Court Jester's or Fools, were a very important part of Medieval life in the UK. If you look at films depicting Court Jesters, it gives you only a snippet of their lives. Some were lucky in that they were employed by royals but this also held a more negative side, as in they would have to go to battlefields with their master. The purpose of this would be for the COurt Jester to give messages between the leaders of opposing sides. This could be very dangerous for them as their messages would be unwelcomed and they would often pay with their lives. Court Jester's were also talented musicians, acrobats and performers, but who would tell jokes about political happenings so again, this could lead to them being killed by those they joked about
The very last Court Jester was a man called Dicky Pearce. His master was the Earl of Suffolk and Dicky Pearce was working at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire.
In 1728, he was performing in the castle from the minstrel gallery, where he was either pushed or fell by accident, and was pronounced dead. It was known that Dicky Pearce had made jokes about one of the guests of Lord Berkley so this leaves doubt as to whether his fall was an accident or someone wanting revenge on being on the receiving end of Dicky Pearce's jokes? People speculated on the cause of his death but it will now never be known.
Lord Berkley had the highest respect for poor Dicky Pearce so had him buried at the local church St. Mary in Berkley, Gloucestershire.
