The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-16
HE GOT KINGDOM FOR A JEST.
How william LIS Fool Acquired the
Title of King of YvetOt.


Title of King of YvetOt.
In the June st. Nicholas there Is an
article on 1.-THE Kingdom of Yvetot."
written by Gerald Brennan. The author
after telling of the little boy living in
Paris, who claims to be King of Yvetot.
says
"The parish-it Is a kingdom no longer,
unless. indeed Claude III succeeds in
making good his clalms-lles among the
orchords in Normandy a few miles from
the famous city of Rouen, on the road to
Havre The village of Yvetot Is not
busy place; Il consists of single street,
nearly two miles and half long, wooden
houses built in picturesque style, with
great crossed beams and projecting roofs,
The old chateau of the Kings was de-
stroyed by the revolutionists in 1893. AT
present the population of Yvetot numbers
about $500 souls. During the days of it's
royalty It could boast of scarcely 1000 in
habltants.
1.-The first King, Ansfred, STYLED &c
Drole, or the Humorous was 1t seems
none other than William rs court jester,
and his stone image In cap and bells ar
rayed, stood in the dining hall of the
Chateau d'Yvetot until those terrible fell
lows, the revolutionary soldiers. pulled
down both house and statue.
'"rhose who love to stray Ia history s
byways will remember that when William
the Conqueror landed on the English coast
he trpped and fell with extended arms
upon the strand. Most of his followers
would have regarded this as a bad omen
had not the monarch, with rare presence
of mind, quieted their fears by exclaiming
that he was Rrasping the soil Of England
in his arms Now, tradition in Yvetot has
Ii that the person who whispered this cum
ming reply into the ear of the PROSTATE
William was our witty acquaintance, the
court Jester, Ansfred.
when England had been won the story
goes that the King remembered his hum
bic testers timely whisper, and, calling
him to the foot of the throne, babe him
ask a boon by way Of reward. Ansfred
jestbngly replied, All my good King,
have an ambition too lofty for you to
crafty
Greatly piqucd at this speech, even
from such privileged joker as his court
fool william insisted upon knowing what
the ambition was which the sovereign Of
England and Normandy could not make
good Whereupon. j.ngling his golden bells
gayly, Ansfred said: In sooth. friend VIII
ham, desire to become a king, Ike your
self Nothing less can satisfy me-
AT this the mobiles Of the court set M a
mighty shout Of laughter, looking upon the
affair as another Of Ansfreds saliies. But
the King laughed louder than them all. Re
covering from his mirth he cried out:
'Ansfred shall have his wish. When we get
back to Normandy we will give him a king
dom OF his own Then, summonlhg his
chancellor he demanded the name of the
very last place In all his domains-the most
barren and Waierless waste In his possess
siOn.' The chancellor consulted his great
books and found that the last place men
toned was the hamlet OF Yvetot. More
aver. this hamlet stood in the trcetegs,
sprinelcss plain Of Caux and was an ex-
uaordiuarily desolate spot. little thought
Of By the Abbey OF ST. Wandrille, to whose
monks 1t belonged.
william laughed again when he heard
OF Yvetot, and, IN pursuance Of his pledge
when ne returned to Normandy, he took
Yvetot away from the abbey and gave It
to Ansfred the Jester. In the nearby VIII
laee OF Bolbec, amid great merrlment,
Ansfred was formally crowned King OF
YVetot.' Everybody looked on the corona =
ti0n as a jolse--cverybody but Ansfred him
set As was often the case with these jes-
ters, the folly Of this 'foor was only on
the exterior. No sooner had he acquired
built himself a tower there and set about
planting the wastes around The trees
grew, but King Ansfred could think Of no
plan that would supply Yvetot with water
Always till he died Ansfred retained the
title OF King. and his heirs have held
that designation ever since.