bibliography, book, canon, England, Europe, folk fool, France, German, Germany, Greece, historical figure, Italy, primary source, research, Russia, Spain, Turkey
Published in 1789, Flögel’s hefty 500+ page history of court jesters is breathtaking in its scope and scholarship; arguably the first serious such sweeping study in any Western language. It is the well-spring from which many subsequent leading works draw,...
9th century, Europe, fictive fool, folk fool, Ireland, Irish, primary source, quotes, stories
In `The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel’ (`Togail Bruidne Da Derga’), an Irish saga written no later than the eighth or ninth century, Taulchinne, juggler to Conaire the High King of Ireland (whose dates vary according to sources from c. 110 BCE to c. 14 CE)...
16th century, English, Europe, folk fool, primary source, quotes, Scotland
A fine story-telling version of the many tales about George Buchanan, celebrating him as the king’s fool. Buchanan (1506-82) is one of those tricky characters who begin life as an historical, living person and somehow, over centuries, morph into a jester of...
Arabic, fictive fool, folk fool, Middle East, primary source, quotes, stories
There is an Arabic tale of a jester-like hunchback who helps the king see the stupidity of his superstitions by making him laugh. A hunchback was supposedly a bad omen, to be avoided. One day when the king was out hunting, the first person he met was a hunchback...
