A funny friar, recorded by Salimbene de Adam, 1280 or so

The pranks of Brother Detesalve of the Order of the Friars Minor.

Yet Brother Detesalve of Florence, a Friar Minor, could have stood up well to John of Vicenza, answering “a fool according to his folly” very well indeed “lest he imagine himself to be wise” [Proverbs 26.5). For he was a great prankster, as Florentines naturally are. Once when visiting the convent of the Dominicans where John of Vicenza was, he accepted lunch only on the condition that they would give him a piece of Brother John’s tunic as a relic. And they did indeed give him a large piece of the tunic. Then after his meal, Detesalve withdrew to relieve his bowels and, afterward, wiped himself with the tunic and threw it down the privy. And then taking a stick, he began to stir up the excrement, shouting,

“Alas, Alas, help me, Brothers! I have lost the relic of a saint in the privy, and I am searching for it.” And just as they bent their heads over the privy holes, he stirred all the harder so that they might receive the full brunt of the stench.

Repulsed by this malodorous mess, they blushed in shame, realizing that they had been fooled by such a prankster.

…

On another occasion when Detesalve was walking in Florence during the winter, he slipped on the ice and fell flat, upon which those great pranksters, the Floren-tines, gathered round him and began to laugh at his expense. And one of them derisively inquired whether he would not like something more underneath him, to which Detesalve retorted, “Yes, your wife.” The gathering of Florentines, far from taking this reply amiss, as one might have expected, commended him, say-ing, “He should be blessed, for he is one of us.” Some people say, however, this incident happened to another Florentine, a Friar Minor named Paul

From another section:

Emperor Frederick was a witty man, who could take jokes at his expense with good humor, as is made clear below.

At times the Emperor used to hold forth jokingly in his close circle of friends, mimicking, for example, the ambassadors from Cremona who stand about lavishing mutual praise on one another as noble, wise, rich, and powerful lords before getting on with the business for which they were sent. Also, the Emperor would listen to the jokes, derision, and insults of the jongleurs and bear them in good humor, sometimes pretending that he did not even hear…

… when he was besieging Brescello, the Emperor asked Villano the names of the war machines called the mangonel and trebuchet which were being used in the siege, and Villano gave them joking names, saying that they were called sbegna and sbegnoinus. Yet the Emperor simply smiled and turned away.

A footnote says it can’t explain:

But I think we get it.

In his Chronicle Salimbene says he’s writing all this for his niece. 50+% is commentary on the Bible, but the gems are great. I went looking because he’s the source for the tales of the eccentricity of Frederick II.