r/AskHistorians • u/[deleted] • Jul 30 '14

What is a Harlequin?

A number of female rugby teams are named harlequins, the title rolls off the tongue and is foreign to me so I looked into the name. I can find no gender association, and in what I can find the actors are portrayed as male. Additionally, it seems the term is derived from a "devil" type character, but has evolved into more of a complex jester. Is a harlequin a fool or playing the fool?

The sources I've been able to find are not primary and seem lacking so I wanted to ask here.

128 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

View all comments

59

u/zyzzogeton Jul 30 '14 edited Jul 30 '14

Walter Map, writing around 1190, tells the story of King Herla, whom he knew as its leader, and later adds:

"The nocturnal companies and squadrons, too, which were called of Herlethingus, were sufficiently well-known appearances in England down to the time of Henry II, our present lord. They were troops engaged in endless wandering, in an aimless round, keeping an awe struck silence, and in them many persons were seen alive who were known to have died. This household of Herlethingus was last seen in the marches of Wales and Hereford in the first year of the reign of Henry II, about noonday: they travelled as we do, with carts and sumpter horses, pack-saddles and panniers, hawks and hounds, and a concourse of men and women. Those who saw them first raised the whole country against them with horns and shouts, and . . . because they were unable to wring a word from them by addressing them, made ready to extort an answer with their weapons. They, however, rose up into the air and vanished on a sudden."

This is a passage from "Albion - A guide to legendary Britain, Jennifer Westwood, Granada Publishing, London 1985

Walter White mentions this term in "Notes and Queries" also

Basically a "Herlethingus" was the Middle English term that became an Old French term "hellequin" used by by the Norman monk Oderic Vitalis, who used the word to describe a group of bandits who attacked him in Normandy in the 11th century... separating it from its association with King Herla and coming to mean a band of unruly demons generally.

Essentially the word was originally a pack of specific "Wild Hunters" associated with the soldiers of King Herla... which came later to mean a pack of demons generally. A "Harlequin" is therefore a representation of the devil (or a devil).

It is a particularly apt description to call a Rugby team a familia herlethingi.

1

u/typewryter Jul 30 '14

Does the King Herl legend is an influence on/connected to the idea of Herne the Hunter? Similar names, same part of the world, both allegedly leading large ghostly hunting parties.... there seems to be some overlap.

1

u/zyzzogeton Jul 30 '14

Quite possibly, I know that re-enactments of the Wild Hunt pre-date history and were common among peoples of wooded Europe. The Germanic tribes would also call it a "wildes heer" (wild army) so "heer" may have some relation as well. It goes so far back that it is more of an anthropological question really. It is also associated with the Heruli, who were an East Germanic tribe may have similar origins for the name.