![]() were prized, as were dwarfs, perhaps the most famous of which being Lord Minimus, who we cover in detail in an episode of our BrainFood Show podcast- Lord Minimus: The Renaissance Dueling Dwarf.Īs for garb, this varied from jester to jester, but in the general case, particularly for Licensed Fools, they typically were clothed in colorful, patchworked and mildly whimsical outfits, potentially including a monk’s cowl, and a pointed, colorful fool’s hat, originally modeled after donkey ears. In both cases, those with physical deformities, such as extreme hunchback, malformed limbs, particularly ugly visages, etc. In any event, there were two popular types of court jesters prominent during the latter parts of Medieval times, the so-called “Licensed Fool” and the “Natural Fool”. The jester name, deriving from the Anglo-Norman “gestour” meaning “storyteller”, wouldn’t come about until around the 16th century. Although it should be noted they weren’t called “jesters” at this point, rather usually something like “fool” or “buffoon”. Over the centuries this line of work matured and as we get into Medieval times in the Western world, we start to see court jesters that somewhat fit the common stereotype depicted today. Beyond entertaining the masses, from Egyptian Pharaoh to the first Emperor of China, the wealthy have frequently employed the services of these individuals. ![]() To begin with, the job of jester has been around going back to humanity’s earliest recorded history, as well as spanning just about every major culture on Earth. So what was life actually like as a court jester? And as you were often putting them in good humor and otherwise making them happy, it was a position that came with a whole slew of perks. A complex use of the motif is demonstrated in the intricately composed hunting scene in the Green Chamber in Žirovnice, where the two fools portrayed on the margin of the scene confirm the allegorical subtext.LegitMarmalade asks: Is it true medieval jesters could insult the King in any way they wanted without risk of getting executed?Īlthough you might assume that being made to wear a stupid costume, be mocked, and act like an idiot for the entertainment of fatuous rulers would be a job nobody would want- like the position of Groom of the Stool (a job which initially consisted of directly supplying the necessaries to facilitate a good and clean bowel movement to the King, as well as to monitor said fecal matter and make dietary recommendations based on what you saw there)- the position of court jester was actually an enviable one due to it involving spending so much time with those in power. ![]() James in Most, the fool thus draws attention to a miracle in the group of corbels from Hrádek in Kutná Hora, he probably refers to the neighbouring ill-matched couple. The presence of a ‘commentary’ fool can often change the meaning of an image or draw attention to inconsistencies in the depiction of the main motif. As well as individual iconographic types of folly, the paper also focuses on the portrayal of fools in the context of other scenes. Such sculptural decoration on an important Utraquist church makes sense with regard to the moral meaning of the Morris dance, which demonstrates the foolishness of physical love. This theme is evoked in three weathered statues known as the ‘dancers’ on the parapet of the Church of St Barbara in Kutná Hora. The figure of the fool played an essential role in the depiction of some distinctive iconographic themes, such as the portrayal of the Morris dance. A similar explanation relates to the jester with exposed genitalia that appears on a stove tile found in Brno. It does not, as was supposed in earlier literature, show a hunter with his dog instead, it portrays a half-naked foolexhibitionist. Another example is a relief in the Lapidarium of the National Museum that was found in Brandýs nad Labem. One of the attributes of this man is a large spoon that has a double meaning in German, pointing out his stupidity. This is the case with the figure of a vainglorious man depicted in a wall painting of the Last Judgment in the Church of St James in Srbeč. Their meaning can be revealed by a comparison with analogies abroad. Following a brief summary of the literature on the iconography of the jester or fool and the meaning of the figure in medieval culture, the paper focuses on individual and, until now, largely neglected iconographic variants occurring in the Bohemian Lands. This paper deals with the depiction of the fool in visual art in late medieval Bohemia.
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