Treatise on the Morals and Discipline of Human Conduct

...kings and eight marshals original: "marscalcis"; these are the court figures we now call Jacks or Knaves, so that each of those kings is present with the entire "family" of the whole kingdom—speaking here of the principal persons and the other common cards. And to this [arrangement], one adds queens with four handmaids, and then there will be sixty cards in total.

And this way of making the cards, and also this specific number, pleases me more for three reasons: first, by reason of greater authority; second, by reason of more realistic convenience; and third, by reason of more beautiful refinement original: "urbanitatis"; implying a sense of sophisticated courtly conduct.

First, I say that by reason of greater authority, it expresses a figure which is given in Holy Scripture. Second, it is found in that statue which King Nebuchadnezzar original: "Nabuchodonosor", the King of Babylon, saw in his dreams, which Daniel interpreted for him. According to that statue, the upper part had a golden head, then a silver part, then a bronze belly, and finally an iron trunk and feet. For as Daniel interpreted it for him, this signifies the principal kingdoms of the world which followed one another and held glory in the world: namely, the Kingdom of Babylon (or of the Chaldeans); the Kingdom of the Persians (or Medes); the Kingdom of the Macedonians (or the Kingdom of the Greeks); and the Kingdom of Italy (or the Kingdom of the Romans).

For those who represent this aforementioned vision which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dreams, then these kings [on the cards] represent in their heraldry original: "in armis"; literally "in arms," referring to the symbols or coats of arms depicted on the cards whatever pertains to or comes from that aforementioned vision. Thus, as it was said, the golden head represents the King of the Chaldeans, and therefore that king carries a "head" in his heraldry. As for what the King of the Medes might have in his heraldry, let him who is familiar with his arms fulfill that part. The part of the belly, or the bronze, denotes the Kingdom of the Greeks; and therefore their king carries bells campanas; bells were a traditional suit in early German playing cards as his arms, because bells ought to be made of bronze according to their nature.