Roland the Farter: The Medieval King's Flatulist
In 12th-century England, one man reportedly held an entire manor and its lands in exchange for performing a single, spectacular flatulent act before the king each Christmas. His name was Roland, and his story is one of the strangest footnotes in feudal history.
A Manor Held by Flatulence
Under the reign of King Henry II of England (1154-1189), a man recorded as Roland le Pétour, or Roland the Farter, is said to have held the manor of Hemingstone in Suffolk. What makes his tenure extraordinary is the condition attached to it. Rather than paying rent in coin, crops, or military service, Roland owed a very different kind of duty to the crown. His land was held by a form of feudal arrangement known as serjeanty, in which tenants performed a specific personal service for the king. Most serjeanty duties involved carrying the royal banner, providing horses, or serving at the royal table. Roland's obligation, however, was to entertain the monarch with a performance so peculiar that it has been remembered for more than eight centuries.
The Christmas Performance
According to the surviving records, Roland was required to appear before the king each year on Christmas Day and perform what the medieval Latin described as unum saltum, unum siffletum, et unum bumbulum: one leap, one whistle, and one fart. This combined act of acrobatics, music, and flatulence had to be executed simultaneously or in rapid succession to satisfy the terms of his tenancy. In an age when royal courts prized entertainers of all kinds, from minstrels to jesters, Roland occupied a specialised and undeniably memorable niche. The Christmas timing was significant, as the medieval festive season was a period of feasting, revelry, and licensed foolery, when even the crudest humour found a welcome audience among nobility who might otherwise demand more refined amusements.
Documented in the Royal Records
Remarkably, Roland's flatulent tenure is not merely legend but appears in official English administrative documents. The arrangement is referenced in the Liber Feodorum, commonly known as the Book of Fees, a 13th-century compilation of feudal landholdings and the services owed for them. Later antiquarians, including the historian John Bale in the 16th century, also recorded the tradition, helping to preserve Roland's peculiar legacy. The precise Latin phrasing has been quoted and requoted across centuries of scholarship, which is why we can be confident that this was a genuine, if eccentric, condition of land tenure rather than a bawdy invention. Some accounts suggest the manor was later taken back by the crown, possibly because Edward I or his officials found the arrangement too vulgar for royal dignity, though the details remain debated among historians.
Legacy and Cultural Significance
Roland the Farter stands as a vivid reminder that flatulence humour is nothing new and was openly enjoyed even at the highest levels of medieval society. His story anticipates later professional flatulists such as the 19th-century French performer Le Pétomane, who drew huge crowds at the Moulin Rouge with his controlled expulsions. Roland's tale also illuminates the surprising flexibility of the feudal system, in which land could be held for services ranging from the solemn to the absurd. Modern historians cite him when discussing medieval entertainment, attitudes toward the body, and the sheer variety of serjeanty tenures. Far from being suppressed as shameful, his performance was formalised in law and rewarded with property, revealing a culture more comfortable with bodily comedy than many later, more prudish eras would become.
Did You Know?
- Roland's annual duty was summed up in medieval Latin as a leap, a whistle, and a fart, all performed before the king on Christmas Day.
- His tenure is recorded in the Book of Fees (Liber Feodorum), a genuine 13th-century royal administrative document.
- The manor he held was Hemingstone in Suffolk, granted during the reign of Henry II of England.
- Feudal serjeanty tenures could require services as varied as holding the king's head during rough Channel crossings or, in Roland's case, performing flatulence.
Fun Fact
Roland's official job title translates roughly to 'Roland the Farter', and his single annual performance was legally sufficient rent for an entire estate. In feudal terms, one well-timed fart per year effectively paid the mortgage.
Sources
- Broughton, Bradford B., Dictionary of Medieval Knighthood and Chivalry, Greenwood Press, 1986
- Allen, Valerie, On Farting: Language and Laughter in the Middle Ages, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007
- The Book of Fees (Liber Feodorum), Public Record Office, England, 13th century