Triboulet (1479–1536), also known as Le Févrial or under his family name Ferrial,Some modern sources claim that Triboulet was called Nicolas Ferrial, however the accounts of the court of Francis I mention "Nicolas Le Feurial, brother of Triboullet" besides the jester himself. was a

jester A jester, also known as joker, court jester, or fool, was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch kept to entertain guests at the royal court. Jesters were also travelling performers who entertained common folk at fairs and town ma ...

for king Francis I.

Biography

Little biographical information is available about Triboulet. It is known that in France, there have been at least three

jesters A jester, also known as joker, court jester, or fool, was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch kept to entertain guests at the royal court. Jesters were also travelling performers who entertained common folk at fairs and town ma ...

referred to as "Triboulet", with the first one serving

René of Anjou René of Anjou (; ; 16 January 1409 – 10 July 1480) was Duke of Anjou and Count of Provence from 1434 to 1480, who also reigned as King of Naples from 1435 to 1442 (then Aragonese conquest of Naples, deposed). Having spent his last years in Aix ...

and being also a playwright. The second Triboulet served

Louis XII Louis XII (27 June 14621 January 1515), also known as Louis of Orléans was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples (as Louis III) from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Marie of Cleves, he succeeded his second ...

; he died during his reign, and the third Francis I (and possibly also Louis XII), and those two became later confused as one person. According to

Jean Marot Jean Marot (; Mathieu, near Caen, 1463 – c. 1526) was a French poet of the late 15th and early 16 century and the father of the French Renaissance poet Clément Marot. He is often grouped with the " Grands Rhétoriqueurs". Jean Marot seems ...

, historiographer of Louis XII, this king's Triboulet had a physical deformity and was "as wise at thirty as the day he was born". When he died during the reign of Louis XII, Marot wrote a lengthy epitaph, describing the fool's talents as an entertainer, mime, dancer, and (a bad) musician, and above all, "a man of words". Quickly after his death, Triboulet became a popular fictionalized character to whom numerous anecdotes and witticisms have been attributed, some copied from Italian sources like

Ludovico Ariosto Ludovico Ariosto (, ; ; 8 September 1474 – 6 July 1533) was an Italian poet. He is best known as the author of the romance epic '' Orlando Furioso'' (1516). The poem, a continuation of Matteo Maria Boiardo's ''Orlando Innamorato'', describ ...

. Ferrial was born in France in 1479. In unknown circumstances, Ferrial found purpose in life as the court jester for King Francis I (and perhaps also earlier for Louis XII), who kept him on the court, together with François Bourcier, "governor of Triboulet" and his brother, Nicolas Le Feurial. He was likely the Triboulet who accompanied Francis I to his Italy campaign of 1515. Poet published two epitaphs of this Triboulet in 1538.

Legacy

*Triboulet appears as a character in the

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

play '' Le roi s'amuse'', and in the

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma, to a family of moderate means, recei ...

opera inspired by the play, ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had c ...

''. *Triboulet appears as a character in Rabelais' ''

Gargantua and Pantagruel ''The Five Books of the Lives and Deeds of Gargantua and Pantagruel'' (), often shortened to ''Gargantua and Pantagruel'' or the (''Five Books''), is a pentalogy of novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais. It tells the advent ...

''. * (''The King and the Jester'') is a surviving 1907 short film by

Georges Méliès Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès ( , ; 8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938) was a French magic (illusion), magician, toymaker, actor, and filmmaker. He led many technical and narrative developments in the early days of film, cinema, primarily in th ...

. *Triboulet is the subject of French writer Michel Zevaco's novel ''Triboulet''. *Triboulet appears as a joker card in the 2024 video game '' Balatro''.

Explanatory notes

References

External links

{{authority control 1479 births 1536 deaths Court of Francis I of France French male comedians French courtiers Jesters