He held land from the English Crown on one unforgettable condition: every Christmas, he had to perform “one jump, one whistle, and one fart” before the king. Roland the Farter’s strange duty was no tavern joke—it was a recorded act of feudal service that shows how ceremony, humour, and power could share the same royal stage.
By Lorris Chevalier
Roland the Farter (also known as Roland le Petour) was a twelfth-century entertainer at the royal court of England. According to the Liber Feodorum (Book of Fees), he held the manor of Hemingstone in Suffolk and 110 acres of land by serjeanty, in return for performing a single annual act before the king at Christmas: “one jump, one whistle, and one fart.”
Despite his absurd epithet, Roland is firmly attested in the Liber Feodorum, an official register of feudal tenures compiled under the Plantagenet kings. There, he appears not as a mythic fool, but as a landholder of substance, bound to the Crown by an act of serjeanty.
His service was unique: each year, at the royal Christmas feast, Roland was to perform unum saltum et siffletum et unum bumbulum: a jump, a whistle, and a fart. Far from mere jest, this contractual act situates Roland within the legal and cultural fabric of twelfth-century England, when bodily humour could coexist with royal ceremony.
The King’s Farter
Both Henry I and Henry II used royal feasts—especially Christmas celebrations—as important political and social events that reinforced the king’s authority and fostered loyalty among the nobility. These occasions combined solemn ceremonial functions with festive entertainment, where performances like Roland’s played a distinct role. Rather than casual amusement, Roland’s “one jump, one whistle, and one fart” was a formalised and official service, executed simul et semel (“simultaneously and only once”) as part of the feudal obligations owed to the Crown.
Christmas at the English court was a major event, blending piety, entertainment, and political theatre. The festivities included banquets, gift-giving, and performances by musicians, jesters, and other entertainers, who provided amusement while also reinforcing social hierarchies. These entertainments were carefully regulated, as the king maintained strict control over court protocol and the roles of his servants.
Performers like Roland occupied a unique place in this setting. Their acts were not merely for amusement but were woven into the fabric of feudal obligation and royal authority. Roland’s singular and formalised performance reflects the distinctive nature of Henry II’s court, where even humour was a deliberate expression of loyalty and power.
The Book of Fees confirms that Roland’s service was recognised by 1159, when Henry II ratified the alienation of his fee. However, the date leaves open the possibility that Roland first performed under Henry I (r. 1100–1135). Some later chronicles indeed suggest that Henry I was so delighted by Roland’s act that he rewarded him with a house and ninety-nine acres in Suffolk.
Roland’s fame derived from a single, formalised performance rather than recurring entertainment. This distinction marks Roland not as a random jester but as a court professional operating under the terms of feudal obligation.
Serjeanty and Feudal Tenure
Serjeanty (servitium per serjanciam) denoted a form of tenure conditional upon rendering a personal service to the monarch distinct from knight-service. In our case, Liber Feodorum records:
Seriantia que quondam fuit Rollandi le Pettour in Hemingeston in comitatu Suff’, pro qua debuit facere die natali Domini coram domino rege unum saltum et siffletum et unum bumbulum.
The serjeanty which formerly was held by Roland the Farter in Hemingstone, Suffolk, for which he was bound to perform every year on the Lord’s Nativity before the king one jump, one whistle, and one fart.
Roland’s holding comprised Hemingstone manor and 110 acres, roughly the area of one hide. For perspective, a wealthy freeholder might possess thirty acres, while a cottager held five. The reward was therefore a “handsome and generous” fee, which is proof that Roland’s service, however indecorous, was valued materially, just as military tenure was.
Roland’s holding at Hemingstone manor, approximately the size of one hide, was significantly larger than the typical freeholder’s thirty acres and vastly exceeded the five acres usually held by a cottager, making it a notably generous reward that placed him materially closer to lesser nobles than to common peasants.
Following Roland’s death, Hemingstone manor passed to his son Hubert de Afleton. Under Richard I (r. 1189–1199), Hubert’s son Jeffrey held the estate; in 1205 it was possessed by Alexander de Brompton and his wife Agnes, sister and heir of Jeffrey. The inheritance thus continued within Roland’s line for at least half a century, suggesting that his tenure, though founded on jest, was fully legitimate under feudal law.
Language and Etymology
The linguistic forms of Roland’s name—le Fartere, le Pettour, le Petour, le Sarcere—illustrate the multilingual nature of twelfth-century England. Latin, Anglo-Norman French, and early Middle English coexisted within royal administration. Pettour derives from Old French peteor (from Latin peditum, “to break wind”).
The Latin bumbulum, used in the Book of Fees, was a comic or onomatopoeic term for a fart, found also in medieval glossaries. The French variant un saut, un pet, et un souflet in later retellings preserves the triadic rhythm of the Latin original.
These linguistic traces show how Roland’s act was simultaneously legal, performative, and lexical and became a convergence of bodily humour and bureaucratic Latin.
Farters and Entertainers in the Medieval World
Roland’s profession was not unique. The Tech Midchúarda, a twelfth-century diagram of the royal banqueting hall at Tara (Ireland), depicts farters among other entertainers, jesters, horn-blowers, and jugglers. This evidence places Roland within a wider Celtic and Anglo-Norman tradition of bodily performance, where sound, rhythm, and laughter were integral to ritual and hierarchy.
The fart, in this context, was not purely vulgar but symbolic: an inversion of decorum that reinforced social boundaries by playfully transgressing them in the king’s presence.
Dr Lorris Chevalier, who has a Ph.D. in medieval literature, is a historical advisor for movies, including The Last Duel and Napoleon. Click here to view his website.
