Yesterday I went to a Renaissance Festival with my mother and sister. It was quite fun and we did a lot of walking. And because of all this walking today I've had to do a lot of sitting and laying down. But that's ok because it gives me time to read, research and (for all my readers) blog.
The renaissance started in the late 14th century. A movement of literature, art and philosophy in Italy at this time in history, but it didn't really start to move North till around 1480.
When we were at the festival yesterday we saw jesters, kings, queens, pirates, nobles, beggars, musicians, actors, artists and so much more. During this period in history people started traveling more and were not so afraid to express themselves and show off their talents. Art became a huge part of culture and many well remembered artists were born during this era, such as Michelangelo and da Vinci. Even people of the church became more expressive in their art and the way they dressed. Michelangelo is famous for painting the Sistine Chapel.
During this time men researched medicine and the human body to greater extents than they ever had before. Leonardo da Vinci is famous for dissecting bodies and drawing them. As gruesome as it was much was learned about the human body and it's organs. (I'm not into pictures of the inside of the human body so I decided to post other sketches of da Vinci's.)
While this is all very interesting what I was really thinking about yesterday and today was the jester. So many people think "In the renaissance there were kings and queens and they had jesters". That is true, but what exactly was a jester and what exactly did they do?
According to the dictionary a jester is: a professional joker or “fool” at a medieval court, typically wearing a cap with bells on it and carrying a mock scepter.
• a person who habitually plays the fool.
The first time we really know about jesters are from the ancient Roman times. They were comic actors for rich Romans and nobles. They were literally called "comical actors" and didn't have their own name till the Renaissance. None-the-less they were very similar to the jesters of the Renaissance including their comical, bright outfits.
A jester could be anyone. Many jesters were many times simply the outcasts of society. They could be anyone from an ugly servant, to a man with crooked legs, to a person who's sense of humor caught the attention of a passing by nobleman.
Jesters did everything. They sang, they danced, they told jokes, they did tricks... they entertained. If we were in China I suppose you could say that all of today's actors, musicians and comedians would be considered jesters.
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