All the King s fools at Hampton Court Palace LESSON 1: Developing good relationships and respecting the differences between people LEARNING OBJECTIVES: 1. To understand who the fools were at the Tudor court. 2. To understand that we can never have a complete knowledge of the past, as not everything survives so we can never know everything about individual people. RESOURCES: 1. PowerPoint The dynasty portrait. 2. Information sheets on different fools. 3. PowerPoint Facts about fools. 4. Worksheet The dynasty portrait. ACTIVITY Exercise 1: Introduction On Post-It notes get the students to write the first word they think of when they hear the word fool. Collect and display for use in the plenary. Exercise 2: Setting the scene A year or so before his death, Henry VIII ordered a new painting to be made of his family. Work in groups to imagine what the portrait might be like. Who do you think Henry would put in the portrait and how would it be posed? Each group to freeze-frame their ideas and show to the rest of the class. Exercise 3: Introduce the painting Look together at the dynasty painting on the PowerPoint in conjunction with the notes on the PowerPoint. You may want to enlarge this up to A3 to give your pupils more room to write. Exercise 4: What is a fool? Discuss how we could find out more about the fools in the painting, or other people like them? Work in groups. Give each group an information sheet on a different fool. Each group to present to the rest of the class some information about their fool, in whatever way they choose to present. Exercise 5: Using adjectives Give students the blank dynasty portrait. Students to work in groups to write adjectives for each of the seven characters inside their shape, e.g. Henry = powerful, scary. Ask the students to explain their choices. Exercise 6: What was the role of a fool? Look together at the PowerPoint Facts about fools to help students build up their idea of the fool s role at court. Plenary: Ask the students to talk with a partner about how their understanding of fools has changed as a result of the lesson. What words would they use now to describe a fool? QUESTIONS TO DEVELOP THINKING: Do you think there are messages behind every painting Henry VIII commissioned? If pupils in the class come up with different ideas for why they think Henry included the fools in the painting, then how do we know which idea is right? How do we know anything about people who lived 500 years ago? VOCABULARY: Auditors, dynasty, innocent, receivers surveyors, tumbler, vulgar, wit Links to other curriculum areas: History what was it like at the court of Henry VIII? Art how would a painting of today s Royal Family be similar or different to Henry VIII s?
Worksheet Jane the fool Mary Tudor Edward Tudor Henry VIII 1 Elizabeth Tudor Will Somers The dynasty portrait Jane Seymour
Sexton NAME: Sexton (his nickname was Patch) BELONGED TO: Cardinal Wolsey, and later to Henry VIII WAS HE FUNNY? Here is a poem he wrote: Master Sexton, a parson of knowne wit As he at my lord Cardinals boord did sit Gredily raught at a goblet of wyne Drinke none (said my lord) for that sore leg of thine I warrant your grace (quoth Sexton) I provide For my leg; for I drink on tother side. TRANSLATES AS: Mr Sexton, a person of known wit As he at my Lord Cardinal s table did sit Greedily reached for a glass of wine Don t drink said the cardinal for that sore leg of thine Don t worry your grace, said Sexton, I provide For my leg, for I drink on the other side! WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT HIM? Cardinal Wosley gave Patch to Henry VIII at a time when the King was angry with Wolsey. He sent him with this message: I am sorry that I have no better token to send to the king; but if you would present the king with this poor fool, I trust his highness would accept him well. Surely for a nobleman s pleasure he is worth a thousand pounds. The King was very pleased with his present. WHAT DID HE LOOK LIKE? We know that Wolsey had to send six men with Sexton when he gave him to the King, because Sexton was so upset that he had to leave Wolsey. This suggests that Sexton must have been big and strong. When he arrived at the King s court he was given clothes, nightcaps and a wig. Why do you think he was given a wig? What does the poem above suggest about Sexton s appearance, in particular with reference to his leg? 1
