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 Woodcut of a jester, by Heinrich Vogtherr the Younger, c. 1540 |
Ajester, also known asjoker,court jester, orfool, was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch kept to entertain guests at the royal court. Jesters were also travelling performers who entertained common folk at fairs and town markets, and the discipline continues into the modern day, where jesters perform at historical-themed events. Jester-like figures were common throughout the world, including Ancient Rome, China, Persia, and the Aztec empire.
During thepost-classical andRenaissance eras, jesters are often thought to have worn brightly coloured clothes andeccentric hats in amotley pattern. Their modern counterparts usually mimic this costume.
Jesters entertained with a wide variety of skills: principal among them were song, music, and storytelling, but many also employed acrobatics, juggling, telling jokes (such as puns and imitation), and performingmagic tricks. Much of the entertainment was performed in a comic style. Many jesters made contemporary jokes in word or song about people or events well known to their audiences.
The modern use of the English wordjester did not come into use until the mid-16th century, during Tudor times.[1] This modern term derives from the older formgestour, orjestour, originally from French meaning 'storyteller' or 'minstrel'. Other earlier terms includedfol,disour,buffoon, andbourder. These terms described entertainers who differed in their skills and performances but who all shared many similarities in their role as comedic performers for their audiences.[1][2][3]
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Inancient Rome, abalatro (/ˈbɑːlɑːtroʊ/BAH-lah-troh) was a professional jester or buffoon.[4]Balatrones were paid for their jests, and the tables of the wealthy were generally open to them for the sake of the amusement they afforded.[5]
There are various theories about the origin of the term. InHorace, Balatro is used as a proper name:Servilius Balatro.[6] An old scholiast derives the common wordbalatro from the proper name, suggesting that buffoons were calledbalatrones becauseServilius Balatro was a buffoon, though others have since objected to this account.Festus derives the word fromblatea, and supposes buffoons to have been calledbalatrones because they were dirty fellows, covered with spots of mud (blateae) from walking.[7] Another writer suggests a derivation frombarathrum, because they, so to speak, carried their jesting to market, even into the very depth (barathrum) of the shambles (barathrum macelli)[8]Balatro may be connected withbalare, "to bleat like a sheep", and hence, to speak sillily. Others have suggested a connection withblatero, a busy-body.[9]
Jester-like figures have been common throughout the world. They were known in China, Persia, and the Aztec empire.[10][11][12]
Many royal courts throughout English royal history employed entertainers and most had professional fools, sometimes called "licensed fools". Fool Societies, or groups of nomadic entertainers, were often hired to perform acrobatics and juggling.[13]
Jesters were also occasionally used as psychological warfare. Jesters would ride in front of their troops, provoke or mock the enemy, and even serve as messengers. They played an important part in raising their own army's spirits by singing songs and reciting stories.[14][15]
Henry VIII of England employed a jester namedWill Sommers. His daughterMary was entertained byJane Foole.[16]
During the reigns ofElizabeth I andJames I of England,William Shakespeare wrote his plays and performed with his theatre company theLord Chamberlain's Men (later called theKing's Men).Clowns and jesters were featured in Shakespeare's plays, and the company's expert on jesting wasRobert Armin, author of the bookFoole upon Foole. In Shakespeare'sTwelfth Night,Feste the jester is described as "wise enough to play the fool".[17]
In Scotland,Mary, Queen of Scots, had a jester calledNichola. Her son, KingJames VI of Scotland, employed a jester calledArchibald Armstrong. During his lifetime Armstrong was given great honours at court. He was eventually thrown out of the King's employment when he over-reached and insulted too many influential people. Even after his disgrace, books telling of his jests were sold in London streets. He held some influence at court still in the reign ofCharles I and estates of land inIreland.Anne of Denmark had a Scottish jester calledTom Durie. Charles I later employed a jester calledJeffrey Hudson who was very popular and loyal. Jeffrey Hudson had the title of "RoyalDwarf" because he was short of stature. One of his jests was to be presented hidden in a giant pie from which he would leap out. Hudson fought on theRoyalist side in theEnglish Civil War. A third jester associated with Charles I was called Muckle John.[18]
Jester's privilege is the ability and right of a jester to talk and mock freely without being punished. As an acknowledgement of this right, the court jester had symbols denoting their status and protection under the law. The crown (cap and bells) and sceptre (marotte) mirrored the royal crown and sceptre wielded by a monarch.[19][20]
Martin Luther used jest in many of his criticisms against the Catholic Church.[21] In the introduction to hisTo the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, he calls himself a court jester, and, later in the text, he explicitly invokes the jester's privilege when saying that monks should break their chastity vows.[21]
Jesters could give bad news to the King that no one else would dare deliver. In 1340, when the French fleet was destroyed at theBattle of Sluys by the English,Phillippe VI's jester told him the English sailors "don't even have the guts to jump into the water like our brave French".[11]
After theRestoration,Charles II did not reinstate the tradition of the court jester, but he did greatly patronise the theatre and proto-music hall entertainments, especially favouring the work ofThomas Killigrew. Though Killigrew was not officially a jester,Samuel Pepys in his famous diary does call Killigrew "The King's fool and jester, with the power to mock and revile even the most prominent without penalty" (12 February 1668).
