Where Did the Harlequin Come From?

Harlequins are associated with bright diamond shapes and with ballet and pantomime characters from the Commedia dell'Arte tradition. With stylish half-masks and tight-fitting costumes, harlequins really stand out from the crowd with their fancy dress. Their lively character appears in modern pantomimes and in operas such as Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci," but harlequins have origins that suggest anything but comedy.

Italian

The harlequin of the sixteenth century Italian Commedia dell'Arte was a comic, almost buffoonish character, slow-witted but very agile. Audiences loved them because other actors used just gestures, but harlequins embellished their performances with impromptu cartwheels, backflips and other gymnastic feats. "Harlequin" is "arlecchino" in Italian, from the Latin "herculinus," or "little Hercules." Illustrations of arlecchinos date back to 1572.

French

Further back, in Medieval France, herlequins--or "hellequins" in Old French--led a band of demons across the sky. They rode ghostly horses in the night and frightened the superstitious peasants. This was probably the same as the Old English Herla Cyning, or Herla the King, linked with the Norse god Woden, or Wotan. Derivations point to the wicked Ellerkonge, or King of the Elves, the Erlkonig of the Goethe poem.

Ninth Century

Harlequins are sometimes associated with the (possibly wicked) Herrequin, or Hernequin, founder of the ninth century dynasty of the Counts of Boulogne. He was the son of Ragnhart and married Bertha of Ponthieu around 850 A.D.

Development

In the mid-sixteenth century, according to the "Encyclopedia Britannica," the Harlequin was a zanni (lower class and comic), and he was weak, impressionable and poor. By the early seventeenth century, the harlequin character had matured into a faithful servant with many of his master's virtues. Harlequin came to England--and was incorporated into the country's pantomime tradition--after the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, when Charles II's exile in Europe ended and Commedia dell'Arte troupes followed his court back across the English Channel, according to historian David Mayer. The foremost English harlequin, John Rich, gave the character a comic rowdiness quality.

Costume

Harlequins were not always dressed in bright diamond shapes. According to "Encyclopedia Britannica," the costumes originally consisted of a peasant shirt and long trousers with bright patches. It later developed into the familiar tight-fitting costume with triangle- and diamond-shaped decorations. He held a batte, or slapstick, and his half-mask was black with large, raised eyebrows. The harlequin character gave rise to the English word meaning "particolored," which was added to the language in 1779.

References

• Harlequin Folklore
• Harlequin Word Derivation
• Britannica: Harlequin