The Entertainers of the Medieval Times
The name ‘minstrel’ means a ‘ little servant’. The minstrels can be described as one of an order of men who earned a living by the arts of poetry and music and sang verses to the accompaniment of a lute, harp or other instruments. There were two main types of medieval musicians- the Minstrels and the Troubadours. A minstrel was a servant first employed as traveling entertainer and then as a castle or court musician or medieval bard.
Medieval minstrels often created their own ballads but they were also famous for memorising long poems based on myths and legends which were called ‘chansons de geste’.
Music was a large part of life in the Middle Ages. It was played during holidays and special parties, weddings, and birthdays. The music for weddings and Valentines Day was called chivaree. The instruments used were recorders, horns, trumpets, whistles, bells, drums, and harps. People also ate to music during the meals and between courses. It was thought that music helped with the digestion of food. On Mayday dancers would dance to special prepared music and by doing so the hibernating spirits would wake up bringing on spring.
The medieval minstrels performed courtly love poems and songs. Courtly love was published in the poems, ballads, writings and literary works of various Medieval authors and sung by wandering minstrels.
Geoffrey Chaucer, the most famous medieval author of the times, wrote stories about Courtly Love and were expected to memorize the words of long poems describing the valour and the code of chivalry followed by the medieval knights.
The first German minstrels were called minnesingers. These were primarily wandering poet-musicians. The word minnesinger means love singer. The meistersingers began in the late middle ages, attempting to revive the older minstrel art of the minnesingers. From 1200 to 1400 the meistersingers began to develop rules for the composition of songs and even had schools to teach the art of being a meistersinger. Like music schools today, meistersingers had to study and pass exams before being considered a meistersinger. The Celtic lands of
Ireland, Scotland , and Wales also had their minstrels called bards. Bards were professional poets who sang about heroic accomplishments and national pride. They accompanied themselves with harps. Their chief form of expression was poetic alliteration or rhyme. By the 1700’s the bards were no longer popular. Today bards are often seen and heard at folk festivals. The decline of minstrels was due to that of modernization. The printing press created newspapers, books, and other media, so the need for minstrels simply depleted.
In the Early Middle Ages, bards wore very much the same clothes other people of their station did, which is to say, usually they dressed like peasants of whatever area they were in, very simply and with very little view to looking at all fancy. Their garment in Britain, for example, would have been made of wool, and would have included trousers and simple shirts, or a one piece garb.
"Minstrels+From+the+Middle+Ages - Bing Images." Minstrels+From+the+Middle+Ages - Bing Images. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2014.
"Minstrels." Medieval. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
"Minstrels." Minstrels. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2014.
The name ‘minstrel’ means a ‘ little servant’. The minstrels can be described as one of an order of men who earned a living by the arts of poetry and music and sang verses to the accompaniment of a lute, harp or other instruments. There were two main types of medieval musicians- the Minstrels and the Troubadours. A minstrel was a servant first employed as traveling entertainer and then as a castle or court musician or medieval bard.
Medieval minstrels often created their own ballads but they were also famous for memorising long poems based on myths and legends which were called ‘chansons de geste’.
Music was a large part of life in the Middle Ages. It was played during holidays and special parties, weddings, and birthdays. The music for weddings and Valentines Day was called chivaree. The instruments used were recorders, horns, trumpets, whistles, bells, drums, and harps. People also ate to music during the meals and between courses. It was thought that music helped with the digestion of food. On Mayday dancers would dance to special prepared music and by doing so the hibernating spirits would wake up bringing on spring.
The medieval minstrels performed courtly love poems and songs. Courtly love was published in the poems, ballads, writings and literary works of various Medieval authors and sung by wandering minstrels.
Geoffrey Chaucer, the most famous medieval author of the times, wrote stories about Courtly Love and were expected to memorize the words of long poems describing the valour and the code of chivalry followed by the medieval knights.
The first German minstrels were called minnesingers. These were primarily wandering poet-musicians. The word minnesinger means love singer. The meistersingers began in the late middle ages, attempting to revive the older minstrel art of the minnesingers. From 1200 to 1400 the meistersingers began to develop rules for the composition of songs and even had schools to teach the art of being a meistersinger. Like music schools today, meistersingers had to study and pass exams before being considered a meistersinger. The Celtic lands of
Ireland, Scotland , and Wales also had their minstrels called bards. Bards were professional poets who sang about heroic accomplishments and national pride. They accompanied themselves with harps. Their chief form of expression was poetic alliteration or rhyme. By the 1700’s the bards were no longer popular. Today bards are often seen and heard at folk festivals. The decline of minstrels was due to that of modernization. The printing press created newspapers, books, and other media, so the need for minstrels simply depleted.
In the Early Middle Ages, bards wore very much the same clothes other people of their station did, which is to say, usually they dressed like peasants of whatever area they were in, very simply and with very little view to looking at all fancy. Their garment in Britain, for example, would have been made of wool, and would have included trousers and simple shirts, or a one piece garb.
"Minstrels+From+the+Middle+Ages - Bing Images." Minstrels+From+the+Middle+Ages - Bing Images. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2014.
"Minstrels." Medieval. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
"Minstrels." Minstrels. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2014.