In the original
Mamluk Egyptian deck, there were three court cards called the
malik (king), the ''nā'ib malik
(viceroy or deputy king), and the thānī nā'ib'' (second or under-deputy). The latter two were transformed into the knight and the knave when playing cards entered southern Europe. The knave is often depicted as a foot soldier or squire to the knight. Many early tarot decks had added female ranks into the face cards including the
Cary-Yale deck which added queens, mounted ladies, and maids as counterparts to the males. While mounted ladies and maids faded away or survive in minor regional patterns like the
Tarocco Siciliano, knights were dropped in favour of queens in non-tarot French decks. In the Spanish suited
Aluette pattern found in
Brittany and the
Vendée, knights have an androgynous appearance. ==Example cards==