthe earlycardsand his hands
are
tied behind his back.Similarpunishmenton an upright and crossbeam
crosscan
be seenin a late 14th century frescoin a parish church in Viboldone (Russell
1984,p.767). The sinneris hung by the kneesand hashis handstied behind ht
back. Sinner hung up by their kneescan also be found in a 16th centurv oil
painting(Grubb1997,p 119).
Figure9 is particularlyinterestingbecauseit showssinner in the mouth of hell in
both the
upright and invertedpositions.The imageis from a 1475 illustratedmanuscripr
of the vision of Tundal (seeseparatearticle on the Fool's
Journey).The imageis

interestingbecauseit further complicatesany interpretationof the inverted


Here both the upright and invertedfiguresare identified assinners.

Perhaps the most important, and most convincing, image from the Apocalyptic
Tradition occurs as a small detail in a 1410 fresco (Figure 10). The fresco is by
Giovanni da Modena and is in the cathedral of San Petronio in Bologna. The
image is so strikingly similar to the early Tirot cards that it may have servedas an
actual model. Its early date of 1.410 means that Figure 10 is unlikely to have
been derived from a Tarot image. On the other hand, the date and the image's
public accessabilityin a cathedral means that it would have been available as a
model. Of course,it remains possiblethat both the Hangedman and the Bologna
fresco are derived from earlier shame paintings that were also publicly available.

til*rl{fiilffifrlll
ICONOLOGICALANALYSIS
'shame
The early Hangedman images appear to be related to secular
paintings'
and to apocalyptic imagesof infernal punishment. But there is no reason to think
of these as competitive explanations. In both cases,the image is associatedwith
punishment. The images in Figures 2 and 7 resemble each other and do not
appear to expresstwo antithetical themes. In essence,the shame painting can be
seen to imply a familiar depiction of punishment in the afterlife since the

criminal had escapedpunishment in this life. So, although I have no collaborative


evidence to offer, the secular imagery can be reasonablyhypothesized as derived
from the apocalyptic imagery of Hell. Even if the hangedman was only associated
with a shame painting in the mind of a hypothetical designer, still the
resemblancesto the apocalyptic imagery would probably have occurred to the
15th century viewer.

lfswMmuRffitN
With the Hangedman, we begin the sequenceof cards that appear to be closely
related to the apocalyptic imagery familiar to the 15th century viewer. So here,
and in subsequentchapters,we will be concerned with finding examplesof the
closeassociationsbetween imagesthat becamesequentialimagesin the Tarot. So
it is important to realize that Figures 7, 8, 10 and the examples cited in the text
are details extracted from illustrations of the Last Times. Thus, these details occur
in the samevisual context as the remaining cards in the Tarot.

The association of these images can be illustrated by examples in which images


resembiing the Hangedman appear in close associationwith images of Death
which is the next card in the Tarot sequence.Figure 11 is a poftion of a painting
1440 that shows the inverted figures dangling under the figure of Death. Figure
17 is a small detail from Fra Angelico's painting of the Last Judgment (* I43I.5).
It shows a hangedman between an upright figure and a figure holding the scythe
of Death. There is also a bas-relief at Notre Dame that shows Death as a
blindfolded (i.e., non-discriminatory) woman on horseback.Death is dragging off
a man who appearsin an inverted position like the Hangedman (Panofslq 1939,
figure 81).
But seeing the Hangedman image as representing punishment (secular or
religious) does not consider the full complexity of the symbolism. The contrasr
berween upright and inverted figures was not simply associatedwith punishment

since both upright and inverted figures appear in Figures 9 and 17. In man)
accounts,sinners in hell will be turned upside down (Gorevich 1988). But in Late
Medieval imagery and drama, the viewer knew that a significant transition had
occurred when everything reversed- it was a kind of dramatic device to alert the
viewer that they were now seeingaction in the afterlife (Palmer 1997).
The most important account of this inversion 3..rrc at the end of Dante's
Inferno. Dante and his guide Virgil have descendedinto the depths of hell in an
upright position. But at the bottom of hell, Dante is turned upside down and
begins the ascension through Purgatory to Paradisio. To Dante, the inversion
experience was a turning of values upside down - a conversion experience
required for further progress. Thus, the later occultists interpretation of the
Hangedman as a reversal of values and a pivotal experiencewas quite familiar to
the 15th and 16th century card.playerthrough Dante's account.
This image of being inverted as a necessarystep in a spiritual path may seem
foreign to a modern reader. But it would not have been foreign to the 15th
century viewer of the early Tarot. They would have been familiar with the idea of
the Fool turned upside down (Davidson 1996), Bernard of Clairvaux described
the experienceof the spiritual aspirant who had experiencedthe reversalof values
flames 1953): "\7e are like jesters and tumblers, who, with heads down and feet
up, exhibit extraordinarybehavior ..."

INTERPRETATION
It remains to reconstruct what the 15th century card,playersmight have seen in
the Hangedman symbol. It seems reasonable to assert that they would have
'shame
painting' or an image from hell. In either case,
recognizedthe image as a
the image would have communicated treachery and punishment: Lucifer and
sinnersbeing castheadlong into hell.
But while the first impression might have been negative, there are also hints of
the humiliry of St. Peter. Thus, while the inverted position might be considered as
punishment when forcefully imposed, when voluntarily adopted it might have
been associatedwith the spiritual conversion experienceof Dante or Bernard's
"Fool for Christ" turning cartwheels.So the material was also availableto the cardplayers who might have seen the symbol as representing a reversal of values, a
voluntary reversal that permits the mystical experience represented in the
remaining trumps.

ICONOLOGY OF THE EARLY DEATH CARDS


:i-Dr. Robert O'Neill

i\TRODUCTION

.
"

The materialis this essaywill eventuallybe developedinto a completeanalysisof


:he iconologyof the I5/16th centuryTarot images.But sinceI havedecidedto
beginin the middle of the ffumps,somebrief introductionis required.
The primary purposeof studyingthe iconologyof the early decksis to establish
that the Tarot draws from and is related to the art of the times. The Tarot
Trumps and Fool originated in 15th century Italy and that is the milieu of its
imagery. In particular, w will examine images drawn from three artistic
traditions,(1) the illustrationsfor Petrarch's
poem "I Trionfi", (2) the illustrations
of the "Dance of Death", and (3) the traditional illustrations of lohn's
"Revelations",
the final book of the Bible.
There will be not attempt to identifi' the specific imageswhich servedas the
sourceof the Tarot. Rather, the effort will show typical imageryfound in the
cultural surroundingswhere the Tarot was devised.The only rule imposedwas
that no imagerywas included that appearedafter 1550.That date is arbitrarybut
setsa limit on the "artisticmilieu" proposedas iconologically
relatedto the early
Tarot.

THE EARLY CARDS


The images on the surviving DEATH cards from the I5/I6th century, shown in
Figure 1, are variations on the typical image
of Death in Christian art: a skeleton or mummified corpse prepares to take the
faithful to judgment. Five of the seven imagesare on horseback.Six are holding a
scythe.One is holding a bow. Four of the figures have a headband, three of them
flowing. Three of the images show fallen figures beneath the horses'hooves.Two
of the figures are wearing a tunic or shroud.
Death was a common image in late Medieval and Renaissancemanuscript
illuminations (e.g.,Camille 1996).In thesehandmadeworks, the initial letterson
a page are frequently "illuminated", i.e., elaborately embellished with miniarure
paintings. Voelkle and L'Engle (1998, pp. 2700 show paintings of death as a

desiccatedcorpse taking a child from a Francepsalter - 1430.35


and Death as
desiccatedcorpsewith a mirror from a Belgianpsalter" 1490-1500.

ll*ntftflilur*|
\Toodcut images of Death also appear as illustrations in printed books. Hind
(1935, p. 623) has a woodcut of 1486/7 showing the expulsion of
Adam and Eve
from the garden with a death image in the background. Andre (1996, plate 26)
shows a woodcut by Durer 1496/8 in which Death appearsin the background,
hiding behind a tree with an hourglass.A French psalter of 1577 (Htnd IOSS,pi.
697) showsDeath on a black horse,scytheover shoulder, crowned, bits of shroud
blowing behind the head, shroud around body and blowing out at waist, riding
over fallen bodies. \Teinstein (1989) discussesthe popular book of Savanarola
sermons (1496) which had a number of illustrarions using the Death theme
(Figure 2).

- he image of death was also familiar in church decorations.Panofsky(1939, fig


:i) showsa Notre Dame bas-relief lZZ0 that has death as a man on horseback,
:ragging off a man who appears upside down (resembling the HANGEDMAN
.nage).Death was also common on tombs, ,rr.Lr'u,the 1361 examplefrom Naples
.irown by'STelch(1997;p. 160). Here death is shown standins and crowned with
:ope/emperor underfoot.

llmlhEgure
I
Marshall(2000)discusses
an interestingconnectionberweenthe deathimageand
the 15th centuryconfraternities.Severalpainting commisionedby confraternities
show Mary gatheringthe faithful under her cloak and protectingthem from the
plague.The 1464 image at Perugiacontains a typical death symbol,a skeleton
with bow and sheathof arrows,walking over dead bodies.The skeletonhas bat
wings (resemblingthe DEVIL image).Marshall (2000, plate 4, 1471/2) also
showsthe processionalbanner of the Confraternityof San Benedettodei Frustati.
At the bottom of the banner,an angeldrivesawaya blackenedand skeletaldeath
with scvthe.

THE TRIONFI TRADITION:


Many of the 15th and early 16th centuryimagesof Death arerelatedro Petrarch's
epic poem "I Trionfi". The connectionbetweenthe early Tarot imagesand the
artistic tradition generatedby Pemarch's
poem was first pointed out by Moakley
(1966).The Triumph of Death is one of the six themesdevelopedin the poem
and the connectionwith the Death card appearsto be particularlyclose.

But it should be clearly understood that the connection with the early T
images is not directly to Petrarch's words, but to the artistic tradition
developed around the poems. In fact, the artistic tradition deviated a great deal
from the descriptions in Petrarch. In the caseof the Triumph of Death, Petrarch's
description of th'e image is tersei "...awoman wrapped all in blacke..."(Carnicelli
7977, p 11). The poem also mentions the emperor and pope as among the dead
rulers over which Death has triumphed.

ll*nffillf,urry
S
In contrastwith the brief descriptionin the poem,the artistictradition represents
corpsein a shroud on a triumphal chariot drawn by bullocks
deathas a dessicated
(e.g.,\7elch1997). Atypical imageis givenin Figure3 (1487/90,San Giacomo,
Bologna).
Another examplecan be found at
http' --ww.adh.bton.ac.uk'choolofdesign
MA.COURSE/LTPeIO3.htmlwhich showsthe cadaverin shroud and scytheatop
a coffin pulled by bullocksand rolling over deadbodies.Gombrich (7972,plate
143)showsa similar imageon a 15th centuryengravingfrom Florence.Carnicelli
(I977, fig. 1) showsanotherexamplepaintedon the sideof a 15th centurychest.
Aries (1985, figs.735 and 292) showstwo others.
are alsocommon.Castan(1989,p.
Variationson this archetypicrepresentation
542) showsa 14th centurywoodcut with a total of 8 corpseson on the chariot,
somewith black hoods, one blowing a trumpet, one with a large black banner
with skull and crossbones.Canicelli (1977) shows2 imagesfrom 16th century
Frenchmanuscriptsthat has the deathfigurewith bow and arrow and the chariot

drawn by horses(fie. tZ) and the corpseas lifelessand braced


by a pole atop the
chariot (fig. 13). There is also a 15th century Spanish psalter
that shows the
corpsewith bow and arrow and wearinga papal tiara (Canicelli
1977, fig. ( \
also appearsin.a 15thrcenruryimagewielding a spear(panofsky
1939, fig.
3;r"rn
82).

nftsilltffi$ur*t[
In a 1534 woodcut (Panofsky1939, fie. l0Z), Death is shown
triumphing over
Lovewithout the customarychariot. Death is shown as a skeleto.,
loo.ni.,! orr.,.
and disarminga sleepingcupid by stealinghis arrows.
A 1546 illumination
(Voelkle and L'Engle 1998, p 277) shows
D.uth on a throne with his vicrims
sprawledon the floor. Another manuscriptillumination - 1500
showsDeath asa
corpse with arrows, standing on pope and Emperor (Figure
4). other
illuminationsshowdeathsteppingout of a coffin - I4g5.g0(Vo.tt
t. and L,Engle
1998,p . 27gand deathwith an arrowin a coffin - L473 (Ibid.,p.
275).
Eisenbichlerand Iannucci(1990,p. 36) showan imageof the
Triumph of Death
from l5l5 with the DEVIL in the background,throwing
sinners into hell.
Panofsky(1939,fig. 39) alsoshowsa 1496woodcutwith Death
emergingfrom a
coffin on one side and the Devil on the other side.As we will
seebelow, this
associationof DEATH with the DEVIL is actuallydrawn from
the Apocalyptic
ffadition. Thus, the synthesisof imageryfrom different traditions
occursin other
Renaissance
art, just asit doesin the Tarot.

THE DANCE OF DEATH TRADITION


The Dance of Death theme typically appears as illustrations of a dancing,
dessicatedcorpse leading off a living person. In manuscript form, the illustration
will be accompaniedby a brief poem addressedby the corpseto the living person
and a poem constituting the person's answer.A complete work will be composed
of a series of such image/poems representing different stations of life. Typically,
they will begin with a poor man (FOOL?), include an artisan (BAGATTO?) and
end with EMPRESS,EMPEROR, and POPE.

