Minstrels :: essays research papers

Minstrels   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Minstrels, or traveling thespians, thrived throughout Europe in medieval times. The term minstrel referred to a professional entertainer of any kind from the 12th century to the 17th century. Minstrels were instrumentalist, but were also often jugglers, acrobats, and storytellers. Although minstrels no longer exist, they played an important role in medieval history and, at one time, could be found, in one form or another, throughout the entire continent of Europe.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Different countries had different names for minstrels. In Germany, they were called minnesingers. In France, they were known as troubadours and joungleurs. The Scandinavian minstrels were called skalds. The Irish called their minstrels bards, while the English minstrels were referred to as scops.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Minstrels were primarily singers and musicians. These wandering performers were also story tellers, jugglers, clowns, and tumblers. Often minstrels were an important part of prominent house holds providing entertainment for the upper class of society. Those minstrels who were not part of a noble's homestead, traveled from town to town providing entertainment not only to noble classes but also to common village folk as well.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There were not many forms of entertainment, nor was there a means for people to learn about news events. There was no television or radio in medieval times. Even books were very scarce. Minstrels served to entertain the public. They made up songs, stories, and repeated ballads and folk tales popular during this time. Traveling from town to town minstrels were also a source of news. This would share information with the townspeople of the village. The townspeople would share this news with the minstrels who would then share this news with the townspeople in the next village in which they performed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Each country in medieval Europe had their own type of minstrel. Each, while similar in their general role of entertainer, they were different in many ways. Troubadour's, French minstrels, flourished in from the 11th century through the 13th century. Troubadours were found in the southern part of France. The troubadours were among the first minstrels to use their native tongue rather than Latin. The Latin language was considered the literary language of the middle ages. There were approximately 400 troubadours who were known to have lived. The majority of them were nobles and some were even kings (Microsoft Encarta 96 Encyclopedia.)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Originally troubadours sang their poems, later they were accompanied by jongleurs who played musical instruments. The musical instruments the jongleurs played were the fiddle and the lute. The subject of their songs were based on topics such as love ,politics, religion, war, and death. Approximately 400 melodies and 4000 poems have been preserved from medieval troubadours (Microsoft