here is the full script and list of references for my episode on jesters! i also threw some images in there for fun :) if you would prefer to read this in a google doc, click here!

my primary source for this episode was Fools Are Everywhere, by Beatrix Otto. This is the book that started it all for me. I cannot recommend this book enough. It's a well-researched and easily digestible tour through a subject that very few other people give more than even a passing thought to. It avoids being a dry academic affair while still being buttoned up on all fronts. Seriously just read it if you want more jester knowledge.

When I say the word jester, I'm sure you already have a pretty solid preconception of what a jester is and looks like. You are probably imagining a languid figure in a bi colored suit and stupid pointy hat adorned with bells. You probably see him with a scepter, standing in front of some European monarch, doing silly gesticulations, maybe shaking his butt a little, and just making a general fool of himself to try to elicit a laugh from the king. And honestly? Yeah. You’re not exactly wrong. If that’s what you see, you’re halfway there. Because the figure of the jester is all at once a very straightforward and very enigmatic one. The role of the court jester is to be an entertainer to the royal court, though most specifically the king- however, the sheer breadth of the royal fool and the surprising nuance of his role is what I want to show you. He’s not just a silly little guy- he’s a silly little guy with a gigantic responsibility and divine ordinance.

if this is what you think of, not bad!

To start, I’d like to let you know that you can find jesters literally all over the world, not just in medieval Europe. From the french jongleurs, to the Russian skomorokhi, to the Spanish truhanes, to the Roman histriones, to the Scandinavian skalds, to the Persian dalqaks, to the Japanese taikomochi, to the royal fools of India, Egypt, China, and the Aztecs, If there’s a monarch existing between 1000 and 1700 CE, they likely had a personal entertainer of some kind by their side. Now you may have noticed I didn’t list the specific language equivalent for “jester” for those last 4 examples. That’s because, although the role of “royal fool” is nigh universal, the specificity offered by the term “jester” is not. Jester terms in indo-european languages became more specialized around the 16th century in Europe, as this is when the refined version of the royal fool we find most popularized comes into its own. However in China there isn’t a comparable singular term for the role itself, but instead for the type of humor employed by those in that role (fengjian, which can be translated to “indirect, mocking, or satirical remonstrance”). In India, an advisor to the monarch was extremely common, but not all of them needed to be silly. It was just kind of a plus when they were.

For the sake of consistency and brevity we are henceforth going to be referring to all royal fools as “jesters”. But it does bear noting that, as with all historical topics, there are plenty of exceptions and variations on this subject, and therefore there are disagreements on how applicable or appropriate the term is. For example, I’m going to reference Tenali Rama a few times in this episode, who was an Indian poet, scholar, thinker and a special advisor in the court of Sri Krishnadevaraya who ruled during the 16th century. He is not, as far as i can tell, ever officially given a title comparable to “jester”, but plenty of his actions and the role he played to the Emperor are undeniably jester-like, as I hope to show you as we go. Basically, Tenali Rama is by no means a fool, but rather a man of great wit and eloquence who aptly played one when it was beneficial. And that’s what a jester truly is. Which brings me to another point I want to make clear- the role of the jester is not a negative one. To be a jester was very much both an honorable and enviable thing, as well as something that took a lot of intelligence, compassion, and skill. I mean if the main unifying trait of a profession is to have the heart and ear of the most powerful person in your society, that is definitely not something I’d view as a negative title to have. So, from where I’m standing, utilizing the term “jester” for those who are not normally categorized as such is not a negative thing to do. It is admittedly a bit lazy, but hey, I'm not a salaried jester, just a freelance one, so you’ll have to grant me that slight reprieve here.

Speaking to the looseness of the title and the tools- it is also worth mentioning how much crossover the jester has with other entertainers of the time. Bards, minstrels, puppeteers, magicians, actors, acrobats, the skills of all of these entertainers can be found in jesters. Yet at the same time, a king could have a bespoke juggler, puppeteer, bard, and jester in his employ all at once. The biggest thing that sets a jester apart from these roles is the crucial responsibility of being an advisor and critic to their monarch. From Beatrice Otto’s book “Fools Are Everywhere'', my primary source for this episode: “A jester is there to amuse and entertain, to stand on the sidelines and observe, and to act as a control against which to measure the folly of others. A jester is funny, down-to-earth, irreverent but not unkind, he companions the king as a friend and confidant despite the difference in status and addresses him with insolent familiarity.” So although a jester may be utilizing skills of other professions, he is unique in that whatever entertainment he brings, it is underlined by the privilege of a closeness to the king, as well as the burden of all the responsibility that comes along with that intimacy. This is the core truth that is found across all royal fools. Along with the fact that they all are low key kind of assholes. That’s their secondary core truth.

Now that we’ve established what a jester is, where did they come from? The earliest reference to a court jester we have is in ancient Egypt during the 6th dynasty, or about 2300 BCE, during the reign of Neferkere. It is a letter from an official telling the emperor that he has found a dancing Little Person, and he wanted to send him to the Emperor. The emperor responds enthusiastically. It appears that the emperor had this Little Person, and potentially others, do dances to entertain him. How much wit they were allowed to utilize is unknown to me.

However outside of Egypt, the earliest common ancestor I could find to the court jester you and I conjure up, was the comic mime actors of ancient Greece and Rome. Mime here does not denote the horrid silent performer popularized in France, but rather that these actors were literal imitators. They were mostly featured in scripted plays but they did utilize improvisational skills as well during their performances. Which, I mean I can’t imagine anything worse than a mime who also does improv, so thank god they’re stuck in the past. They also had a freedom similar to a jester’s to openly mock most subjects. They sang, danced, and even did the occasional acrobatics like a jester might. These actors are also the earliest record I could find of the 3 pointed coxcomb hat we often see worn by jesters during the medieval and renaissance periods in western Europe. The biggest difference is these actors were not tied to one specific monarch like a jester is. They were seriously just actors. At this point in time an emperor’s addition of fools and comics to their court is largely one based upon personal preference rather than an established norm. Emperor Verus for example brought actors out of Syria during the Partian War of 161 CE. From the Historiae Augustae: “he had brought with him too, players of the harp and the flute, actors and jesters from the mimes, jugglers, and any kind of slave in such numbers, indeed, that he seemed to have concluded a war, not against Parthians, but against actors.” Perhaps the first true “you put your chocolate in my peanut butter” moment sparking the seeds of jesterdom was Roman Emperor Hadrian having Atellan mimes attend his banquets for the entertainment of his guests- though we wouldn’t see a proper royal fool in a court until about a thousand years later in China. Interestingly, there was a significant stipulation on these mime actors: while they were taking aim at some seriously powerful political figures, they couldn't be citizens of the Roman empire themselves. Which in a strange way mirrors the unique and somewhat isolated social space the later jesters would come to inhabit, which I’ll get more into later.

what does a jester do?