He held land from the English Crown on one unforgettable condition: every Christmas, he had to perform “one jump, one whistle, and one fart” before the king. Roland the Farter’s strange duty was no tavern joke—it was a recorded act of feudal service that shows how ceremony, humour, and power could share the same royal stage.
By Lorris Chevalier
Roland the Farter (also known as Roland le Petour) was a twelfth-century entertainer at the royal court of England. According to the Liber Feodorum (Book of Fees), he held the manor of Hemingstone in Suffolk and 110 acres of land by serjeanty, in return for performing a single annual act before the king at Christmas: “one jump, one whistle, and one fart.”
Despite his absurd epithet, Roland is firmly attested in the Liber Feodorum, an official register of feudal tenures compiled under the Plantagenet kings. There, he appears not as a mythic fool, but as a landholder of substance, bound to the Crown by an act of serjeanty.
His service was unique: each year, at the royal Christmas feast, Roland was to perform unum saltum et siffletum et unum bumbulum: a jump, a whistle, and a fart. Far from mere jest, this contractual act situates Roland within the legal and cultural fabric of twelfth-century England, when bodily humour could coexist with royal ceremony.
The King’s Farter
Both Henry I and Henry II used royal feasts—especially Christmas celebrations—as important political and social events that reinforced the king’s authority and fostered loyalty among the nobility. These occasions combined solemn ceremonial functions with festive entertainment, where performances like Roland’s played a distinct role. Rather than casual amusement, Roland’s “one jump, one whistle, and one fart” was a formalised and official service, executed simul et semel (“simultaneously and only once”) as part of the feudal obligations owed to the Crown.
Christmas at the English court was a major event, blending piety, entertainment, and political theatre. The festivities included banquets, gift-giving, and performances by musicians, jesters, and other entertainers, who provided amusement while also reinforcing social hierarchies. These entertainments were carefully regulated, as the king maintained strict control over court protocol and the roles of his servants.
Performers like Roland occupied a unique place in this setting. Their acts were not merely for amusement but were woven into the fabric of feudal obligation and royal authority. Roland’s singular and formalised performance reflects the distinctive nature of Henry II’s court, where even humour was a deliberate expression of loyalty and power.
The Book of Fees confirms that Roland’s service was recognised by 1159, when Henry II ratified the alienation of his fee. However, the date leaves open the possibility that Roland first performed under Henry I (r. 1100–1135). Some later chronicles indeed suggest that Henry I was so delighted by Roland’s act that he rewarded him with a house and ninety-nine acres in Suffolk.
Roland’s fame derived from a single, formalised performance rather than recurring entertainment. This distinction marks Roland not as a random jester but as a court professional operating under the terms of feudal obligation.
Serjeanty and Feudal Tenure
Serjeanty (servitium per serjanciam) denoted a form of tenure conditional upon rendering a personal service to the monarch distinct from knight-service. In our case, Liber Feodorum records:
Seriantia que quondam fuit Rollandi le Pettour in Hemingeston in comitatu Suff’, pro qua debuit facere die natali Domini coram domino rege unum saltum et siffletum et unum bumbulum.
The serjeanty which formerly was held by Roland the Farter in Hemingstone, Suffolk, for which he was bound to perform every year on the Lord’s Nativity before the king one jump, one whistle, and one fart.
Roland’s holding comprised Hemingstone manor and 110 acres, roughly the area of one hide. For perspective, a wealthy freeholder might possess thirty acres, while a cottager held five. The reward was therefore a “handsome and generous” fee, which is proof that Roland’s service, however indecorous, was valued materially, just as military tenure was.
Roland’s holding at Hemingstone manor, approximately the size of one hide, was significantly larger than the typical freeholder’s thirty acres and vastly exceeded the five acres usually held by a cottager, making it a notably generous reward that placed him materially closer to lesser nobles than to common peasants.
Following Roland’s death, Hemingstone manor passed to his son Hubert de Afleton. Under Richard I (r. 1189–1199), Hubert’s son Jeffrey held the estate; in 1205 it was possessed by Alexander de Brompton and his wife Agnes, sister and heir of Jeffrey. The inheritance thus continued within Roland’s line for at least half a century, suggesting that his tenure, though founded on jest, was fully legitimate under feudal law.
Language and Etymology
The linguistic forms of Roland’s name—le Fartere, le Pettour, le Petour, le Sarcere—illustrate the multilingual nature of twelfth-century England. Latin, Anglo-Norman French, and early Middle English coexisted within royal administration. Pettour derives from Old French peteor (from Latin peditum, “to break wind”).
The Latin bumbulum, used in the Book of Fees, was a comic or onomatopoeic term for a fart, found also in medieval glossaries. The French variant un saut, un pet, et un souflet in later retellings preserves the triadic rhythm of the Latin original.
These linguistic traces show how Roland’s act was simultaneously legal, performative, and lexical and became a convergence of bodily humour and bureaucratic Latin.
Farters and Entertainers in the Medieval World
Roland’s profession was not unique. The Tech Midchúarda, a twelfth-century diagram of the royal banqueting hall at Tara (Ireland), depicts farters among other entertainers, jesters, horn-blowers, and jugglers. This evidence places Roland within a wider Celtic and Anglo-Norman tradition of bodily performance, where sound, rhythm, and laughter were integral to ritual and hierarchy.
The fart, in this context, was not purely vulgar but symbolic: an inversion of decorum that reinforced social boundaries by playfully transgressing them in the king’s presence.
Dr Lorris Chevalier, who has a Ph.D. in medieval literature, is a historical advisor for movies, including The Last Duel and Napoleon. Click here to view his website.
Click here to read more from Lorris Chevalier
Top Image: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, MS 404, fol. 134r
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