Jester
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A jester, joker, fool or buffoon, is a specific type of entertainer mostly (but not always) associated with the Middle Ages. Jesters typically wore brightly colored clothing in a motley pattern. Their hats, sometimes called the cap ’n bells, cockscomb (obsolete coxcomb), were especially distinctive; made of cloth, they were floppy with three points (liliripes) each of which had a jingle bell at the end. The three points of the hat represent the asses' ears and tail worn by jesters in earlier times. Other things distinctive about the jester were his incessant laughter and his mock scepter, known as a bauble or maharoof.
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Etymology
From Middle English geste (“idle tale”), from Old French geste (“acts, exploits”), from Latin gesta (“acts, deeds”)
Notable Jesters
Historical
- Stańczyk (c. 1480–1560), Polish jester
- William Sommers (died 1560), jester of Henry VIII of England
- Chicot (c. 1540–1591), jester of Henry III of France
- Archibald Armstrong (died 1672), jester of James I of England
- Jeffrey Hudson (1619–c. 1682), "court dwarf" of Henrietta Maria of France
- Jamie Fleeman (1713–1778), the Laird of Udny's Fool
- Perkeo of Heidelberg 18th Century, jester of Prince Charles III Philip, Elector Palatine
Modern Day Jesters
- Jesse Bogdonoff (b. 1955), court jester and financial advisor of Taufa'ahau Tupou IV
See also
- Basil Fool for Christ
- Bouffon
- Clown society
- Foolishness for Christ
- Harlequin
- Itinerant poet
- Jest
- Jest book
- Jester's privilege
- List of jesters
- Marotte, the jester's bauble, or rod of office
- Master of the Revels
- Seriocomic
- Skomorokh
- Triboulet
- Trickster