Il**tlt ]lsurrn
S
The earliest public illustration of the Dance of Death (Male 1949) is at the
Cemetery of the Innocents in Paris (1424/75). The pictures no longer exist but
we have 2 manuscripts from the abbey of St Victor (early 15th century) that
describe "The verses of the Dance of Death as they are at the Cemetery of the
Innocents". The earliest mention of the theme seemsto be a ITth cenrury poem
by Helinand. By the 14th century the procession theme is clear: the human
conditions marching to death. In 1485, Guyot Marchant, a Parisian printer,
published his Danse Macabre with woodcut illustrations. Figure 5 shows Death
leading away the POPE and the EMPEROR. In the whole work, there are 30
human conditions. Images from the dance of death began ro be used by
miniaturist painters in 1410 or I4I5 as a dessicationcorpseor mummy draped in
a white shroud, brandishing a dart.

lhe Dance of Death became a popular topic of woodblock books that had both
:\t ?nd illustrations carved into wood blocks that were then inked and used to
::int on paper. More than a hundred copies of these woodblock books have
. rn'ived. Hind (1935) provides about a dozen examples from the 15th century
":rcluding illustrations from Italy, France, Germany, and England. perhaps the
:rnestexample of these blockbooks is that of Hans Holbein the Younger - 1523.
lo (Andre 1996 plates 78/79).

illsnt|tflgrytm,$
An interesting version of the Dance of Death appearsas a 1485 fresco on the
Oratorio of a flagellant Confraternity in Clusone (Scandella,no date). The lower
poftion of the fresco, shown in Figure 6, illustrates the rypical scenario, including
a confraternity brother in the white robe and distinctive hood of this
confraternity. The upper portion of this same fresco is a Triumph of Death panel
(Figure 7) with death in crown and gown standing on his rhrone, a tomb. At his
feet in the tomb are the pope and emperor, to the left is an image of death with
bow and arrows.
This fresco is interesting for t'wo reasons.First, we see again graphic elements of
the triumphal and dance traditions brought together in a single work, just as they
seem to have been slmthesizedin the early Tarot. Second, we find another work
associatedwith a Confraternity that contains iconology similar to the Tarot.

llsalhSgureI
THE APOCALYPTICTRADITION
Probably the artistic tradition with the greatestinfluence on the early Tarot
developedas illustrationsof the visionsin John's"Revelations",
the final book of
the Blble. This source for the imageswas suggestedby Betts (199g). The
Apocalypticaltheme in Christian art is very old, someelementsdatingbackto the
fourth century(James193I). Van der Meer (I978, fig. 80) showsan earlyexample
of death on a pale horsefrom an illustration of 1076but the figure of death is
'S7e
not a corpseor skeleton.
will need to focus on examplesfrom the 14th and
15th centuryto find the imageryin the earlyTarot cards.

The apocalypticimageryassociatedwith death is taken from Revelations 6:8 "And I saw,and behold, a pale horse: and he sat upon him, his name was death:
and Hadesfollowedwith him." A typical image (Figure8,I478/q showsa corpse.

-ikefigure on horsebackwith the variousstaresof man lying deadbeneath.


Notice
rn Fig. B that the DEVIL is closelyassociated
with the DEATH image,following
L-'ehindas specifiedin the versefrom Revelations.A similar associationcan
be
tound in the CloistersApocalypseillustration of early 14th century (Deuchler
I97I) which showsthe DEVIL following the Death horseman.An altarpiecefrom
Bruges1475/9 (van der Meer 1978,fig. 168)alsoshowsthe DEVIL follow close
L',ehindthe mounted Death.A famousimageof Durer l5t3 "The Knight,
Death
and the Devil" (Andre 1996,plate 39) showsDeath on horsebackand the
Devil
accompanyingthe Knight. The Durer 1498woodcut of the 4 Horsemen
of the
Apocalypse
alsoshowsthe DEVIL followingDeath(vander Meer 1g18,,fig.189).

s*ntfiffi ur**
An even more fascinating combination of images in found in a Flemish
Apocalypseof 1400 (Figure 9). Here the rider is armed with arrows and is
associated
with imagesof the DEVIL to one sideand a TO\7ER with a falling top
to the right. Although it is not visible in the figure,this pagealsoshowsSTARS,
MOON, and the SUN in the skyoverhead.
The imageof Death asthe Apocalypticrider on a palehorsewasa familiar symbcl
in the 14th to 16th century.It canbe found on tapestry(Figure10, - r373/gr)
as
discussed
by Grubb (1997).It alsocan be found paintedon woodenpanels,e.g.,
Naples 1330/40 (vander Meer 1978,p. t34) and stainedglass- I55o (vander
Meer 1978, p. Z0$. But the most common and accessibleimageswere in

woodblockillustrations.Figure 11 showsa typical figure on horsebackwith bow


and arrow and Figure 12 showsa walking Death with scythe.Both Figurescome
from the samewoodcut 1463.

ry#f,tlr
ffiUurs
lll

llcrthtigurell
A particularly interesting example is found at the Pisa Camposanto 1330
(Paoletti and Radke 1997). One wall of this indoor burial ground shows the
Triumph of Death on one large panel and the Last Judgment with apoca\ptic
theme in the panel next to it. The triumph images are dispersed angels with
trumpets and devils and graves - no skeleton on a chariot - instead Death is
flying through air in shroud and swinging the scythe (as in Figure 12). Once again

,;: Sethemes from related artistic ffaditionsbeingcombined to illustrate the


::-ith theme.

llftEllrIlUutstI
ICONOLOGICALANALYSIS:
It appears that every detail of the early Tarot images falls within the range of
religious imagery availablewhen the Tarot was designed.The figures of Death on
horseback can be explained within the Apocalyptic artistic tradition. Symbols of
Death with scythe or bow and arrow are common. Imageswith flowing shrouds
and bits of bandage blowing were available. The images in the Triumphal and
Apocalyptic traditions both show various statesof man being trampled. The Tarot
image appearsto synthesizeelements from the three traditions - but we have seen
a number of other contemporary imageswhich also utilized this synthetic quality.
There doesn't appear to be any element of the imagery which was not readily
interpretable by the 15th century viewer within the Christian artistic and svmbolic
imagery of the times.

There is also a critically important point that follows from the study of the
iconology of the early Tarot images of Death. The image of the corpse/skeleton
and scytheis NOT an ancient symbol for Death. Lessing(18i9) demonstratesthat
the Greek and Roman cultures used the image of a young man, often winged,
inverting and extinguishing a torch. Additional iconology involved a butterfly to
represent the soul of the deceasedand a laurel wreath to represent the victory of a
noble life and death. This imagery continued to be used into the Christian era.

In the few instanceswhere dancing skeletons


are found in Roman times, they are
ancillary decorations that elicit a feeling
,,make
of
merry while you may,, (clark
1950)' They are never the primary figure
and never represent death itself. The
skull with mandible and crossed femurs
is often found in old tombs due to the
reuse of limited grave space.when the
old graveswere reused, the skeletonswere
discarded and the skull and crossbones
*.r". retained as decorative features. But
here the skull and crossbonesrepresents
the unknown deceased,not death itself.
The three artistic traditions that we
have examined are older than the
corpse/skeletonsymbol. The Dance
of Death is probably based on poems
that
date back to the 1 lth century. But the images
of death that accompanythe poems
begin in the 15th century (clark 1950).
The illustrationsof the Triumph of Death
are from the 15th century. The Apocalyptic
illustrations are found throughout the
medieval period,_but the early illustrations
of the 4 horsemen show humans or
angels'never skeletons.The earliestuse
of the skeleton image is from the latter
half of the 14th cenrury.
The lack of any examples of the corpse/skeleton
symbol prior to - 1360 may
prove to be a serious embarassmen-t-to
any theory of Tarot origins that postulates
an earlier date' In this case,the problem
cannot be dismisr.d b;;r;ing that earlier
decks have been lost- The .orpr"/rkeleton
symbol does not exist in more durable
forms such as church d".or"tions, tomb
inscriptions, or illustrated manuscripts.
At the very least, it seems safe to conclude
that the card.playerwould not have
been familiar with-this death symbol
until the late. l4th or early 15th century,
thus confirming all of the other documentary
widence for this period as the
earliestpossibledate for the Tarot.
In a previous study {insert link to catharism
and the Tarot} I offered the tentative
hypothesis that the origins of the Tarot
might be linked to the confraternities.
In
the light of future research, it may
or may not be significant that several
of the
imagesof Death cited here were commissioned
by confraternities. But it remains
that a major function of the confraternities
was ,o .rrpport its members as death
approached' to bury the dead, and to pray
for their souls in order to shorten their
periodof aronement purgatory

in

Gu"L., 19ggt-

The previous study {insert link to catharism


and the Tarot} aiso offered the
hypothesis that the origins of Tarot might
also be linked to the Franciscanswho
fostered the early confraternities. In
this light it is interesting to seethe position
that the FranciscanFriar playsin the 15th
inturyDanc., of b.uth. clark (1950)
points out that some of the poems
appears to borrow lines from the ,,Little
Fiowers of st' Francis"' There i,
.1."i distinction benryeenthe way the
friar is
"

-r:-.ied, compared to secular clergy.


In many instances, the friar appears to be
::::l;hing to the corpserather thanvice-versa.In conclusion, Clark (1950) stares,
'.::s
evident that the Mendicant Orders played a notable part in the diffusion,
:'::haps also in the creation,of the Dance of Death."

\TERPRETATION:
-: remains to reconstruct what the symbol of death might have conveyed to the
-:th century card-player.Such a reconstruction may be difficult in our own times.
",t.'e
live in an age of optimism in which, as an result of our own actions and
. ivances in biological and medical sciences,we can influence the length of our
'W'e
.:;e and our state of health.
can view Death as a challenge - it will inevitably
'"','in- but we have
an arsenalof weapons to put up a good fight!
^hings must have looked rather different in the 15th century. Death would been
.een less as something to fight and more as something to be accepted(Aries
'r974).
One-third of newborns didn't make it to their second birthday (Carmichael
1989) and in addition to periodic outbreaks of bubonic plague, adults were
riequently dehabilitated by diseasessuch as small pox, gout, and tuberculosis.
They would have viewed Death as lesscontrollable than we do. In an age of faith,
they would also have viewed the ravagesof Death as self.recriminations. \7hat
mother could regard the death of her infant without feelingsof deep guilt.
As a result of their own personal feelings of helplessnessin the face of diseaseand
death, there was a fascination and infatuation with death in t5th century Italy
(Tetel et al 1989) and it became a popular form of devotion (Tenenti 1952).
Binski (1996) calls it "Death Culture" involving ritual, images, literature,
monumental ornaments, prayersfor the dead, belief in purgatory, the criticality of
indulgences,etc. Meiss (1951) shows how the intimate consciousnessof death.
e.g., in the Black Death, influenced life, art, religion, and society. A Savanarola
sermon ('STeinstein1989) recommended that one keep an image of death in a
place where it could be viewed frequently during the day. In that way, one could
evaluateone's minute-to-minute actions in the light of their ultimate ramifications
in the afterlife!
In all of the variant orderings of the individual trumps that occurred during the
15th century, Death always is assigned the number 13, the unlucky number.
Basedon a superstition that still endures today, the card.playerwould have viewed
Death as an appropriate symbol of bad luck - indeed the ultimate bad luck. 'Sfith
Death as an unavoidable fact of everydaylife, it seemsreasonableto assumethat

the number 13 and the symbol of Death would have been interpreted, at least
superficiaily, as misfortune.
In the previous study {insert link to Catharism and the Tarot} I also laid out the
evidence for the apocalyptic belief that the end of the world was near (e.g.,
McGinn 1979). Largely through the preaching of the Spiritual Franciscans,the
card-playerwas likely to be convinced that the corruption in the Church and
social injustice were clear evidencefor the end of the world. Thus, once again, the
symbol of Death would have been associatedwith theological and escatalogical
issuesthat do not concern the modern viewer.
In a very real sense, Death was the dividing line berween the natural and
supernatural. Death was the ultimate proof of the supernatural - not for the
theologian but for the ordinary believer. \7ith no theory of reincarnation,
injustice made no sense without Death and an afterlife as the final arbiter.
Likewise, pain, depression,and frustration made no sense.Straw (2000) points
out the importance of death and ludgement in Christianity, the religion of
martyrs. Given the impossibility of living a life without sin, a noble death held the
only real hope. At the moment of death, social and political order focused down
to the individual and their personal biography and endurance. This was the
attitude toward death as the critical transition point preached by the Mendicant
orders in the L4/I5th century (Aries L97q and is very similar to the'endura'
preached in the Cathar heresyfinsert link to Catharism and the Tarot].
At a deeper level, for the mystic or magus, the Death symbol would have called to
mind the Mystical Death, leading to rebirth in the spirit. The concept would have
been familiar to the religious mystic through the numerous writings produced
during the period 1200-1350 , called by McGinn (1998) the "Flowering of
Mysticism". The concept would have been familiar to the esoteric magus through
the alchemical manuscripts which were beginning to become available as the
Tarot was designed(Jung I94q.

ICONOLOGYOF THE DEVIL CARDS


" Dr. RobertO'Neill

:iTRODUCTION
-:.e

reader may be surprised to find the Devil numbered 14. But this is the
.:mber that has probably the best argument for being the original. The various
:Jerings of the I5/I6th century cards are discussedin some detail by Dummett
^980).Dummett's order Typ. B, which is followed here, has the best justification
:.rsedon l5/l6th century documents and is most likely the order followed in
lerrara, where we find the earliest mention of Tarot in 1447. In addition to
:.aving the best claim on the original numbering of the trumps, this ordering also
'eems to produce the closestfit to the iconology. \7e noticed, for example, that a
rumber of the imagesof Death alsoshowedthe Devil, basedon Revelations6:8.
The reader will also notice that the themes of the "Triumphs" and the "Dance of
Death" will not be considered in this chapter. The imagery associatedwith the
Danceof Death - with each human condition linked to a dancing imageof cieath
appearsto end with card 13. The tradition of the Dance of Death has no imagery
that correspondsto the remaining cards.The imagery associatedwith Petrarch's"I
Trionfi" will reappear in later cards, but the Devil is not described or even
mentioned in the poem. The closest thing to an illustration related to the
Triumphs is a 1496 woodcut that shows the defeatedCupid tied to a tree, death
emerging from a coffin to the left, and a Devil on the right (Panofsky 1939, tig.

