page_title: Wise Men of Gotham
section_title: Similar stories
hierarchical_section_title: Wise Men of Gotham / Similar stories
caption_attribution_description: English: Gotham Legends wind vane erected in the centre of village
context_page_description: Wise Men of Gotham is the early name given to the people of the village of Gotham, Nottinghamshire, in allusion to an incident where they supposedly feigned idiocy to avoid a Royal visit.
context_section_description: The localizing of fools is common to most countries, and folklorists have a special term for this genre: blason populaire. 
  There are many other reputed imbecile centres in England besides Gotham. Thus there are the people of Coggeshall, Essex, the "carles" of Austwick, Yorkshire, the "gowks" of Gordon, Berwickshire, and for many centuries the charge of folly has been made against silly Suffolk and Norfolk (Descriptio Norfolciensium about twelfth century, printed in Wright's Early Mysteries and other Latin Poems).
  In Germany there are the "Schildbürger", from the town of Schilda; in the Netherlands, the people of Kampen; in Bohemia, the people of Kocourkov; and in Moravia the people of Šimperk. There are also the Swedish Täljetokar from Södertälje and Kälkborgare from Kälkestad, and the Danish tell tales of the foolish inhabitants of Mols, while the Finnish talk of the Hölmöläiset and the Bembölebor. Among the ancient Greeks Boeotia and Cyme were the homes of fools; among the Thracians, Abdera; among the ancient Jews, Nazareth; among modern Jews (those in Europe anyway), Chełm; among the ancient Anatolians, Phrygia.
caption: Gotham Legends wind vane erected in the centre of village
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