Curse of Scotland excluded, making the 7, later called the "beer card", a "stop") but there is no direct relation with the 9. Gomme's book goes on to claim "At the game of Pope Joan, the nine of diamonds is Pope; therefore the nine of diamonds is the curse of Scotland". "The Spectator" review considered the claim "more cogent in form than in matter". A letter written in response to "The Spectator's" book review pointed out that the saying was established well before Culloden, and preferred the Pope Joan theory to other explanations. Other explanations given in the letter were: An 1864 book
Unter (playing card) Unter (playing card) The Unter, also called the Wenzel or Wenz, and (in Swiss) also the Under, is a court card in the German and Swiss-suited playing cards, which corresponds to the Jack in French decks. The name "Unter" (lit.: "under") comes from the fact that the suit sign is located in the lower part of the card as opposed to the higher ranking "Ober" (lit. "over") whose suit sign is located on the top of the card. Unters were described soon after the introduction of playing cards in Europe. In 1377, Johannes of Rheinfelden wrote that the lowest court