The 13th century has been labeled the golden age of the jongleur, when he was both
respected and admired. Handsome rewards accruing to some attracted recruits from
among artisans and peasantry, sometimes including women. Jongleurs amused the
common folk by enlivening their fairs, saints’ days, and other popular events. Occasions
to seek their services abounded: return from battle, dubbing of knights, marriages,
funerals. Along with their tales, songs, and acrobatics, they brought dancing, to the
consternation of moralists. Jongleurs were often consid-ered a necessary touch of
elegance in aristocratic courts. They traveled from castle to castle seeking hospitality and
employment. Those permanently hired in the courts were called ménéstrels. Typically,
the court was seated around the banquet table, and as the meal began a jongleur might
recite a romance or announce the serving of the courses. But these were preludes to the
core of the contribution, which came after dinner with instrumental music, community
singing, and acting.
Jongleurs were rarely paid with money. Their salary consisted above all of food and
drink, after which ranked clothing. A lord and his guests occasionally would shower the
performers with rich gifts in order to outdo each other. Only then could a jongleur pay off
the debts he had accumulated at the tavern or satisfy his family with capon and wine.
In the 15th century, the jongleur art broke up into specialties. Lower status came to
those who emphasized acrobatics and prestidigitation; musicians and poets rose in
prestige.
John L.Grigsby
[See also: CHANSON DE GESTE; MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS]
Faral, Edmond. Les jongleurs en France au moyen âge. Paris: Champion, 1910.
JORDAN FANTOSME
(fl. late 12th c.). Author of an Anglo-Norman verse chronicle of some 2,065 lines
recounting the barons’ revolt against King Henry II Plantagenêt and the incursions into
northern England of William the Lion’s Scottish irregulars in 1173–74. Most likely, he
should be identified with the Jordanus Fantasma who was a pupil of Gilbert of Poitiers in
Paris and a clerk at Winchester. Jordan, writing in late 1174 or 1175, is an important
contemporary witness to the events described, particularly on the Scottish front. Jordan’s
Chronicle is preserved in two manuscripts, Durham Cathedral Library C. iv. 27 and
Lincoln Cathedral Library 104. The poem is divided into 217 laisses; the versification is
both experimental and highly original.
William W.Kibler
[See also: ANGLO-NORMAN LITERATURE; HISTORIOGRAPHY; GILBERT OF
POITIERS]
Jordan Fantosme. Jordan Fantosme’s Chronicle, ed. and trans. Ronald Carlyle Johnston. Oxford:
Clarendon, 1981.
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