This belief was a kind of protective covering for the jester - after all, who could blame fools for saying whatever came into their heads? Many court jesters did come from the ranks of the physically disabled and many were dwarfs. The two men were exceptionally close, as often happened between kings and fools.Ĭommon belief held that children and fools could speak only the truth. No “Your Exalted Majesty,” no bowing and scraping there, no pro-forma flowery flattery. Henry VIII of England (never one to turn his cheek from an insult) enjoyed the services of the fool Will Somers, who called the king Harry. A jester would regularly sass the king, addressing him in nicknames that no other member of the royal court would dare use.
Peter the Great, seeking to introduce European learning and culture to Mother Russia, encouraged his many court jesters to ridicule old-fashioned ideas and prejudices. Otto, whose book, Fools Are Everywhere, is a marvelous compendium of history and lore about court jesters the world over. Instead they mocked only Church officials who did not live up to the Church’s high standards.īesides errant priests, the jesters publicly mocked “venal officials and nobles, and erring or corrupt or lazy rulers, together with anything deemed sacrosanct,” according to Beatrice K. The jester was careful not to mock the body of the Church with its doctrines and ethical principles. These barbs were often delivered in riddles or songs, and sometimes skits. But a good court jester would put on little acts showing how greedy for rich clothes and other worldly goods a bishop might be, and mock the piety of any local priests given to earthly along with spiritual pursuits. to the Renaissance, the courts of kings and lesser nobles were all devoted to (and under the sway of) the Roman Catholic Church. Laughter was the oil a jester used to slip inconvenient truths into the royal presence without offending it. His (or her) specialties were satire, mockery, ridicule. Laughter was the métier of the medieval court jester, also known as clown or fool.
government, and in particular the president, enjoyed the services of another kind of adviser, an adviser that for hundreds, even thousands of years kept European and Middle Eastern, Indian and Chinese rulers from making terrible mistakes - to wit, a court jester.ĭon’t laugh. The entire mess would probably not have occurred if the executive branch of the U.S. This was, of course, the scandal called Watergate. history, and the arrest and jailing of a host of administration officials for various crimes related to obstruction of justice. The president urged Haldeman to get it done, and this fateful decision would within two years lead to the only presidential resignation in U.S. And the CIA could be persuaded to drop the matter altogether. Haldeman suggested that the CIA be ordered to tell the FBI that their investigations were leading into national security matters, and the CIA would take over. “Bob” Haldeman, were developing a plot whereby an FBI investigation into obstruction of justice and other crimes suspected of the Nixon Administration could be brought to a halt. The president of the United States, Richard M. On June 23, 1972, two men sat in the Oval Office in the White House. It was a remedy once used to keep the exalted in line while seasoning the halls of power with sprinkles of levity - a prescription needed even more so today. He prescribed an ancient antidote: the court jester. Written with wit and humor, Fools Are Everywhere is the most comprehensive look at these roguish characters who risked their necks not only to mock and entertain but also to fulfill a deep and widespread human and social need.Editor’s Note: Ten years ago Jake Page, who wrote a dozen essays for this magazine before his death in 2016, was troubled by the state of American politics. Most of the work on the court jester has concentrated on Europe Otto draws on previously untranslated classical Chinese writings and other sources to correct this bias and also looks at jesters in literature, mythology, and drama. With a wealth of anecdotes, jokes, quotations, epigraphs, and illustrations (including flip art), Otto brings to light little-known jesters, highlighting their humanizing influence on people with power and position and placing otherwise remote historical figures in a more idiosyncratic, intimate light. Though not always clad in cap and bells, these witty, quirky characters crop up everywhere, from the courts of ancient China and the Mogul emperors of India to those of medieval Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas.
Otto takes us on a journey around the world in search of one of the most colorful characters in history-the court jester.
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