39).
THE EARLYIMAGES
Figure1 showsthe extant15/l6th centuryDevilcards.Thereareonly4 examples
becausenone of the hand.painted
decks contain a Devil. This may be simply becauseevery one of the Devil cards
has been accidentally lost. But the lack of a hand-painted Devil card may also
indicated that the hand,painted decks are commissioned from earlier woodblock
printed decks and the Devil was considered to be too dire a symbol and
inappropriate for the noble patrons. But that is a matter for another essay.
The four surviving woodcuts show the Devil in a variery of different but related
images.Three of the cards show the Devil with a trident. Two show bat like wings.
Three depict the devil with eagle talons and t'wo show a second face at the
abdomen or genitals. Two of the Devils are covered in hair/fur and three have

beards.A11have large ears and horns which are either bovine or goat like. Two of
the imagesshow humans being spearedor eaten. A11of the Devils are depicted as
standing. The task before us is to discover ail of these details in representationsof
the Devil in the artistic milieu of Italy where the cardswere designed.

THE DEVIL IN RELIGIOUSART:


The Devil appearsin Christian art from at leastthe sixth cenrury.Menghi (Z0AZ)
givesan excellentreviewof the theologyof the Devil from earlyChristianity and
its Paganroots. But the earlyexamplessuchasthe mosaicat S. Apollinare Nuovo,
-500
(Link 1995,p 110) and illustrationsin a manuscripto{970/80
Ravenna
(Link 1995,p. 86) simply show a dark angelwith bird wings and halo (Russell
I98q. Early monumental art (l?th century)showsthe devil with a huge head,
flamesfor hair, and animalpaws(Link 1995,pp.21 and 49)or birdswings(Ibid.
pp.64 and 91).

It is not until the latter half of the 12th century that the Devil beginsto look
familiar. Book illustrations show a hairy beastwith curved horns (Voelkle and
L'Engle1998 p. 28, Link 1995 p. 51) but with birds' wings,human feet and a
secondpair of wingsat the buttocks.A paintedaltarpieceof the 13th century

?a*r,&

f::
i1-,
&t",;*

Bg,ull
flil:urp,I
:o\\'s the Devil with horns and bovine head but no wings, wearing a skirt, and
,,rth animal paws (Link I995 p. 100).

illnullStUuru
ff
Only in the l4/I5th centuries does the familiar symbolism appear.A 1,477
engraving(Andre 1996plate48) showsthe
Devil with bat wings and eatinga person(Fig. 2). An illuminated initial (Voelkle
and L'Engle1998p.767) 1470showsthe eagletalonsand a faceat the genitals.
An illustrationfrom L405/rc (Ibid.,p.766) showsbat wings,curvedhorns,and
the devil is eatingpeopleand carryingthem on its back.
Figure3 showsan examplefrom an IllustratedPrayerbookof Rouen (- 1495). In
this case,the devil has a face at the abdomen/genitals,curved horns and large
ears.
Figure 4, from the Visconti psalter(1407-1425),illustratesthe final plaguethat
God brought

upon the Egyptians (Exodus 17,21-30).The image of the devil is shown as hairy
and bearded,with curved horns, large ears,with eagletalons and bat wings. But at
this early point in the 15th century, the Devil still doesn't have the three pointed
trident found on the Tarot images(Fig. 1).

trHrill
flf,ilrsf,
Once the familiar details of bat wings, eagletalons, etc. appearin the 15th
century, they are rapidly adopted.The details appear in illustrated psaltersof
I4l5 and I4Z5 (Link 1995pp. 102 and 142)and a manuscriptof l4O9 (Link
L995p. 178).A similarimagealsoappearsin the chapclof SanPetronio,Bologna
in a L4I1 imageof hell (\il/elchp.265).
Menghi (2007)providesa sixteenthcenturyexorcismritual in which an imageof
the devil painted on paper is burned as an integralpart of driving the devil from
person.Surelya strangeexampleof orthodox imagemagicpointing
the possessed
to a belief in the efficacyof manipulatinga physicalimage.

THE APOCALYPTICTRADITION
The imagery of the Devil in the Apocalyptic literature parallels the development
of the symbol in other religious art. Revelations describesthe Devil as "the beast
that comes out of the Abyss..." (11:7) and "The great dragon, the primordial
serpent, known as the devil or Satan..."(72:9). The most specific image is given in
I3:l/3: "Then I saw a beastemergefrom the sea:it had sevenheadsand ten

horns, with a coronet on each ot its ten horns...thebeastwas like a leopard,


with
pawslike a bear and a mouth like a lion..."

llwfll$luurs
#

The early illustrations of Revelations follow the written descriptions and depict
the Devil as a seven-headeddragon. It isn't until the 12th century that we begln to
see imagesof the hairy, bearded Devil with eagletalons (Emmerson and McGinn
1992, fig. lq. Examplescontinue into the 13th century (Fig 5) but it not until the
14th and l5thcenturies that the details in the Tarot symbol become common.
Figure 6 shows Giotto's version of the Devil from a 1306 fresco in the Arena
chapel in Padua. Giotto used the curved horns and beard, eagle talons and has

the devil eating (and defecating) humans. Notice that the artist has integrated
elements from the description in Revelations by showing a serpent behind the
Devil's head and trwo dragons on which the Devil appearsto be sitting. Another
example can be found in Fra Angelico painting t431 (Grubb 1997, p. ItZ).

nsffilfluw*I
A number of artistsworked on the Baptisteryin Florenceso we cannotbe certain
if Giotto is responsiblefor the mosaicdevil in the cupola (Figure7). However,
this image also incorporates the serpent theme from Revelations,showing
serpentsemergingfrom the devil'sears.Other examplesof the mixed symbolism
is found in a 15th centurypsalter(Grubb 1997,p. 107)wherethe Devil is shown
scalyskin and a psalterof L4l3 (Grubb L997,p. 119)where
with serpent-like
the devil is furred but hasa scaledabdomen.

ilssilflgutc$

-1400
:.:-re 8 is taken from an Apocalypr. of
and is an illustration of
J =",'elations
chapter 27. The devil in this image has many of the Tarot details
: --.uding curved horns, beard, hairy body, wings, talons, and face at the
, ' jomen. The number of matching detailsin thesecontemporary Apocalyptic
:-.:rses
suggests
their influenceon the Tarot designers.

DsuilHgurcS
Figure9 is from a l4th century Bolognesepainting of the Last Judgment. The
figure showsthe devil with curvedhorns, hairy body and a faceat the abdomen.
Bat wings and talons can be seenon the devil to the upper right. Once againwe
find many of the detailsin the earlyTarot card alsoappearingin the public art of
the time.

ICONOLOGICALANALYSM
The imagery on the early Tarot cards (Fig. 1) appears to be explained by the
religious art available in the early 15th century. The details in the Tarot Devil
appear in depictions of hell and especiallyin illustrations of the Apocalypse.The
one exception appearsto be the trident that occurs on 3 of the Tarot cards.

Link (1995) provides a detailed analysisof the imageryused to representthe Devil


between the 6th and the 16th centuries. According to his analysis,the trident
derives from the trident of Poseidon, which, in turn, comes from the triple
lightning of the Babylonian god Adad (Van Buren 1945). The trident appearsin
the earliest examples such as a ninth century psalter (Link 1995) but then

essentiallydisappearsuntil the second half of the 14th century. During the


inteweningperiod, the devil is shownwith a two prongedgrapnel(seefig. 4). The
earliestexampleof the trident maybe an apocalypse
of 1340(Grubb L997, front
cover).However,the trident does not becomea common feature of the Devil
symboluntil the'15th century(e.g.,Morgan and Morgan 1996, p. 13). So the
presenceof the trident on the Tarot imagescertainlymarksthe Tarot Devil as the
late 14th or 15th centurv.
As we found with the symbolof Death, the imageof the Devil usedon the early
Tarot cardsis not an ancient image.Early Christian art representedthe Devil as
an angel and the older apocalyptictradition shows the Devil as a dragon or
serpent.The Devil as a furry beastonly appearsin the late 1Zth century.Details
such as the bat wings do not appearuntil the 14th cenrury(Link 1995).Russeli
(1984) concludesthat the Devil becamemore and more grotesquebeginningin
the 14th century. So the details on the early Devil cards really argue against
theoriesthat assignan earlierdateto the origin of the Tarot.

Snullf$rtlr*lS
In the chapter on Death, we saw several images that combined Death with the
Devil and even one that combined Death, Devil and Tower. Russell (1984) points
out that the combined imagery of Death and the Devil doesn't begin until the
11th century.
In fact, in one 9th century image (Russell 1988, p. 50), it is the Devil rather than
Death that is leading off the living person. Figure 10 shows a tapestry 1373/8I
that depicts a devil along with towers falling. So once again we find that the
symbols in the Tarot trumps appear in groups, at least within the Apocalyptic
tradition, showing an association of Death, Devil and Tower that follows the
sequencein the type B decks and documentation from the l5/I6th centuries.

:\TERPRETATION
-he

15th century card.playerwould probably have associatedthe Devil with the


leath symbol as the ultimate fate of the sinner after death. Even though the
:-orns and beard of the Devil are probably derived from the god Pan, the cult of
Jeath in the 15th century would have argued againstseeingthe Devil as a playful
:--'restspirit. The eariy Tarot images (fig. 1) don't depict playfulness as the Devil
:ats bodies and spearsthem with its trident! Furthermore, the early Tarot images
lre more bovine than goat like as one would expect if the viewer was meanr ro see
Pan.
The context in which the 15th century card-playerwould most likely have seen
:he Devil image would have been in representations of the Apocalyptic Last
Judgment. The Franciscan preachersused the approaching ..,d of the world and
eternal damnation as a central theme of their homilies (Russell Ig84). Therefore.
the Devil might have elicited feelingsof anxiety and the need for repentance.
But to the late medieval mind, the Devil was not just a passiveevil that received
sinners after death. The Devil was an active force in this world as well. The
phenomenon of demonic possessionwas an accepted concept and learned
theologiansdiscussedpossession.The Church included instructions on exorcism
in the Rituale Romanum, the book of officially approved rituals (Menghi ZOOZ)..
One aspectof belief in the Devil's influence relates to the sixth century legend of
Theophilus (Russell 1988). Theophilus was a cleric who made a pacr with the
Devil to obtain ecclesiaticalpromotion. Though it sounds strange to our ears, it
was a wide'spread and common legend that accounts for the almost universal
belief in demonic pacts. One aspectof this belief was that worldly successwas
often suspectedas being the product of a pact with the Devil. How elsecould one
explain successin one who was not saintly and achieved successthrough violent
or evil means? Either God is unjust, or the individual had the assistanceof
demonic forces through a pact. I suspect this is one of the reasons that the
nobility never had the Devil card included in their Tarot decks.Its presencemight
have raised (or confirmed) suspicionsabout the reasonsfor their success.
Another consequence of the Theophilus legend was the widespread belief that
heretics were involved in pacts with the Devil. In an age of faith, the truth of
Christianity seemed obvious and indisputable. How else could one explain the
errors in a heresy unless the heretic was under the direct influence of the Devill
This belief was reinforced by the experiencewith the dualist Cathari heresy.The
radical dualists saw the Devil as a co-equal force, antithetical to God. Moderate

dualism, more characteristicof the Cathari, saw the Devil as an active force
conspiring to maintain evil matter and prevent releaseof the human spirit.
Perhapsthe nobility prudently excludedthe Devil to allay suspicionsof heresyl
After all, Pope John )Cfi (1316-1334)had instructed the Inquisition to move
aggressively
againstwitchesand sorcerers.
Finally, it is difficult to avoid the conclusionthat the Devil imagewould have
elicited thoughts of Black Magic. The belief in demonic magic was widespread
(Kieckhefer 1989) in Europe. Severalmanuals for summoning demons have
survived(Kiechhefer1997, Fanger 1998) and the belief in the effectiveness
of
demonic ritual was essentiallyuniversal(Shumaker1972)and the secondhalf of
the 15th centurywitnessedthe affocityof witch,burning.
Russell(1988) provides an insightful analysisof the factors thar led up to the
belief in witchesand demonic magic.First, scholastictheologianshad concluded
that magicwas necessarily
demonic.Second,Europeanfolk mythologywasfull of
tales of vampires and demons. Third, medieval Catharism and its aftermaths
focusedattention on the power and influence of the Devil. Finally, a strange
perversionof the conceptof judicial precedentbecameestablished.
Confessions
of demonic ritual, under threat of torture, were accumulatedas evidencefor the
validlry of the phenomenon.So perhapswe should not be surprisedto find that
the aristocraticpatronsomitted the Devil from their hand,painteddecks.

ICONOLOGYOF THE TOWER CARDS


'! lr. Robert O'Neill

ftr
#2

Tffiefffifisr*r
THEEARLYTAROTIMAGES
There are five surviving imagesof the Tower from the 15/l6th centuries (Fig. 1).
Four of the towers are square with doorways and four show rocks, hail, or
masonry falling. Three show flames coming from the top of the Tower and
apparently originating from the Sun in the upper corner. One shows a couple
falling and another appears to have an animal partially concealed behind the
tower. Images of the Tower similar to those in Fig. 1 occur occasionally in
religious art and are common in the Apocalyptic tradition but do not occur in the
traditions associatedwith Petrarch or the Dance of Death.

RELIGIOUSART
I

The image of the burning tower is not common in religious art but some
examplescan be found. Voelkle and L'Engle (1998, p.31) show an illustration
from a German manuscript 1360 that depicts Lot fleeing Sodom with burning

towersin the background.There is also an example(Fig. 2) from a depiction of


Hell in a Frenchpsalterof I473.

