trouble me the bourdon

Monday 23 February 2015

Well paid minstrels

Another little glimpse into medieval minstrels in Germany comes from the 'Chronicle of Hainaut', describing a feast given by the Emperor Frederic I in 1184, when his sons were knighted: "in their honour many presents were given by them and by all the princes and many nobles to knights, prisoners and crusaders as well as to ioculatores and ioculatrices [i.e., male and female minstrels]... horses, precious clothes, gold and silver".

As well as providing additional evidence of female minstrels, it shows a good standard of payment!

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