In some portraits of Henry VIII there appears another, striking figure—a gaunt and morose-looking man with a shaved head and, in one case, a monkey on his shoulder. This is William or “Will” Somer, the king’s fool, a celebrated wit who reportedly could raise Henry’s spirits and spent many hours with him, often alone. Was Somer an “artificial fool,” a cunning comic who could speak freely in front of the king, or a “natural fool,” someone with intellectual disabilities, like many other members of the profession? And what role did he play in the tumultuous and violent Tudor era? Fool is the first biography of Somer—and perhaps the first of a Renaissance fool.
After his death, Somer disappeared behind his legend, and historians struggled to separate myth from reality. Unearthing as many facts as possible, Peter K. Andersson pieces together the fullest picture yet of an enigmatic and unusual man with a very strange job. Somer’s story provides new insights into how fools lived and what exactly they did for a living, how monarchs and courtiers related to commoners and people with disabilities, and whether aspects of the Renaissance fool live on in the modern comedian. But most of all, we learn how a commoner without property or education managed to become the court’s chief mascot and a continuous presence at the center of Tudor power from the 1530s to the reign of Elizabeth I.
Looking beyond stereotypes of the man in motley, Fool reveals a little-known world, surprising and disturbing, when comedy was something crueler and more unpleasant than we like to think.
Awards and Recognition
- A History Today Book of the Year
Peter K. Andersson is senior lecturer in history at Örebro University in Sweden. He is the author of Streetlife in Late Victorian London and Silent History.
"[An] excellent new study."—Andrew Hadfield, Times Literary Supplement
"A fascinating window onto Tudor life at its best, worst and most complicated."—Noel Malcolm, Daily Telegraph
"Thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening."—Dominic Green, Wall Street Journal
"Andersson profiles in this diligent study 16th-century court jester William Somer, Henry VIII’s favored ‘fool.’ . . . The result is an illuminating look into Somer’s role as a source of broad humor and stress relief in a tumultuous court ruled by a mercurial king."—Publishers Weekly
"Andersson has given us a vivid, tantalising portrait of [Will Somer] and a nuanced exploration of how he and those around him negotiated one another. . . .Will Somer’s ghost has life in it yet."—Matthew Lyons, History Today
"Anyone who wants to know about this oddly central figure in Tudor life will find Andersson’s book worthwhile."—Alec Ryrie, The Conversation
"A fascinating look at Will Somer, Henry VIII’s court fool. . . .A book that makes a great case for looking at history through those who are often disregarded."—Nandini Das, History Today
"Even by the end of this biography, you will wonder how much you know about Will Somer, and that is all to the good. . . . [Andersson] provides a therapeutic rebuke to much of the nonsense written about Somer."—Carl Rollyson, New York Sun
"A short and delightful account of William Somer, fool to Henry VIII and one of the best-known individuals in Tudor England. . . . Andersson accepts that his book is ‘not a conventional biography.' But he revels in the opportunities that this admission permits. . . . [Fool] offers the prehistory of comedy as the history of disability. Andersson packs a lot of thinking in a short but compelling read. Here’s one fool that we really must take seriously."—Crawford Gibbon, New Criterion
“A compelling biography of one of Henry VIII’s closest attendants, William Somer, Fool brings to life a neglected figure and provides a fascinating account of the role of the Renaissance court fool. An important book that is also a page-turner, Fool restores Somer to his rightful place at the heart of the Tudor court.”—Elizabeth Norton, author of The Hidden Lives of Tudor Women
“Will Somer is a fascinating figure, forever linked with Henry VIII in the popular imagination. But the sightings of Somer in the archives are few, and always tantalisingly caught out of the corner of the eye. The longer posthumous anecdotes are engaging, but are they reliable? At last Peter Andersson’s Fool puts Somer centre-stage and sifts the evidence for the real man behind the myths. The story Andersson tells is compelling.”—Greg Walker, University of Edinburgh
“A careful and original search through art and records for Henry VIII’s famous court fool, revealing what he was like beneath the legends that he inspired. A lively and intriguing portrait of Tudor England.”—Nicholas Orme, author of Tudor Children
