Chalamala

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Chalamala († 1349 or later, exact dates unknown) was a late medieval mime from the Freiburg / Friborg region in what is now Switzerland .

Chalamala is as a figure from today's Gruyères FR , both a legend and a historically proven personality from the 14th century, possibly he was court jester of Count Peter IV.

Legend

Poster for the performance of Louis Thurler's Volksoper in Bulle, around 1910

As a mythical figure, Chalamala embodies with his pranks the happy, allegedly the Provencal or even oriental lifestyle orientated Grafism. Legend has it that the cows were as fat as houses and that their milk filled entire ponds. A shepherd who was blown over by a gust of wind while milking was found days later as a corpse in the barrel of milk that he had beaten to butter in desperation to die. The name of the court jester is said to come from the word chalumeau , shawm or flute. The derivation from the Arabic greeting Salem Aleikum is also being considered, but has not been proven.

The character of Chalamala has inspired a number of storytellers and stimulated plays.

testament

He has documented himself as a historical personality in a single text, a will, in which, as a mime, he neatly distributed his property to his wife Raynalda, but also to a mime from Aarburg . It is dated May 25, 1349. It is one of the rare testimonies to a court jester in what is now Switzerland.

On the main street in Gruyères there is a house attributed to Chalamala, decorated with mask ornaments, but actually built after the death of the historical court jester.

literature

  • Marc Alex Bovet & Eugène Reichlin: Legends de la Gruyère Zurich 1913.
  • François Reichlen: Le testament de Girard dit Chalamala, Bouffon du Comté de Gruyère Pierre IV . Friborg 1910.
  • Louis Thurler: Chalamala, Comédie lyrique en 3 actes (Musique de Emile Lauber), Estavayer-le-Lac 1910.

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated December 8, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.williwottreng.ch
  2. ↑ cf. Nicolas Morard , "Le testament de Girard Chalamala", in La Gruyère in le miroir de son patrimoine, 5 vol., Dir. Christophe Mauron, Isabelle Raboud-Schülé, Genève, 2012, ici t. 3: Pouvoir et territoire, p. 27.
  3. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated August 31, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gruyeres.ch
personal data
SURNAME Chalamala
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss late medieval mime (Friborg region)
DATE OF BIRTH 13th century or 14th century
DATE OF DEATH after 1349