Court dwarf
Several dwarfs to have had their histories recorded were employed as court dwarfs. They were owned and traded amongst people of the court, and delivered as gifts to fellow kings and queens.[1]
Visual effect
Court dwarfs were made to stand right next to the king or queen in a royal court during public appearances and ceremonies. Because they were so small, the king appeared much larger and visually enhanced his powerful position.[2] Along with those court jesters who were professional entertainers and clowns, some court dwarfs were also classed among "naturals" (i.e., intellectually disabled), rousing amusement due both to their unusual bodies and behavior. Their appearance also invoked mythology and magical beings such as kobolds and elves.[3]
Antiquity
Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome
From the earliest historic times dwarfs attracted attention, and there was much competition on the part of kings and the wealthy to obtain dwarfs as attendants.[4] Ancient Egypt saw dwarfs as being people with significant sacred associations, so owning a dwarf gave a person high social stature.[1]
Julia, the niece of Augustus, had a dwarf named Conopas 2 feet 4 inches (0.71 m) high, and a freed-maid Andromeda who measured the same.[4]
China
Sima Qian wrote of court dwarfs. He wrote about You Zan, a court dwarf under the "First Emperor of Qin" who reigned from 259 to 210 B.C.E. In one passage he described You taking pity on guards standing in the rain outside a banquet. It is said that the emperor overheard You's conversation with them and ordered a changing of the guards so that they could rest inside.[5] [citation needed]
Chinese emperors were able to import dwarfs via the Silk Road. This practice persisted at least until the Tang dynasty.[5]
Modern era in Europe
As the courts of Europe were constantly competing not only in politics but also in terms of representation, the rulers and nobles tried to command as many dwarfs as possible.
While jesters were often only temporarily present at a specific court, dwarfs usually had a permanent function and were registered in the personnel rolls as "court dwarf", "personal dwarf" or "chamber dwarf". This enabled them to play an important role in ceremonial culture and gave them close access to the ruler. This close relationship led to multiple roles beyond the foolish task as a natural clown. Court dwarfs served as a substitute for children or even diplomats. At the end of their career, these privileged dwarfs would usually receive a pension and other benefits. A favourite dwarf of Peter the Great received a state funeral including
France
Richebourg (1756–1846), was only 23 inches (0.58 m) tall. He began life as a servant in the Orleans family. In later years he was their pensioner. He is said to have been put to strange use in the French Revolution—passing in and out of Paris as an infant in a nurse's arms, but with dispatches, dangerous to carry, in Richebourg's baby-wrappings. He died in Paris in 1846, at the age of 90.[6]
Great Britain
British tradition has its earliest dwarf mentioned in the old ballad which begins "In Arthur's court Tom Thumb did live";
A dwarf at the court of
He fought two duels—one with a turkey-cock,[clarification needed] a battle recorded by Davenant, and a second with Mr Crofts, who came to the meeting with a squirt gun, but who in the more serious encounter which ensued was shot dead by little Hudson, who fired from horseback, the saddle putting him on a level with his antagonist. Twice was Jeffrey made prisoner—once by the Dunkirkers as he was returning from France, whither he had been on homely business for the Queen; the second time was when he fell into the hands of Turkish pirates. His sufferings during this latter captivity made him, he declared, grow, and in his thirtieth year, having been of the same height since he was nine, he steadily increased until he was 3 feet 9 inches (1.14 m). At the Restoration, he returned to England, where he lived on a pension granted him by the Duke of Buckingham. He was later accused of participation in the Popish Plot and was imprisoned in the Gate House. He was released and shortly after died at the age of 63.[6]
Contemporary with Hudson were the two other dwarfs of Henrietta Maria,
Poland
Court dwarfs existed in Poland from at least the 16th century, when the Polish princesses Catherine Jagiellon and Sophia Jagiellon both had court dwarf of their own Agnieszka (courtier) and Dorothea Ostrelska, who accompanied them to Sweden and Germany respectively when they left Poland to marry.
Court dwarfs were still in existence at the Polish court during the 18th century, when they had become unfashionable in other courts.
