| Mathias Ringmann (or Philesius Vogesiana) (1475 - 1537) |
| A French internet-site gives some informaton to a special "deck", which was invented by Mathias Ringmann as help for learning Latin Grammar. The deck consists of 8 Figures and a 9th "card", that shows all 8 figures together in the "castle of grammar". The "castle" or "tower of grammar" was a special concept, which appears variously in renaissance texts, it was just a picture that accompanied Latin learning (compare this article, demonstrated with the following picture as an example, that this was a common motif). Ross Caldwell has translated the French text: Published under the pseudonym of Philesius Vogesigena, the "Grammatica figurata" of the Alsatian humanist Mathias Ringmann, student of Jacques Lefèvre d'Etaples, proposes a "chartiludium", that is to say a pack of cards, designed to facilitate the learning of the rules of grammar. Once dealt, the cards are turned face up, and a question should be asked concerning each of the eight parts of speech or one in particular, to which only the one who holds the corresponding card can respond. To the eight parts of speech correspond in fact eight principle figures, symbolizing the different social roles, following the contemporary tradition of ordinary playing-cards: priest-substantive, vicar-pronoun, king-verb, queen-adverb, monk-participle, cup-bearer-conjunction, sacristan-preposition, fool-interjection. The first card shows the "Castle of Grammar": the image presents the eight characters placed in the architectural positions corresponding best to their role. As the legend written at the bottom of the picture signifies, the number of characters, their posture, as well as their position, allows one to memorize the number and the nature of the parts of speech and to play cards each time the question falls in an equivalent argument. The French text contains an interesting hint: Ringmann follows a contemporary tradition (suivant la tradition des jeux de cartes ordinaires contemporains) - we don't know, how the French author comes to this statement, if it is founded upon secure facts or just a conclusion on his side.. But - assuming, that this a "true" statement, we do see a possible relation to the socalled Imperatori-decks, which were mentioned first in 1423 in Ferrara and which possessed 8 cards - like "the contemporary deck" mentioned in this French article. Until now we have no sure hint, how these cards looked like. Perhaps with the 8 Ringmann cards we've a first hint, what might have been the content of the Imperatori deck. There are 4 worldly figures: King, Queen, Cup-bearer, Fool There are 4 figures of the church: Priest, Vicar, Monk, Sakristan More to this theme in the Imperatori article To the pictures of Ringmann: Ringmann is a famous man cause he caused that America got the name America. See biographical data. |
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| created a deck, that possibly relates to Imperatori cards |
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