E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
King Pétaud.
The court of King Pétaud. A kind of Alsatia, where all are talkers with no hearers, all are kings with no subjects, all are masters and none servants. There was once a society of beggars in France, the chief of whom called himself King Pétaud. (Latin, peto, to beg.)