Tmmnr
flfiilrsfi
In Fig. 2, notice the squaretower with doorwayand flamescoming from the top.
Notice also the associationof the Tower (#15) image with the Devil (#I4).
Although it is a stretch,there is a man impaled on a tree which might be related
to the Hangedman(+12) and in the backgroundwe seethe seayieldingup its
dead (Angel #19 and RevelationsZO:I3). Cavendish(1975, p 122) shows a
painting from a psalterof 1474depictingthe building of the tower of Babel.The
workmen at the top are arguingand one is shown falling in an invertedposition
with piecesof masonry.Flint (199I, cover)showsan 1lth centuryillustrationof
Simon Magusfalling headlongfrom a squarerower.

THE APOCALYPTIC TRADITION


The destructionof earthlykingdomsand the fall of Babylonare recurrentthemes
in Revelationsand the artistic renderingsof thesethemesappearsto explain the
Tarot images.For example,in Revelations8:7, the first of sevenangelsbiows its
trumpet "... and,with that, hail and fire...weredroppedon the earth..."and aqain
Revelations16:20"...andhail...fellfrom the skyon the people."

Ssfffrrffifsffi&
-:ris

Apoca\ptic reference to hail and fire may explain the falling


circles and
-"imesseen
on rwo of the early Tarot (Fig. t) and are representedin an early
14th
::i1fur| Apocalypse(Deuchler et aL 1971, p. 50), a Flemish manuscript 1400
..rn der Meer I978, p. 145) and a 13th century Apocalypse(Hassell
1961,plate

There are two placesin Revelationswhere the fall of Babylon,as a


symbolof evil,
is celebrated.

Revelations14:8 - "A secondangel followed him, calling "Babylon has fallen,


Babylon the Great has fallen..."and again Revelations18:2 - "...Babylonhas
fallen, Babylonthe Great has fallen, and has becomethe haunt of devils..."The
conceptof ultimate punishmentbeing dealt to materialevil caughtthe medieval
imaginationand there are a number of illustrationsof theseversesthat appearto
be relatedto the earlyTarot. Figure3, from a 14th centuryApocalypse,showsthe
collapsingtowers,the falling humans, and the doorway as shown on the early
Tarot images.Although it is croppedin Fig. 3 to savespace,this imageshowsan
angelaboveholding a scroll that says"Cecidit,ceciditBabylon"(i.e.,It has fallen,
Babylonhasfallen).The completeimagecan be seenin the Cloisters'Apocalypse
(Deuchleret al. 7977,folio 76 verso).
A 14th centuryParisianApocalypsedepictsthe fall of Babylon
(Fig.4) and an angelorderingthe merchantsto leavethe burning city of Babylon
(Revelations
l8.4-I7, Fig.5). Figure4 confirmsthe association
of Devil (#14)and
Tower (#15). Figure 5 showsthe merchantsleavingthe burning Babylonwith a
burning tower and doorway.An earliermanuscriptof 950 showsthe destruction
of Babylonwith burning buildings(Voelkleand L'Engle 1998,p. 79).A Durer
woodcut of 1498 (van der Meer L978, fig, 199) shows towers falling in the
backgroundand the harlot of Babylonin the foreground.
Severalother passages
in Revelationsrelate to the destruction of the cities as
symbolsof materialpower. For example,RevelationsII:9-13: "Their corpseswill
lie in the main streetof the Great City known by the symbolicnamesSodomand
Egypt...Immediateiythere was a violent earthquake,and a tenth of the city
collapsed..."
and Revelations16:8 "The fourth angelemptiedhis bowl over the
sun and it wasmadeto scorchpeoplewith its flames..."
and Revelations16:18.19:
" ...'The end has come'. Then there were flashesof lightening and pealsof
thunder and the most violent earthquake...TheGreat City was split into three
parts and the cities of the world collapsed;Babylonthe Great was not forgotten:
God madeher drink the full wine cup of his anger."
Thesepassages
were illustratedwith imagessuch as Fig. 6 (L4th century)which
showsfalling towers,an invertedfalling man, and a doorway.A similar imagecan
be found in Deuchleret al. (197l, p 72) and in van der Meer(1978,fig. 151).
In Fig. 7 (l4th century)we seethe falling towers,doorwayand the Devil (#Iq.
Similar imagescan be seenin an Anglo-Saxonmanuscript 1255/60 (Grubb
1997,p. 49).
The symbolism of the falling towers and men is quite old in the Apocalyptic
tradition as exemplified by a Spanish manuscript of
950 (Fig. 8) that shows the

- ::r; theme together


with a direct referenceto Babylon and illustrates the celestial
' -:riticance of the event by showing Stars (#16) in the sky overhead. That the
::.nish Christians associatedBabylon with their Islamic rulers is evident from
-:-. shapeof the towers
in Fig. 8 (Seidel2000).

ICONOLOGICALANALYSIS
\7e have mentioned in earlier chaptersthe iconologicalassociationof the
Death/Devi/Tower symbols and the Devil,/Tower association.For example,
Grubb (1997,p. 57) showsa tapestry- 1373.81that depictsTowersfalllng and
Devils.Figure9, from a 74th centuryApocalypse,showsthe Devil (#1$
representedasthe seven-headed
dragon,falling Towers(#15),hailstonesasshown
on someof earlyTarots (Fig. t) and with Stars(#16) and Sun (#1g) in the skv
above.

lsr$rRryru}

Figure 10 from a l4th century manuscript shows the falling Towers and hail (#15)
togetherwith the Moon (#17) and the darkened Sun (+1g).A similar image from
another 14th century manuscript (Deuchler et al. l97I) shows the falline towers
(#15) togetherwith the stars (#16), Moon (#r7) and sun (#1g).

Tflflnrf$urtS
This associationof imageshas t'wo important implications. First, the juxtaposition
o f imageso f 13 D eath/ | 4D eviV I 5T ower/ | 6Sta/ 1.7Mo on/ 1gsun
seemsto confirm the relationship berween the sequenceof Tarot images in the
type B ordering and the Apocalyptic artistic tradition that influenced so much of
the religious art of the times. Second,although the juxtaposition of thesesymbols
conveys little significance in the 21st century, it is hard to believe that a 15th
century viewer did not saw the apocalyptic implications of this sequence!

INTERPRETATION
So how might the 15th centurycard-players
haveseenrhe Tower card?As an
urban resident of a city-state in northern ltaly, the players would have been
intimately aware of the tower as a symbol of power - the ultimate phallic
symbol. Perhaps the playerswould have been proud that the towers of the castles
and cathedrals of their city were tall and strong - a sign of their own personal
contribution to the city's prestige and prosperity.
At the same time, the players had been saturatedwith sermons about the vanities
of this world (Rusconi 2000). The playerswould have heard about the predictions
of the Antichrist and the imminent apocalypse.Even if they might nor recognize
the name of Joachim of Fiore, still the friars led them to expect the overturn of
the current regimes,both laic and ecclesiastical
(McGinn 2000a).

T*ffir ffiffffffi*

I can alsoimaginea group of card,players


assemblingat the local tavern aftera IZ
or 16 hour shift. They might be proud of their city, but the grossinjusticesof
their societymust also haveeatenat them. It was their shouldersand spinesand
kneesthat were sacrificedto build those towers.Surely, someoneat the table
ri'ouid havesnickeredknowinglywhen the Tower card appeared.The conceptof
an imminent apocalypsehad alwaysflourished in societiesas an antidote to
frustration:"Justyou wait!"

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So perhapsthe sequenceof the Devil and the falling Tower would haveeliciteda
gut responsein the 15th centurycard-playersl
Perhapswe should not be surprised
that the Tower card appearsin only one of the deckspainted for the aristocracy?
Perhapsthe nobles, subjectedto the samefiery Franciscansermons,were a bit
nervousabout the implicationsof the crumblingtower of power?

ICONOLOGY OF THE HEAVENS


by Dr. RobertO'Neill

INTRODUCTION
Before we examine individually the iconology of the 16Star, 17Moon and 18Sun
cards, it will be helpful to consider how the card-playerwould have viewed the
Heavenly Spheres. In particular, it is important to realize that the card.player
would likely have been familiar with images of the Heavens that incorporated ail
three of the Tarot symbols.
The cosmology of the late medieval world was a Christianized version of the
concepts of Ptolemy of Alexandria (second century C.E.). Ptolemy, in turn,
depended on Plato, Eudoxus (who devised the concentric spheresmodel) and
Aristotle (Heninger 1977). In the early 15th century, when the Tarot was
designed, the concept of the universe was geocentric, i.e., the earth was at the
cenrer. The model with the Sun as the center of rotation was only published by
is
illustrated at
Ptolemaic model
The
t543.
Copernicus in

rk.edu/dk

lemaic.h

The basic idea was that the universeis composedof concentric spheres.Humans,
being the sole purpose of creation, are found on the earth at the center of the
universe. The planets and stars are confined to sphereswhich rotate around the
earth. In the Christian concept, hell is at the center of the earth. Moving outward
from the earth there are spheres representing the elements: water in the
hydrosphere, air in the atmosphere,and then fire. Then come the spheresfor the
planets and then the stars. In some Christian vetsions, there would also be
additional spheres for each of the 9 choirs of angels. Beyond the spheres is the
domain of God. Berween the realm of God and the furthest sphere of creation is
a sphere called the Prime Mover, a Neoplatonic intermediary, designedto explain
the transition between the unchanging and infinite God and the finite world of
change and motion.
This cosmology may not have been known in detail by the card-player even
though they may have been exposedto simple woodcut diagrams such as Figure 1
(- 1349).More likely, the card-player would have thought in terms of a more
general concept in which the star, moon and sun just represented"The Heavens".
The more general concept is illustrated in a Parisian woodcut of 1542 (Fig. Z).
Other instancesof this type of general representation of the heavensare common.

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-{ similar imageis seenin a 1488 woodcurfrom venice (Hind 1935,p.


465).
Figure3 showsa woodcut from a I5I7 edition of Ovid'sMetamorphoses.
Here
see the stars' moon and sun simply representingthe heavens.All of these
"ve
examplesindicatethat the card.playerwould havebeenassociated
star,moon and
sunwith the heavens.
Panofsky(1939, fig. 51) showsa strangewoodcut of Father Time from
1509
u'hich showsa star and a sun on the spreadwings and a crescentmoon
at the
groin. This image suggeststhat the star, moon and sun might also
have been
thought of as representingthe relentlessonward movementof the heavens
and
their influenceon our conceptof time.

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One specific context in which the stars, moon and sun are used to represent
the
heavensis found in illustrations of the fourth day of creation: : "Let there be lights
in the vault of heaven to divide day from night...God made the two great
lights:
the greater light to govern the day, the smaller light ro govern the night, urrJ
th.
stars."(GenesisI:I4-L6).

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Figure 4 shows a 1493 woodcut that was used as an illustration of this


verse.The
figure shows the influence of the Ptolemaic model of the universe.
A similar
image (Fig.5) is found in an English bible from 1535. Here again
ptolemaic
the
model is suggested,
but without any real adherenceto details.

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APOCALYPTICTRADITION
Taken together' figures 1'5 indicate that the star, moon and sun were
used to
represent the heavenswithin the cosmologicalconcepts of the time.
But in the
milieu of the early card-player, this representation of the universe
would have
been combined with images from John's Revelations, familiar from
sermons and
religiousart.
Figure 6 shows a l4th century representation of the the most relevant
verse,
Revelations 8: 12: "The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the
sun and
a third of the moon and a third of the starswere blasted..."A similar image
can be
found in van der Meer (1978, p.216).In both the versefrom Revelations
and in
the illustration, all three of the Heavenly bodies are combined into one
image.
Although illustrations of Revelations 8:12, such as figure Z from - l411,were
the
most common images in which the three heavenly bodies appear together,
they
are not the only examples.A Durer woodcut of I49B (rru., d.t Meer
1978, fig.
190) shows the sun with straight and curved rays, crescent moon with
face,
starsfalling. The 13th century Douce Apocalypse(Hassell1961, plate shows"rd
4)

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:he sun and moon in the sky. Figure 8 shows an illustration from " 1400 which
'.i'asintended as a representation
of Revelations6. In many other examplesof the
.rpocalyticartistic tradition, the heavens overhead are adornedwith srars.moon
rnd sun.

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There is, of course,another sectionof John'sbook that mentionsall three of the
heavenlybodies.This is RevelationsI2:1: "...a woman clothed with the sun,
standing on the moon, and with the 12 stars on her head for a crown." \7e
discussedthis verseas possiblyrelatedto the Empresscard.\7e bring it up again
herebecauseof the associationof the threeheavenlybodiesinto a singlesymbolic
image.The image from RevelationsI7:1 influenced other religious art, for
example,a Madonna o{ 1428showsthe moon and sun in the background(Hind
1935,p. 165).
I also want to point out a related image in Petrarch.In the Triumph of Love,
Petrarchindicatesthat his belovedLauraescapes
entrapmentby Love:
"No one can bind her with the bonds of love, ...Hersmile,her words.and even
her disdain,Make her, in truth, a sun amongthe stars."

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It is debatablewhetherthis is a consciousreferenceto the Lady in Revelations.
But the brief passage
doesestablishthat the poeticimageryof sun and starswas
part of the artisticmilieu in which the Tarot appeared.

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ssurus
Finally, I want to call special attention to an illustration in Marshall (2000, plate
4). The image is a general representationof the final times, the Last Judgment,
with imagery taken from various parts of Revelations. I mention the image here
for three reasons. First, it shows the sun and moon in the sky. Thus, this is
another example combining these imagesinto a generalconcept of the Heavens.
Second, the image is a processionalbanner o{ 1471 from Perugia.This is the
type of representation that the card-playerwas likely to have seen. Third, this is
the processionalbanner of the Confraterniry of San Benedettodei Frustati.Thus,
once again we seen the imagery of the early Tarot appearing in associationwith
the confraternities.

-l
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INTERPRETATION
It seemsreasonable to conclude that the card.playerswould have recognized the
Star, Moon, and Sun cards as a representationof the Heavens,or the Cosmos.
However, the cards are not in the proper cosmological order. In the Ptolemaic
model, the order should be moon, sun, and then stars.This arguesagainstthese
cardsbeing simply a cosmologicalreference.

