Hi, Starling,
Starling said:
Ok, so basically the "story line" of the Majors is something new in its time, but the individual cards are not new ideas. It is how they were combined that was new. Is that how you'all see it.
How far back do the concepts on individual cards go back? I'd expect some of them like the Death Card go back to the Dance of Death motifs from the Black Death period. And I know that there was this idea of a female Pope wandering around, but I don't know how far back that one goes.
As far as I can tell from books and online discussions, there is no consensus. My own view is that they are definitely
not new ideas. They are old ideas that have been presented in many different ways. The Tarot trump cycle was just one example of them. But keep in mind that what I'm presenting is just one middle-aged bald guy's reconstruction. A few other folks like it, or parts of it, but AFAIK no one buys into it in detail.
In my view, the overall design of the trump cycle is an example of the hugely well-known genre of moral allegory, a Triumph of Death. Related genre from the period include
Vado Mori, the
Three Living and Three Dead, and the various
Dance of Death works. This Gothic or Macabre sensibility became popular around the mid-14th century, the time of the Black Death, and lasted several centuries. The great Triumph of Death fresco at Pisa was done at about that time, and Petrarch's
Trionfi, originally just a lament on unrequited love with Chastity triumphant over Love, was expanded after Laura's death in the plague. He added triumphs of Death and Fame, to recognize her passing and celebrate her for all time. Then, toward the end of his life, he added triumphs of Time conquering Fame and Eternity over Time, making his poem a classic example of the Triumph of Death, acknowledging the Christian
contemptu mundi or
vanitas sensibility and the ultimate triumph
over death.
The basic idea is simply that Everyman is subject to Death, and that Death is overcome at the End Times, in one fashion or another. Among more sophisticated audiences, this was never as popular as among the masses, and Renaissance humanists tended to prefer classical subjects, Neoplatonic themes, chivalric romance of love and war, or a Triumph of Fame over such pedestrian themes of futility and death.
Likewise, the elaboration of the central allegory from merely Death to a
De Casibus narrative arc is an ancient idea, nothing new. It comes from the Stoic notion of Fortune and her sovereignty in this world. It connects with themes of inevitable ruin,
ubi sunt,
contemptu mundi, Seneca, and especially Boethius'
Consolation of Philosophy. It was the basis of both moralized history, as briefly recounted in
Romance of the Rose and expanded massively in Boccaccio's
De Casibus, and of medieval tragedy. It is the narrative shown by the figures on the Wheel of Fortune itself.
As for the figures on the cards, they are for the most part commonplace subjects of the period, many of them being much older and some of them being current even today. Cupid, the Grim Reaper, Justice (an icon of the legal profession), and so on, are instantly recognizable.) Some of the trump subjects seem quite peculiar individually, including the Popess and Traitor, while others appear just as peculiar in terms of their role in a cyclic hierarchy. Many people have attempted to explicate the meaning of the trumps over the last couple centuries, with no clear solution to the puzzle, so IMO we can be certain that there is no simple answer. My own answer is pretty complex, some parts are fairly subtle, and there is a more-or-less different version for every difference of iconography or order.
The basic trade-off is between explanatory power and parsimony. The more details you attempt to explain, the more complex and subtle the explanation becomes. And not only is there no guarantee that every change is meaningful, there is in fact a virtual certainty that many, perhaps most, of the later changes are
not particularly meaningful! Thus, the four Moors, Juno and Jupiter, Bacchus and the Spanish Captain, and so on, appear to have no connection whatsoever with the original design. People wanted to get rid of the Pope and Popess, and used various alternatives. Substitutions such as the Ship and Tower in Sicilian decks appear to have only tangential connection with the original Devil and Fire/Tower cards. And so on.
That's how
I see it. I've tried to craft a coherent interpretation, starting with an overall view of the significance of the three sections of the series: Pope and lower-ranked, middle trumps, Devil and higher-ranked. I call this a Triumph of Death, and compare it with other such works, including Petrarch's
Trionfi. Second comes an analysis of each section within the overriding Triumph of Death design. This is where things get interesting, as each of the three sections is a fascinating puzzle in its own right. The middle section I call a Triumph of Fortune, and I relate it to two of the most respected works of the 14th century, Boccaccio's
De Casibus and Petrarch's
De Remediis. Only then, as a tertiary analysis, do I attempt to specify the significance of each card in any detail.
But again, it can't be said too many times, everyone finds their own preferred reading.
Best regards,
Michael
