Ross G Caldwell
René II, grandson of René d'Anjou and Isabelle de Lorraine, had personal experience of Italy.
René had become famous all over Europe because of the Battle of Nancy, 1477, in which Charles the Bold was killed (perhaps Leonello's son Francesco d'Este was there then also, as he had grown up with Charles the Bold and information on him dries up after 1475). René entered Nancy in triumph the same day of the battle, where he passed under a sort of triumphal arch, which the citizens had constructed in haste out of the dried bones of the horses and other animals they had been reduced to eating during the war.
René II went to Venice in 1480 and signed a treaty with them, receiving 56,000 ducats and the title of "Captain General." He remained in Italy until 1481. When Venice went to war with Ferrara in 1482, they called on René's assisstance
René sent two lieutenants to Ferrara, but Venice asked for René himself the following year, and he came with 400 mounted knights and 1000 soldiers to besiege Ferrara from the spring to September, 1483, when he learned of the death of his cousin Louis XI (August 30), which he hoped would allow him to renew his claims upon Lorraine and Anjou, which Louis XI had inherited.
Thus René's connection to the triumphal concept occurs in three places - his familial connection to Isabelle de Lorraine, his triumphal entry into Nancy, and his playing Triumphs in 1496. It is noteworthy that the last date is after he had spent two or three years in Italy.
From the trionfi.com page
http://trionfi.com/0/b/09/
"1496: Rene II, grand-son of the more famous Rene I d'Anjou and Isabella da Lorraine (who got the parcel of Marcello) by their daughter Yolande (1428 - 1484), a later duke of Lorraine, played with "triumphe" cards according to his account book from 1495/96. "Au Roy, le 29 avril pour jouer audit triumphe a Vezelise deux francs. Encore audit seigneur roy le 1 Mai pour jouer audit triumphe a Vezelise deux florins d'or."
It seems, that this is the first note of the "triumphe game" in France. It's astonishing and perhaps part of a personal family story around the Michelino deck, that the related person is the grand-son of just this Isabella de Lorraine, who got the parcel of Marcello. However, the date is short after 1494, that means after the invasion of the French king Charles VIII. in Italy, when French soldiers surely became acquainted with the game."
There is an earlier French reference to Triumphe, from 1482 - from Michael Hurst's site -
"According to the Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française, “…the earliest recorded use of the word [triumphe] in French as the name of a card game dates from as early as 1482. Unfortunately, we cannot be certain that these references are to games played with the Tarot pack.” Dummett considers it likely that this reference does refer to Tarot, which would thereby have been in France by about 1480."
While it is true that we cannot be sure that René's game of Triumph was played with *triumph cards*, there is good reason to be suspicious that it was. It seems likely that that such cards - at least the 14 trump variety - were known in "France" since 1449, when Marcello sent a pack to René's grandmother, Isabelle de Lorraine, in Saumur on the Loire (then part of Anjou and Maine, not France yet).
René had become famous all over Europe because of the Battle of Nancy, 1477, in which Charles the Bold was killed (perhaps Leonello's son Francesco d'Este was there then also, as he had grown up with Charles the Bold and information on him dries up after 1475). René entered Nancy in triumph the same day of the battle, where he passed under a sort of triumphal arch, which the citizens had constructed in haste out of the dried bones of the horses and other animals they had been reduced to eating during the war.
René II went to Venice in 1480 and signed a treaty with them, receiving 56,000 ducats and the title of "Captain General." He remained in Italy until 1481. When Venice went to war with Ferrara in 1482, they called on René's assisstance
René sent two lieutenants to Ferrara, but Venice asked for René himself the following year, and he came with 400 mounted knights and 1000 soldiers to besiege Ferrara from the spring to September, 1483, when he learned of the death of his cousin Louis XI (August 30), which he hoped would allow him to renew his claims upon Lorraine and Anjou, which Louis XI had inherited.
Thus René's connection to the triumphal concept occurs in three places - his familial connection to Isabelle de Lorraine, his triumphal entry into Nancy, and his playing Triumphs in 1496. It is noteworthy that the last date is after he had spent two or three years in Italy.
From the trionfi.com page
http://trionfi.com/0/b/09/
"1496: Rene II, grand-son of the more famous Rene I d'Anjou and Isabella da Lorraine (who got the parcel of Marcello) by their daughter Yolande (1428 - 1484), a later duke of Lorraine, played with "triumphe" cards according to his account book from 1495/96. "Au Roy, le 29 avril pour jouer audit triumphe a Vezelise deux francs. Encore audit seigneur roy le 1 Mai pour jouer audit triumphe a Vezelise deux florins d'or."
It seems, that this is the first note of the "triumphe game" in France. It's astonishing and perhaps part of a personal family story around the Michelino deck, that the related person is the grand-son of just this Isabella de Lorraine, who got the parcel of Marcello. However, the date is short after 1494, that means after the invasion of the French king Charles VIII. in Italy, when French soldiers surely became acquainted with the game."
There is an earlier French reference to Triumphe, from 1482 - from Michael Hurst's site -
"According to the Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française, “…the earliest recorded use of the word [triumphe] in French as the name of a card game dates from as early as 1482. Unfortunately, we cannot be certain that these references are to games played with the Tarot pack.” Dummett considers it likely that this reference does refer to Tarot, which would thereby have been in France by about 1480."
While it is true that we cannot be sure that René's game of Triumph was played with *triumph cards*, there is good reason to be suspicious that it was. It seems likely that that such cards - at least the 14 trump variety - were known in "France" since 1449, when Marcello sent a pack to René's grandmother, Isabelle de Lorraine, in Saumur on the Loire (then part of Anjou and Maine, not France yet).
