Pope Julius (card game) explained

Pope Julius, or Pope July, is a gambling card game of the 16th century for four or more players.^[1] Players included King Henry VIII and it appears to have been one of his and Anne Boleyn's favourite pastimes.^{[2] [3]}

Very little is known about the game, and its existence is known to be attested only by three written sources, those being:

• c. 1521 - John Skelton, Speke, parrot

English, Middle (1100-1500);: italic=no|Of Pope Julius cardys he ys chefe cardynall.

• 1532 - anon, Privy Purse Expences of King Henry VIII (30 November 1532)

English, Middle (1100-1500);: italic=no|Itm the xx daye delifed to the kingf grace at Stone whiche his grace loste at pope Julius game to my lady marques, m! Bryan and maister Weston

• c. 1596 - Sir John Harington, A Treatise on Playe, in Nugae antiquae (1769)

English, Middle (1100-1500);: italic=no|Pope Julio (if I fail not in the name, and sure I am that there is a game of the cards after his name) was a great and wary player, a great vertue in a man of his profession

Some sources speculate that it was the precursor to the game of Pope Joan.^[4]

Notes and References

1. Farquhar. Helen . 1916 . Royal Charities. British Numismatic Journal and Proceedings of the British Numismatic Society. 12 . 84.
2. Book: Warnicke, Retha M. . The rise and fall of Anne Boleyn: family politics at the court of Henry VIII . Retha Warnicke . 1991 . . 978-0-521-40677-2 . 119 .
3. Grueninger, Natalie (2022). The Final Year of Anne Boleyn. Barnsley: Pen & Sword.
4. https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4oQAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22pope+julius%22+game&pg=PA169 Lives of the Queens of England