A knight or cavalier is a

playing card A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a fi ...

with a picture of a man riding a horse on it. It is a standard face or court card in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

and Spanish packs where it is usually referred to as the 'knight' in English, the ''caballo'' in Spanish or the ''cavallo'' in Italian. It ranks between the knave and the

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

within its

suit A suit, lounge suit, or business suit is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt suit is similar, but with a matching skirt instead of tr ...

; therefore, it replaces the

queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

, nonexistent in these packs. The card also features in tarot and tarock packs. In French-suited tarot packs it is usually called the 'cavalier' in English, the ''chevalier'' in French or the ''Cavall'' or ''Reiter'' in German. and ranks between the jack and the

. Knights do not appear in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

or Swiss playing cards; their place being occupied by an upper knave card called the Ober. One exception is the Württemberg pattern where the Obers are seen riding on horses. This depiction was inspired by

Cego Cego is a Tarot game for three or four players played with eponymous German Tarot playing cards. The game was probably derived from the three-player Badenese tarot game of Dreierles after soldiers returned from the Iberian Peninsula during the Na ...

tarot decks during the 19th century.

History

In the original Mamluk Egyptian deck, there were three court cards called the ''malik'' (king), the ''nā'ib malik'' (viceroy or deputy king), and the ''thānī nā'ib'' (second or under-deputy). The latter two were transformed into the knight and the knave when playing cards entered southern Europe. The knave is often depicted as a foot soldier or squire to the knight. Many early tarot decks had added female ranks into the face cards including the Cary-Yale deck which added queens, mounted ladies, and maids as counterparts to the males. While mounted ladies and maids faded away or survive in minor regional patterns like the

Tarocco Siciliano The Tarocco Siciliano is a tarot deck found in Sicily and is used to play Sicilian tarocchi. It is one of the three traditional Latin-suited tarot decks still used for games in Italy, the others being the more prevalent Tarocco Piemontese and the ...

, knights were dropped in favour of queens in non-tarot French decks. In the Spanish suited

Aluette Aluette or Vache ("Cow") is an old, plain trick-taking card game that is played on the west coast of France. It is played by two teams, usually of four people, but sometimes also of six. It is unusual in using a unique pack of 48 Spanish playing c ...

pattern found in

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

and the

Vendée Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.

, knights have an androgynous appearance.

Example cards

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Knight (Playing Card) Playing cards Minor Arcana Fictional knights