What is a Jester?

Jester

A Jester, or buffoon was a person maintained by a monarch at court to pass away the time with jests and sharp sayings. Alexander the Great and others of the ancients are said to have maintained jesters. During the Middle Ages the fool was a regular attendant of monarchs and the nobility. His traditional dress was distinguished by mock emblems of royalty. He carried a fool's scepter in his hand, and, in place of a crown, wore a fool's cap of cheerful colors, ornamented frequently with jingling bells and a pair of ass's ears. He also wore a broad collar, not infrequently wide enough to serve as a cape. His lower person was clad in hose, with long, upturned toes. The fool was often a person of unusual shrewdness, who, by standing at his master's elbow, was able to help him out of many a hard scrape. If he thought his master about to part with money too readily, he would be able to suggest that a fool and his money were soon parted. Not infrequently the fool was really a controlling mind in matters of great importance. He was supposed to have very little mind, but to speak it freely on all occasions without danger of reprimand or punishment. Wamba of Scott's Ivanhoe is an interesting character of this sort.