The Tarot de Besançon, also called the Besançon Tarot, describes an historical type of Tarot pack used for playing card games that was made in south Germany, France and Switzerland, including the town of Besançon.

History The Tarot de Besançon was derived from the older form of the Marseille type, now known as ‘Type-I Tarot de Marseille’,For these two types, see Thierry Depaulis, “The ‘Tarot de Marseille’ – Facts and Fallacies”, The Playing-Card, Vol. 42, no. 1, July-Sept. 2013, pp. 23-43 and Vol. 42, no. 2, Oct.-Dec. 2013, pp. 101-120. compared with which it portrays characteristic differences, notably that the Popess (trump II) and the Pope (trump V) are replaced by, respectively, Juno and Jupiter. The earliest cards of this pattern came from Strasbourg in the early 18th century.Thierry Depaulis, The Cardmakers of Alsace, IPCS, 2023, chapter “The ‘Tarot de Besançon’, an ‘Ecumenical’ Tarot?”, pp.164-174 During the mid-18th century other sources of manufacture included Colmar, Konstanz, Ulm and Munich, but the majority were manufactured in Alsace. The packs take their name from the eastern French town of Besançon, to which the cardmakers moved their production in the early 19th century, before being superseded in the late 18th century by French-suited tarot packs. The Swiss Tarot pattern, which emerged in Diessenhofen around 1860, was derived from the Tarot de Besançon.

Description Typical of card packs of the Besançon type is that the cards traditionally depicting the Papess and the Pope were redesigned to portray the Roman gods, Juno and Jupiter. It is assumed that this renaming took place in order to avoid upsetting religious sensitivities in an area of distribution marked by confessional contrasts.

Other features of the Besançon type compared with the Marseille Tarot are: Cupid is aiming at the eyes of the lovers. The face of the Moon appears head on and not in profile. The world is not depicted dancing, but standing in contrapost.

Suits

+Suits of the Tarot de BesançonSuitSwordsCupsCoinsBatons

+ Tarot of Besançon card deck (1890) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Jack Knight Queen King Coins Cups Swords Clubs

Trumps The Besançon Tarot includes the Swiss Tarot, which forms its own sub-type (see details in that article), and the Tarot d’Épinal, which also has specific variations in design. It was manufactured around 1830 or 1850 by the cardmaker, Pellerin, in Épinal, the wood engraving comes from François Georgin (1801–1863). Among the features are an additional card with the title, Consultant, which was clearly used as a Significator, which is why it may be assumed that the cards were also used for divinatory purposes and not, like other packs of this type at that time, used exclusively for playing cards.

The pictures below, showing the 22 trump cards, come from a pack with coloured wood carvings produced by Renault from Besançon around 1820–1830. The pack is based on a c. 1800 design by Jean Jerger, also from Besançon.

LequartParis1890 RenaultBesançon1830 Number.Label. LequartParis1890 RenaultBesançon1830 Number.Label. (unnumbered)The Fool I.The Juggler Reminiscent of a pair of jacks. II.JunonJuno III.The Empress Reminiscent of a pair of queens. IIII.The Emperor V.Jupiter Reminiscent of a pair of kings. VI.The Lovers VII.TheChariot(eer) Reminiscent of an archer, likethose found in the William Tell pack. Reminiscent of a knight. VIII.The Justice VIIII.The Monk(The Hermit) Reminiscent of a queen of swords. Reminiscent of Diogenes. X.The Wheelof Fortune XI.The Strength Fate, consisting of rise or ascent,climax or apogee, and downfall or descent. See lions in heraldry, Nemean lion,Samson's riddle, and 1 Samuel 17. XII.TheHanged Man XIII.The Death(unlabelled) Reminiscent of Judas, who hunghimself, after betraying Jesus. Depicted as the grim reaper andoccupying the same position in all tarots. XIIII.Temperance XV.The Devil Reminiscent of a maid of cups, like thosefound in Visconti-Sforza, the Minchiate,and Portuguese-suited playing cards. The underworld or netherworld,envisioned as a subterranean realm. XVI.The Houseof God XVII.The Star A tower, rising towards the sky, and alightning strike, descending from heaven. Shares similar imagery with Temperance(XIV), itself reminiscent of a maid of cups. XVIII.The Moon XVIIII.The Sun Night and day. The main luminaries of the celestial sphere. XX.TheJudgement XXI.The World The angelic heaven,above the firmament. The world to come afterthe last judgement (XX).

Manufacturers Known manufacturers of card packs of this type include:

Jean-Baptiste Benois Suzanne Bernardin J. Blanche, Besançon J. H. Blanck et Tschann Louis Carey, Strasbourg Andreas Benedict Göbl Arnoult Grimaud François Héri Jean Jerger, Besançon A. Kirchner, Besançon Joseph Krebs, Freiburg L. de Laboisse, Strasbourg Pierre Lachapele Nicolas François Laudier, Strasbourg Jean Pierre Laurent Arnoult Lequart Guillaume Mann, Colmar Johann Pelagius Mayer, Constance Renault, Besançon Bernhard Schaer, Mumlisweil Jean Tissot Wolfgang Weber Johannes Muller, Schaffhousen Josef Rauch Miller, SalzburgGiordano Berti, "Tarot of Besançon of Josef Rauch Miller", in Tarot in German countries from the 16th to the 18th century, OM Edizioni, Quarto Inferiore 2018, pp. 23-25

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References

Literature Dummett, Sir Michael (1980). The Game of Tarot: From Ferrara to Salt Lake City. London: Duckworth. Graf, Eckhard (1991). Lexikon des Tarot sowie der Orakel- und Selbsterfahrungsspiele. Nagelschmid, Stuttgart 1991, . Mann, Sylvia (1990). All Cards on the Table, Jonas Verlag/Deutsches Spielkarten-Museum, Leinfelden-Echterdingen Rodik, Belinda (2008) Tarot-Lexikon. Grundbegriffe und Schlüsselworte zu Symbolik und Deutung. Schirmer, Darmstadt 2008, , pp 323–346.