The Court Jester

A peasant falls ill. Hell prepares to receive him. A devil arrives with a soul-capturing bag… and instead collects something far, far worse. Le pet au vilain (The peasant’s fart) is a fabliau about digestion, damnation, and the cosmic consequences of one peasant’s truly catastrophic fart. 📜 Text: Translation by Nathaniel E. Dubin 🎵 Title music: “Celebration” by Alexander Nakarada 📲 Updates &amp...

A hardworking donkey dies. His priest gives him a saintly burial. The bishop is outraged — until twenty pounds appear, and suddenly the donkey's soul is forgiven, his sins are wiped clean, and divine justice looks... surprisingly flexible. Le testament de l’asne (The donkey’s legacy) is a fabliau about bribery, holiness, and the most successful donkey in medieval France. 📜 Text: Translation by Na...

When a fisherman’s wife claims she wouldn’t mind if he lost a certain... appendage, he decides to put her loyalty to the test. What follows involves a drowned priest, a strategic swap, a bag of beans, and one of the most awkward reunions in fabliau history. Love is complicated. So are fishing trips. Le pecheor de Pont-sur-Seine (The fisherman of Pont-sur-Seine) : a tale of tricks, turnarounds, and...

A noblewoman is seduced by a strange knight bearing magical gifts. When her husband finds out, he leaves her. So she gets even. Disguised as “Sir Henry,” she wins tournaments, her husband’s trust, and eventually… him.  The Belt by Dietrich von der Glezze is a 13th-century German tale of trickery, transformation, and what happens when your wife becomes a better knight than you and outbids your...

A young man boasts he could handle twelve wives. He marries one. She ruins him. When the village captures a wolf, he suggests, “Give him a wife.” Le valet aus .xii. Fames (The fellow with a dozen wives) is a fabliau about ego, endurance, and learning the hard way that marriage is not for amateurs. 📜 Text: Translation by Nathaniel E. Dubin 🎵 Title music: “Celebration” by Alexander Nakarada...

A young wife meets her priest in the bushes. Her husband finds the bed empty. What follows is a knife, a near-confession, and a last-minute excuse involving fertility rituals, apostolic dirt, and walking barefoot around a church at midnight. La damme qui fist .iii. tors entor le moustier (Thrice Around the Church) is a fabliau about adultery, audacity, and the spiritual power of thinking fast. 📜...

When a young man falls in love with a newlywed, he hires a crafty old neighbor named Auberée to help. What follows includes a planted surcoat, a fake miracle, and one of the most elaborately staged reconciliations in medieval literature. Auberée is a fabliau about lust, lies, logistics—and how to play everyone in town without ever breaking a sweat. 📜 Text: Translation by Nathaniel E. Dubin 🎵 Tit...

Two moneychangers. One wife. A tub full of regret. In Les .ii. changeors (The two Moneychangers) , a clever woman turns the tables on her husband’s friend—who’s also her not-so-secret lover—with nothing but bathwater, bravado, and a flawless poker face. It’s a cautionary tale about overconfidence, underbathing, and why you should never assume you’re the smartest one in the room—especially when you...

When no angels or demons show up to claim his soul, a dead peasant takes matters into his own hands and walks straight into Heaven. Saint Peter tries to kick him out. So does Saint Thomas. Then Saint Paul. All three are verbally demolished by a man who’s had just about enough of sanctimonious gatekeeping. Even Christ Himself has to admit defeat. L’arme qui guangna paradis par plait (The soul...

A cloistered girl sees a crane. She wants it. The young man carrying it names his price—one she doesn’t understand, but pays all the same. As the bird comes and goes, so too do questions of innocence, value, and the patience of overworked nurses. La damoiselle de la grue (The Crane) , a feather-light fabliau with a sharp beak. 📜 Text: Translation by Nathaniel E. Dubin 🎵 Title music: “Celebration...

When his sick wife asks for a priest, a knight gets curious. He dresses in robes, sneaks in as a confessor, and listens in. What he hears breaks his heart—or maybe just his pride. Too bad she knew it was him. Le chevalier qui fist sa fame confesse is a hilarious medieval tale of mischief, marriage, and one woman’s improv masterclass in “sins.” 📜 Text: Translation by Nathaniel E. Dubin 🎵 Title mu...

A weary butcher stops in a priest’s village with nothing but a stolen sheep and a lot of nerve. By morning, he’s seduced the maid, seduced the priest’s mistress, sold the priest his own animal’s hide, and left a house full of chaos behind him. By Eustache d’Amiens, Le bouchier d’Abevile is a ferociously funny fabliau about hypocrisy, sex, revenge—and getting fleeced in more ways than one. 📜 Text:...

