I wonder if this has to do with the fact that English nobility at that time was closely related to French nobility. After all, it wasn’t until Henry V when the English kings started to use English instead of Norman French as the royal language. Or maybe you could argue Henry IV who spoke to his subjects at his coronation in English but still spoke Norman French in the royal court.
That would be in the mid 14th to early 15th century which is after the time when playing cards became widely used in Europe and England.
One might mention the Tarot suits, which are Swords, Cups, Coins, and Staves.
(On the other hand, there are the Double Fanucci suits, which are Bugs, Lamps, Mazes, Fromps, Hives, Inkblots, Ears, Time, Scythes, Zurfs, Books, Plungers, Tops, Rain, and Faces.)
In Switzerland, things are different again:
[ul]
[li]Bells (Diamonds)[/li][li]Flowers (Hearts)[/li][li]Shields (Spades)[/li][li]Acorns (Clubs)[/li][/ul]
These are used in a Swiss card game named Jass (pronounced Yass, with the “a” as in “card”). They start with the seven, and there are four picture cards instead of three, plus the Ace.
Please don’t ask me about the rules, especially trumping!..
Actually, those are just the basics, each suit with eleven cards numbered zero through nine, plus infinity, 165 cards in all. Then there are the nine Face Cards: Beauty, Death, Granola, Grue, Jester, Light, Lobster, Snail, and Time, for a total of 174.