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]
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]
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]
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]
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 ]
Martin Monestier claims that the Emperor Xuanzong constructed a "Resting Place for Desirable Monsters" where dwarfs were included among the "monsters." Emperor Wu Di, who reigned during the Western Han dynasty, imported numerous dwarfs to act as slaves and jesters. Yang Cheng, a provincial governor, intervened to help them. He told the emperor that little people were his subjects rather than slaves and should be treated as such. Wu Di was moved and released the dwarfs. Yang Cheng was deified and worshipped by some of their families. Yang Cheng's image was worshipped for centuries. The practice of keeping court dwarfs persisted as well. [5] [ citation needed ]
Chinese emperors were able to import dwarfs via the Silk Road. This practice persisted at least until the Tang dynasty. [5]
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. Natalya Alexeyevna of Russia, a sister of Tsar Peter the Great, was recorded to have had 93 court dwarfs, while the Spanish royal court housed 70 dwarfs in the period from 1563 to 1700. People with dwarfism were recruited from all over Europe and were used as a popular gift to other rulers. [3]
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 miniature horses and a "small priest". [3]
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]
British tradition has its earliest dwarf mentioned in the old ballad which begins "In Arthur's court Tom Thumb did live"; [6] and on this evidence the prototype of the modern Tom Thumb is alleged to have lived at the court of King Edgar. Of historically documented English dwarfs, the first appears to be John Jarvis 2 feet (0.61 m), who was a page to Queen Mary I. Her brother King Edward VI had his dwarf called Xit. [6]
A dwarf at the court of James VI and I, Christian Steward, was given £20 in 1616 for her journey to Scotland. [7] The first English dwarf of whom there is any substantial history is Jeffrey Hudson (1619–1682). He was the son of a butcher at Oakham, Rutland, who kept and baited bulls for George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. Neither of Jeffrey's parents was undersized, yet at nine years he measured scarcely 18 inches (0.46 m) though he was gracefully proportioned. At a dinner given by the Duke to Charles I and his queen he was brought in to table in a pie out of which he stepped, and was at once adopted by Queen Henrietta Maria. The little fellow followed the fortunes of the court in the English Civil War, and is said to have been a captain of horse, earning the nickname of "strenuous Jeffrey" for his activity. [6]
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, Richard Gibson and his wife Anne. They were married by the Queen's wish; and the two together measured only 7 feet 2 inches (2.18 m) They had nine children, five of whom, who lived, were of ordinary stature. Edmund Waller celebrated the nuptials, Evelyn designated the husband as the "compendium of a man", [6] and Lely painted them hand in hand. Gibson was miniature painter to Charles I, and drawing-master to the daughters of James II, Queens Mary II and Anne, when they were children. Gibson was from Cumberland and began his career as a page, first in a "gentle", next in the royal family, died in 1690, in his seventy-fifth year, and is buried in St Paul's, Covent Garden. The last court dwarf in England was Coppernin, who was in the service of the princess (Augusta) of Wales, the mother of George III. The last dwarf retainer in a gentleman's family was the one kept by Mr Beckford, the author of Vathek and builder of Fonthill Abbey. He was rather too big to be flung from one guest to another, as used to be the custom at dinners in earlier days when a dwarf was a "necessity" for every noble family. [6]
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. Stanislas of Poland owned Nicolas Ferry ("Bébé") (1741–1764), who measured 2 feet 9 inches (0.84 m). He was one of three dwarf children of peasant parents in the Vosges. He died in 1764, at the age of 24. [6]
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]
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 Catherine Jagiellon (1526–1583), married to the Swedish John III, duke of Finland and later king of Sweden, had a close confidante in Dorothea Ostrelska, a dwarf woman. Dosieczka, as she was known, was one of the only members of Catherine's entourage that she kept with her while imprisoned by king Eric XIV of Sweden as a result of her husband, the king's brother, rebelling against the crown. Dosieczka was a favorite and confidante of Catherine also after the latter became queen of Sweden.
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.
Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg was Queen of Sweden from 1620 to 1632 as the wife of King Gustav II Adolph. She was born a German princess as the daughter of John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg, and Anna, Duchess of Prussia, daughter of Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia.
Casimir IV was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447 until his death in 1492. He was one of the most active Polish-Lithuanian rulers; under him, Poland defeated the Teutonic Knights in the Thirteen Years' War and recovered Pomerania.
A jester, also known as joker, court jester, or fool, was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch employed to entertain guests during royal court. Jesters were also traveling performers who entertained common folk at fairs and town markets, and the discipline continues into the modern day, where jesters perform at historical-themed events.
Maria Karolina Zofia Felicja Leszczyńska, also known as Marie Leczinska, was Queen of France as the wife of King Louis XV from their marriage on 4 September 1725 until her death in 1768. The daughter of Stanislaus I Leszczyński, the deposed King of Poland, and Catherine Opalińska, her 42-years and 9 months service was the longest of any queen in French history. A devout Catholic throughout her life, Marie was popular among the French people for her numerous charitable works and introduced many Polish customs to the royal court at Versailles. She was the grandmother of the French kings Louis XVI, Louis XVIII and Charles X.
Catherine Jagiellon was a princess of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Queen of Sweden from 1569 as the wife of King John III. Catherine had significant influence over state affairs during the reign of her spouse. She negotiated with the pope to introduce Counter-Reformation in Sweden. She was the mother of Sigismund III Vasa.
