Review: Fool by Peter K Andersson

Synopsis: The first biography of Henry VIII’s court fool William Somer, a legendary entertainer and one of the most intriguing figures of the Tudor age.

In some portraits of Henry VIII there appears another, striking figure―a gaunt and morose-looking man with a shaved head and, in one case, a monkey on his shoulder. This is William or "Will" Somer, the king’s fool, a celebrated wit who reportedly could raise Henry’s spirits and spent many hours with him, often alone. Was Somer an “artificial fool,” a cunning comic who could speak freely in front of the king, or a “natural fool,” someone with intellectual disabilities, like many other members of the profession? And what role did he play in the tumultuous and violent Tudor era? Fool is the first biography of Somer―and perhaps the first of a Renaissance fool.

After his death, Somer disappeared behind his legend, and historians struggled to separate myth from reality. Unearthing as many facts as possible, Peter K. Andersson pieces together the fullest picture yet of an enigmatic and unusual man with a very strange job. Somer’s story provides new insights into how fools lived and what exactly they did for a living, how monarchs and courtiers related to commoners and people with disabilities, and whether aspects of the Renaissance fool live on in the modern comedian. But most of all, we learn how a commoner without property or education managed to become the court’s chief mascot and a continuous presence at the center of Tudor power from the 1530s to the reign of Elizabeth I.

Looking beyond stereotypes of the man in motley, Fool reveals a little-known world, surprising and disturbing, when comedy was something crueler and more unpleasant than we like to think.

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A strictly academic work that is neither a standard nor chronological biography on this rather enigmatic character from Tudor history.

With the use of contemporaneous sources and comparisons outside of the Tudor court, Andersson explores to what extent was the fool a servant or a courtier. Andersson also acknowledges that there is too little information on the actual man - Will Somer - for the reader to gain any real insight into him - what we know is based upon scant administration records of the Tudor period.

I came into this wanting to know more, but came away no closer to finding any real substance to the real man. I have given it three stars are this looks to be the first - for me anyway - real attempt to put some flesh on the bones of an elusive historical person. However, for my mind, this particular work is more of an exploration into the perception and the role of the fool and comedy during the early renaissance period.

Definitely one for those with an interest in the Tudor and Elizabethan courts.