French deck

French playing cards (jeu de cartes) are cards that use the French suits of trèfles (clovers or clubs♣), carreaux (tiles or diamonds♦), cœurs (hearts♥), and piques (pikes or spades♠). Each suit contains three face cards; the valet (knave or jack), the dame (lady or queen), and the roi (king). Aside from these aspects, decks can include a wide variety of regional and national patterns which often have different deck sizes. In comparison to Spanish, Italian, German, and Swiss playing cards, French cards are the most widespread due to the geopolitical, commercial, and cultural influence of France and the United Kingdom in the past two centuries. Another reason for their expansion was the simplicity of the suit insignia which simplifies mass production and the popularity of whist, contract bridge, and the recent poker boom.

Playing cards arrived in Europe from Mamluk Egypt around 1370 and were already reported in France in 1377. The French suit insignia was derived from German suits around 1480. Between the transition from the suit of bells to tiles there was a suit of crescents.

One of the most distinguishing features of the French cards is the queen. Mamluk cards and their derivatives, the Latin suited and German suited cards, all have three male face cards. Queens began appearing in tarot decks in the early 15th century and some German decks replaced two kings with queens. While other decks abandoned the queen in non-tarot decks, the French kept them and dropped the knight as the middle face card. Face card design was heavily influenced by Spanish cards that used to circulate in France. One of the most obvious traits inherited from Spain are the standing kings. Kings from Italian, Portuguese, or Germanic cards are seated.

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Wikipedia