Tea at Trianon: The History of Court Jesters in Britain

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, November 13, 2025

The History of Court Jesters in Britain

King and Jester (vellum; c 1460) by the French School

From Discover Britain:

While fools and jesters came into their own at Christmas and on special occasions, they also had more mundane duties to perform at other times of the year, whether as keeper of the hounds, huntsmen, or messengers. Jesters could also play important roles on the battlefield, boosting morale and making troops laugh with their bawdy songs, or taunting the opposing army – as the legendary Norman figure Taillefer is said to have done, provocatively juggling his sword and lance in front of the English at the Battle of Hastings.
Medieval and Tudor jesters broadly fell into two categories: natural or innocent fools, who were individuals with a learning disability; and artificial fools who, astute and educated, put on an act for professional comedic effect. The former had courtly keepers to look after them, and their royal patrons often seem to have been genuinely fond of them.
An innocent called Sexton, one of many Tudor court fools, was gifted to Henry VIII by Cardinal Wolsey when the cleric was trying to get back into the king’s favour. Sexton had keepers to take care of his every need from food and ‘posset ale’ (spiced milk curdled with ale) to new clothes in time for Christmas 1529, including worsted doublet and hose lined with sarcenet (soft silk) as well as a wig, all amounting to well over £5. Most court fools wore the attire of favoured retainers rather than multicoloured motley with hood and bells, which was a costume more associated with traditions of amateur ‘fool societies’ (particularly popular in France) and literature.

[...]

While actors like William Kempe and Robert Armin made their names in fool parts created for the stage by William Shakespeare, a few individuals still made a mark in the tradition of court fools. One such was Jeffery Hudson, a handsome, perfectly proportioned “rarity of nature” who stopped growing at around three feet tall and literally burst onto the royal scene when he jumped out of a pie presented by the Duke of Buckingham to King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria at a banquet. (Read more.)

Queen Henrietta Maria of France (1609–69) and her dwarf, Jeffery Hudson (1619–82) after Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641), on display at Petworth House in West Sussex