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![Clown Bluey's History of Clowns: Jesters: Rahere, Jester to King Henry I and Queen Matilda, early 1100's [Mansell Collection]](http://www.clownbluey.co.uk/albums/Clown-Blueys-History-of-Clowns-images/Rahere_Jester_to_Henry_1st.jpg "Clown Bluey's History of Clowns: Jesters: Rahere, Jester to King Henry I and Queen Matilda, early 1100's [Mansell Collection]")
Clown Bluey's History of Clowns: Jesters: Rahere, Jester to King Henry I and Queen Matilda, early 1100's [Mansell Collection]
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Clown Bluey's History of Clowns: Jesters: Rahere is best remembered for founding a hospital that still exists today! After years of dancing, fiddling and jesting for the amusement of the court, he grew tired of it all and went on a pilgrimage to Rome as penance for his philandering ways. While there, he contracted malaria and he vowed that if his life was spared he would build a hosptal for the poor. Once recovered, he started home, and on the way he saw a vision 'full of dread and sweetness' in which the figure of St Bartholomew appeared. The Saint told Rahere that he was to found a church 'in a suburb of London at Smedfeld' (Smithfield). And so the former jester built a great priory church - of which he was the first prior - and a hospital, both dedicated to St Bartholomew. The Priory was later dissolved by Henry VIII, but the church is still in use today, and 'Barts' Hospital, as it is familiarly known, is one of London's most renowned teaching hospitals. |
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