Clothing on the Courts - The Valets

I'm attempting to discover the meaning (if any) in the iconography of the clothing worn by the court cards in the Tarot of Marseilles and the Valets seems the logical place to start.

I've laid out the Valets from the 3 examples of the Tarot of Marseilles that I have in my possession, that is, the Dusserre Dodal, the Lo Scarabeo Burdel and the US Games/Carta Mundi. (I really should get a Conver...) The observations that follow seem to be true of all 3 versions but in fairness I've found the US Games/Carta Mundi version rather closely follows the Dusserre Dodal.

The Valet de Deniers, Valet de Batons and Valet de Coupes all wear hose, a balloon sleeve shirt and a tunic over that, though the Valet de Batons' tunic appears more elaborate. The Valet de Coups additionally wears a bib which has been discussed in this thread. The Valet D'Eppes on the other hand wears knee covering trousers, a balloon sleeved shirt, a buttoned waistcoat and a cape.

The Valet de Deniers and Valet D'Eppes both wear the same sort of hat which is very similar to the one worn by Le Bateleur. The Valet de Batons wears what looks like an elaborate cap made of cloth. Finally, the Valet de Coupes doesn't wear headgear but appears to be wearing a headband while carrying what could be a cap in his left hand.

Now, my ancient Webster's New World Dictionary defines the word 'valet' as 1. a personal manservant who takes care of a man's clothes, helps him dress, etc. 2. a hotel employee who cleans or presses clothes, etc. It also mentions that the word is of French origin so I'm assuming the word has similar meanings in French.

Is the hose, shirt and tunic typical of servant's clothing during the time the Tarot of Marseilles was created? Are the trousers, shirt, waistcoat and cape indicative of a higher status? Or are these simply clothing styles that were typical of the times? Is there any significance in the Valet's clothing as depicted in the Tarot of Marseilles?

I've done some searching for information on clothing during the 15th century and found this link: http://www.costumes.org/history/100pages/italiRenlinks.htm

Near as I can make out, the clothing depicted on the courts in general reflected the fashions of this time.

Hi Tom. I think that even though Valets are in service to royalty, they would not be classed as servants. The rigid demarcation between nobility, clergy and common man, suggests they would have been noble-born?

Du Berry Book of Hours--Months of Year

While some of the nobility and peasants are said to have 'Italianate' style of clothing and depiction, as a start, here are 15th century images--there are peasants, farmers, valets and royalty.

http://humanities.uchicago.edu/images/heures/heures.html

Perhaps some of the depictions in the Vievielle and Tarot of Paris of the 1600s will assist--even if not a straight 'French' interpretation, their engraving depictions fed into the design of what others would define as the later true French Marseille designs.

Although you might be doing a straight French deck comparison? I have a Swiss Marseilles of 1801, but the differences again might be just too variant for your design study.

If you find any of the above useful, I'll edit the post to include links that I find.

Regards,

Cerulean Mari...who just got a Tarot of Paris from an offline collector breaking up his collection...

Aoife - Thanks. That could well be and relates to the position of a squire as an apprentice to a knight. From my research the actual styles of the clothing worn by peasants, mechants and nobles alike was nearly identical - the differences being in the fabrics and the fact that peasants would only have one set of clothing.

Cerulean - Thanks for the helpful link and yes I would be interested in any further links you have.