Justice : Its original Placement

I have been reading Leon's Origins of the Tarot and Huson's Mystical Origins of the Tarot, and I find them both fascinating and thoughtful, the one more Platonic, the other more Aristotelian. Leon makes a strong case that Justice originally was the penultimate Tarot image/icon, just before the finale World. He sees this as indicating significant Neoplatonic and Sufic influence, since these streams put great emphasis on Justice. Huson, however, sees Justice in the Marseilles placement, based upon its original place in Italian decks --in position 8, before the Hermit. According to actual history, where was Justice first placed in the Tarot ? Thematically, was it Neoplatonic/Sufic, or Christian? Was it about the ultimate harmony of the soul (20), or about a cardinal virtue (8) trumped by Judgment (20)?

Hi!
Page 274 Kaplan Vol 11 Is Italian Tarrochi Cards with Justice at XX =20.
I personally think that the concept for Tarot was Civil.
Without Justice you could not have the Utopia of Good Government.
I think also as in the Visconti it was to do with the Ruling of Milan and Peace and balance of power between states. Defense was Just and through Justice.
~Rosanne

The evidence seems to suggest that Justice was originally 20. At Tarotpedia, there's an article about the "Steele Sermon," which dates from c.1500, roughly the same time as the cards Rosanne referred to. It's the oldest known complete and numbered list of the trumps. Of the trumps shown in Kaplan 2, all but one (Lovers) matches the order from the Steele Sermon.

Abrac said:

The evidence seems to suggest that Justice was originally 20. At Tarotpedia, there's an article about the "Steele Sermon," which dates from c.1500, roughly the same time as the cards Rosanne referred to. It's the oldest known complete and numbered list of the trumps. Of the trumps shown in Kaplan 2, all but one (Lovers) matches the order from the Steele Sermon.

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... ... if the 5x14-theory is correct, some of the earliest decks had only 14 or 16 special cards instead of 22.
It seems not likely, that under this condition the card Justice had Nr. 20.

Generally Nr. 20 for Justice appeared on decks, which are taken as "from Ferrara".
Duke Borso from Reggio and Modena and later also from Ferrara (reigned 1450 - 1471) showed a special personal interest in the virtue "Justice", for instance in the decoration of Palazzo Schifanoia (not in the room with the great pictures), his special favor is variously noted in art history.

So it seems plausible, that Justice as "second highest trump" (not naturally Nr. 20) had its origin in the personal preference of Borso, who is known to have commissioned Trionfi cards variously between 1451 - 1463. This were not the oldest Trionfi cards.

Hi Huck!
I agree we do not know the amount of cards or 'special' cards- Trumps of early Tarot....but the theme of Justice was not only in that time in particular of Borso D'Este.
From Charlemagne onwards the Civil theme of Justice was as prominent elsewhere and much earlier.

Justice bring Victory, Good Government and a well run state

Sounds perfect for a game of Tarot and between Judgment and the World on a natural progression for winning.
Aristotle identifies the highest good with intellectual virtue,Plato and the republic is regarded as the best attainable form of government. (Hand painted world cards) and they both equate Justice with Honesty and Fairness and paying ones debts.

Rosanne said:

Justice bring Victory, Good Government and a well run state

Sounds perfect for a game of Tarot and between Judgment and the World on a natural progression for winning.
Aristotle identifies the highest good with intellectual virtue,Plato and the republic is regarded as the best attainable form of government. (Hand painted world cards) and they both equate Justice with Honesty and Fairness and paying ones debts.

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Aristotle presents Plato's Republic's flaws in his "Politics" book, and considers the best form of goverment between the three "Just" forms (Kingship, Aristocracy and Democracy) to be Aristocracy for various reasons he presents, and refers to Justice as "the benefit of the people".

The presentation of Plato's Republic(as the perfect goverment) seems to me a utopical consept with powerful elements of neoPlatonic concepts.