I
-l

lerhaps the card-reader would have recognized that the sequence represents
.rcreasing light, i.e., enlightenment. The card-player would at least have been
:rmiliar with Dante whose "Divine Comedy" represents the ascent from Hell to
i{eaven as a journey of in'creasinglight. So the sequential numbering of the star,
Tloon, and sun, consistent in all L5/I6th century variations, might have conveyed
in element of hope and inspiration.

ICONOLOGY OF THE STAR CARDS


bv Dr. RobertO'Neill

INTRODUCTION
In the previous chapter we examined the Star, Moon, and Sun cards as
representing the general concept of the Heavens.And, indeed, the majority of the
reiated imagery from the 15/L6th centuries shows these celestialbodies in various
combinations. However, the Star has other connotations in the iconology of the
late Medieval period.

Figure 1 shows the sevenextant imagesof the Star from the early Tarot decks.
The most conspicuous feature is the star itself, eighapointed in six imagesand six
pointed in one of them. In one case, the star occurs alone, framed above
and
below by srylized clouds. In three cases,the star is being held by a figure. The
other three images are more difficult to characterize. One shows a pair of
astrologerslooking up at the star. One shows a group of three, includinj a king
and t'wo magi. They are holding up a crown and an orb appears to be flo"ti.rg.
One shows a kneeling woman, hair blowing and naked except for a headband.
She is emptying two large water jars, one on her shoulder and one in the crook of
her arm. There is an additional card (Kaplan Volume Z, p. zgg) which mav come

-::'m the 16th cenrury.This showsan 8-pointed


star and a clothed and naked
::rn who appearto be wrestling.

Someof earlyimagesmay simplybe cosmologicalreferencesas implied in


the imagesshowingthe star aloneor with two astrologers(Fig. 1). Figure2 shows
an imageof the eighth sphere,i.e.,the sphereof fixed srars,from the 15th century
prints known as the Tarocchi del Mantegna.Like someof the earlyTarots,this
showsa femalefigure holding up the stars.The Tarot imagesmay alsobe related
to the imagesof Venus shown as a naked woman in the center of an 8.pointed
star(Seznec1953,p. 200).Relatedimages(Fig.3) showthe spirit of the world, or
the spirit of Mercury,in the centerof a radiance(I5/l6th century).

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I am unable to verify the possible identification with the constellation Aquarius,


because the 15th century images I have located depict Aquarius as a man
emptying a single large jar. The Tarot images showing the woman with two jars
may also relate to barly 15th century allegorical images of Grammar, one of the
liberal arts. Grammar sometimes appears (Fig. 4) as a naked woman with 2 jars
and pouring from one of them.

THE TRIUMPH TRADITION


At first sight, the imageson the early Star cards seem to have little to do with the
artistic ffadition associatedwith Petrarch's"I Trionfi". The artists representedthe
Triumph of Fame as a chariot pulled by elephants with a woman on top. The
woman usually shows a sword in one hand, and the captive Cupid in the other.

Examplescan be found inwelch (r99?, p. zgg) and Hind (1935,fig.2g5). In


other cases,
the woman is carryinga trumpet (e.g.,Carnelli 1.97I,plate 14).
But if we look at Petrarch'sown description of Fame,we find an image of a
woman that shonelike a star:
Her that man'slife foreversaves...This
gloriousfair Ladymuch like wasshe,Unto
that bright star that...Inthe orient or the clearday appears...So
greatin glorydid
this Ladyexcel,That all the elemenrsabout her did shine...
So it is possiblethat the early Tarot imagesshowing a woman and star were
influencedby Petrarch.But I know of no representations
of the Triumph of Fame
that showthe Ladyholding a star.

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. :{E RELIGIOUSTRADITION
-*. a preliminary note, we can mention that the coronatedVirgin Mary was
,=neratedas "StellaMaris", the Star of the Sea.One of the early cards (fig. 1)
rao\7sa crownedwoman holding the star.It is possiblethat this imagemight have
-.rcitedsuchan associationfor the 15th centurycard,player.
-.notherpossibilityis offeredby imagesof the Gentile prophet Balaamfrom the
:rh centuryRoman catacombs(Stevenson1978).Balaam(Fig.5) refusedto curse
:heJewsas
jemandedby the Moabitesand insteadprophesizedthat a future king would arise
:rom the Jewish people' Numbers 74:17 "...a star from Jacob takes the
.eadership..."
The early Christianssaw Balaam'sprophesyas testamentto the
nission of Jesus.However, once again, I am not familiar with any medieval
:magerywhich showsBalaampointing to the star.
.\ more direct relationship berweenthe early imagesand religious art can be
tound in Matthew Z:I-LZ - "...somewise men cameto Jerusalemfrom the east.
"Where is the infant king of the Jews?"they asked. "'We saw his star as it
rose..."...Having
listenedto what the king had to say,they set out. And there in
front of them was the star they had seenrising...Thesight of the star filled them
with delight..."

It seemsreasonableto assumethat the earlycard (Fig. 1) showingthree figuresis a


representationof the threeMagi. They are dressingin crown and robesthat might
representeasternMagi. Also, the figuresare offering symbolsof rule, i.e., crown
and orb, to the infant king. Imagesshowingthe star and the Magi go back to the
5th century(Grabar1968,fig. I3q.
Another potential referencemay be to Isaiah47.In this chapter,often calledThe
Lament for Babylon,Isaiahdescribesthe condition of Babylonafter it has fallen.
If the preceding card (+l5Tower) representsthe fall of Babylon, then the
following may be relatedto the Star image:"...Sitin the dust, virgin, daughterof
through rivers,Let your nakedness
Babylon.Sit on the ground dethroned...\il/ade
them come forward now and saveyou,
be seen,and your shamebe exposed...Let

thesewho analyzethe heavensand study the stars..."Perhapsthis is the original


intent of the imageshowingthe nakedkneelingwoman.

APOCALYPTICTRADITION
As mentioned in the preceding chapter, the Heavenly Bodies are mentioned in
many places in Revelations. In Revelations 4:6, the sacrificial lamb, a symbol of
the crucified Jesus,is introduced with a referenceto Revelations7: 28: "...And I
will give him the Morning Star." Later (Rev. 22:76), Jesusrefers to himself as
"...the bright star of the morni.tg..." These referencesappearsin apocryphal art
from as early as the ninth century (Fig. 0) as a combined image of the lamb and
eighrpointed star.

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A secondmention of the star in isolationoccursin Revelations8:10: "The third


angelblew his trumpet and a huge star fell from the sky..."and Revelations9:1
"Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet and I saw a star that had fallen from
heaven..."The imageof the falling star is common in apocalypticart. Figure 7 is
an examplefrom a 15th centuryDurer print.

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--ther exampleoccur, for example,in a 14th centuryApocalypse(Fig. 8) and in


i:-.-rfierDurer print of t498 (vander Meer 1978,{iS. 192).

.JONOLOGICAL ANATYSS
r srrikingfeatureof the earlyStar cardsin Figure1 is their variation.The primary
-npression that the card-playermight have seen in this card was simply the
:leavens.Perhapsit wasthe simplicityof the basicconcept"Star"that encouraged
:he artists and craftsmento suggestother associations- resulting in the many
'"'ariants.

Some of the variants are easilyexplained,.g.,the Star of Bethlehemand the


scienceof Astrology.The figure holding the star may suggestBalaam (Fig. 5),
M"ry, Venus, the sphereof Stars (Fig. 7), or an allegoricalfigure such as the
Anima Mundi (Fig. f) or Grammar (Fig. 4). But the simplestexplanationmay
simply be the addition of a human figure - after all, this is how the artist uses
figuresin the court cards- simplyto hold up a symbol.
The variant showing the kneeling woman is more difficult to explain. It may
representAquarius.It may representBabylon,destroyedin the previouscard (#16
Tower), reducedto a naked slave.But I am unable to locate any contemporary
imageryto suggestan explanationfor this representation.So one of the seven
15/l6th centurycardsmust remain a mysteryfor now.
One of the interesting featuresof the early cards in fig. 1 is that additional
traditions are synthesizedinto the imagery.This is a common feature of late
art which often combinedffaditions,.g.,classical
Medievaland earlyRenaissance
and religious themes.\7e find this synthesisof different artistic traditions in
many of the Tarot cards.The blending arguesagainsttrying to find any single
tradition that will explainall of the symbols.

INTERPRETATION
It seemsreasonableto assumethat 15th centurycard-players
would haveviewed
the Star card asthe first of the seriesrepresenting"The Heavens".Theywould also
have recognizedth'e referenceto Astrology and the Star of Bethlehem,possibly
they had alsoheardabout the prophesyof Balaamin sermons.
Becausethe apocalyptictheme was the theme of many, possiblymost, of the
sermonsthey heard,they might alsohaverecognizedthe Star in this context.The
Star might have reminded them of the angelblowing the trumpet and the great
star falling. The Star might also haveelicited the imageof the Morning Star as a
symbolof Jesus.

ICONOLOGYOF THE MOON CARDS


-', Dr. RobertO'Neill

:\TRODUCTION
lhere are sevenextant Moon cardsfrom the l5/l6th century (Fig. 1). Three of
Two
:he cardsshow astrologersobservingthe moon and taking measurements.
:ards show a figure holding up the Moon. one showssimply the Moon. One
.hows a lobster/crayfishin a pond between2 towers.Three of the cardsshow a
faceon the Moon and there is no particularconsistencyin the orientation of the
Moon.
crescent

W
illsonSgurul
As we sawwith the Star card, it is not unusual to find a figure holding aloft a
heavenlybody. Figure2 showsthe imageof Luna from the so-calledTarocchidel
Mantegna 1470. Another example,probably from the 13th century, can be
found in Seznec(1953,fig.6q.
Figure3 showsan imagefrom a blockbookof the the Planentsand their children.
In this case,Luna is representedas a nakedwoman with the moon coveringher
genitals. The constellationassociatedwith the Moon, cancer,is depicted as a
iob.ter/cruvftrh similar to the early Tarot image.Notice the image also shows
(1994,p. 116)showsa
towersto eachsideaswe find in the Tarot card.'!7i11iams
similar imagefrom the 15th century.

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RELIGIOUS TRADITION
Imagesof the Moon appearin many biblical illustrations.Usually the Moon
appearsjust as anotherof the heavenlybodies.Figure4 showsan illustrationof
Genesisfrom 1240with God instructingAdam on the Heavens.

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The moon also appearsin illustrations of Psalm 148 (Fig. 5),


"Let the Heaven praise God...
Praisehim, sun and moon,
Praisehim, shining stars,

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lraise him highestheavens..."

\POCALYPTICTRADITION
-\ with the other heavenlybodies, the Moon frequently appearsin illustrations of
lohn's Revelations.Figure 6 shows a Durer woodcut illustrating Rev. 6:12 "In my
r-ision,when he broke the sixth seal...the
rnoon turned red as blood..."

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flmruf

Figure7 showsa small detail from a 13th centuryillustration of the angelblowing


the fourth ffumpet. A similar imagecan be found in a 14th centurv Cloisters
(Fig.B).
apocalypse

ICONOLOGICALANALYSN
As with the Star card, the image of the Moon alone must have seemedtoo simple
to the woodcarver and only one card shows the Moon in isolation. Three of the
cards obviously draw out the relationship with astrology. This is not surprising
because of the important of the Moon to the astrological and cosmological
speculationsof the times (Koestler I95q.

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On one of the cards, the figure holding up the Moon also appears to have a
broken bow in her hand. This is probably a reference to the goddessDiana.
Seznec(1953)indicatesthat Diana was often representedas holding a bow and
wascloselyidentifiedwith the Moon.

ffinrn$firnrus
The following URL showsa 3/4th century imageof either Luna or Diana with
crescentmoon at foreheadrwww.metmuseum.org
It is also interesting to note that Diana was often depicted together with Apollo,
the Sun god of the following Tarot card (Seznec1953).
The presenceof the goddessDiana on a single 15th century card has another
interesting implication. The renewed interest in Roman and Greek mythology,
called Humanism, was a characteristic of the late Medieval and Renaissance
Periods. But this fascination with ancient culture was largely restricted to the
literate aristocracy.Therefore, it is probably not surprising to find the bow with its
subtle reference to Latin mythology on one of hand.painted decks produced for
the ducal family in Milan. It is unlikely that the reference to Diana would have
been meaningful to the ordinary card.player.

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I
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:\TERPRETATION
lhe modern scientific critic might be scepricalabout the influence of the
:onsteliationson human life. But there is little basis for scepticismwith the
\{oon. The tides, menstral cycles,and our structuring of time into months is
:mple evidencefor the influenceof the Moon on our lives.
-{ristotle had held that the celestialbodies were were not made of the four
elementsbut were more perfectand composedof a fifth element.Late Medieval
rheologyhad pretty much seftledon a Platonicconceptthat held the Moon
to be
\-ery much an eartlr.like world (Duhem 19g5). This probably enhanced
the
popularbelief in the astrological
influenceof the Moon. The prevalence
of such
L.'eliefs
seemsto explainwhy threeof the earlycardsshow,rtrolog.rr.
Although the card-players
may havebeenonly vaguelyawareof the speculationsof
the philosophersand cosmologists(Koestler lg5g), they certainlyassociated
the
Moon with folklore and superstition.The night, ruled by the Moon, wasa time of
mysteryand magic.One route to understandingthe nature of thesebeliefsis
the
MedievalPenitentials- works of pastoralcareproducedto assistthe parishpriest
in the confessional.
The priestwasinstructedin which questionsto askand which
penances
to assign(Gurevich1988).The confessoris encouraged
to askquestions
about participationin monthly magicalrituals to rekindle the light in the moon.
Other questionsdeal with superstitiouspractices,witches,erc.1h. pr.rence
of
such questionsindicatesthat the priest is likely ro encounrerrhesebeliefsin the
popularculture.Given suchevidence,it seemssafeto assumethat the card.players
might havethought of magicor 'thingsthat go bump in the night' when ui.*i1g
this card.
Though we cannot developthe topic in full detail here, the card.players
would
also havebeen awareof the "ascentto heaven"as a mysticalexperiencethat had
beenrecordedin Scripruresfrom Daniel to Revelations
(Himmelfarb1993).This
mysticalascentor "enlightenment"is often describedin the mysticalliteratureas
the spirit's ascentthrough the heavenlyspheres.The card.playerswould have
encounteredthe concept in sermons,particularly in feast days celebratingthe
Assumption of Mury and Ascensionof Jesus.The lirurgy for such feastsdrew
heavilyon Old and New Testamentvisionaryreferencesand would commonlv
haveformed the subjectmatter of the homilv.

