Pope Julius

English

Alternative forms

• Pope Julio, Pope July

Etymology

Unknown. Presumably named after Pope Julius II, the Warrior Pope.

Noun

Pope Julius (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) A sixteenth-century gambling card game about which little is known.
   • 1525, John Skelton, Speke, Parrot‎^[1]:

     Of Pope Julius cardys he ys chefe cardynall.

   • 1532 November 30, Privy Purse Expences of King Henry VIII, 30 Novembre 1532:

     Item the laste day delived unto the kings grace whiche his grace lost at pope July game wt my lady marquess and m Weston xvj cor

   • c. 1596, Sir John Harington, A Treatise on Playe, quoted in Nugae antiquae, published 1804:

     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