Aye Huck, you are a good Tarot Man. Thank you and bear with me as I go back and forth.
For Tarot (Tarocchi) there is physical proof 1505 in Ferrara, with 22 Trumps/ also in Avignon at the same time called Taraux. (Tick)
There are card games, that have a series of images in a group (Trumps) called Trionfi and these seem to be in Florence, but could possibly also have arisen in Milan/Bologna/Ferrara.
Examples are Cary-Yale Tarocchi and Brera-Brambilla
For the current moment of research it seems plausible to assume, that the start of the use of the "name 'Trionfi' for playing cards" took place in Florence (and even, if it took place elsewhere, then it is plausible, that Florence and its many artists were necessary to multiply the innovation). For the current research situation we have, that the oldest Trionfi note is from Florence in September 1440.
Second we have the feature (also mainly from Florence), that the "Trionfi" poem of Petrarca gained general interest around 1440, which led to a second new iconographic stream of Trionfi poem motifs in other arts (cassone paintings, book illustrations) during the 1440s.
Third we have, that the public view on Petrarca turned from "great scholar" to "great poet". For Florence we have, that Bruni wrote a biography of Petrarca in 1436 and Manetti another one "around 1440", which had been a novelty for Florence. Before Petrarca had more interests in Padova.
It became popular in Florence to regard Petrarca as a Florentine poet in a row together with Dante and Boccaccio, the "3 crowns".
Then we have, that the council took place in 1439 in Florence, with much public attention, festivities, increase of income etc. So there had been in this year a natural development climax in the city, comparable to the development in modern cities, if they get a "high event" (for instance "Olympic games"). It seems natural to assume, that "new customs" started at this location. For the council of Constance (1415) we have had a similar European innovation effect. For the Jubilee year 1450 we have a similar innovation effect for Italy.
Earlier than this you have a card game with trumps (possibly called Trionfi??)- 16 trumps made c. 1425. No one really knows if this card game was known as a Trionfi, but it was called "ludus triumphorum" in 1449.
So you have a spread of years 1425-1505 when proof of a card game with a group of Trumps (more than German playing card decks 56/54/52 with Highest trumping cards) was played with????? Somewhere in those 80 years a trumping group became Tarot as we know it today. More likely closer to 1505 than 1425.
Well, we have a description of a luxury deck in 1377, a 60 card deck. It had professions painted on 10 number cards, an additionally 5 court cards (which quite a match for a painter to invent 60 figures, so that's "luxury"). The court cards had been King, Queen, Ober, Maid, Unter, so a deck with 4 suits and 15 cards for each suit.
"Trumping" in a card game is a military action ... and in these early decks usually two soldiers appeared, Ober and Unter or Cavallo (soldier on horse) and Fante (foot soldier). It's naturally to assume, that already these older decks had a predefined trump sequence with a hierarchy. Ober 1 beats Ober 2, 3, 4 and Unter 1,2, 3, 4 etc.
The Michelino deck repeated the number of the cards (60 cards) and (perhaps) also the structure (4x15). All court cards (besides the 4 kings) were defined as trumps, so not only Ober and Unter position, but also Queen and Maid.
Really new (as far we know) had been, that the iconography of the courts was changed from the common court symbols to 16 Greek/Roman gods (which again got a hierarchical row between them).
Between 1377 and 1418-25 is a long time. It's natural to assume, that there had been in this period other experimental decks, which varied the structure and the iconography. It's natural to assume, that also the number of suits was not always fixed. Decks with 5 and 6 suits had been already mentioned by Johannes of Rheinfelden. It's natural to assume already then the existence of decks, in which one suit was completely defined as trump.
These "very plausible" early experimental decks (likely) didn't become "main stream" or "second main stream". For the Italian development we have, that the Trionfi genre developed to a second main stream, finally called Tarocchi. This started already in the 1450s in "Trionfi time", from the Esch report and its many import numbers for the city Rome in the years 1453-1465 we definitely know of a greater market participation of this genre.
http://trionfi.com/n/130902/
Well, we still don't really know, what these Trionfi cards in this second early period looked like. As a long time result we have that Tarocchi (4x14 + 22) and Minchiate/Germini (4x14 + 41) became the most successful versions (whereby there were times, when it was occasionally spoken of Minchiate and Tarocchi, and not vice versa; begin of 18th century).
Now as to my personal question about Malatesta. I know he already had a deck.
It just seems to me, that there was something particular that appealed to him and I wondered what that may have been. Today it might be said he had a Caesar Augustus complex, I imagine he would have liked that theme in a deck. Is that what he saw?
~Rosanne
There are lot of strange things in the biography of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta. Perhaps also in the whole Malatesta family, already before SPM was born.
We have, that Parisina Malatesta became a woman in a big public scandal (1425), and that she appeared in the early Ferrarese playing card documents as the dominant commissioner.
The whole 14th century Malatesta family was well known for their family scandals. Family scandals were somehow typical in this time ... (the situation of 1300 knew about 300 states in Italy, which were reduced by interfering fights and peace agreements to much less states during 15th century; this process often had bloody family details).
A deciding man might have been Carlo Malatesta (June 1368 – 13 September 1429), who presented one of the 3 current popes during the council of Constance. He quickly offered, that his pope would retire, so it was easy with him (much more difficulties with the both others). Likely he got a lot of friendly faces in Constance. He got the nice sides of this council.
He returned to Italy and it happened, that Dufay, a famous musician, followed him to Italy, which is seen as a major import of culture to Italy (which changed a lot).
Possibly Carlo got other "cultural impressions of Constance", which he imported to Italy, possibly German ways how to play with cards and these ways might have made a difference at the courts of the Malatesta. So the Malatesta might have had a closer relationship to playing cards than other noble families, perhaps the story, that the Malatesta had a German origin once played a role in this identification.
Possibly Parasina's exalted interests in cards depended on the German impressions of Carlo.
When the Michelino deck was possibly created (Summer till Winter 1424/25) Carlo had been honored prisoner and guest at the court of Filippo Maria Visconti, and there was friendship between the both (which is rare for Filippo Maria Visconti). Possibly they played cards and had other communications a longer time, a sort of longer holidays in the dry and sad life of Filippo Maria Visconti. In this period Filippo Maria's female partner became pregnant and he naturally expected a male heir, which would have solved a lot of problems. As we know, it became a girl. But the hope likely caused, that Filippo Maria had a better mood in this time as usual.
In the time, when Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta married a Ferrarese daughter (Ginevra, from Parisina) in 1433/34 there was a theater festivity in Ferrara, which used 16 Greek gods. This looks, as if the content of the Michelino deck with its 16 Greek gods was known in Ferrara and was imitated in a new own interpretation and in another medium (theater).
In September 1440 SP Malatesta got the first Trionfi deck we know of. A month later Ginevra, wife of SPM, was dead. Later commentaries had the opinion, that SPM had killed her, and that SPM also killed Polissena, daughter of Francesco Sforza, his second wife.
In this time Bianca Maria Visconti had visited the court of Ferrara and stayed for a half year (October 1440 - March 1441). The news of Ginevra's death must have reached the young girls at the Ferrarese court in this time. At 1.1.1441 there's some suspicion, that playing cards ("14 figure") had been produced by the later Trionfi card painter Sagramoro as a present for Bianca Maria.
Well, that's a dark mystery around this death of Ginevra.