Pope Julius, or Pope July, is a

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three ele ...

card game A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ga ...

of the 16th century for four or more players. Players included King

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

and it appears to have been one of his and

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key f ...

's favourite pastimes. Very little is known about the game, and its existence is known to be attested only by three written sources, those being: *c. 1521 - John Skelton, ''Speke, parrot'' *: *1532 - anon, ''Privy Purse Expences of King Henry VIII'' (30 November 1532) *: *c. 1596 - Sir John Harington, ''A Treatise on Playe'', in ''Nugae antiquae'' (1769) *: Some sources speculate that it was the precursor to the game of

Pope Joan Pope Joan (''Ioannes Anglicus'', 855–857) was, according to legend, a woman who reigned as pope for two years during the Middle Ages. Her story first appeared in chronicles in the 13th century and subsequently spread throughout Europe. The s ...

.''Lives of the Queens of England''
by Agnes Strickland. Retrieved 24 December 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pope Julius (Card Game) 16th-century card games French deck card games English card games