ICONOLOGY OF THE STINCARDS


by Dr. RobertO'Neill

INTRODUCTION
Sevenimagesof the Sun card have survived from the 75/76th centuries
(Fig. 1). A11of the imagesof the Sun are shown as a full circle
with rays and a face.
The rays are straight on 3, cuwed on three, and one card shows both curved and
straight rays. Two show a woman in a garden spinning yarn. Two show just the
Sun. One shows a cherub carrying the Sun across the sky. One shows an older
man speakingwith a young man. One shows a child (perhaps one of rwo) and has
tongues of fire falling from the Sun. There is an additional card that may be from
the 16th century (Kaplan Volume Z, p.288). This showsa naked man uprooting
a
tree with a fountain in the backsround.

wffi
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The Sun as a ruling planet with its
wwu'.bilhrandcharlie.com
I lanets'rn.html.

'children'

can be

found

at

which illustratesthe astrologicalassociations


rhar the card.players
may havebeen
familiar with. A similar representationof Sol asa king holding the Sun can be

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ffin*mr8
found in seznec(1953, fig. 64).It is interesting,however,
that the earlyTarot
the manisharts(wrestring,
fJn.i.,g,rocktossing)
traditionarly
:*,9|::l".lrde
associated
with Sol.
The image of the angel carrying the Sun acrossthe
sky may be a Classical
referenceto Iliaco, the 'genius' of the Sun as in
the so,called'Tarocchi del
Mantegna'(Fig. 2). I havenot beenableto determinea
sourcefor this conceptof
rv

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vl

tle Latin form, Iliacis,.is usedb_yvirgil in the Aeneid as


an adjective
It T;
to roT.ole o,fs:mejhingfrom "Ilium"or Troy.The Latinword,
in rurn,
i:i:i:l"t
f

uvJvvLrvu

is takenfrom the Greek,i.e.,from Homer's"Iliad"

Whateverthe sourceof this Classicalreference,it is interesting


to note that this
imageappearsonly on one of the hand-painteddecks.fu
we slw with the Moon
and Diana, such Humanist referenceswere of greater interest
to the literate
aristocracythan to the ordinarycard-player.

THE RELIGIOUS TRADITION

\rhile the card'players


were unlikely to recognizea referenceto ,lliaco,,they
were
certainlyfamiliar with the Sun as a symboi for
Jesus.The basic sourcefor this
identificationis Matthew 17:17:"...Jesus
took with him peter and Jamesand his
brother John and led them up a high mountain...hewas
rransfigured,his face
shonelike the sun...".

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The themeof Jesusasthe Sun of God, the Light of the 'S7orld,is amplified in the
first chapterof John'sGospel:"In the beginningwasthe \Word...Allthat camero
be had life in him and that life was the light of men, a light that shinesin the
dark...TheWord was the true light...".Jesusas the Light of the '!florld is further
proclaimedin John 8:r7, 9:5, and 12:46. The symbolismis reinforcedby
Augustinewho refers to Jesusas IncorporealLight (city of God, Book 11,
Chapter3, \il/alshet al. 1950)and as Unchangeable
Light (Confessions
Book 7,
Chapter10, Ryan 1960).

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From the earliestChristiantimes,Jesuswasidentifiedasthe Sun of God,


the ChristianizedSun god, Apollo (Fideler 1993). The almost immediate
assimilationof Apollo, the invincible Roman Sun god (Fig. 3, from the 3rd
century)into imagesof the Sun of God completewith radianr halo and Apolio's
chariot, is nothing lessthan remarkable.Figure4 is a mosaicof the Sun of God
from a 4th centurymosaicin a Christian catacomb. By the 11th century(Fig.5)
it is difficult to determineif the centerof the Cosmosis the Sun god or the Sun
of God.

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The historyof the Sun as a symbolof Jesusis dealtwith in considerable


detailby
Shrimplin (2000). In her analysis,the symbolismreachesits pinnacle and
culminationin the representation
of Jesusin Michaelangelo's
LastJudgement.

THE TRIUMPHAL TRADITION


The symbol of the Sun never appearsin the artistic tradition derived from
Petrarch's
"I Trionfi". But in the poem itself,the Sun is the dominantsvmboland
spokesperson
of the Triumph of Time:
"Ftom his golden harbor and resting place...issuedforth the Sun... 'If it be very
certain and sure that worthy men dying do nor die... [referring to Fame
overcoming Death in the previous Triumph of the poem] Then I see mv own
dominancewill soon decline'...
Thus, covetousTime turns all things upside down:
"And our great fame that sounds so lofty becomes nothing but a second
death...Thus triumphs Time which hastensso quickly that all our glory and fame
is defaced."

Petrarch'sidentificationof the Sun with Time has deeproots in medievalculture


(Gurevich1988).The movementsof the Sun set important parametersof time,
i.e., day/night and the seasons.The card.playerwould ordinarily mark time
during the day by the movement of light and shadow. Even mealtimeswere

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establishedby sunrise, by the Sun at zenith at noon, and again by sunset. So the
associationof the Sun with time would have seemednatural.
And even though the illustrators of Petrarch did not use the Sun as the
symbol of Time, nevertheless,the triumphal Sun, coursing through the heavens
in a chariot, was used in other contexts. Such an image appears in the so.called
'Tarocchi
del Mantegna" (Fig. 6). A related image can be found in a 1066 psalter

(Jung1944,fig.706).

THE APOCALYPTICTRADITION
As we have seen in earlier chapters on the Heavenly Bodies, the Sun appears in
many placesin John's Revelationsand in the artistic tradition
that developed from it. Thus, the sun appears in Durer's print (Figure Z) of the
opening the fifth and sixth seal (Rev. 6:9.12).

*Hffift$

Relatedimagescan be found in Hassall(1961,plate4), van der Meer (1978, fig.


L43 and l9Z). Similar imagery is associatedwith the blowing of the fourth
trumpet(Deuchleret al. r97r, p. 51 and HassaIL
196r,plateZ).

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In addition to imageryof the HeavenlyBodies,there is alsoimageryunique to the


Sun. For example,Rev. 16:8"The fourth angelemptiedhis bowl over the sun and
it wasmadeto scorchpeoplewith its flames..."

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his verseled to 14th cenruryimagerysuch as Fig. 8. Similar imageryillusffating


- er'.16:8 can be found in stainedglasswindowsof 1405 (van der Meer 1978,
'.:. 99) and an early15th centurymanuscript(vander Meer 1978,fig. 153).

Cther imageryunique to the Sun is related to Rev. 10: "Then I saw another
powerful angel coming down from heaven...hisface was like the sun..."This
referenceto the angelwith the facelike the sun inspired imagessuch as Figure9
from a Flemishapocalypse 1400.A very similar imagewas usedby Durer in
1498(vander Meer I978, fig. I90.

ICONOLOGICALANALYSIS:
It is clear that illustrations of the sun were the common property of cosmologies
and escatologies,
both secularand religious. By and large, the imagesof the Sun
on the early Tarot cards are simple and straightforward - a circle with a face and
radiations. Two of the imageshave a more complex face.Shrimplin (2000, figs 99,
100) shows two 15th century illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy. The Sun in
these woodcuts is essentially identical to the elaborate faces that appear on the
Tarot cards. This was simply another of the ways an artist was accustomed to
drawing the sun.
The resemblanceof the Tarot imagesto traditional imagesof Apollo, the Roman
sun god, may not be coincidental and might have been suggestiveto some card.
players. However, the Humanist introduction of classicalreferenceswas largely a
phenomenon limited to the literate nobility.
The more likely association in the minds of the ordinary card-playerwould have
been the passageof time. This association would seem to explain the women
spinning - working while the Sun shined. This may also explain the child playing
in the garden in the sunshine. It is not clear if the image of the old man can
simply be explained as instructions to a student on cosmologyand time.

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Beyond the cosmological, the Sun was a familiar symbol for


Jesus.Shrimplin
(2000) provides a detailed analysis of the history of the Sun
symbol and its
identification with Jesusand the Last Judgment, i.e., the next three cards in the
Tarot deck. The identification had worked its way from biblical sources to
theology and thence to literary references such as Dante and to artistic
representations.

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INTERPRETATION:
The Sun cardwould most likely havebeenseenby the card.players
asa happyand
peacefulsymbol. The darknessof the cards from Death to Star have been
overcomeand the sun appearsin its brightnessand warmth.
The Sun was both the measureand the director of time (Gurevich1988).The
Sun brought the warmth of summerwhen children can play naked in the garden.
The Sun determinedthe divisioninto work, suchas spinning,and sleep.burk..
imagesof the Sun, such as thoseassociated
with Fig. 8, do not appearto have
beenincorporatedinto the Tarot.
But in spite of the brightnessof the Sun images,the late Medievalfascination
with Death,Judgmentand the 'lastthings'remaineda part of the popularculture.
The Sun as the last of the seriesof HeavenlySpheresmust have occasionally
arousedan associationof the symbolwith the apocalypse.
Such an association
might have occurred, for example,when the card,playernoticed that the next
highercard in the sequenceannouncesthe Resurrectionand Last
Judgment.
It also seemslikely that the Sun would havebeen seenas a religioussymbol.All
their lives,the card'playershad been told that just as the Sun is the sourceof all
terrestriallife, so Jesusis the sourceof all spirituallife. The Sun/Light symbolfor
Jesuswas pervasivein church art. so, although it would not likelv be the first
thing that crossedthe card-players'
minds, the Sun of God wascertainlva familiar
idea.
It is probablypushing credibility to suggestthat the ordinary card.players
would
havethought of a mysticalconnotation in the Sun. Nevertheless,
we should not
dismissthe idea offhandedly.They had certainlybeen exposedto the idea of the
mystic being taken up through the heavenlyspheres.They had heard the Old
Testamentstory of Ezechialbeing carried up into Heaven.They knew of the
Assumptionof M"ry and the Ascensionof Jesus.Though theywould probablynot

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haveidentified tt'+ a journey with their


own lives,they were awarethat such an
elevationwaspossible.

ICONOLOGY OF THE ANGEL CARDS


by Dr. RobertO'Neill

INTRODUCTION
Figure1 showsthe Angel cardsthat havesurvivedfrom the r5/r6th
centuries.The imageryis remarkablyconsistentacrossthe cards,showingone or
two angelsblowing trumpets and figures rising from graves.Two of the cards
showa crownedand beardedfigurewith a sword.

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RELIGIOUS TRADITION:
There seemslittle doubt that the imageryof the earlyTarot cardsrepresentsthe
Last Judgment.Belief in the resurrectionof the body and final judgment are
Christian tenetsdating back to the secondcentury(McGinn 2000b).The concept
is clearlystatedin I Corinthians15:52"...whenthe lasttrumpetsounds...the
dead
(1995)
will be raised...".
Bynum
tracesthe doctrinein greatdetailthroughthe 4th
century,the middle agesand into the 14th century and makesclear that this is
actuallythe physicalbody being reconstitutedand reunited with the soul at the
end of time.
Representationsof the last judgment survive from as early as the 7th century
(Klein l99Z). The imageswerebasedon Matthew 75 and RevelationsZO:I3.74

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"The seagaveup all the dead


who were in it; Death and Hadeswere emptiedof
rhe deadthat werein them; and everyone
u'asjudgedaccordingto the way in which he had lived."As earlyas 6g0, Bishop
-Lgilberthad his funeral chapeldecoratedwith a panel showingthe resurrection
of the just on the last day (Aries 1974. Shrimplin (2000)providesan extended
discussionof the many biblical referencesto rhe bodily resurrectionand final
judgment.
Figure2 showsa commonrepresentation
of this image
from 1495Florence.The figure showsthe rwo angels,ffumpers,rising figuresand
Christ as the central figure.The imageclearlyshowsthe samesymbolismas the
early Tarots. Figure 3 showsa closelyrelated imageof the resurrectionfrom a
Psalter I4I3.

lng*lfluures
Imageswith a singleangeland rising figuresare alsocommon.For example,Fig. 4
showsa stainedglasswindow " IZOO.Similar imagescan be found in an l1th
centuryGreekgospel(Bynum1995,plate7), asa manuscriptillustrationfrom the
late 12th century(Bynum 1995,plate 2), as a bas<eliefon an early13th century
cathedral(Boase1977,fie.25), and in a 13th cenrurypsalter(Bynum lggs,plate
1B).

The number of representationsof the resurrection and judgment scene


are in the
hundreds. The usual image shows two or more angels blowing trumpets
with
bodies rising from the ground. Examples date back at least ,o - 1OZO(Grubb
1997, p. 82) and ihclude a Verdun altarpiece I2OO(Grubb Ig97
, Frontispiece),
the central portal of Notre Dame -lzrc (Grubb rgg7, p g1), a 13th
...,,.rry

fresco(Grubb 1997,p. rz8), pisa -1330 (paolettiand Radke 1997,fig.3.z4),


Florence 1355 (Meiss 1951,plate 90), a Gospelillustration - 1466(Williams
7994,p. 725),an altarpiece1399-1464(Anonymous1999 p. 54),a manuscript
,
I4B5 (Voelkie1998,p. 71). Imagesof the bodiesrisingfrom the gravecan
also
be found as bas reliefs over the portals of 12th and 13th cent*y .uth.drals
(Bynum 1995,plates27 and33).

