The Founding of the Order of Fools: Cleves, 1381.

The Medii ævi kalendarium informs us that:

The Order of Fools was instituted by Adolphus, Count of Cleves, in conjunction with the Count de Meurs, and thirty-five noblemen of Cleves. The original patent of erection was formerly preserved in the Archives of Cleves, which, however, were totally destroyed by the French revolutionists, upon their first irruption into Germany, and the only genuine copy of it which now exists is to be found in Von Buggenhagen's Account of the Roman and National Antiquities, &c. discovered at Cleves. To this document are affixed thirty-six seals, all imprinted on green wax with the exception of that of the founder, which is on red wax, and in the centre of the rest. The insignium borne by the knights of this order, on the left side of their mantles, consisted of a fool, embroidered in a red and silver vest, with a cap on his head, intersected, harlequin-wise, with red and yellow divisions, and gold bells attached, with yellow stockings and black shoes; in his right hand was a cup filled with fruits, and in his left a gold key, symbolic of the affection subsisting between the different members. It is uncertain when this order ceased, although it appears to have been in existence at the commencement of the sixteenth century, when, however, its pristine spirit had become totally extinct.¹

*

The latest mention that has hitherto been found of it occurs in some verses, prefixed by Onofrius Brand to the German translation of his father's (Solomon Brand) celebrated “Navis Stultifera Mortalium,” by the learned Dr. Geiler von Kaiseyberg, which was published at Strasburg in the year 1520.

Mancher das Narrenschiff veracht, Das zu dem Ersten ward gemasht, Und meynt, eswar der Narren Orden; Der Seh nun war draus Sey geworden.

Many people belittle the ship of fools, That was the earlier made, And think it was the Order of Fools; The idea that had come from it.

Even the  kalendarium, however, wonderful as it is, suffers the limitations of it times.

A translation of the surviving copy of the patent had been provided by a correspondent to the Athenaeum Magazine, in 1897, under the initials H.W.S.

Patent of Creation of the Order of fools.

We all, who have hereunto affixed our seals, make known unto all men, and declare, that after full and mature consideration, both on our own behalf and on account of the singular good-will and friendship which we all bear, and will continue to bear towards one another, we have instituted a society of Fools, according to the form and manner hereunto subjoined:

Be it therefore known, that each member shall wear a fool, either made of silver, or embroidered, on his coat. And such member as shall not daily wear this fool, him shall and may any one of us, as often as he shall see it, punish with a mulct of three old great tournois (livres tournois, about four-pence halfpenny) which three tournots shall be appropriated to the relief of the poor in the Lord!

Further, will we Fools yearly meet, and hold a conventicle and Court, and assemble ourselves, to wit at Cleves, every year on the Sunday after Michaelmas day; and no one of us shall depart out of the city, nor mount his horse to quit the place where we may be met together, without previous notice, and his having defrayed that part of the expences of the court which he is bound to bear. And none of us shall remain away on any pretence or for any other reason whatsoever than this, namely, that he is labouring under very great infirmity; excepting moreover those only who may be in a foreign country, and at six days journey from their customary place of residence. If it should happen that any one of the society is at enmity with another, then must the whole society use their utmost endeavours to adjust their differences and reconcile them; and such members and all their abettors shall be excluded from appearing at the court on the Friday morning when it commences its sitting at sun-rise, until it breaks up on the same Friday at sun-set.

And we will further at the royal court yearly elect one of the members to be king of our society, and six to be counsellors; which king with his six counsellors shall regulate and settle all the concerns of the society, and in particular appoint and fix the court of the ensuing year; they shall also procure, and cause to be procured, all things necessary for the said court, of which they shall keep an exact account. These expences shall be alike both to knights and squires, and a third part more shall fall upon the lords than upon the knights and squires; but the counts shall be subject to a third part more than the lords.

And early on the Tuesday morning (during the period of the court’s sitting) all of us members shall go the church of the Holy Virgin at Cleves, to pray for the repose of all those of the society who may have died; and there shall each bring his separate offering.

And each of us has mutually pledged his good faith, and solemnly engaged to fulfil faithfully, undeviatingly, and inviolably, ail things which are above enumerated, &c.

Done at Cleves, 1381, on the day of St. Cunibert.²

Howevermuch all good things must come to an end, the Cérémonies et Coutumes Religieuses de Tous Les Peuples Du Monde (1809) informs us that the charter of the Company of Fools in Dijon, founded in 1454, was substantially the same.³ Both groups were first populated with members of the highest classes from those regions and sported a coat-of-arms befitting their ranks.⁴

The Counts of Cleves and Dijon both frequented the court of the Duke of Burgundy. They were both great allies of the House. In essence, the Dijon group seems to have been established as a second branch. The character of the Dijon group ̶ and likely the Cleves ̶ changed eventually into entertainers and support staff providing a highly popular annual Festival of Mere-Folle⁵ celebrated following Vespers on Christmas Day until various saints' days in various parishes throughout Burgundy.

Various august French institutions including the Parliament and the University of Paris ordered an end to the Festival of Mere-Folle for its atmosphere of disrespect of authority and its lewdness and debauch. The report of M. Tilliot mentions the festival still active in 1695. There can be little doubt that remnants continued well after that date.

1Medii ævi kalendarium or, Dates, charters, and customs of the Middle Ages ..., (1841). I.357.

2Aikin, John. The Athenæum, a magazine of literary and miscellaneous information (1807), II.228.

3Cérémonies et Coutumes Religieuses de Tous Les Peuples Du Monde (1809) VIII.319. “Il y a tant de rapport entre les articles de cette institution et la Mère-Folle de Dijon, laquelle avoit, comme le comté de Clèves, des statuts, un sceau, et des officiers , que j’embrasse volontiers le sentiment du P. Menestrier, qui croit que c'est de la maison de Clèves que la compagnie a tiré son origine; les princes de cette maison ayant eu de grandes alliances avec les ducs de Bourgogne, dans la cour desquels ils étaient le plus souvent.”

4Ibid. VIII.323. “Revenant à la Mère-Folle, ou à l’Infanterie Dijonnaise dont nous nous sommes un peu écartés , c'était une compagnie composée de plus de cinq cents personnes de toute qualité ; officiers du Parlement , de la Chambre des comptes, avocats, procureurs , bourgeois , marchands, etc.”

5Tilliot. (1751). 97. “Le but de cette société, dont nous rapporterons plus au long les occupations et les statuts , était la joie et le plaisir.”

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