Spain
The Spanish Royal Court was famed for its court dwarfs, and employed many during the 16th and 17th centuries. Of European court dwarfs, the most famous were those of Philip IV of Spain, the hunchbacks whose features have been painted by Diego Velázquez.[6] One of them was Maria Bárbola, who was employed as Enana de la Reina, the official dwarf of the queen, between 1651 and 1700. She was far from the only one, and the Queen's Household employed several, among them Juana de Aunon, the sisters Genoveva and Catalina Bazan and Bernarda Blasco. They had a privileged position with their own servants, and acted as playmates of the royal children.
The era of the court dwarfs in Spain ended in the year of 1700, when the new king Philip V of Spain modernized the Spanish Royal Court by abolishing several posts he deemed outdated and was by then unfashionable in other parts of Europe, such as jesters, fools and court dwarfs.[8]
Sweden
Court dwarfs are noted at the Swedish Royal Court from the mid 16th-century, when the female court dwarfs "Lilla Gunnel" ('Little Gunnel') and Fedossa from Russia were in service of Princess Sophia of Sweden.[9]
The Polish princess
Court dwarfs were a part of the Swedish Royal Court during the entire 17th-century, often as jesters, and several are noted, such as "Narrinnan Elisabet" ('Elisabet the Female Jester'), employed with queen Maria Eleonora, Annika Kollberg (or 'Little Midget Annika') employed with queen Hedvig Eleonora,[10] and Anders Luxemburg with Charles XII of Sweden.
The court dwarfs were normally not given wages but only clothing, food and room: however, in individual cases some of them, such as the African court dwarf Carl Ulrich, could be given schooling and training in a proper occupation and formally employed as chamber servants or stable boys and thus given proper wages,[11] and at least one, Anders Been, was ennobled. The position of court dwarf became unfashionable after the reign of Charles XII.
List of people with the position of court dwarf
- Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
- Agnieszka (courtier), Polish court dwarf in service of Sophia Jagiellon, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg
- Maria Bárbola, Spanish court dwarf
- Anders Been, Norwegian painter and court dwarf in service of the Swedish queen dowager Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp
- François de Cuvilliés, originally court dwarf of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria
- Nicolas Ferry (known as Bébé) (1741–1764), French dwarf of Polish King Stanisław Leszczyński
- Helena Antonia, court dwarf of Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress
- Jeffrey Hudson (1619 – c. 1682) court dwarf of the English queen Henrietta Maria of France
- Józef Boruwłaski (1739 – 1837), Polish-born court dwarf and musician who toured in European and Turkish courts
- Perkeo of Heidelberg, court dwarf of Elector Palatine Charles III Philip in Heidelberg
Gallery
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Portrait of Józef Boruwłaski (1739–1837), court dwarf
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Portrait of Johann Franz von Meichelböck, court dwarf of the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg, by Frans van Stampart, c. 1730
See also
References
- ^ a b Adelson 2005, p. 4
- ^ Ikengainc staff 2013.
- ^ a b c Talkenberger, Heike (2018). "Spaßmacher, Liebling, Diplomat". Damals (in German). No. 11. pp. 66–71.
- ^ a b Chisholm 1911, p. 739.
- ^ a b c Adelson 2005.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Chisholm 1911, p. 740.
- ^ Walter Scott, Collection of Scarce and Valuable Tracts, vol. 2 (London, 1809), p. 381: Frederick Devon, Issues of Exchequer (London, 1836), pp. 191-2.
- ^ Nadine Akkerman: The Politics of Female Households: Ladies-In-Waiting Across Early Modern Europe Archived 2021-09-05 at the Wayback Machine (2013)
- ISBN 9789004258396. Archivedfrom the original on 2021-09-05. Retrieved 2019-10-06.
- ISBN 978-91-7486-355-0
- ISBN 91-628-3340-5
Further reading
- Adelson, B. (2005). The Lives of Dwarfs. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-8135-3548-4.
- Ikengainc staff (1 May 2013). "Court Dwarf". Ikengainc. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
Attribution
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Dwarf". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 739–740. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
External links
- Media related to Court dwarves at Wikimedia Commons