What is the history behind the design of face cards in a standard playing deck?

[wvwvw]

They drew the king of spades to resemble David, king of the Hebrews, and modeled his sword on the weapon he took from Goilath upon slaying the giant with a leather slingshot, which was shown lower down on the card. They depicted the club king as a stylized Charlemagne , the king of diamonds as Julius Caesar, and the king of hearts as Alexander the Great. The four kings thus represented the Jewish world, the Holy Roman Empire, and pre-Christian Rome and Greece, the four main wellsprings of Western civilization.

The queens and jacks aligned much less neatly. The queen of spades was based on Pallas Athena, the goddess whose warlike spirit called to mind Jeanne [referenced earlier as Jeanne d'Arc]. The queen of diamonds was modeled on Rachel, the beauty whom Jacob had to wait fourteen years to marry. The queen of hearts inspired by Judith, the Jewish heroine who got the Assyrian general Holofernes drunk on false pretenses and then cut off his head, saving Israel in the process and rating the valiant widow her own book in the Old Testament. The club queen paid homage to 'Argine', apparently an anagram of 'regina', the Latin word for 'queen', though the designer probably had Jeanne in mind too, since the king of clubs was Charlemagne, the other great French Catholic leader.

On one deck, the jack of spades was based on Ogier, a knight in Charlemagne's court; the jack of diamonds on Hector of Troy; of hearts on the proto-feminist Etienne de Vignoles; of clubs Judas Macabeus, who led Israel's revolt against the Syrians. In another deck, the four jacks featured full-length depictions of famous knights, whose names were printed next to their pictures: Lancelot, Ogrier, Roland, Valery. Each of these long-haired, beardless young warriors brandished a battle-ax, and all but Valery (the knight who designed these cards) were attended by a hound.

Hearts Spades Diamonds Clubs K CHARLES DAVID CAESAR ALEXANDER Q JUDITH PALLAS RACHEL ARGINE J LA HIRE OGIER HECTOR JUDAH MACCABEE
(or JUDAS MACCABEUS)

Jewish: David, Judith and Judah Maccabee
Greek: Alexander, Pallas and Hector
Roman: Caesar, Argeia and Aulus Hirtius
Christian: Charlemagne, Ragnel and Ogier
See Paris and Rouen pattern figures for further explanation

[Fractal]

My friend from high school (yes an Indian) is ranked 345,000th best Texas Hold Em player on the planet. If that's anything to brag about.