- William Sommers
William 'Will' Sommers or Somers (d.
June 15 ,1560 ) was the most well-knowncourt jester ofHenry VIII of England Weir, "Henry VIII", p. 251.] .Born in
Shropshire , Sommers came to the attention ofRichard Fermor , a merchant ofthe staple atCalais , who brought him toGreenwich in 1525 to present to the king. Impressed by Sommers' sense of humour, Henry promptly offered him a place at court. He was soon in high favour with the King, whose liberality to him is attested by the accounts of the royal household. Sommers remained in the King's service for the rest of Henry's life; in the King's later years, when he was troubled by a painful leg condition, it was said that only Sommers could lift his spirits.Weir, "Henry VIII", p. 401.] The jester was also a man of integrity and discretion;Thomas Cromwell appreciated that he sometimes drew the King's attention to extravagance and waste within the royal household by means of a joke. After Henry's death, Sommers remained at court, eventually retiring in the reign ofElizabeth I . He was probably the William Sommers whose death is recorded in the parish of St Leonards,Shoreditch , onJune 15 ,1560 .Court jesters were permitted familiarities without regard for deference, and Sommers possessed a shrewd wit, which he exercised even on
Cardinal Wolsey . However, he did occasionally overstep the mark. In 1535, the King threatened to kill Sommers with his own hand, after Sir Nicholas Carew dared him to call Queen Anne "a ribald" and the Princess Elizabeth "a bastard"Weir, "Henry VIII", p. 365.] .Sommers is believed to be portrayed in a painting of Henry VIII and family at the
Palace of Whitehall , completed around 1544-5 by an unknown artistWeir, "Henry VIII", p. 482.] . He also appears with Henry VIII in a psalter which belonged to the King and is now in theBritish Museum . A new picture in which he appears was discovered in 2008 at Boughton House, Northamptonshire.William Sommers made a number of appearances in 16th and 17th century drama and literature: for example, Thomas Nashe's "Pleesant Comedie called Summers last Will and Testament" (play first performed in 1592, published in 1600), Samuel Rowlands' "Good Newes and Bad Newes" (1622), and a popular account, "A Pleasant Historie of the Life and Death of William Sommers" (reprinted 1794). See also John Doran's "History of Court Fools" (1858)"Encyclopædia Britannica" Eleventh Edition entry on William Sommers.] .
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