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Marches, of which Fulco himself had the custody in the time of King Richard. The
Guarines demanded justice of the king, but obtaining no gracious answer, renounced
their allegiance and fled into Britagne. Returning into England, after various conflicts,
"Fulco resortid to one John of Raumpayne, a Sothsayer and Jocular and Minstrelle,
and made hym his spy to Morice at Whitington." The privileges of this character we
have already seen, and John so well availed himself of them, that in consequence of
the intelligence which he doubtless procured, "Fulco and his brethtrene laide waite for
Morice, as he went toward Salesbyri, and Fulco then wounded hym: and Bracy," a
knight, who was their friend and assistant, "cut off Morice['s] hedde." This Sir Bracy
being in a subsequent rencounter sore wounded, was taken and brought to King John;
from whose vengeance he was, however, rescued by this notable minstrel; for "John
Rampayne founde the meanes to cast them, that kepte Bracy, into a deadely slepe; and
so he and Bracy cam to Fulco to Whitington," which on the death of Morice had been
restored to him by the Prince of Wales. As no further mention occurs of the minstrel, I
might here conclude this narrative; but I shall just add, that Falco was obliged to flee
into France, where, assuming the name of Sir Amice, he distinguished himself in justs
and turnaments; and, after various romantic adventures by sea and land, having in the
true style of chivalry rescued "certayne ladies owt of prison," he finally obtained the
king's pardon, and the quiet possession of Whitington Castle.


In the reign of King Henry III. we have mention of Master Ricard, the king's
harper, to whom in his thirty-sixth year (1252) that monarch gave not only forty
shillings and a pipe of wine, but also a pipe of wine to Beatrice his wife[34]. The title
of Magister, or Master, given to this minstrel, deserves notice, and shows his
respectable situation.


V. The Harper, or Minstrel, who was so necessary an attendant on a royal personage,
that Prince Edward (afterwards King Edward I.), in his crusade to the Holy Land, in
1271, was not without his harper, who must have been officially very near his person;
as we are told by a contemporary historian[35] that, in the attempt to assassinate that
heroic prince, when he had wrested the poisoned knife out of the Sarazen's hand, and
killed him with his own weapon; the attendants, who had stood apart while he was
whispering to their master, hearing the struggle, ran to his assistance, and one of them,
to wit, his harper, seizing a tripod, or trestle, struck the assassin on the head and beat
out his brains.[36] And though the prince blamed him for striking the man after he
was dead, yet his near access shows the respectable situation of this officer; and his
affectionate zeal should have induced Edward to entreat his brethren, the Welsh bards,
afterwards with more lenity.


Whatever was the extent of this great monarch's severity towards the
professors of music and of song in Wales; whether the executing by martial law such
of them as fell into his hands was only during the heat of conflict, or was continued
afterwards with more systematic rigour;[37] yet in his own court the minstrels appear
to have been highly favoured; for when, in 1306, he conferred the order of knighthood
on his son and many others of the young nobility, a multitude of minstrels were
introduced to invite and induce the new knights to make some military vow (X).


Under the succeeding reign of King Edward II. such extensive privileges were
claimed by these men, and by dissolute persons assuming their character, that it
became a matter of public grievance, and was obliged to be reformed by an express
regulation in A.D. 1315 (Y). Notwithstanding which, an incident is recorded in the
ensuing year, which shows that minstrels still retained the liberty of entering at will

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