Half pay
This account of the French jester Marais interceding, on behalf of two court musicians, is strikingly similar to an anecdote told about a Chinese...
Not half!
There are two strikingly similar accounts of jesters intervening when someone in authority had the bright idea to cut somebody else's pay by half. ...
Who is that man?
From the Ulster Cycle in Irish mythology, we are introduced to Rocmid, jester of the king of Ulster Conchobar / Conchubar. 'I saw another man with...
In the guise of a joke
Sima Qian 司馬遷 (c. 145-86 BC) seems to have been the first historian to speak of the jester's role, including the key characteristic of using their...
Busy with his jester
The 14th century Persian poet 'Obeyd Zakani complained of the favouritism the king showed his jester. In his Biographies of the Poets (Tazkirat al-Shu`ara) (1487)...
The Spanish Infanta and the dwarf Madalena
This painting depicts the Spanish Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia (1566-1633), Archduchess of Austria, in an affectionate pose with the dwarf natural Madalena Ruiz.
Madalena...
Who is that man?
From the Ulster Cycle in Irish mythology, we are introduced to Rocmid, jester of the king of Ulster Conchobar / Conchubar.
'I saw another...
Invitation – Symposium on Political Humor – online 28-29 May 2021
Inviting you to participate in the two day online Incitatus Symposium on Political Humor on Friday 28th and Saturday 29th May, beginning at 11.00 Brasilia...
Keep a fool if you are wise
Here we have Rabelais citing a proverb attesting to the capacity of fools to unravel knotty problems. See similar examples, including Sima...
Chunyu Kun 淳于髡 – 4th century BC
Chunyu Kun 淳于髡 ('Baldy Chunyu') is one the jesters included in Sima Qian's (145-c. 86 b.c.) 'Accounts of Jesters' in the Historical Records. He served...
A fool in fur-lined cloaks
European court account books yield rich details concerning the kind of clothes provided to fools and jesters. They also provide insights into the apparently generous...
The old parachutist
Russia has a long and noble tradition of holy fools, and I was struck by this spontaneous example from the Second World War recounted by...
Crazy Caterina
Many court fools were considered 'naturals', having some form of mental disability or neurodiversity. This letter gives examples of the behaviour of...
The refuse of human nature
A rather damning reaction by Lady Montague (1689-1762) towards the dwarfs or dwarf-jesters she encountered in German courts. Note that while dismissing them as the...
A dazzling reputation
Dongfang Shuo 東方朔 (c. 160 - c. 93 BCE), sometime jester to emperor Han Wudi 漢武帝 (r. 141-87 BCE), appears to have been one of...
The history of the elite
This website and the book which inspired it both seek to address this complaint, attributed to the perhaps real but probably fictive 17th century Spanish...
Always more to say or add
Foolsareeverywhere.com is not a digital version of the book which informs and inspired it. Websites are 'works in progress', always evolving, never complete; it's...
Clearing out the court
An interesting example of a king who didn't want a court full of mutes and dwarfs, and so had them sent away when he ascended...
A guess and a riddle
The jester Guo Sheren 郭舍人 enjoyed great favour with Emperor Han Wudi 漢武帝 (r. 141-87 BCE), due to what Burton Watson called his 'never-ending fund...
Ding-dong ding-dong
A common technique among Chinese jesters was to put together a skit to get a point across to the Emperor, in this resembling something of...
Displacing the virtuous
Two Italian Renaissance writers lament the fact that jesters were admitted to the courts of the nobility in preference to the virtuous and the good. ...
Take him off my hands
There are some surviving anecdotes on the informal and meritocratic way in which jesters could be recruited. Sometimes they were 'talent spotted' by the ruler...
Your crime merits death!
An early example of reductio ad absurdum approach to changing the ruler's mind. Rather than having a head-on confrontation with unreasonable behaviour,...
In real time
This short story regarding the Indian folk fool Tenali Rama illustrates perfectly the literalness of the fool, which you might have encountered in children, perhaps...
In the guise of a joke
Sima Qian 司馬遷 (c. 145-86 BC) seems to have been the first historian to speak of the jester's role, including the key characteristic of using...
Laws against feigned fools
The feigning of folly could be profitable and in 15th century Scotland it appears there was enough of it going on to prompt a law...
Dalqak – Persian
Talhak, jester to Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (r. 998-1030), would say whatever he felt like and the Persian word for jester (dalqak) seems to have...
A cure for carousing
A common theme in the interactions between fools and kings is the need to rein in regal carousing or other forms of distraction from the...
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Design & content copyright: Beatrice Otto 2021 all rights reserved I header & related jester illustrations by joaomontenegro.com
Colours and fonts were chosen for aesthetic strength and because their names reflect the mission of foolsareeverywhere.com. Fonts: Quipley I Lustria I Wild Pen. Colours include: Jester Yellow by Faeriepuffs I New Laughter by Ilara ... you get the picture
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