The History of Tarot

The Tarot appeared in Europe around the late 14th and early 15th Centuries. Although there are no examples of the earliest cards, there are other types of records of the game Trionfi or Tarocchi. This is the gambling game for which the Tarot was first used. In 1367 the city of Bern, Switzerland prohibited the use of playing cards, and similar decree was handed down in Barcelona, Spain in 1382. Several Italian murals from the 15th Century depict a gambling card game, which very well could have been the Tarot. The earliest surviving examples of the Tarocchi deck are from decks owned by the Visconti and Visconti-Sforza families. There are 271 cards in existence today, located in various museums and private collections. These cards have been divided into fifteen groups, and the largest known group has seventy-four of the seventy-eight cards surviving. The exact age of these cards is not known, but scholars have dated some of the cards to the mid-1400's.
The use of playing cards originated in China, and it seems coincidental that the Tarot game began to appear in Italy after the return of Marco Polo from China in the late 13th Century. The designs on the earliest known Trump cards related to Roman myths and Astrology, thus supporting the theory of Italian origins. Some of the imagery remains today on the cards, but much has changed. The original Trumps were not numbered, as they are now. The earliest documentation of numbering is from the late 15th Century. It is unclear how many original Trump cards there were in the Tarot deck. Some decks had Zodiac signs, the planets known at the time, Roman mythological figures,
the seven virtues and seven vices, Many correspond with the current Trump cards, but some do not. The Minchiate decks had ninety-seven cards. There is some speculation that some of the early Visconti decks might be incomplete Minchiate decks, as the Major Arcana (Trumps) have some similarities. Is the Tarot a pared-down version of the Minchiate? The debate over this question still goes on.

Early decks were hand drawn and painted for very wealthy families. Cheaper copies from woodcuts were made shortly thereafter. With the advent of the printing press (moveable type) in the 15th Century, the publication of playing card decks became more widespread and profitable. It appears that although the Tarot originated in Italy, the widespread printing and publication of the cards was in mainly in the south of France. In spite of this fact, the game was not as readily adopted in the north of France or the northern parts of Europe. This game of Tarocchi is still played in parts of Europe today. There are similarities to our modern game of Bridge.Contrary to popular belief, the Romany (gypsies) did not either invent the Tarot or start the trend of divining with the deck. By the time the Romany appeared in Europe in the 15th Century, the game of Trumps and the deck of Tarot was in widespread use.
Use of the Tarot for divination appears to have become popular with the French occultists in the late 18th Century. However, the earliest reference to the Tarot being used for divination came from a series of sonnets written by Merlini Cocai in 1527.