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TRIUMPHALTRADITION:
As we have seenwith earlier Tarot symbols,the imageryof the Last
Judgment
does not explicitly appear in the Triumphal artistic tradition but there is
a
referenceto it in the poem itself.In the final Triumph of Eternirywe find:
"...1t is, as I imagine,very near at hand. And when it comes,men shall
understandhow evil have they spent their time...And then the mighty celestial
king, impartialin his judgment..."
So the expectation of the imminent end of time and the Final
Judgment is, in
fact, present
in Petrarch's poem as it is in most of the culture of the times. However,
the
wording of the poem does not justifii the imagery of the angel, trumpet
and
bodies rising from the grave.

The typicalimageryof the final resurrectionand iudgmentdoesnot appearin the


artistictradition basedon Petrarch'spoem.However,one occasionallyfinds an

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image of the Triumph of Fame with an angel and trumpet atop the chariot
(Carnicelli 1971).An exampleis given in Fig. 5 (16th century) but the figure
appearson a chariot pulled by 4 elephantsand there are no hints of rising bodies
or graves.There is only the imageof deathascaptiveon the front of the chariot.

TRADITION'
APOCALYPTICAL
By the 1lth century illustrations of the last judgment had becomethoroughly
integrated into the Apocalyptic artistic tradition. Characteristically,the older
imagesof the Last Judgmentare integratedwith imageryderived from visions
recordedin Revelations(Male 1949).

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The integration (or perhaps assimilation is a better term) is not surprising given
the growing concern with the "last things", reinforced by wording in Revelations
itself. For example, Revelations 11:18: "...now the time has come for your own
anger, and for the dead to be judged, and for your servants...to be rewarded."
Also, Revelations 1,4,7"...the time has come for him to sit in judgment..." and
Revelations 70:4.6 " I saw the souls of all who had been beheaded for having
witnessedfor Jesus...andthose who refused to worship the beast...theycame to life
and reigned with Christ for a thousand years."

_
Figure 6 shows a woodcut illustration from an Apocalypseof c. 1430.1440 that
shows the two angels blowing trumpets and heads only arising from the sea.
Notice also the Sun image in the sky above.A similar image,
without the text inserted, is seen in a 13th cenrury illustration (Fig. 7). A more
complex image was painted by Fra Angelico in t43L (Grubb 1997, p. 86) and
another can be found in the Orvieto Cathedral (- 1500) with two angels,
trumpets with banners and crosses,and bodies rising naked from the grave.The
Orvieto
image
can
be
found
at
keptar.demasz.hu/arthp/ at / s/s ignorel,/orvieto/resurrec.jpg.

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The imageryis commonin book illustrations(Fig.8, 13th century)and can


be found in painted initial lettersin prayerbooks (Fig. 9), in psalterillustrations
(Fig. 10, late 15th century),in illustratedmanuscriptsof the Apocalypse(Fig. 11,
13th century)and evenin unusualvenues
suchasa 15thvesseldesignedto hold a relic (Fig.12).

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ICONOLOGICALANALYSIS
It is very clear that the early Tarot cards are representationsof the Last Judgment.
W'e have found an abundance of examplesfrom a variety of venues and in many
forms accessibleto the card.player.

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It can alsobe arguedthat the card-playerwould haverecognizedthe sequenceof
images,startingat the Devil as a meaningfulseriesrelatedto the Apocalypse.In
many illustrationsof the resurrectionof the body, the Moon and Sun appear
togetherin the sky (e.g.,Bynum 1995,plates1 and 8). The Devil, Moon, Sun,
Angelsand risingdeadappearin the magnificent(1306)Giotto frescoin the
ArenaChapelin Padua(Grubb 1997,p.79).By 1498,Durer is representing
the
falling Star, Moon, Sun and Angels blowing trumpets in his imageryof the
(vander Meer 1978,Figl97). The sequence
Apocalypse
of imageshad becomea
traditionalrepresentationof the resurrectionof the deadand the lastjudgment.

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INTERPRETATION
There is little doubt that the card-players
recognizedthe LastJudgmenrin
the I5/I6th century cards.The citizensof the northern Italian city srareswere
inundatedwith this iconologyand it formed a common theme of sermons.Tales
of otherworldlyjourneysand illustrationsof the end timeswere almostuniversal
by the beginningof the 15th centuryand popular(Gurevich1988).
The only real question that needsto be answeredis how the card.playerwould
haverespondedto the imagery.McGinn (2000b)providesan insightful answer,

mixed hope and fear.The first part of the reactionis hope


becauseno matterhow
oppressiveand unjust the presentlife seemstherewifl clme,
at the end of time, a
final reckoning.Black Death, powerressness,
and poverty onry make sense,and
can only be borne, if there is an ultimate justice that
will rectify the imbalances.
The second part of the reaction is fear because
the ultimate reward and
justification is only offered to thosewho
die in the stateof grace.The ultimate
justice is only availableto those who are
themselvesjust. Thus, guilt and the
realizationof one's own sinfulnesscauseone to fear
the end time-sas bringing
judgmenton oneself.

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ICONOLOGYOF THE JUSTICECARDS


..r'Dr.RobertO'Neill

INTRODUCTION
Recallthat sincewe are adopting Dummett's (1980) Typ" B ordering, the
next card in sequenceis the Justice card, numbered 20. The four imagesthat are
extant from the 15/I6th century are shown in Fig. 1. The imagesshow the typical
representationof Justiceas a seatedwoman with scalesand sword. In two cases,
she is crowned and in the other rwo she is shown with a halo. In one image, there
is a blackarmored man on a white horse with a sword.

lftstlsftfigil#uI
RELIGIOUSTRADITION:
The representation of the abstract concept of Justice as a seatedwoman with
scalesand sword was well.establishedin religious artistic traditions. \Within this
artistic tradition there are manv variations. Consider. for example, Fig. Z which

showsa 16th century engravingby van Leyden.Early imagesof


Justicefrom the
9th and 12th century usuallyshow a standing,haloedwoman holding scalesbut
no sword(Katzenellenbogen
1939,Figs.32 and 33).Another interestingvariation
from 1499 showsJusticewith the radiant face of the Sun (Shrimplin Z0OO,p
151).This variationsuggests
a potentialassociation
of the symbolofJustice(card
20) and the Sun symbol(card18).

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The more typical symbol is shown in Figure 3 from a manuscript illustration
I4IZ. Another typicalimageof Justicefrom - 1306 can be found in the Arena
Chapelin Padua(Edgerton1985,p. IZ7).

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flgurut
A 1337-1340frescoat the PaLazzo
Publicoin Siena(Yates1966,Fie.Z).showstwo
(Edgerton
imagesof Justice
1985). In one image,she holds only the scaleand

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:epresentsthe just distribution of goods in a well.governedcity. At the other end


rf the fresco Justice appears again, this time without the scale and holding the
.u'ord. In this second image,she representsvindictive justice, i.e., punishment of
;rimes in good government.

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Iconological analysis of the Justice image is complicated by the fact that the
abstract symbol for the virtue was assimilated by the Apocalyptic tradition. As a
result, by the time that the Tarot was designed, the image of Justice had been
merged with icon of the archangel Michael dealing out the final judgment on
souls. An early medieval example of this imagery is given in Fig. 4. This image is
particularly interesting since Michael appears both as the weigher of deeds and
also as the avengingangelwith sword. Notice also that the Michael controls with a
chain the wheel of forrune in the background. The confusion berween the
iconology of Justice and Michael can be seen in the tempera on wood panel
(142I) by Jacobellodel Fiore:
www.kfki.hu

-arthp 'tml

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In this image,Justiceoccupiesa central place,crowned and enthroned. But to her


'!7e
right stands St. Michael also with scales and sword.
will return to other
examplesof Michael asJusticeunder the Apocalyptic Tradition below.

TRIUMPHALTRADITION:
Justicedoes not enter into the scenariospresented in Petrarch poem. The icon of
the virtue does not appear in the artistic tradition either. I am aware of only a

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single exception: a 15th century Italian painted plate on which the Triumph of
Chastity is representedas Justice.The image (Carnicelli t9Z l, {ig.6) shows the
typical image of a seated woman with sword and scalesatop the chariot. This
unusual representation departs from the common imagery and is unlikely to have
influenced the Tarbt designs. In addition, the elaborate pilut. is unlikely to have
been known to the ordinary card.player.

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APOCALYPTIC TRADITION,

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Apocalypse19'11 - "And I saw the heavensopened;and behold,a white horse


and he that sat thereupon,calledFaithful and True; and in righteousness
he doth
judge and makewar." This verseis the basisof the
Justice/Michaelimagein the
apocalyptic
tradition.

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The rypical image of st. Michael at the Last Judgement(e.g.,Fig. 5, 13th
century) shows him weighing souls and arguing with the Devil. The image is of an
angel, standing and winged, rather than a seatedwoman. It is not just that the
Justice symbol of a seated woman is older and later evolved into the standing
angel representingSt. Michael. Bas reliefs of Michael with sword and scalesdate
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backto 1130and 1750(Link 1995,pp. 120and133).

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The imageryof the LastJudgmentin general,and St. Michael in particular(Flg.


o)
'.r'as
'! co r.rSury
largely fi
r..'r'sLr
i xed by
uy the
Lrrtr r'rLrr
14th cenfury.
century.\-/tner
other examples
examplescan
can be
be tound
found in
in

):"*ot
107).

andL'Engle(1998,p 116),Ferguson
(1954,fig.61)
Fna Grubb(1997,p.

What is of particular interest is the almost universalassociarionof


the Michael
image(card20) with the imageof the resurrectionof the body (card
l9) asseenin
Figure7 from a 13th centuryPsalter.The sameblending of th.r.
two themescan
be seenin FigureB (* r47o) and Figureg (1445-r448).Anadditional
exampleby
Mino da Fiesolecanbe found on the web at

It is alsointerestingto note a woodcutimage(Hind rg35,p. 103)


of
St Michaelwith swordand scalesfrom the 15th century.The woodcut
is hand or
stencilcoloredand looksvery much like a card.It is likely that the
woodcut irmage

was produced as a 'holy card'.

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ICONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS:
The iconologyof weighingthe soul is, of course,very old. The imagery
tracesback
at leastto the EgyptianBook of the Dead wherethe god Anubis i,
,.er weighing
the soul of the deceased
againstMaat (i.e.,a feather)(brdg. rg?.0).Soperhapswe
should not be surprisedto find the abstractimageof the ,rir,.r.
Justiceas a seated
and crownedwoman mixed with the conceptof the \Tarrior Archangel
Michael
who makeswar againstthe devil (Figure 10 ) and weighs souls. perhaps
the
compleximageryon the Viscounti-sforzacard merelyshowsseated
Justicein the
foregroundwith the imageof the warrior Michael in the bu.kgro.rrrd.
Michael is
often shown in black armor (Palmer lggl) as he is depictedon the
Viscounti-

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Sforza card. A similar juxtaposition is found in the 1427gaintingby
del
Jacobello
/painting
Fiore in the Gallerie dell'Academia in Venice. The
shows Michael
standing next to the seated image of Justice both Michael and Tusticehold both
scalesand sword.

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Another candidatefor the black armored man in the backgroundwould be St.


Georgewho was illustrated in black armor on a white horse while killing the
dragon(Walker 1984,Figure115 and 190)

INTERPRETATION:
The imageson the earlyTarot Justicematch both the typical imageof the virtue
Justiceand also the imageof Michael.It seemsreasonable
to concludethat the
card'playerwould have seen the virtue Justice and/or the archaneelMichael
weighingsoulsat the LastJudgment.

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It is likely that the imageon the Justicecard would haveelicited the samemixed
feelingso{ hope/fear as we saw with the Angel card. - the resurrectionand
judgmentbeing two partsof the sameescatological
concept.

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By the fifteenth century,the imageryof Michael as executingthe final judgment
would havebeen more accessible
to the ordinary card-player.Brr, it remainstrue
that the imagesin the earlyTarot cardsshowJustice(womanenthroned)without
wings and seatedrather than standing.Nevertheless,
the familiarity of the card,
playerwith representationsof Justiceas Michael and the preoccupation
with the
iast judgment would have led to an associationof the
Justicecard with the
expected"LastTimes".

ICONOLOGY OF THE WORLD CARDS


by Dr. RobertO'Neill

INTRODUCTION
Figure one shows the eight suwiving'S7orld cards from the early Tarot.
The modern viewer may be surprised to find that none of the oldest images
correspond to the Tarot de Marseille card with a figure within a mandalora and
four beasts.Instead the oldest cards show a city or scenerywithin the circle and
the figure outside. In t'wo cases,there is a pair of angelsholding up the circle. In
three casesthe angel is atop the circle. In rwo cases,the angel is replaced by the
figure of a woman. In the final case,the image of Mercury appearson top, and the
sceneryis replaced by what appearsto be representationsof the four elements.To
the best of my knowledge, images such as those in Figure 1 do not appear in the
generalreligious art of the period.

l{orlil figuleI
The early cards do seem to resembletwo of the early 'Mantegna Tarocchi' images.
Cosmico shows an angel holding up a circle containing the Cosmos. Apollo
shows a crowned figure standing atop a circle containing the cosmos. Images of
both cards can be seen at www.levity.com lchemy nantegna.html.

THETRIUMPHALTRADITION
The finai poem of Petrarch'sepic deals with the triumph of Eterniry. There is no
description or reference to a triumphal car or other specific imagery. Rather the
poet saysthat the time is'near when deedswill be judged and that if he is found
worthy he may behold, "...theHighest Good."
The sparsevisual hints given in Petrarch led to the final triumph of Eternity being
represented in a number of different ways in the traditional imagery that
developedfrom the poem. In some caseswe find a representation of Christ seated
on the triumphal car (Nyholm 1990, Fig. 11 " 1500). In other examples,we find
God the Father holding up the Son Crucified (Eisenbichlerand Iannucci 1990, p
3 4 8 Ve n i c e 1 5 15 ).
A particularly elaborareexample can be seenat
wuvw.adh.bton.ac.uk^hoolofdesign' .CoURSE'Tpet06.html.
Here, the crucifixion scene is supported by angelswith a pair blowing trumpets.
The Sun and Moon appear in the sky. The car is pulled by four haloed men and
the four beasts walk alongside the car. Although this image shows the same
reliance on imagery from the Apocalyptic tradition that we have seen in other
early Tarot cards, the central image bears little resemblanceto the images in Fig.

