[Illustration: Fig. 175.--Court Fool.--Fac-simile of a Woodcut in the
"Cosmographie Universelle" of Munster: folio (Basle, 1552).]
One of the most extraordinary examples of the daring of these tumblers is
to be found in the records of the entry of Queen Isabel of Bavaria into
Paris, in 1385 (see chapter on Ceremonials); and, indeed, all the
chronicles of the fifteenth century are full of anecdotes of their doings.
Mathieu de Coucy, who wrote a history of the time of Charles VII., relates
some very curious details respecting a show which took place at Milan, and
which astonished the whole of Europe:--"The Duke of Milan ordered a rope
to be stretched across his palace, about one hundred and fifty feet from
the ground, and of equal length. On to this a Portuguese mounted, walked
straight along, going backwards and forwards, and dancing to the sound of
the tambourine. He also hung from the rope with his head downwards, and
went through all sorts of tricks. The ladies who were looking on could not
help hiding their eyes in their handkerchiefs, from fear lest they should
see him overbalance and fall and kill himself." The chronicler of Charles
XII., Jean d'Arton, tells us of a not less remarkable feat, performed on
the occasion of the obsequies of Duke Pierre de Bourbon, which were
celebrated at Moulins, in the month of October, 1503, in the presence of
the king and the court. "Amongst other performances was that of a German
tight-rope dancer, named Georges Menustre, a very young man, who had a
thick rope stretched across from the highest part of the tower of the
Castle of Macon to the windows of the steeple of the Church of the
Jacobites. The height of this from the ground was twenty-five fathoms, and
the distance from the castle to the steeple some two hundred and fifty
paces. On two evenings in succession he walked along this rope, and on the
second occasion when he started from the tower of the castle his feat was
witnessed by the king and upwards of thirty thousand persons. He performed
all sorts of graceful tricks, such as dancing grotesque dances to music
and hanging to the rope by his feet and by his teeth. Although so strange
and marvellous, these feats were nevertheless actually performed, unless
human sight had been deceived by magic. A female dancer also performed in
a novel way, cutting capers, throwing somersaults, and performing graceful
Moorish and other remarkable and peculiar dances." Such was their manner
of celebrating a funeral.
|