The Medieval Minstrel
Life as a Wandering Musician in the Middle Ages
Whether wandering Europe’s towns and countryside, or attached to a glamorous royal court, the life of a minstrel was seen as a desirable one.
Most minstrels were wanderers; travelling from town to town and performing to all classes of people, performing for whoever paid them. One day, a minstrel might play at a local fair, performing before the townspeople, the next he might call in at the town’s castle to provide a few night’s entertainment. As a perpetual traveller, he had many tales to tell and was a source of news and gossip to those he stayed with.
Life as a Medieval Minstrel
The income of a minstrel could be unpredictable, many were paid in kind, receiving food and lodgings in lieu of a cash payment. Others received presents of food or clothing. A minstrel would sometimes supplement his earnings with seasonal work, such as gathering a harvest or sowing crops. Some minstrels travelled in groups, both for safety and to pool their skills in joint performances, which could attract a bigger audience and bring in more money.
Only the wealthiest of households could afford to maintain one or more permanent minstrel. Also, part of the minstrel’s attraction was the fact that he travelled around, picking up new songs and stories as he went. A wise minstrel would adjust his repertoire to suit the audience for whom he was performing. The most adept minstrels could perform in French for a high-class audience and English for ordinary people. The more bawdy songs were suited to a village fair or inn and an audience in a castle or hall would expect more refined tales of courtly love.
The Performances of a Medieval Minstrel
Traditionally, a minstrel performed stories through the medium of song, with the most skilful minstrels memorising lengthy songs which had been handed down the generations. The most popular tales were well known and were requested at feasts and fairs by the audience, who would often join in with the choruses of well-known songs.
The most popular songs and tales of medieval times related to courtly love and the exploits of soldiers and knights. Many such tales were reflected in the work of medieval authors such as Geoffrey Chaucer, who sought to depict popular stories of the age.
Most minstrels were adept musicians and accompanied their songs with instruments such as a lute, harp, flute or fiddle. As the medieval age progressed, the profession of minstrel became more diversified. Minstrels sought to enliven their performances with additions such as trained performing animals, juggling, conjuring and dancing.
Guilds of Medieval Minstrels
The first guilds of minstrels appeared in Paris, during the early fourteenth century. Similar guilds were organised throughout Europe in the centuries which followed. The guilds sought to preserve the arts of the minstrel and to protect the profession against the unskilled performers who attempted to reproduce the acts of minstrels and who provided a poor quality performance, giving genuine minstrels a bad name.
Travelling performers were often viewed with suspicion and could be blamed for crimes, bad luck and even poor weather in an area, during an age of great superstition. Banding together into a guild brought safety in numbers and ensured that richer patrons, such as members of royalty and nobility could choose genuine minstrels via a guild, knowing they would receive good value for money.
The Middle Ages was the golden age for guilds of all types and the profession of the minstrel had all but died out by the seventeenth century. Entertainers did, of course, continue to roam the roads of Europe, but never again would they be received so eagerly as they were in medieval times, when journeys were so difficult and anyone who travelled for a living was greatly admired.
Sources
Mortimer, Ian The Time Travellers Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century [Bodley Head, 2008]
The Minstrel Travelled From Town to Town
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