Thomazina Muliercula (died 1603), also known as “Mrs Tamasin” and “Tomasin de Paris”, was an English jester. She was the Court dwarf and jester of queen Elizabeth I of England between 1577 and 1603.[1]
She was presumably from Paris. In 1579, her sister Prudence de Paris is briefly noted in the documents. "Muliercula" was not her surname, but a Latin word for "little woman". She replaced Ippolyta the Tartarian in 1577.[2] As customary for a female jester and court dwarf, she was referred to as "lady-in-waiting". She was evidently able to read and write, since the queen gifted her with pen and paper. She may have practiced embroidery, as she also received knives and shears.[3]
Thomazina is regularly noted in the queen's wardrobe expenses between 1577 and 1603, sometimes as "the woman dwarf".[4] Peter Jonson made her shoes.[5] In 1597, her clothes included fashionable and voluminous farthingale sleeves.[6]
She is sometimes identified in a painting at Penshurst Place formerly attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts. The scene, a volta dance at the French court, is sometimes said to include Elizabeth, Robert Dudley, and Thomazina.[7][8]
References
edit- ^ Carole Levin, Anna Riehl Bertolet, Jo Eldridge Carney, A Biographical Encyclopedia of Early Modern Englishwomen
- ^ Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (Maney, 1998), p. 107.
- ^ Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (Maney, 1998), p. 107.
- ^ Janet Arnold, Lost from her Majesties Back (Wisbech: Daedalus, 1980), nos. 231, 275, 370.
- ^ Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (Maney, 1998), pp. 108, 177, 214.
- ^ Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (Maney, 1998), p. 146.
- ^ "Elizabeth I Dancing La Volta – A Scandalous Painting", Tudor Travel Guide
- ^ Barbara Ravelhofer, 'Dancing at the Court of Elizabeth', Christa Jansohn, Queen Elizabeth I: Past and Present (Münster 2004), p. 110.