On Christmas Day, the Court Jester brings you the story of two partridges, not on a pear tree, but in…a shrubbery! A peasant roasts two perfect partridges. His wife eats them both. When the priest shows up for dinner, she sends him running and frames him for the theft. Les perdris is a greasy little tale about appetite, improvisation, and how quickly a lie can run when it's got gravy on its chin....

On the Christmas Special of The Court Jester, I bring you monsters for Christmas. Grab your beverage of choice and let me take you to medieval Iceland, on a cold and stormy Christmas Eve. And to hear the rest of the Grettis saga, head over to Human Circus podcast. The Court Jester is the labour of love of medievalist Kleio Pethainou, and if you like what you hear, consider supporting the podcast o...

And we’re back to pervert priest territory! This one sets his sights—and his purse—on a young merchant’s daughter. But when a cunning mother swaps in a seasoned professional named Alison, things heat up fast. Add some fire, a butcher with a stick, and one mortified chaplain fleeing nude through town, and you’ve got Le Prestre et Alison , Guillaume le Normand’s cautionary classic of lust, deceit, a...

On their wedding night, Marion lets one rip—and Walter loses his damn mind. Is she lying? Is she cursed? Is love even real when it smells like that?  Gautheron et Marion is a medieval sex farce where purity meets flatulence and nothing sacred survives. 📜 Text: Translation by Nathaniel E. Dubin 🎵 Title music: “Celebration” by Alexander Nakarada 📲 Updates & mischief: @kpethainou.bsky.soc...

A blacksmith’s wife wants a sample of the help’s famously gigantic tool—but the smith has other plans. One of the raunchiest fabliaux ever forged, Le Fevre de Creeil is featuring a legendary penis described...at length, a suspiciously cooperative apprentice, and a wife who’s about to get hammered. 📜 Text: Translation by Nathaniel E. Dubin 🎵 Title music: “Celebration” by Alexander Nakarada 📲 Upd...

He vanishes into the woods each week. She steals his secret and thinks she’s safe. But the beast comes back. Marie de France's Bisclavret is a chilling Breton lai of love, loss, and the dark things that wear human faces. No obscenity today. Just medieval monsters. Happy Halloween! 📲 Updates & mischief: @kpethainou.bsky.social | @thecourtjesterpodcast on Facebook 🃏 Bonus content: patreon.com/...

Before The Bachelor, before Judge Judy, there was this: a courtroom drama, complete with witnesses, deliberation, and an uncle with a riddle about genitals.  Le Jugement des cons is a medieval tale of law, lust and labial nuance. 📜 Text: Translation by Nathaniel E. Dubin 🎵 Title music: “Celebration” by Alexander Nakarada 📲 Updates & mischief: @kpethainou.bsky.social | @thecourtjesterpo...

On this bonus episode of The Court Jester, I met with Eleanor and Luke and we talk about things medieval, and about fabliaux and comedy old and new. Give their podcast, We're Not So Different, a follow, and join me on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @kpethainou to talk about the stories, and also follow @thecourtjesterpodcast on Facebook. We can talk about it there, too. Hosted on Acast...

A wandering squire made a bet he could seduce the sorrow right out of a grieving widow—and of course, he was right. This is the horniest act of grave desecration ever written down in medieval French. Is it disrespectful? Absolutely. Is it funny? Tragically so. Is it a cautionary tale about the volatility of female desire and the limits of performative grief? Technically, yes. But mostly, L a dolen...

In this fabliau, a starry-eyed young woman dreams of flight—and a cunning student offers to equip her with the necessary “tail.” What follows is a cautionary tale of misplaced trust, high aspirations, and what really happens when you try to take off without checking the fine print. La damoiselle qui vost voleror is a story for everyone who’s ever wanted to fly... or at least get off the ground. 📜...

This poor guy just wanted to plow his field in peace. But one thing led to another—an unwanted marriage, a suspicious priest, a strategic beating—and suddenly he's the kingdom’s most celebrated doctor, despite knowing nothing about medicine except how to get hit with a stick until inspiration strikes. In Le Vilain mire , medicine is just violence with better PR, and a man with zero qualifications...

In La Coille Noire , a wife takes her husband to court over the scandalous discovery that his testicles are black. Cue a trial full of confusion, comedy, and anatomical misunderstandings, as the bishop tries to make sense of it all.  📜 Text: Translation by Nathaniel E. Dubin 🎵 Title music: “Celebration” by Alexander Nakarada 📲 Updates & mischief: @kpethainou.bsky.social | @thecourtjest...

Warning: private parts are about to go public. In Garin's infamous Le Chevalier Qui Fesoit Les Cons Parler , a down-on-his-luck knight is gifted the bizarre magical ability to make women's genitals (and if necessary, their anuses) speak the truth. As he travels from tournaments to courts, this strange power causes chaos, confession, and courtly mayhem.  📜 Text: Translation by Nathaniel E. Du...