Books About Fools & Folly — Part III: Fool’s Literature Classics

From the medieval Goliard poems, passing through the first secular satirical plays and getting into the golden age of allegory of folly in early Renaissance.

In chronological order. Some of them sadly do not have an English edition. Fool’s literature. Third part of “Books About Fools & Folly” series. Part I: Fool’s History / Part II: Folly on the Stage

Carmina Burana (1230)

“Songs from Benediktbeuern” mostly by anonymous Goliards (young clergy students) like the “Archpoet”*. Medieval Latin, Middle High German and old Arpitan.

Collection of satirical, bawdy and irreverent poems from 11th to 13th century mocking the Catholic Church. It includes love, drinking and gaming songs.

Inspired Carl Orff’s 1935 cantata with the same name, including its most popular movement, O Fortuna:

*Also by Hugh Primas of Orléans, Walter of Châtillon, Breton Petrus Blesensis — and Marner, Dietmar von Aist, Heinrich von Morungen, Walther von der Vogelweide and Neidhart.

The Boy and the Blind Man (1201–1300)

“Le Garçon et l’aveugle” by Anonymous. French.

Considered the oldest surviving French farce. A simple tale of trickster tricked: a blind beggar has a secret hoard of coins, which the servant boy tricks away from him.

The Play of Madness (1276)

“Le Jeu de la feuillée” by Adam de la Halle (Adam Le Bossu, Adam The Hunchback). French.

Together with “Le Garçon et l’aveugle”, it’s considered one of the first secular plays. The author is also the main character.

Adam announces to his family and friends he’s leaving Arras to study in Paris. His friend Riquier is interested in his wife. His father supports the idea but denies to help him financially. A doctor concludes that his dad suffers from avarice, a stomach disease that’s spreading quickly in the city. Sweet Lady asks to be examinated, but in her case the problem was debauchery (she’s pregnant).

During the night Adam and Riquier prepare a table and meal to three fairies. A messenger called Croquesot appears to announce the ladies: Morgue, Magloire and Arsile. Their gifts are funny and Morgue seems to have an affair with a king/demon called Hellequim (the origin of “Arlequim” etymology). Then the fairies present a mysterious machine: a wheel of Fortune, a dumb, deaf and blind forniture. In this wheel are the wealthy men of the city, whose destiny could change at any time. In the morning the fairies leave the city with Lady Sweet (who’s in fact a witch).

The story ends with a monk that sleeps in a tavern. So people drink a lot and prank him leaving the place, in the end he needs to pledge his relics to pay for all the wine that was consumed.

Also from the same author: Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion (“The Play of Robin and Marion”) and Le Jeu du Pélérin (“Play of the Pilgrim”)

The Farce of Master Pathelin (1456–1460)

“La Farce de maître Pathelin” by anonymous (maybe Guillaume Alexis, François Villon or Triboulet). Middle French.

A tale of trickery, extraordinarily popular in its day and held an influence on popular theatre for over a century. Its echoes can be seen in the works of Rabelais.

Master Pierre Pathelin is a local village lawyer with no formal training who has very little work. By flattering the clothier, Pathelin gets six yards of fine cloth on credit, and promises him that he can visit his house that day to be paid. Pathelin tells his wife that the clothier is due to arrive and to pretend that he’s sick in bed.

After the clothier gives up on attempting to retrieve his payment, he turns his thoughts to his shepherd, who has been stealing his sheep and eating them. So he summons the shepherd to court, and the latter goes to Pathelin in order to be legally represented. Pathelin directs the shepherd to say only “Baaa” (like a sheep) when anyone questions him, as it will appear that he has taken a mentally-challenged person to court.

At the trial the clothier instantly recognizes Pathelin. He tries to explain the details of both cases (the stolen cloth and the stolen sheep) to the judge, but he is unable to do so clearly, and the judge conflates the two cases. Pathelin attempts to collect his fee from the shepherd, but the latter only answers Pathelin’s demands with “Baaa.” Pathelin realizes that his brilliant defense is now being used against him, and he goes home.

Related: Pathelin: L’Hypothese Triboulet (2009)

By Bruno Roy. French Edition.The author questions the identity of the man who wrote “The Farce of Master Pathelin”, including the Triboulet hypothesis.

