The life of WILL SOMMER. History of the Tudors. How disabled people were treated in the past. Jester

The story of WILL SOMMER (also called Will Sommers), who was Henry VIII’s court jester and later worked for his children, provides a unique perspective on the history of the Tudors and may help to illuminate how disabled people were treated in the past, though Will’s possible physical and/or mental challenges are not made explicitly clear by contemporary sources. One of the most famous ‘court fools’ in English history, there are several pictures and paintings of Will Sommer and Henry VIII, as well as other members of the Tudor royal family and his name appears in royal financial accounts over the course of a couple of decades. Who was Will Sommer though and where did he come from? What do we really know about his life, his time at court and his eventual death?
In this Tudor history documentary from History Calling, we go back to the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I to uncover the life of Will Sommer. I will use the pictures of this well-known figure at the Tudor court to explain what Will Sommer looked like and what possible physical disabilities he may have had. I will use the written records to explain how he was treated and consider whether or not he had any kind of mental issues. We will also look at later stories told about him in the seventeenth century, long after his death in 1560 and consider how they have influenced what we know about Will Sommer, or rather, what we think we know.
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