The English clown tradition from the middle ages to Shakespeare

Introduction. Unearthing Yoricks : literary archeology and the ideologies of early English clowning

Folly as proto-racism : blackface in the "natural" fool tradition

"Sports and follies against the Pope" : Tudor evangelical lords of misrule

"Verie devout asses" : ignorant Puritan clowns

The fool "by art" : the all-licensed "artificial" fool in the King Lear quarto

Epilogue. License revoked : ending an era.