'And His Bald Head Shone Like a Full Moon ...' : an appreciation of the Byzantine sense of humour as recorded in historical sources of the eleventh and twelfth Centuries

'And His Bald Head Shone Like a Full Moon . . . ' : an appreciation of the Byzantine sense of humour as recorded in historical sources of the eleventh and twelfth Centuries An accurate assessment of the details of social reality at any period of Byzantine civilization is a task fraught with difficulty for the historian and one to be undertaken only with caution, in view of the fact that the features of everyday life in the Byzantine Empire are generaUy shrouded in mystery, since its scholars, concerned primarily to display their intimacy with classical culture and artistry in archaizing language, seldom thought them worth recording for posterity.1 Vital for the appreciation of any civilization is an understanding of its amusements and occupations, and particularly of the ways in which the populace and nobility chose to be entertained, and in what modes, written or oral, pubUc or private. A n awareness of the role of humour, and the extent to which it played a part in the lifestyle and attitudes of the Byzantines as a whole, is especiaUy important for an understanding of their society, in which solemnity and dignity of demeanour were clearly defined ideals of behaviour.^ This study will confine itsetf to the eleventh and twelfth centuries, a period for which the historical sources present significant evidence for the Byzantine taste in comic relief, in an attempt to determine the role that professional mimic humour played at court, and the actual jokes and humorous situations, both deliberate and spontaneous, to which the Byzantines at court and in the street are shown by the historians of the period as having responded with laughter or with mockery, as well as the degree to which invective and abuse were, in general, integral constituents of Byzantine humour. It has already been clearly shown that by the eleventh century the formal facilities for public entertainment, which were characteristic of the early Byzantine period, were no longer a feature of the lifestyle of the populace: theatre was moribund well before the time of the Komnenoi, whUe chariot racing was no longer a mass spectator sport, and hippodrome games and performances had been metamorphosed into an pageant staged for the populace on occasions of imperial celebration, and comprised, as well as informal chariot-racing, 'Recent works on the social history of this period include Laiou, Observations on th life and ideology of Byzantine women, BF 9, 1985, 59-102 and eadem. Women; Mango, Daily Life; Michael Angold, ed., The Byzantine Aristocracy DC to XIII Centuries, Oxford, 1984; Kazhdan/Epstein, esp. 1-119; Magdalino, Literary Perception. For the social history of the later Komnenoi, see also Ferdinand Chalandon, Les Comnene, Jean II Comnene et Manuel I Comnene, Paris, 1912; repr. N e w York, 1971, 1-21, 200-38. 2 For previous work on this topic, see especially Kyriakis, Slapstick, 291-306; Guilland, Hippodrome, 289-307. 2 L. Garland acrobatics, and gymnastic contests, farcical humour andribaldslapstick of a kind unlikely to shock any but the most rigorously minded churchman. With the demise of the pantomime in Byzantium, the mime had to all intents and purposes passed into the hands of travelUng bands who performed at fairs and in noble houses, rather than in actual theatres, although jesters and mimic humour continued to fill an important role at court, while the carnival, with its opportunities for buffoonery and masquerade, become the primary amusement of the populace. The amenities provided for the enjoyment of the imperial family by the splendid palaces, imperial gardens and opportunities for leisure and recreation within the capital were noted by many visitors from the West during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, being praised even by those with Uttle cause to admire the Byzantines and their civilization,3 while formal entertainment, both public and private, seems also to have become almost entirely the prerogative of the imperial court and nobility.4 There was much scope at court for indulgence in entertainments and activities of varied kinds, and, apart from the respectable imperial occupations of hunting and polo, historians are at pains to list, whether for praise or blame, the pleasurable preoccupations of emperors from Constantine VIII (1025-8) to Isaac II (1185-95) and Alexios IV (11951203...