[96] A “peece” does not here mean an indefinite quantity, but a known length for each material, 6, 12, 18, or 36 yards.
XXVII
ELIZABETH’S FOOLS AND DWARFS
It has been presumed that Elizabeth found her life interesting enough, and her Court attractive enough, to be able to do without the spice of the Court Fool or the contrasts of the Court Dwarf. But though no facetiae have come down to us as memorials of their existence in contemporary letters or State Papers, it is evident that she sometimes, at least, had such attendants. From the accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber, we can see that Mary and Elizabeth supported William Somers, their father’s Fool, until his death. (He was buried in St. Leonard’s, Shoreditch, on 15th June 1560.)
Scrappy notes are scattered through the Warrants and Wardrobe Accounts in the Lord Chamberlain’s Books, and give us a few details. There is one series of these in English, and another in Latin, richly garnished with English borrowings. In later papers we find references to “the Fool,” and other allusions to unclassified persons who may have acted as such. There are “Sara Snow,”[97] “Monarcho,” “William Shenton,” “a little Blackamoor,” and “Thomazina, our Woman Dwarf.” There is also a mysterious “Ipolyta the Tartarian,” who has a warrant dormant granted her for sets of robes and garments every year, dated 4 and 5 Elizabeth, in which she is described as “Ipolyta the Tartarian, our dearly beloved woman.” Some of the particular payments for her robes and kirtles and the richness of her clothes show she was dressed on a level with the Court ladies. About the same time are granted clothes to another woman, and between the two is mentioned unconnectedly “The Foole.” This is the first time any fool is mentioned. Such rarely are referred to without a name, if it is so done here. It is possible it may refer to one of the women. It has been said that “there have been no women fools.” But I answered that statement in my paper in this journal on “Jane, the Queen’s Fool” (12th August 1905). To understand the present reference I must give it here in full:
| Sara Snow. | For twelve yardes of black satten to make her a gowne, and 2 yardes of velvet to gard the same. |
| The Foole. | Item, for 2 yardes of crimson sarcenet delivered to Henry Herne to lyne the said Foles hosen. |
| Ipolyta the Tartarian. | Item, to the said Henry Herne for 8 paire of cloth hosen for her, all of our great Warderobe. Item, to the said Garret Johnson for six paire of Spanish Lether shoes for her.—“L. C.,” v, 34, p. 17. |
| Ipolyta. | Item, to the said Adam Blande for furring of two cassocks of cloth for Ipolyta the Tartarian with 12 black coney skins from our great wardrobe.—p. 43. |
On page 41 is another of those entries which suggest more than they tell, the first notice of “Monarcho”:
To Thomas Ludwell for making of a gowne of red grograyne chamblet for an Italian named Monarcho garded with three yardes of blue velvet with buttons of copper gold, a doublet for him of striped sackcloth faced with red taffeta,
lined with fustian furred, and “a hat of blue taffeta striped with gold lace.”
On page 240 there were a number of similar robes entered “for Monarcho,” and after these,
Item, for making of a Gascon coate for a lytle Blackamore of white Taffata, cut and lyned under with tincel, striped down with gold and silver, and lined with buckram and bayes, poynted with poynts and ribands ... and faced with taffata ... with a white taffata doublet with gold and silver lace, silver buttons, faced with Taffata; a payre of Gascons, a pair of knit hose, a paire of white shoes and pantoufles, a dozen of poynts, and a paire of gaiters.