Rosanne said:

Hi Huck!
I agree we do not know the amount of cards or 'special' cards- Trumps of early Tarot....but the theme of Justice was not only in that time in particular of Borso D'Este.
From Charlemagne onwards the Civil theme of Justice was as prominent elsewhere and much earlier.

Justice bring Victory, Good Government and a well run state

Sounds perfect for a game of Tarot and between Judgment and the World on a natural progression for winning.
Aristotle identifies the highest good with intellectual virtue,Plato and the republic is regarded as the best attainable form of government. (Hand painted world cards) and they both equate Justice with Honesty and Fairness and paying ones debts.

Click to expand...

... ... well, we don't have surviving Trionfi decks from Charlemain, Plato or Aristoteles.

Ferrarese decks had a high Justice card, Milanese, Bolognese and Florentine decks not.
Borso's special favor is only of interest, as it seems to correlate to something, which we know of still extant playing cards.

Bologna had a high angel, Florence had a favor for Fama.
If the conclusions from the 5x14-theory are correct, Milan had a highest card Judgment (= angel as in Bologna) in the 14-Bembo-special-cards, which was overcome by two putti holding a picture with a city ... usually interpreted as "World". But is it "World" ? ... or for instance an equivalent to the "Gemini", which is as trump 35 highest numbered trump in the Minchiate.

In most Tarot games rules, the second highest trump stays meaningless, special value have one 0 Fool, 1 Magician and 21 World. But in some it seems as if also the second highest trump had some function.

Justice: Its Original Placement

I appreciate that Duke Borso may very well have had personal preference for the Justice image/icon, placing it at the 20th position. But that would not make sense as "meaningless", for the second highest trump in some games-- it would be meaningful. The local historic context would see Justice not only in personal political meaning but also in the legacy of philosophy, important to the Renaissance. So, maybe both personal political meaning and greater philosophical basis underlie Justice as penultimate (20). It's a symbolic game.

Frank Hall said:

I appreciate that Duke Borso may very well have had personal preference for the Justice image/icon, placing it at the 20th position. But that would not make sense as "meaningless", for the second highest trump in some games-- it would be meaningful. The local historic context would see Justice not only in personal political meaning but also in the legacy of philosophy, important to the Renaissance. So, maybe both personal political meaning and greater philosophical basis underly Justice as penultimate (20).

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For most games of Tarot the iconography of the chosen motifs is totally meaningless. Structurally it is necessary, that the cards have a hierarchical row. If you use animals as in the Animal Tarot, buildings or social events as in some of the 19th century deck, it doesn't matter.
Things change, when by the game rule specific cards get special attention, like usually 0, 1 and 21 in most games. Then the artist usually aimed to signify these cards in a special manner to remember the player at the special importance of these cards.
If the game wished to signify 0, 1, 20 and 21 - as it happened in the Sola Busca Tarocchi with a variation of the chosen figures (0 Matto, 1 Panfilo, and 20 Nenbroto and 21 Nabuchodenasor as Babylonian kings in contrast to "18 Roman heroes" from 2-19) - then we've an interaction of motif and and game rule and it gives an information: likely they played with a rule, in which also the card Nr. 20 had some special function.

The iconography itself as a complex artwork might be overcrowded with symbolic meaning, whatever the artist did like and the commissioner wanted, but it not naturally tells us anything about the really played game.

Animal Tarot: card 0 and card 1 are signified as "humans", card 2-21 show animals, but the last animal (21) seems to be the only one associated to a tool.







http://trionfi.com/m/d01802.htm

Huck said:

Things change, when by the game rule specific cards get special attention, like usually 0, 1 and 21 in most games. Then the artist usually aimed to signify these cards in a special manner to remember the player at the special importance of these cards.

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Ah I get it! Like the 12 throned guys in the Visconti or the Knight over the Justice card in same.

The iconography itself as a complex artwork might be overcrowded with symbolic meaning, whatever the artist did like and the commissioner wanted, but it not naturally tells us anything about the really played game.

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I must have this tattooed on my arm It is true! Does not tell us how the game is played- just the 'maybe' importance of the card or function perhaps.
Thanks Huck.
~Rosanne