Sexton WHAT WAS IT LIKE BEING THE KING S FOOL? We know three men looked after Sexton at the King s court. They received 2d per day and they worked in pairs. We also know that the King provided extra money for other things, such as washing Sexton s shirts, for buying him new shoes, and for posset ale (a hot milk drink with spices used as a remedy for colds.) Sexton travelled with the King to different places, including Calais in France. WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM IN THE END? According to the ambassador called Chapuys in 1534: Henry the other day nearly murdered his own fool, a simple and innocent man, because he happened to speak well in his presence of the Queen (Katherine of Aragon) and Princess (Mary) and called Anne Boleyn vulgar and her daughter Elizabeth a bastard. He has now been banished from court, and has gone to Nicholas Carew (a gentleman at court) who has sheltered and hidden him. We don t know what happened to Sexton after this. 2
Will NAME: Will Somers BELONGED TO: Will used to be a servant for a man named Richard Farmor, who broke the law by sending eight pence and some shirts to a priest. As a result Richard was sent to prison and Henry took all his possessions, including Will. WAS HE FUNNY? People at the time thought he was very funny. He was also very honest with the King. He is quoted as saying, when the King was short of money, You have so many frauditors, so many conveighers, and so many deceivers (meaning auditors, surveyors and receivers) that they get all to themselves. It was unusual to be so honest in front of Henry VIII. In the King s later years, when he was troubled by a painful leg condition, it was said that only Will could lift his spirits, and Will was reputed to be the only man who could make Mary laugh. WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT HIM? We know he was in touch with his family even after being at the King s court for 20 years, as three yards of cloth were ordered in 1555 to make a gown for Will s sister, who must have come to visit him. There is another story about his uncle who had fallen on hard times and came to visit Will. Will lent him a coat and introduced him to the King, who offered to help the uncle. Will may have been jealous of a man named Thomas who was juggling for Henry one day, so he interrupted his performance by throwing a bowl of milk in his face. Thomas never performed for Henry again. WHAT DID HE LOOK LIKE? Image right: Engraving of Will Somers by Francis Delaram taken from Robert Chamber s Book of Days. This engraving was made over 50 years after Will Somer s died, so we do not know how accurate it is. He may not have worn clothes like these. 3
Will Information on a fool British Library Board (Roy 2A XVI f63v) WHAT WAS IT LIKE BEING THE KING S FOOL? Will Somers had a keeper called William Seyton, and his own horse so he could travel with the King between his different palaces. He was never paid a wage but was provided with food and clothes. Records show that various costumes were made for Will s performances, especially at Christmas time. For example at Christmas in 1551, Will was supplied with a gilded mace and chain, and a suit of white and blue silk edged with red satin. Another year he took part in a play requiring 36 masks, 2 pasteboard crowns, 32 swords (not all for him!) another time he was given a cardboard suit of armour and took part in a mock combat with the young King Edward. WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM IN THE END? He remained at court under Edward, Mary and Elizabeth until he died in 1560. He is buried at St Leonard s church in Shoreditch, London. 4
Jane NAME: Jane. We are not sure of her second name. BELONGED TO: She may have belonged to Anne Boleyn, and was then taken over by Mary Tudor when Anne was executed, and then Kateryn Parr took her when she married Henry, but Jane reverted back to Mary when she became queen. WAS SHE FUNNY? Mary also had another fool named Lucretia the tumbler, who may have been more entertaining than Jane. It may not have been Jane s job to be funny. WHAT WAS IT LIKE BEING MARY S FOOL? The clothes ordered for Jane in Mary s accounts, are of equal quality to those of Mary herself, even when she was queen. Money was also spent on needles for her, so she may have helped to make her own clothes. There is also money for stabling her horse, she may have gone riding with Mary. When Kateryn was queen, Jane was provided with a little flock of poultry to look after. When Mary was queen, matching clothes were sometimes ordered for Jane and Will Somers, another court fool. WHAT HAPPENED TO HER IN THE END? She stayed at court and was there throughout Mary s reign as queen, but we don t know what happened to her when Mary died. WHAT DID SHE LOOK LIKE? We know that Jane was sometimes ill with a skin infection which was treated by her having her hair shaved every month. 5