Could women be medieval court jesters?

Question

I need to know this for a project. Help.

Answer 1

This site says there were:
http://www.charliethejugglingclown.com/women.htm

"Some of the itenerate [sic] entertainers were hired by royal courts or upper-class nobility and became jesters. There were many female jesters or fools. According to Dana Fradon, in King's Fool, "In medieval days buffoonery was one of the few professions open to women."

There were definitely female jesters after the Middle Ages. Mathurine, a 17th-century jester at the French court, apparently became quite famous.

A more scholarly site says that women were rare, but gives an example of "La Jardiniere", jester to Mary Queen of Scots:
http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jwh/14.4/br_3.html

So I think the answer is yes; how common it was is difficult to determine without digging deeper into the subject.

Answer 2

I don't believe so. I know that some women would travel with minstrels as part of the group/act in medieval times, and they would most often perform with their groups for courts and the like, but jesters? I am not sure about that. I don't think so.

Answer 3

The Doomsday Book was written in 1086 and served as a survey for Edward the Conqueror to determine taxes and land usage. According to a list of names and occupations there is an "Adelina the Jester", "Female" listed. If you read further it states that she owned some land (Terra Regis Upper Clatford) that was given to her by an Earl Roger. Seeing as this is a primary source, I think that yes there were female jesters.

Answer 4

Though jesters were immensely popular throughout England's medieval and Renaissane periods, women jesters have always been a rarity. Queen Elizabeth I employed several female jesters, as did Mary Queen of Scots. Anne Boleyn, one of Henry VIII's wives, retained a female jester named Jane the Fool - which is the same name Eastman uses in her act - although she states that's the ONLY similarity between her and the original Jane the Fool, as she doesn't base her act on her.

Eastman's jester's motley is one of the most historically accurate in the world, based on an illustration in a historical text, her costume is modeled after one worn by a woman jester in the late 1300's. She keeps her character as close to a medieval era jester as possible. Jesters were not CLOWNS, per se, but rather companions to the monarch.

Many jesters were very wise and were known to give their monarch advice.

Tamara Eastman also became the first woman jester to serve Muncaster Castle in the north of England, in all its nearly 1,000 year history! On the day she was presented to Muncaster as their new fool, the event was covered extensively in the media - BBC News; Border TV; Radio Cumbria; The Whitehaven News; and various other media outlets covered the story. She also made news in her hometown, in Virginia.

Muncaster Castle was once home to Thomas Skelton, known as Tom the Fool. He gave the word "tomfoolery" to the English language and Shakespeare used him as his model for the fool in King Lear.

Muncaster Castle has remained in the Pennington family for 800 years. Peter Frost-Pennington was delighted to have Jane the Fool as the castle's jester, saying he felt it was very appropriate, since Tom the Fool likes to "act up" on April Fool's Day.

A portrait of Tom the Fool can be seen in the castle, outside the reputedly haunted "Tapestry" bedroom. Tom is said to still haunt the castle to this day.

Eastman has also performed at Berkeley Castle, in Gloucestershire and was presented to the Members of Parliament in Salisbury on the day of her inauguration into the National Guild of Jesters. She's performed for Lord Mayors and received a special commendation letter from Prime Minister Tony Blair, congratulating her on her induction into the guild and for her recognition as a jester in Britain.

Eastman is a published author and has a book coming out in the spring of 2005 about the history of court jesters in England. "Fooling Around in the English Courts" will be published in the UK next year.

Eastman lives in Petersburg, Virginia and works as an educator, author and historian. She can be found working at the Citie of Henricus throughout the year - a 17th century settlement that depicts life in the early Virginia colonies.

Answer 5

Sure, it seems like in the past women have done men's jobs that only men were suppose to do. For instance live theator had men dressed as women for the women parts. Ladies see how far we have come.
For instance while the pony express mail delivery there were women who bound their breasts and dressed like men and they did the job. Also during some wars in the past women would bound their breasts and dress as men and fight.
In this day and age with medical exams before entering the service it would probably be inpossible to pass as a male.

Answer 6

Watch Yo gabba gabba quest and see Toodee dressed like a jester.

Answer 7

I doubt it, though I'm not 100%. Pretty much the only things women could be in the Middle Ages were wives or nuns or prostitutes.

Answer 8

Let's face it, women just aren't as funny as men.