I’m fascinated by stories of weird folk heroes, and here’s a good one! Who is the person commemorated in the photo above?
In 1718, Count Charles III Phillip of Heidelberg visited the city of Salurn in the Principality of Tyrol, in what is now northern Italy. There he met a button maker named Giovanni Clementi. Clementi was a dwarf (what today might be called a little person), at a time when hiring dwarves as court jesters was big business. And he knew a business opportunity when he saw one: court jestering pays much better than button making. So when Charles invited him to come to Heidelberg, Clementi said yes.
Charles had another job in mind: Heidelberg Castle held the world’s largest wine barrel – the largest then, and the largest still today, 300 years later. Photo below, taken by me on a visit to Heidelberg. Charles gave Clementi the key to the barrel – and with it, a new identity.
The sight of a dwarf three feet high holding the keys to a wine barrel thirty feet high was wildly entertaining to people all over the city and surrounding lands. Clementi loved the fame, and loved the wine. When someone asked him if he wanted a glass of wine, he would respond in Italian, “perché no?,” meaning “why not?” The citizens of Heidelberg heard is as “Perkeo,” and a nickname was born. Italian button maker Giovanni Clementi became German court jester Perkeo, and a legend was born.
Perkeo stayed in Heidelberg the rest of his life, developing a reputation for his love of wine. On his deathbed, he asked for a glass of wine. A servant brought a glass of water instead. Perkeo took a sip and immediately died.