Will Somers, Henry VIII’s Favorite Fool
Will Somers is the hero of my novel Under These Restless Skies. He’s a fascinating character to me, because he saw most of the tumultuous events of the Tudor era, and was one of the few people close to Henry VIII who survived until the end. He came to the court of Henry VIII around the time Henry became obsessed with Anne Boleyn, and lived to see the beginning of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. More than a sumple jester, he seems to have served as a confidant to the king, and was the only one able to coax Henry out of his dark moods.
Little is known about Will Somers—sometimes spelled Somer, or Sommers—outside of his life at court. He was brought by Richard Fermor to Henry VIII’s court c. 1525, around the same time when Henry first became enamored with Anne Boleyn. At the time, Will was a young man, in his late teens or early twenties.
Like Richard III, whose skeleton was recently discovered, Will Somers likely suffered from juvenile onset scoliosis. He came to Henry’s court as a young man already afflicted with a “pronounced stoop” and his portrait in the king’s psalter shows one shoulder raised significantly higher than the other. He’s also described as dragging one leg when he walked. Fortunately for him, it does not appear to have worsened, judging by his later portrait with the king and his children. That’s not certain evidence, of course, but he was still able to perform in his latter years.
Will and the king became extremely close. He called the king “Harry,” “Hal,” or “Uncle,” the only person permitted to do so. The feeling of kinship was apparently returned because Will was included in at least three family portraits, and in the king’s personal psalter.
If Will ever married, there’s no record of it. I’ve seen claims that he had a son who was a court official under the rule of James I, but no documentation.
Some scholars disagree with the portrayal of Will Somers as a witty “artificial” fool. Will is mentioned several times in John Heywood’s play Wit and Witless (1525-1530) in which Will is scathingly referred to as “sot Somer,” as an example of those on the witless side. However, the author seems to have resented Will for his closeness with the king, and it cannot be known if this was simply meant as an insulting “joke” at Will’s expense. Thomas Nashe in his play Summer’s Last Will and Testament (1600) gives his character ‘Summer’ the words:
So it is, boni viri, that one fool presents another;
and I, a fool by nature and by art,
do speak to you in the person of
the Idiot, our Playmaker.
Secondly, there is a record from 1551 of a payment to a “keeper,” for Will, which would mean he was unable to take care of his own financial matters, but there are several instances where records seem to confuse Will and Patch, so it cannot be stated for certain the keeper was for Will.
On the converse, there is some contemporary evidence for Will’s wit. In a letter from Sir William Paget to the king in 1545, Paget references one of Will’s clever quips, and in 1553, one of Will’s quotes is used to illustrate a style of puns used in debate in the book Art of Rhetoric by Thomas Wilson.
William Somer, seeing much ado for account-making, and that the King’s Majesty of most worthy memory, Henry the eighth, wanted money such as was due unto him: As please your grace (quoth he) you have so many fraud-iters, so many conveyers, and so many deceivers to get up your money, that they get all to themselves…
Will seems to have acquired a reputation for kindness and generosity to the poor. Robert Armin wrote of him in his 1608 play a Nest of Ninnies:
Lean he was, hollow-eyed, as all report,
And stoop he did too, yet in all the court
Few men were more beloved than was this fool,
Whose merry prate kept with the King much rule.
When he was sad the King with him would rhyme,
Thus Will exiled sadness many a time.
He was a poor man's friend,
And help'd the widow often in the end.
The King would ever grant what he did crave,
For well he knew Will no exacting knave;
But wish'd the King to do good deeds great store,
Which caused the Court to love him more and more.
Perhaps that is why his memory lived on in the popular imagination. He is a character in several 17th century books and plays. In 1676, a biography of him was written:
But this Will Summers was of an easie nature, and tractable disposition, who . . . gained not only grace and favour from his Majesty, but a general love of the Nobility; for he was no carry-tale, nor whisperer, nor flattering insinuater, to breed discord and dissension, but an honest plain down-right, that would speak home without halting, and tell the truth of purpose to shame the Devil; so that his plainness mixt with a kind of facetiousness, and tartness with pleasantness made him very acceptable into the companies of all men.
—A Pleasant History of the Life and Death of Will Summers (Author was anonymous)
It is said that when Henry was in his final illness, Will heard that Richard Fermor had been jailed for taking clothes and some money to an imprisoned priest who had spoken out against the royal Supremacy. Will interceded on Fermor’s behalf and Henry granted him a pardon. After the king's death, some of Fermor’s attained property was restored.
Will remained at court through the short reign of Henry's son, Edward VI, and then the reign of Queen Mary. He was said to be the only person at court who could make Mary Tudor laugh, and during her brief, sad reign, laughter may have been in short supply. She apparently kept him smartly dressed. Her accounts include the following items:
Item, for twelve handkerchevers of Holland for William Sommers our Fole, thre peyre of lynnen hosen for him, two peyre of knit hose, two ounce and a haulf of grene sylk, £ upon a grene coate for hym, and thre dossen of grene buttons.
Item, more for him, haulfe an ounce of blew silke employed upon a coate of blew damaske, one quarter of an ounce of silke for a doublet of canvas, two dossen white buttons for the same doublet, and one ounce and a haulfe of blew and yellow silke employed upon a coat of Blew damaske garded with yellow Wellat.
Item, to John Bridges, Taylor, for making of a gown of purple Damaske, for the Said William Sommer our foole, with thre gardes of yellow Wellat.
Item, for making of a gowne for the said William of Cloth and for making of a gowne of purple damaske for the said William Somer our fool with thre guardes of yellow Wellat.
Item, to Richard Tysdale, Taylor, for making of two grene coates for William Somer our foole, thone garded with vellat, and thother plaine, both lined with cotton, for making of two canvas doublets for him lynedwith Lockram, and for making of a gowne of grene damaske garded with yellow vellat, and for making of a jerkin of same damaske, lykewise garded with yellow vellat.
The clothes weren’t only made for Will.
Item, for three yerdes of Russett clothe to make a gowne for William Sommers his sister
Will’s sister apparently wished to visit him at court, but didn’t have the funds to make a gown suitable enough for her to enter the palace. Mary paid for a new set of clothing so she could come and see her brother.
Will seems to have retired after performing at Elizabeth’s coronation, and moved to Shoreditch, where—it’s believed—he died June 15, 1560. The local church register records the death and burial of William Somers, but the exact location has been lost to the mists of time. he’s commemorated with a plaque in the church.
