Village Idiots

Please, please World Sailing, tell me it's not true...

When the Western Roman Empire fell in the 5th Century AD, the Byzantine Empire continued out east, centred around Constantinople, that lasted through to the fall of the city to the Ottoman Empire as late as 1453. During that time, particularly in the early years, useful roles were found for people seen as being in some ways deficient and the term ‘village idiot’ was not only coined but its holders, quite rightly, heralded as worthy and contributing to society in much the same way that a ‘village savant’ - the ‘village genius’ at the other end of the social spectrum was held. The village idiots provided humour, laughter, a unique perspective, and broke up the hum-drum of a daily life that could be both brutal and boring unless you were part of the Roman hierarchy.