Books About Fools & Folly — Part I: Fool’s History

5 min readApr 3, 2021

“I Want to Know Everything about Jesters and Fools!” Well, that’s an impossible mission, but you can start reading these works.

In chronological order. Some of them sadly do not have an English edition. The earlier works focus mainly in western medieval and renaissance European fools, the later analyse social and psycological aspects of the fool and his presence in many other times and societies around the world.

First part of “Books About Fools & Folly” series. Part II: Folly on the Stage / Part III: Fool’s Literature

Geschichte Der Hofnarren (1789)

“The History of the Court Fools” by Karl Friedrich Flögel, German Edition

The History of Court Fools (1858)

by John Doran, English Edition

You can find this beautiful first edition, in a rare red stamped cloth hardcover with decorative gilt, at some public libraries as: The Ringling Art Library, Oxford University Library, Florida State University Strozier Library and Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich.

Richard Bentley, 1858, London (389 pages) First Edition (Red hardback) — Richard Bentley, 1858, London (First Edition in a rare hardback)

Les Jongleurs en France au Moyen-Âge (1910)

“Jugglers In France In The Middle Ages” by Edmond Faral, French Edition

Also from the same author: Mimes français du XIIIe siècle: contribution à l’histoire du théâtre comique au moyen âge (1910)

Bobos na Corte (1923)

“Fools at the Court” by Conde de Sabugosa, Portuguese Edition

Fools and Folly During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (1932)

by Barbara Swain, English Edition

The Fool: His Social and Literary History (1935)

by Enid Welsford, English Edition

Folie et déraison: histoire de la folie a l’age classique (1961)

“Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason” by Michel Foucault, French Edition

Wesen Und Wandlung der Narrenidee in Zeitalter des Humanismus — Brant — Murner — Erasmus (1966)

“Nature and transformation of the fool’s idea in the age of humanism” by Barbara Konneker, German Edition

The Fool and His Scepter: A Study in Clowns and Jesters and Their Audience (1969)

by William Willeford, English Edition

(Article) Iconographical Notes towards a Definition of the Medieval Fool (1974)

by D. J. Gifford. Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes — Vol. 37 (1974), pp. 336–342 (9 pages) — Published By: The Warburg Institute.

Le Sceptre et la Marotte — Histoire des Fous de Cour (1983)

“The Scepter and the Cap — The History of Court Fools” by Maurice Lever (French Edition)

A Social History of the Fool (1984)

by Sandra Billington (English Edition)

(Article) The Fool and His Loaf (1985)

by R. A. Neale. Medium Ævum — Vol. 54, №1 (1985), pp. 104–109 (6 pages) — Published By: Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature

La Folie au Moyen Age XI-XIII siècles (1991)

by Muriel Laharie (French Edition)

Le Discours du fou au Moyen Âge — XIIe-XIIIe siècles: étude comparée des discours littéraire, médical, juridique et théologique de la folie (1992)

“The Fool’s Speech in the Middle Ages — 12th-13th Centuries: comparative study of literary, medical, legal and theological discourses of folly” by Jean-Marie Fritz (French Edition)