court-fool

I was quickly surrounded by the singers, who chanted the most fulsome praise of the opulent Mongo, while a court-fool or buffoon insisted on leading my horse, and occasionally wiping my face with his filthy handkerchief!

Captain Canot or, Twenty Years of an African Slaver Theodore Canot

To add to these misfortunes (perhaps the greatest of them in the opinion of the young Kaiser) the court-fool has tumbled downstairs and has broken his neck; so at least it is believed; but cats and fools have a way of falling on their feet, and this fool turns up again later.

The Faust-Legend and Goethe's 'Faust'

Sommers, the vicomte's jester, afterward court-fool to Henry VIII.

The Line of Love Dizain des Mariages James Branch Cabell 1918

This was not the way the bitter court-fool had been wont to speak.

The Proud Prince 1898

Theron looked up and beheld to his surprise the missing court-fool

The Proud Prince 1898

King Robert the Wise means to begin his reign by beheading his court-fool as an example to all other fools and courtiers.

The Proud Prince 1898

"They say he swore a great oath his court-fool should be the first victim of your sword, and till the fool is found the victims wait on death."

The Proud Prince 1898

In those days the court-fool was generally not a wit, but a naive blockhead, who believed all that was said, and was therefore a butt for jests.

Historical Miniatures August Strindberg 1880

He was a dwarf and humpback; his name was Hamilcar, and he was Attila's court-fool.

Historical Miniatures August Strindberg 1880

This man was court-fool to Henry VII., and is said to have been "of pleasant wit and bent to merrie devices."

History of English Humour, Vol. 1 (of 2) With an Introduction upon Ancient Humour Alfred Guy Kingan L'Estrange 1873