The Feast of Fools was a popular part of the Christmas festivities from St. Stephen’s Day, December 26th, until December 28th. This time reminded the Christmas revellers of the Christian duty to succour the poor and weak, but was rooted in the pagan tradition of the Lord of Misrule. Derived from festivals such as the Roman Saturnalia, the Feast of Fools turned society briefly upside-down, so that kings could become fools and fools had the license to behave like kings.
The Masque
The masque was a short dramatic entertainment with music, verse and dancing, known for elaborate scenic effects. While professional actors performed in masques, ladies and gentlemen of the court, often including members of the royal family, took part too so that ‘masques were always an elaborate frame for nothing more or less than an aristocratic knees-up’ (David Lindley, Oxford English Drama: Court Masques, 1995, p.x).
Masques were frequently commissioned for important events, especially if royalty were to be among the guests. This meant that both the author and the patron commissioning the work could show loyalty to the crown, so declarations of love and fealty were carefully written in and addressed to the King, on behalf of his subjects.
A Masque by Thomas Campion
On Twelfth Night in 1607, a masque by Thomas Campion was performed for King James at the Palace of Whitehall. Detailed notes survive and offer an idea of the elaborate nature of this form of theatre. The Great Hall of the Palace was arranged with seating on either side and scaffolding for two stages. The lower stage was for dancing and twenty musicians provided the music on lutes, a bandora, a sackbutt, a harpsichord and violins. There were also singers, as well as the actors taking part.
Many Inventions
The scenery had a double veil, so that ‘it seemed as if dark clouds’ hung over a green valley. In the valley were nine golden trees, ‘very glorious to behold’, with the suggestion of hills on either side. There were decorated bowers for the characters Flora and Night and a tree belonging to Diana, the goddess of the Hunt. The set included ‘on wire artificial bats and owls, continually moving, with many other inventions’ (Court Masques, p. 21).
A Masque by Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson’s Christmas His Masque was written and performed for King James and Queen Anne in 1616. The masque opens with the characters offering prayers for the health and safety of royal family and also in the hope that they will like the performance, for ‘If not, old Christmas is undone’ (Court Masques, p. 110), an unconscious and prophetic irony. Christmas festivities were officially abolished in 1647, after Charles I lost his throne in the English Civil War, and not reinstated until the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660. The ill-fated future king was a young boy in 1616 and is mentioned in Jonson’s masque as ‘Your highness small’ (ibid).
Loving Families and Loyal Subjects
The focus on family bonds, the love of the people for their King and the value of traditional customs are at the heart of Jonson’s masque. Christmas presents his children, ‘Carol’, ‘Misrule’, ‘Wassail’, ‘Gambol’ and ‘New Year’s Gift’ to the audience, each reminding the King and the audience of the pleasures of the season. The masque echoes the opening fear that Christmas could be ‘undone’ throughout and the faith in Christmas is clearly shaken by a sense of foreboding.
John Stoye
In his Survey of London in 1603, John Stoye wrote that ‘in the feast of Christmas’ there were once ‘fine and subtle disguisings, masks and mummeries’ and ‘every man’s house […] was decked with whatsoever the season of the year afforded to be green’ (Mansion House, 1917, p.89). While both traditions were still common, they already had a feel of belonging to the past for Stoye who believed that real enthusiasm for Christmas traditions was lost.
A King with a Mission
King James, however, dedicated his court to fending off the gloom of those who saw Christmas as a out-dated festival of idolatry and impious drunkenness. During his reign at least, Christmas was to be celebrated with full honours including the Feast of Fools and the fanciful escape of the masque.
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