Chicot
French jester
Chicot (c. 1540–1591), real name Jean-Antoine d'Anglerais, was the jester of King Henry III of France and later Henry IV. He spoke with the king without formalities.
Biography
Chicot was born in Gascony in 1540. He had a strong military background, he served as a soldier under Honorat II of Savoy. He then served as a jester under King Henry III of France and then later Henry IV of France. He was the only known jester who led an active political and military life; he was allowed to carry a rapier, and he was also known for his skill with the blade.
This is how John L. Motley in his work History of the United Netherlands From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Years' Truce, 1609 describes his death during the campaign of 1591 of Henry IV against the army of Catholic League: 'They [i.e. Leaguers] were closely followed by Henry at the head of his cavalry, and lively skirmishes were of frequent occurrence. In a military point of view none of these affairs were of consequence, but there was one which partook at once of the comic and the pathetic. For it chanced that in a cavalry action of more than common vivacity the Count Chaligny found himself engaged in a hand-to-hand conflict with a very dashing swordsman, who, after dealing and receiving many severe blows, at last succeeded in disarming the count and taking him prisoner.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 16, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q4523750. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1540, 1591 and 1609.
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This entry incorporates text from “Chicot” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.