HIDDEN LIVES COURT JESTERS
When we imagine a medieval or Tudor feast, one of the first images that springs to mind may be of a jester: the wise fool running among the guests telling bawdy jokes or juggling while the minstrels strum their lutes. They may be pictured wearing colourful costumes, eccentric pointy hats and covered in jangling bells. But this is only a glimpse, and a highly romanticised one at that, of the true role and life of the jester at court.
During the 11th and 12th centuries, the title ‘minstrel’, meaning ‘little servant’, was the name given to a wide range of entertainers, from singers and musicians to jugglers, tumblers and magicians, as well as the jesters and joculators. Both men and women worked as minstrels, and if successful in finding a grateful employer they could enjoy a degree of financial success. There is a record from 1086 of a joculatrix named Adeline who owned land in Hampshire.
The title of ‘follus’, or ‘fool’, began to be