Related: La Farce de Pathelin et autres pièces homosexuelles (2011)

Translation by Thierry Martin (specialist in Villon and Rabelais) of “The Farce of Master Pathelin” and four other Sotties that, accordingly to Thierry, were all works of Triboulet and carry a significant homossexual dimension. French Edition.

The Testament (1461–1462)

“Le Testament” by François Villon. French.

Collection of poetry from a controversial figure, famous by the use of thieves’ jargon (Villon deserves a whole article just about him in the future). It includes Le Petit Testament, also known as “Le Lais” and “Le Grand Testament”. It’s an ironic, comic poem that serves as Villon’s will, listing bequests to his friends and acquaintances, marked by the immediate prospect of death by hanging and frequently describe other forms of misery and death. It mixes reflections on the passing of time, bitter derision, invective, and religious fervor. This mixed tone of tragic sincerity stands in contrast to the other poets of the time.

Ship of Fools (1494)

“Daß Narrenschyff ad Narragoniam” by Sebastian Brant

Brant takes up the ship of fools allegory (originating from Book VI of Plato’s Republic) lashing with unsparing vigour the weaknesses and vices of his time. All of the satires are illustrated with woodcuts. The concept of foolishness was a frequently used trope in the pre-Reformation period to legitimise criticism, as also used by Erasmus in his Praise of Folly.

Also Stultiferae naves (“The Ships of Foolish Maidens” 1501 “Stultiferae naues sensus animosque trahentes mortis in exitium”) by Jodocus Badius Ascensius

Till Eulenspiegel (1510)

“Ein kurtzweilig lesen von Dil Ulenspiegel, geboren vß dem land zu Brunßwick, wie er sein leben volbracht hat (…)” by anonymous. German.

The original stories about Till Eulenspiegel, popular character in German culture. He plays jokes on his contemporaries, at every turn exposing vices. Eulenspiegel’s surname translates to “owl-mirror”. It has been suggested that the name is in fact a pun on a Low German phrase that translates as “wipe-arse”.

This was the main historical source for the contemporary novel Tyll, by Daniel Kehlmann, that’s going to be adapted by Netflix and same directors of Dark series. Yes, this brings me really strong mixed feelings.

In Praise of Folly (1511)

“Stultitiae Laus” or “Moriae Encomium” by Desiderius Erasmus (of Rotterdam).

Considered one of the most notable works of the Renaissance and played an important role in the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation. It begins with Folly praising herself, arguing that life would be dull and distasteful without her. It then takes a darker tone in a series of orations, as Folly praises self-deception and madness of society.

“Yo soy la locura
La que sola infundo placer
Placer y dulzura
Y contento el mundo.

Sirven a mi nombre
Todos, mucho o poco
Y pero no hay hombre
Que piense ser loco.”

The Conjuration of Fools (1512)

“Narren bschwerung” by Thomas Murner.

Murner referred directly to Brant’s “Ship of Fools” and in some cases also used its illustrations. Like Brant, he makes the fools depict a whole range of human follies.

Also from the same author: “The Guild of Rascals” (Der Schelmen Zunft, 1512).

Extra: The Prince (1532)

Il Principe by Niccolò Machiavelli

First and Second Epistle “Coq-à- l’âne” (1531–1535)

by Clément Marot. Marot’s connection with the Enfants-sans-souci and his sympathy for them are shown in a series of poems written between 1512 and 1515.

The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel (1532–1564)

“La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel” by François Rabelais.

Pentalogy of novels telling the adventures of two giants, Gargantua and his son Pantagruel. The work is written in an amusing, extravagant, and satirical vein, features much erudition, vulgarity and wordplay.

There’s a Villon in Rabelais work. Also, curious to know that Rabelais used Thélème as the name of a fictional abbey in his novels, whose only rule was “fay çe que vouldras” (“Fais ce que tu veux”, or, “Do what thou wilt”) — any similarity with Aleister Crowley’s Thelema is not a mere coincidence.

Die Schiltbürger (1597)

“The People of Schilda” by anonymous (maybe Friedrich von Schönberg). Collection of stories about the citizens of a fictious town called Schilda.

Willian Shakespeare plays

Specially Henri V (1599), Twelfth Night (1601) and King Lear (1606)

Also Robert Armin, an English actor who became the leading comedy actor at the troupe associated with William Shakespeare. He wrote A Nest of Ninnies (1608) and Foole upon Foole (or, Six Sortes of Sottes 1610)