Hofamterspiel

Hofämterspiel (Court-office Game), one of the earliest card games on record preserved in its entirety with all forty-eight cards intact, is a major 15th-century medieval handmade deck commissioned by Ladislaus the Posthumous, king of Hungary and Bohemia and Duke of Austria from 1453 to 1457. It was found among the great collection of art treasures of Archduke Ferdinand II of Tirol in castle Ambras, Austria, together with another called Ambraser Hofjagdspiel.

The 48 cards of the deck, measuring c. 97 mm x 140 mm (3¾ in x 5½ in), are decorated with bright-colored tempera paint and bear details in silver and gold leaf. The four suits of this set depicting court functions are represented by means of four heraldic colours. Each suit sign carries the coats of arms of four kingdoms: France, Germany, Bohemia and Hungary, so that, accordingly, each card carries the title of the function depicted and the respective Roman number in relation to the suit sign it represents.

The illustrations, with their names written in archaic German, depict the precedence of different court functions during the late Middle Ages, together with the values of the cards, numbered 1 - 10 in Roman numerals, except for the king and queen which have no number and are also the only two subjects that do not state the character's occupation.

In all four suits the I features a fool, Narr, or its female equivalent Narryn, and the two highest cards next to the king and queen are the master of the household, Hofmeister X, who was in charge of the court during the ruler's absence, and the marshal, Marschalk IX, in charge of any duty that involved the use of horses or carriages. With the exception of two subjects, the Jungfrawe, card VI in all suits, and the Trometer, card IIII in Germany and Hungary, all other personages are individual and don’t appear in any other suit.

The social rank of each one of the personages may be easily understood, according to the higher or lower value of the relevant card. For instance, the Doctor, Artzt, in Bohemia suit, would have shared more or less the same social rank as a Chaplain, Capplan, in Germany suit, or of a Chancellor, Kanzler, in Hungary suit, or of a Household Mistress of a queen or a princess, Hofmeistryn, in France suit, so all these subjects are featured on the eighth, VIII, card of different suits.

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