The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-09-26
COURT TESTERS.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE MER.
RY KINGS FOOL.
Fellows Of Infinite jest and Scath-
ing Sarcasm Who Were Fa-
Inous-Origin of the Institu-
tion-Modern Successors.

People who read mediaval romances
says the New Orleans Pieayune, find that
the court fool or professional jester was
not only IN established institution, but
also an important parsonage. When
they encounter him in the history OF
those times they realize that he was real
character, often taking important parts
in prominent political and social events,
and it not unfrequently appears that so
far from being fool he was the only
sane and sensible person in many an as
semblage of people rank and conse.
quence. 1t vas often the case that the
Kings fool was the only person at court
who dared to speak the truth among the
hordes of fatterers and sycophants and
parasites that surrounded the monarch
and infested the precincts of royalty. It
was often the court jester who alone
ventured to criticise the follies and de-
nounce the vices of those who occupied
the high places of government and fat
tened on the wealth wrung from an op-
pressed people.
The court Jester dates from a period
80 early that it is difficult to trace his
beginnings. He was in use in China,
where tt. art of making him deformed
monster existed. In order to make his
wit more pungent and his sati1es more
scathing it was thought necessary to have
them uttered by dwarf or hunchback.
The fool whose business it'was to expose.
and ridicule the follies of alleged wise
men, being peculiar in mind and morals
ought to be twisted and deformed in
body. The Greeks and Romans initiated
the use of testers from the Persians, but
Greece and Rome possessed also inimita
BILE satirists and masters Of sarcasm like
sophocles and Juvenal, who did not hes
itate to scourge the follies and crimes of
the highest as well as the lowest.
in the middle ages the fashion of
maintaining testers was introduced into
Europe from the East, and it was main
tanned for long period. Among the
most noted of these PROFESSIONAL fools
were Triboulet, the celebrated jester of
Francis l., of France, and Chicot, who
was more distinguished than his royal
master, Henry III. Other French fools
of note were Brusquet, Cailette, Sibolot
and Mathurine, who, by the way, was a
woman. Angely, who appeared in the
reign of Louis KILL, was the .ast of the
line. In Germany, Pfaff Cappadox, who
adorned the court of ltudolph of
Hapsburg; Kunz Won Rozen, the jester
of Maximilian l.; Jodel der Narr, at the
court of Ferdinand H., and Klaus Narr,
the fool of the Elector Frederick the
Wise, were most noted examples. In
England, Edmond Ironsides had jester
known as Hitard or Hithard. Will
Sumers was professional humorist to
Henry Will, while Mary, Queen of
Scots maintained John Haywood in
like capacity. Charles I. was the last
of the English kings who kept a fool.
One of his, Archibald Armstrong, known
as "Archy," was disgraced and banished
for his violent satires upon Laud, Arch
bishop of Canterbury. He was sue
ceeded by Muckle John, so called be-
cause of his small size. Long after
testers had disappeared from the rest of
Europe they still were in favor in Russia,
where Peter the Great kept twelve, and
the Empress Anna, who had been a nun,
maintained a large number.
The decline and disappearance of the
court fool was undoubtedly due to the
rise of the art of printing The court
fool had only select and limited au-
dience for his sarcasms and satires. The
press was able to address itself to the
people at large. Nothing is so pleasing
to a great mass of mankind as to hear
Others sharply criticised. A touch of
SANDER even is not to be objected to If
it be spicy. The art of printing placed
these privileges in the reach of oil, and
as consequence the professional fool
took to writing books. He was able to
criticise without being required to fiat
ter and fawn on his patron and protector,
and he thus became greater power
than ever. Probably no satirist ever ex-
erted greater influence in his day than
did the anonymous author of the "Let-
ters of Juniis," while others who wrote
over their own names have been also dis
tinguished. Rabelais, Swift, Voltaire,
and others whose names would make q
long and illastrious list; could be men,
toned. To-day, however, the.writer has
been able to bring to his aid the pencil
of the artist, and the humorous and
satirical illustrated publications may be
taken as the last and most distinguished
evolution of the court fool. Punch, the
earliest of these interesting publications,
has bsen followed by similar products
in the chief nations of the civilized
word until no country is without
them.