



The first hypothesis suggests that originally, the King of Hearts wielded an ax in his left hand. There are several theories in this regard. "This identification of the court cards with famous persons and literary figures only arose well after playing cards were already in popular use, and thus was preceded by decks of playing cards that had artwork merely depicting the nobility in a more general way." He’s the only king without a mustache, and, moreover, he’s the only king who appears to be sticking his sword into his head. If anything, the depiction of actual kings and queens on playing cards was an after-the-fact notion, according to EndersGame. Some of these connections still persist unofficially, but it merely reflects a trend among some French printers that was temporary at best." "But there was never any universally accepted standard for this, and different regions and printers reflected their own preferences. "There was a brief trend in late 16th century France to assign famous personages or literary figures to specific court cards," EndersGame notes. Many Spanish and German decks historically eschewed queenly representation in favor of a separate pack of male figures. The queen cards often included the goddess Athena and Rachel, the wife of the biblical Jacob, among other ladies. The king of hearts is often depicted with a mustache, but there are some decks of cards that do not feature a mustache on the king of hearts. Sometimes, the King of Hearts is identified with Charlemagne. (Picture cards came into being in Europe in the mid-15th century - centuries after playing cards had become popular.) French and British decks of the 16th century were said to often depict Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, the biblical King David and Charlemagne on the king cards - representing the four great empires of Greece, Rome, the Jews and the Franks. The king of hearts is one of the most recognizable cards in a deck of playing cards. That's not to say that it's impossible that a deck might feature a real king the artwork varied according to the whims of card designers, manufacturers and the region in which the cards were produced. 14So he swayed the hearts of all the men of Judah, just as the heart of one man, so that they sent this word to the king: Return, you and all your servants.
