Jane Foole, also known as Jane The Foole, Jane, The Queen's Fool, "Jeannne le Fol" or "Jane Hir Fole" ( fl. 1543–1558), was an English

court jester A jester, court jester, fool or joker was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch employed to entertain guests during the medieval and Renaissance eras. Jesters were also itinerant performers who entertained common folk at fairs and ...

. She was the jester of queens

Catherine Parr Catherine Parr (sometimes alternatively spelled Katherine, Katheryn, Kateryn, or Katharine; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen of England and Ireland as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until ...

and

Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. Sh ...

, and possibly also of

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...

. Today, entertainers sometimes perform as "Jane" in Renaissance-themed entertainments such as

Renaissance fair A Renaissance fair, Renaissance faire or Renaissance festival is an outdoor gathering open to the public and typically commercial in nature, which purportedly recreates a historical setting for the amusement of its guests. Some are permanent the ...

es.

Life

Personal life

Jane's full name, birth year, and background are unknown. ''Beden the Fool'' also appears in related notes of the time, and it has been suggested that Beden was her surname. Jane is believed to have had a

learning disability Learning disability, learning disorder, or learning difficulty (British English) is a condition in the brain that causes difficulties comprehending or processing information and can be caused by several different factors. Given the "difficult ...

Career

In the accounts of Anne Boleyn, bills for caps supplied to her "female jester" are recorded in 1535–36. The name of this female jester is not mentioned, but may have been Jane. In 1537, she is noted to be in service of Princess Mary. As well as Jane, Mary also employed

Lucretia the Tumbler Lucretia the Tumbler, also known as Lucrece the Tumbler and Lucrecia the Tumbler ( fl. 1542), was a court jester in the court of Mary I of England. Lucretia was employed as a chamberer to Princess Mary. She was a member of her household from at l ...

. Lucretia and Jane are known to have performed together, and Lucretia may have been Jane's minder. When Catherine Parr became queen in 1543, Jane may have been transferred to Catherine's household. Jane was a well-liked jester at the court of Catherine Parr, where she is mentioned by name as "Jane Foole" in 1543. She may have been depicted in the painting of ''Henry the Eighth and His Family'' (1545), in which the man on the far right is identified as her colleague, court jester

William Sommers William Sommers (or Somers; died 15 June 1560) was the best-known court jester of Henry VIII of England. Early life He was said to have been born in Shropshire, and came to the attention of Richard Fermor, a merchant of the Staple at Calais, ...

. Jane is among several women suggested as the figure on the left, in the matching end panel to his. Catherine Parr died in 1548. Jane Fool apparently returned to Mary. When Mary I came to the throne in 1553, Jane was in her employ. She apparently had a favoured position with Mary and was given a valuable wardrobe and an unusually large number of shoes. Her head was shaved, just as the heads of male jesters. Jane hurt her eye in 1557. Mary gave gilt silver salts as rewards to two women who looked after her, a Mistress Ayer and a woman from

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...

who healed her.British Library Add. MS 62525 f.6r Queen Mary's gift roll
/ref> It has been suggested that Jane was married to Will Sommers, but this has not been confirmed. It is known that Jane and Will Sommers often performed together, dressed in matching outfits: they are noted to have done so in 1555. It is not known what happened to her after Mary's death in 1558.

Fiction

Philippa Gregory's historical novel ''

The Queen's Fool ''The Queen's Fool'' by Philippa Gregory is a 2003 historical fiction novel. Set between 1548 and 1558, it is part of Philippa Gregory's Tudor series. The series includes ''The Boleyn Inheritance''. The novel chronicles the changing fortunes of ...

'' is focused on a female jester active in the court of Mary I, though the fictional character is not called "Jane Foole". Jane Fool appears as a character in C. J. Sansom’s novel

Lamentation A lament or lamentation is a passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form. The grief is most often born of regret, or mourning. Laments can also be expressed in a verbal manner in which participants lament about something ...

References

Sources

* {{cite magazine, last=Selleck, first=Denise, date=Spring 1990, title=On The Trail Of Jane The Fool, url=http://www.ontheissuesmagazine.com/1990spring/Spr90_selleck.php, magazine=On the Issues, access-date=31 March 2011 Jesters Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 16th-century English women English courtiers Household of Anne Boleyn Court of Mary I of England Household of Catherine Parr