Józef Boruwłaski was a Polish-born dwarf who was employed by the court and who was also a musician who toured in European and Turkish courts.
Jeffrey Hudson was a court dwarf of the English queen Henrietta Maria of France. He was famous as the "Queen's dwarf" and "Lord Minimus" and was considered one of the "wonders of the age" because of his extreme but well-proportioned smallness. He fought with the Royalists in the English Civil War and fled with the Queen to France but was expelled from her court when he killed a man in a duel. He was captured by Barbary pirates and spent 25 years enslaved in North Africa before being ransomed back to England.
Anna Jagiellon was Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania from 1575 to 1587.
Catherine of Sweden was a Swedish princess and a Countess Palatine of Zweibrücken as the consort of her second cousin John Casimir of Palatinate-Zweibrücken. She is known as the periodical foster-mother of Queen Christina of Sweden and the mother of Charles X of Sweden.
Anna Vasa of Sweden was a Swedish princess heavily involved in the politics of that country and of Poland. She was starosta of Brodnica and Golub. The youngest child of King John III of Sweden and Catherine Jagiellon, she was close to her brother Sigismund Vasa, King of Poland (1587–1632) and King of Sweden (1592–99). Raised a Catholic, Anna converted to Lutheranism in 1584. Though she had several suitors, she remained unmarried.
Catherine of Austria was one of the fifteen children of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. In 1553, she married Polish King Sigismund II Augustus and became Queen consort of Poland and Grand Duchess consort of Lithuania. Their marriage was not happy and they had no children together. After a likely miscarriage in 1554 and a bout of illness in 1558, Sigismund became increasingly distant. He tried but failed to obtain a divorce from the pope. In 1565, Catherine returned to Austria and lived in Linz until her death. Sigismund died just a few months after her, bringing the male line of the Jagiellon dynasty to its end. The dynasty would continue, strictly speaking, for one more reign—that of Sigismund Augustus’ sister, Anna Jagiellon, who was crowned with the male title of Rex Poloniae.
Eleonora Gonzaga, was by birth Princess of Mantua, Nevers and Rethel from the Nevers branch of the House of Gonzaga and was Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Queen consort of Hungary and Bohemia by marriage to Emperor Ferdinand III.
Nicolas Ferry (1741–1764) was a French dwarf who became renowned throughout Europe as the court dwarf of King Stanisław Leszczyński.
The Portrait of Sebastián de Morra is a painting by Diego Velázquez of Sebastián de Morra, a court dwarf and jester at the court of Philip IV of Spain. It was painted around 1644 and is now in the Prado in Madrid. Not much is documented about De Morra's life, other than the fact that he was brought to Spain by Philip IV in 1643 and served the court for six years before his death in 1649. It was not until Velázquez became a court painter that he showed dwarfs with a warmer and naturalistic style compared to previous paintings. De Morra looks directly at the viewer, motionless, making no hand gestures, leading one critic to suggest that the painting represents a denunciation of the court's treatment of de Morra and other dwarfs. Recently discovered inventories and previous documents relating to De Morra reveal that he was also known by a nickname, El Primo.
Eleonora Catherine of the Palatinate-Zweibrücken, was a cousin and foster sister of Queen Christina of Sweden and sister of King Charles X of Sweden. After her brother's accession to the throne (1654), she and her siblings were all considered royal princesses and princes of Sweden. As the wife of Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Eschwege (1617–1655), she was by marriage Landgravine of Hesse-Eschwege, and after her husband's death acted as regent and administrator of his lands (1655–1692).
The Jagiellonian or Jagellonian dynasty, otherwise the Jagiellon dynasty, the House of Jagiellon, or simply the Jagiellons, was the name assumed by a cadet branch of the Lithuanian ducal dynasty of Gediminids upon reception by Jogaila, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, of baptism as Władysław in 1386, which paved the way to his ensuing marriage to the Queen Regnant Jadwiga of Poland, resulting in his ascension to the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland as Władysław II Jagiełło, and the effective promotion of his branch to a royal dynasty. The Jagiellons were polyglots and per historical evidence Casimir IV Jagiellon and his son Saint Casimir possibly were the last Jagiellons who spoke in their patrilineal ancestors Lithuanian language, however even the last patrilineal Jagiellonian monarch Sigismund II Augustus maintained two separate and equally lavish Lithuanian-speaking and Polish-speaking royal courts in Lithuania's capital Vilnius. The Jagiellons reigned in several European countries between the 14th and 16th centuries. Members of the dynasty were Kings of Poland (1386–1572), Grand Dukes of Lithuania, Kings of Hungary, and Kings of Bohemia and imperial electors (1471–1526).
Dorothea Ostrelska also known as Dorota ,Dosieczka, Doska and Dvärginnan Dorothea, was a Polish Court dwarf in service of the queen of Sweden, Catherine Jagiellon.
Maria Bárbola, also known as Mari, Mariabárbola and Mariabárbola Asquín, was a Spanish courtier, foremost known from the famous painting Las Meninas.
Agnieszka, was a Polish Court dwarf in service of Sophia Jagiellon, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg. She was the personal favorite and secretary of Sophia.
Attribution
Media related to Court dwarves at Wikimedia Commons