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Shields (suit)
Playing card suit from Switzerland / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shields (German: Schilten), also called Escutcheons, is one of the four playing card suits in a deck of Swiss-suited playing cards. This suit was invented in 15th century German speaking lands and is a survivor from a large pool of experimental suit signs created to replace the Latin suits. One example from the mid-15th century is a five-suited deck with the Latin suits plus a suit of shields.[1] Another example, is the Hofämterspiel, a medieval handmade deck from 1453 to 1457 where each suit depicts shields carrying different coat of arms of four kingdoms: France, Germany, Bohemia and Hungary.
Shields | |
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Native name | German: Schilten |
Deck | Swiss-suited playing cards |
Invented | 15th century |
It is equivalent to the German Hearts (suit),[2][3][4] as both the shields and hearts suits lower halves end in a point. The Deuce of shields also feature hearts in its design.