In the 18th century, jesters had died out except inRussia,Spain, andGermany. InFrance andItaly, travelling groups of jesters performed plays featuring stylised characters in a form of theatre called thecommedia dell'arte. A version of this passed intoBritishfolk tradition in the form of apuppet show,Punch and Judy. In France the tradition of the court jester ended with the abolition of the monarchy in theFrench Revolution.
In 2015, the town ofConwy inNorth Wales appointed Russel Erwood (aka Erwyd le Fol) as the official resident jester of the town and its people, a post that had been vacant since 1295.[22][23]
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Poland's most famous court jester wasStańczyk (c. 1480–1560), whose jokes were usually related to political matters, and who later became a historical symbol for Poles.[24][25]
In 2004English Heritage appointedNigel Roder ("Kester the Jester") as the State Jester for England, the first since Muckle John 355 years previously.[26] However, following an objection by the National Guild of Jesters, English Heritage accepted they were not authorised to grant such a title.[27] Roder was succeeded as "Heritage Jester" by Pete Cooper ("Peterkin the Fool").[28]
InGermany,Till Eulenspiegel is a folkloric hero dating back to medieval times and ruling each year overFasching orCarnival time, mocking politicians and public figures of power and authority withpolitical satire like a modern-day court jester. He holds a mirror to make us aware of our times (Zeitgeist), and hissceptre, his "bauble", ormarotte, is the symbol of his power.
In 17th centurySpain,dwarves, often with deformities, were employed as buffoons to entertain the king and his family, especially the children. InVelázquez's paintingLas Meninas two dwarfs are included:Maria Bárbola, a female dwarf fromGermany withhydrocephalus, andNicolasito Portusato fromItaly. Mari Bárbola can also be seen in a later portrait ofprincess Margarita Teresa in mourning byJuan Bautista Martinez del Mazo. There are other paintings by Velázquez that include court dwarves such asPrince Balthasar Charles With a Dwarf.
During theRenaissance Papacy, the Papal court in Rome had a court jester, similar to the secular courts of the time.Pope Pius V dismissed the court Jester, and no later Pope employed one.
InJapan from the 13th to 18th centuries, thetaikomochi, a kind of malegeisha, attended the feudal lords (daimyōs). They entertained mostly through dancing and storytelling, and were at times counted on for strategic advice. By the 16th century they fought alongside their lord in battle in addition to their other duties.
Tonga was the first royal court to appoint a court jester in the 20th century;Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, the King of Tonga, appointedJD Bogdanoff to that role in 1999.[29] Bogdanoff was later embroiled in a financial scandal.[30]
The root of the word "fool" is from the Latinfollis, which means "bag of wind" or bellows or that which contains air or breath.[31]
The jester can be symbolic of common sense and of honesty, notably inKing Lear, where the court jester is a character used for insight and advice on the part of the monarch, taking advantage of his licence to mock and speak freely to dispense frank observations and highlight the folly of his monarch. This presents a clashing irony as a greater man could dispense the same advice and find himself being detained in the dungeons or even executed. Only as the lowliest member of the court can the jester be the monarch's most useful adviser.
TheShakespearean fool is a recurring character type in the works ofWilliam Shakespeare. Shakespearean fools are usually clever peasants or commoners that use their wits to outdo people of higher social standing. In this sense, they are very similar to the realfools, and jesters of the time, but their characteristics are greatly heightened for theatrical effect.[32] The "groundlings" (theatre-goers who were too poor to pay for seats and thus stood on the 'ground' in the front by the stage) that frequented the Globe Theatre were more likely to be drawn to these Shakespearean fools. However they were also favoured by the nobility. Most notably,Queen Elizabeth I was a great admirer of the popular actor who portrayed fools,Richard Tarlton. For Shakespeare himself, however, actorRobert Armin may have proved vital to the cultivation of the fool character in his many plays.[33]
Intarot, "The Fool" is a card of theMajor Arcana. The tarot depiction of the Fool often shows a man (or less often, a woman) dressed in bright clothes and holding a white rose in one hand and a small bundle of possessions in the other, with a dog or cat at their heels. The fool is in the act of unknowingly walking off the edge of a cliff, precipice, or other high place.
In a similar vein, abuffoon is someone who provides amusement through inappropriate appearance or behaviour. Originally the term was used to describe a ridiculous but amusing person. The term is now frequently used in a derogatory sense to describe someone considered foolish, or someone displaying inappropriately vulgar, bumbling or ridiculous behaviour which is a source of general amusement. The term originates from the old Italian "buffare", meaning to puff out one's cheeks[34] that also applies tobouffon. Having swelled their cheeks they would slap them to expel the air and produce a noise which amused the spectators.[35]
During the Burgundian and theRhenishcarnival, cabaret performances in local dialect are held. InBrabant this person is called a "tonpraoter" or "sauwelaar", and is actually in or on a barrel. InLimburg they are named "buuttereedner" or "buutteredner" and inZeeland they are called an "ouwoer". They all perform a cabaret speech in dialect, during which many current issues are reviewed. Often there are local situations and celebrities from local and regional politics who are mocked, ridiculed and insulted. The "Tonpraoter" or "Buuttereedner" may be considered successors of the jesters.[36]
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Balatro".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. London: John Murray. p. 183.
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