Jackanapes

[MASCARO at humnet.ucla.edu]

John Boylan informs:
>
>  Jackanapes means tame ape or monkey.
>
So I just learned from my battered old WEBSTER'S NINTH NEW COLLEGIATE.  The 
whole entry is interesting, though:

jackanapes: n [ME Jack Napis, nickname for William de la Pole  +1450 duke of Suffolk]
(1522) 1: Monkey, ape 2. a: an impudent or conceited fellow b: a saucy or mischievous 
child.

It doesn't mention *tame.*  But I never even knew the word had any simian overtones.  
I've certainly never seen it used that way.  And from its origins, it remains even more 
mysterious.  Who's got their OED handy?  How did the monkey part come into being?  
Who knows anything about the *historical* William de la Pole (nice name that, sez Molly 
Bloom)?  I would have assumed he was an impudent conceited fellow--that's certainly 
what I thought the word meant when I used it--and that would be that, except this gives to 
the ape the first entry.  A-and what does *Napis* mean?  Any help?

john in linguistic limbo

BTW, ya'll missed my favorite literary inversion:  Ishmael, call me.