a jester of kings Louis XII and Francis I of France. He appears in Book 3 of Francois Rabelais' Pantagrueline chronicles. He appears in Victor Hugo's Le Roi s'amuse and its opera version, Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto, a blend of "Triboulet" and French rigoler (to laugh), intended to deflect the censorship that Hugo's work had received. A triboulet, a jester dressed entirely in red, is a character associated with the carnival of Monthey in Switzerland. Having broken an order from Francis I forbidding Triboulet from making jokes on the queen and her courtiers, the king ordered that he should be put to death. Having served particularly well the king for many years, Francis I granted Triboulet the right to choose the way he would die.