1.

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About the only representation of the Triumph of Eternity that seemsto related to
the early Tarot is seen
in Figure 7.In this image from a 15th centuryengraving,the car is pulledbythe
four beasts and the seated Christ holds an orb like those seen in several of the
early \7or1d cards. At his feet is a circle that appears to contain a landscape or
city. This resemblesthe imagery in severalof the cards of Fig. 1 that have a figure
holding an orb atop the image of the'S7orld.

THE APOCALYPTICTRADITION,
The t'wenty-first card of the Tarot trumps seems to relate to the t'wenty.first
chapter of Revelations:
Zl:I.7 "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth...I saw the holy city, and the"
new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven..." and again 2l:9.
"...showedme Jerusalem,the holy city, coming down from God out of heaven..."

ttrHffifft

The representationof heavenasthe New Jerusalemis an artistictradition that


datesback to mosaicsin the oldest Christian churches.Kinney (1992) lists the
-350,
followingexamples:St. Costanza,tower
St. Pudenzian'n,
apse407/17, St.
LorenzoMaggiore,vestibuleof the Chapel of S. Aquilino,
4th century.Klein
(1992)addsan examplefrom St. Prassede
in Rome (817.824).

flfiHW*

Figure3 showsan a manuscriptillustration of Revelationsfrorn the 12th century


in which the child Jesusis being savedfrom the Dragon by being drawn up into
heaven,shownasthe New Jerusalemwithin a circle.Another exampleof the New

Jerusalemfrom a 12th century altarpieceis shown in Figure 4. A Flemish


manuscript 1400illustratesRevelationsChapter21 with
i-ug. of
"r,
being
shown
the
New
John
Jerusalemas the heavenlycity (van 1", M.., Ig7g,
Fig' 155). A similar image from a t4th century rapestryis shown in
Figure 5.
Interestingly,an almost identical image is found in the 15th cenrury
Visconti
Psalter,but representsMoses being shown the PromisedLand (Meiss
1972,
LF12B).Another imagefrom the samesourceis shown in Figure
6. The image
shows God the Father holding up a circle representingthe '!7orld.
Fig. 6
resemblesthe earlyTarot imageexceptthat the substitutionof God
the Fatherfor
an angelor allegoricalfigure would havebeen consideredvery significant
at the
time.

mffifkhril

Representations
of the world within a circle were not uncommon in the 15th
century.Examples,suchasFig. 7, canbefound in many illuminated
manuscripts.
However,in many casesincluding Figure? the
image is not specifically referenced to Revelations and we cannot
infer that the
image in the circle specificallyrefers to the New
Jerusalem.

ffnffififfiunm
fi
ICONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS:
Imagesresemblingthe earlyTarot cardscan certainlybe found in l4.I6thcenrury
paintings. In the casescontaining angels,one can argue that these
cards are
representationsof the New Jerusalemand would havebeen recognized
as such.
However,similar imagesappearin other contextsas simply,"pr..".r,ations
of the
world or cosmoswithout any specificreferenceto Revelations.It is certainly
true

that the most common illustrations of Revelations Chapter 21 show


John, the
Angel and a full page illustration of a city.
"fl':_:r*l

ffi
It

Although it is beyondthe scopeof the presentstudy,we would be remiss


if we did
not make referenceto the familiar .S7orldimageof the Tarot de Marseilles
that
showsa figure in mandalorawith 4 beasts.This imageis basedon
Revelations4
""' and I saw a throne standingin heavenand the One who was sitting on
the
throne'..Therewas a rainbow encirclingthe throne...grouped
around the thone
itself,werefour animals...The
first animalwaslike a lion, ihe secondlike a bull,
the third animal had a human faceand the fourth animalwaslike a flying
.ug1"...';
This visualimage,which harkensback to Ezechial1 and 10 and Isaiah
6, would
havebeen familiar to any early Renaissance
card.player.The theme goesback at
leastto the 4th centuryas evidencedby the mosaicat St. Prudenziana
in Rome
(Klein I99z). The theme is also shown as throne and
crossin rainbowwreath,
surroundedby the four beastsin a mosaic (43I.440)from St. Maria
Maggiorein
Rome (van der Meer 1978,figr-rre12).The samesource(Figure36) shows
a 6th
century frescowith the sametheme from the Nile valley.After the
9th century,
the familiar themes of the mandalora and the four beastsat the corners
have
becomeestablished.
The impeccablescholarshipof van der Meer (1978)providesillustrations
from a
CarolingenillustratedApocalypse-500 (Fig.57) , a bible illustrationfrom
Tours
840 (Fig. 44), a Rhineland illustrarion -gz7 Gie.45), an illustrationfrom
St.
DenisAbbey 869 (Fig. 46),a 10th centuryRhinelandmosaic(Fig. 3:), an
11th
centuryillustration(Fig.78), an illustrationfrom IITO (Fig.8Z),bus,elief from
a
portal of Notre Dame Il44-I155 (Fig. 47),an ItalianAbbey church "
1350 (Fig.
136)'a frescoin Padua1378(Fig.tZS),a Flemishmanuscript- 1400(Figs.
14i,
142, l4q, a Dutch woodcut 1420.1435(Fig. 176),u paintedwoodenpanel
L46O
(Fig.43; and a 1480tapestryFig. 120).
Grubb (1997) provides illustrations from an early (-950) commenrary
on
Revelations(p. 15), from a rzth century .vTestminsterpsalt", (p. 140),
from
venice 1397(p. 16) and santa Maria Novellafrom the late

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14th century(p. 130) , and from and early 15th centuryPsalter(p. 140).Deutcher
(1971)providesan examplefrom an early 14th centuryillustratedApocalypse(p.
39).James(1931)listsa numberof additionalexamples
but providesno images.

Although almost all of these images have a male figure in the cenrer of the
mandalora, there are exceptions.Figure 8 shows a 15th century woodcut in which
the \il/oman from Revelations is shown within the mandalora. Figure 9 shows a
14th century Florentine bas relief with the Virgin within the mandalora.
Figure 10 shows a second example by Nanni di Banco from the Duomo in
Florence(1414.1421).

Perhapsthe most intriquing image is a 16th century illustration in an alchemical


text illustrating the "Anima Mundi" (Figure 11). This image shows a naked female

figure within a mandalora formed by wings. The


image seemsto be related to the
Tarot de Marseilles card and the title of
"Anima Mundi',, i.e., ,,spirit of the
.w'orld"
would seem to relate to the title of the early Tarot
card.
In a real sense' the Tarot de Marseille image of
the \il/orld card in general and
Figure 11 in particular pose a dilemm" ,hu,
can only be resolved by future
research'The extant r5/I6th century World cards (numbere
d zI) show an image
that seemsto be related to Revelationschapter 2I,
theNew Jerur"l.-. That image
seemsconsistent with an interpretation of the tarot
trumps as the Fool,sJorrrri,
culminating in the final Resurrecrionof the Body (19),
Finar Judgment (20), and
the final reward of heaven,representedby the New
Jerusalem(21).

on the oth,"t.hand, the Tarot de Marseille image


of the mandalora and four
beastswould also have been
familiar to the 15th century card-player.That image
forms the apex of a number
of publically accessiblefrescoesof the Last
Judgment. There is reason ro argue
-r..lgnized
that the 15th century viewer would hurr.
the Tarot de Marseille
imagery as the culmination of the anticipated escatology.
This idea is reinforced
bv an image (1337/9) in the public puru.. in sienna (Edgerton
19g5, p.36). A
female image, representing \il/isdo-, horr.., directly
above th. ..rthroned Justice.
If the Tarot de Marseille image is meant to represent
Wisdom, then the gender of
the image is explained, as well as its position immediately
aboveJusticein the type
B ordering of the trumps.
The only hypothesis that I can offer is the following.
The original designers
foliowed Revelations and designed the 21st card to
represent the New Jerusalem
presented in the corresponding 21st chapter
of Revelations. After the deck
entered France, the designerswere astute enough to recognize
that the

-!I

Mandalora,/Beastimage might be more recognizable


by the card.playersand made
the substitution.

INTERPRETATION
In all likelihood, the 15th century card-playerwould
have seen the \rorld card
(Fig' 1) at representing the culmination
of the earthly journey, representedin
Revelations as the New Jerusalem.Although the
cardplayer r", .,o, inundated
with similar imagery' neverthless, the concept
would have been familiar from
sermons' The theme of the journey to the New
Jerusalemalso appearsin the
poetry and literature of late 14th century (Nolan
r-g77).The familiar epic poems
of Dante and Petrarchboth conclude in Paradise
with the Beatificvision.
Perhaps the strongest argument that this card would
have been seen as the New
Jerusalemis its position in the Trumps. The'lrorld card is the Zlst trump
and the
New Jerusalem appears in the 21st chapter of
Revelations. The card-player
probably had not read the New Testu^.ri in
Latin, although literacy was more
common in the Renaissancethan is commonry thought (Gr..,drer
1989).
It is possible that the imagery of the early cards could
have been interpreted as the
natural world, i.e., earth. However, in the
Neoplatonic cosmology and
hierarchical society of the early Renaissance,it is
unlikely that the viewer would
have considered the natural world as 'higher' than
the star-moon-suncards. It is
also hard to avoid the conclusionsthut th. New
Jerusalemwould have been seen
as the logical next step following the Resurr..tio.,
of the Body (Angel card) and
the Final Judgment (Justicecard).

_l
CONCLUSION
by Dr. RobertO'Neill

Our analysis of the early Tarot images confirms the documentary


evidence that
the Tarot originated in 15th century Italy. An excellent summary
of the
documentary evidencecan be found at Collected Fragmentsof Tarot
History.
To the best of my knowledge, after - 20 years of searching,there is
no other time
or place that can lay claim to having examplesof 100% of the
Tarot symbols.
Individual imagesor subsetsof the symbolic systemcan be found
in other places,
but the totality of the symbolic systemis only found in 15th century
ltaly.
In many respects,the search for the "original" ordering of the Tarot
trumps is a
unicorn hunt. The details of the ordering changed in different
decks and the
overali pattern differed in different city-states.So the adoption
of Dummett,s
(1980) Typ. B in this seriesof essaysremains speculative.
Nerrertheless,
this is the
ordering which appearsto most consistentwith the sourcesand the
15th century
significanceof the symbols.
Our analysissupports the proposition that the Tarot is not drawn from
any single
tradition. The best examplesof the first 6 cards appear in the Dance
of Death
tradition. The second half of the symbols appear ,o L. drawn primarily
from the
Apocalyptic tradition. About a half dozen of the symbols Jro
upp.ar in the
Triumphal tradition. Most of the symbol can also be found in the
religious and
humanist/astrological traditions. As typical of the syncretism of the
age, symbols
from a variety of sourceswere synthesizedinto the Tarot system.
The need to draw examplesfrom many different artistic traditions
might seem to
detract from the idea that the Tarot is a coherent symbolic system.
But, in truth,
these traditions were often interwoven in the symbolism of the times.
Thus, the
Dance of Death played a part in religious plays and processionsand,
therefore,
overlapsthe Triumphal tradition which also influenced such processions.
More
information on the role of the Dance of Death in processionscan
be found at
New Advent.
The dance of death and apocalyptic themes also have interesring historical
links.
Hind (1935) reviews the early development of woodblock books in the
fifteenth
cenfury. These were early books, prior to the use of moveable
rype in which both
iilustrations and text were printed from wooden blocks. These
books were
produced by the same carversand printers that produce the early
decks of playing

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cards.The t'womost important typeswerethe Apocalypses


and the Ars Moriendi,
a derivativeof the Danceof Death. So the two setsof imagerywere producedby
the sameartistsand carvers.
Hind (1935)alsodiscusses
a projectof book illustrationsrhat was neveractuallv
executed."ArchetypusTriumphantis Romae"(- 1495).The book wasto .orrt"i^
u
number of allegoricalillustrations,imagesfrom the Tarocchi de Mantegna,and
illustrations of the Triumphs of Petrarch.So combining imageryacrossthese
traditionswasnot unusualin the 15th cenrury.
Combining symbolicimageryhas a long history. Kinnev e99Z) points out
that
apocalypticimagessuch as the four living creaturesand angelswith trumpets
becamepart of public art with the Christianizationof Rome and were common
from the 4th century onward. The EmpressGalla Placidia had a particular
devotionto John the author of the Apocalypseand sponsoredthe triumphal arch
of S. Paolo fuori'le'mura in Rome which containsthe living creatures.Although
this specificassociationmay not have been known to the Tarot designers,
tle
mixing of themesfrom the Triumphal and the Apocalyptictraditions may
have
seemeda natural one with a long history.
The linkagebet'weenthe Triumphal and Apocalyptictraditions can alsobe found
in the Divine Comedy (Purgatoriocanto Zg0.Dante describesa triumphal
processionwith imagerydrawn from the Apocalypse(seeseparatearticleo.,
D..,t.
and the Tarot). Dante's apocalyptictriumphal processionis believed to have
inspiredPetrarch(Emmerson2000).
An attempthasbeenmadeto draw out the implicationsthat might haveoccurred
to a card'playerin the 15th century. It is interestingthat some interpretations
seemto support the meaningsassignedby later occultistsinterpretors.But it
is
also interestingthat other meaningsdo not match the later .orr..p,r. The effort
here doesnot arguefor or againstany specificoverall interpreratiln. The effort
here was to show that there were readily availablematerial that the card.player
could haveused to draw allegoricaland religiousmeanings.Given thut -,.rltipl.
levelsof meaning were acceptedin 15th century slmcretism,a broad range
of
possibilitiesremain open for furure speculation.

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