ts of their
introduction (see _Istoria della citta di Viterbo_, by F. Bussi, Rome,
1743). According to other authorities, cards came first to Spain from
Africa with the Moors, and it is significant that, to this day, playing
cards are called in Spain _naipes_ (probably a corruption of the Arabic
_Nabi_, prophet). Taken in connexion with the statement of Covelluzzo,
this fact would seem to prove the wide popularity of the game of _naib_,
or cards, among the Arab tribes. The meaning of the word (prophet) has
been suggested to refer to the fortune-telling function of cards, and
the theory has been advanced that they were used by the Moorish gypsies
for that purpose. Gypsies are, however, not known to have appeared in
Spain before the 15th century, at a time when cards were already well
known. In regard to the word _naib_, the Italian language still
preserves the name _naibi_, playing cards.

Towards the end of the 14th century cards seem to have become common,
for in an edict of the provost of Paris, 1397, working-people are
forbidden to play at tennis, bowls, dice, cards or nine-pins on working
days. From an omission of any mention of cards in an ordonnance of
Charles V. in 1369, forbidding certain other games, it may be reasonably
concluded that cards became popular in France between that date and the
end of the century. In Italy it is possible that they were generally
known at a somewhat earlier date. In the 15th century they were often
the object of the attacks of the clergy. In 1423 St Bernardino of Siena
preached a celebrated sermon against them at Bologna, in which, like the
English Puritans after him, he attributed their invention to the devil.
Cards in Germany are referred to in a manuscript of Nuremberg about
1384, which illustrates the rapid spread of the new game throughout
Europe. In form the earliest cards were generally rectangular or square,
though sometimes circular.

Not long after their introduction, cards began to be used for other
purposes than gaming. In 1509 a Franciscan friar, Thomas Murner,
published an exposition of logic in the form of a pack of cards, and a
pack invented in 1651 by Baptist Pendleton purported to convey a
knowledge of grammar. These were soon followed by packs teaching
geography and heraldry, the whole class being called "scientiall cards."
Politics followed, and in England satirical and historical sets
appeared, one of them designed to reveal the plots of the Popish
agitators.