nostri Angliæ, finxerunt se fore Ministrallos, quorum aligui Liberatam nostram eis
minime datam portarent, seipsos etiam fingentes esseMinstrallos nostros proprios,
cuius quidem Liberatæ ac dictæ artis sive occupationis Ministrallorum colore, in
diversis partibus regni nostri prædicti grandes pecuniarum exactiones de ligeis nostris
deceptive colligunt," &c.
Abuses of this kind prevailed much later in Wales, as appears from the famous
Commission issued out in 9 Eliz. (1567), for bestowing the SILVER HARP on the
best Minstrel, Rythmer, or Bard, in the principality of North Wales; of which a fuller
account will be given below in note (BB3).
(Z)It is thus related by Stow.] See his Survey of London, &c., fol. 1633, p. 521. [Acc.
of Westm. Hall.] Stow had this passage from Walsingham's Hist. Ang... "Intravit
quædam mulier ornata Histrionali habitu, equum bonum insidens Histrionaliter
phaleratum, quæ mensas more Histrionum circuivit; et tandem ad Regis mensam per
gradus ascendit, et quandam literam corum rege posuit, et retracto fræno (salutatis
ubique discumbentibus) prout venerat ita recessit," &c.-- Anglia Norm. Script. &c.,
Franc., 1603, fol. p. 109.
It may be observed here, that Minstrels and others often rode on horseback up
to the royal table, when the kings were feasting in their great halls.
The answer of the porters (when they were afterwards blamed for admitting
her) also deserves attention: "Non esse moris domus regieHistrionesab ingressu
quomodolibet prohibere," &c. Walsingh.
That Stow rightly translated the Latin wordHistriohere byMinstrel, meaning
a musician that sung, and whose subjects were stories of chivalry, admits of easy
proof; for in theGesta Romanorumchap. cxi., Mercury is represented as coming to
Argus in the character of a Minstrel; when he "incepit, more Histrionico, fabulas
dicere, et plerumque cantare."-- T. Warton, iii. p. li. And Muratori cites a passage in
an old Italian chronicle, wherein mention is made of a stage erected at Milan:--"Super
quoHistriones cantabant, sicut modo cantatur de Rolando et Oliverio."--Antick Ital.
ii. p. 6. (Observ. on the Statutes, 4th Edit. p. 362.)
See also notes (E), and (F)
(AA)There should seem to have been women of this profession.] This may be inferred
from the variety of names appropriated to them in the Middle Ages, viz. Anglo-Sax.
Llithmedhen [Gleemaiden], &c., glythiendhemadhen, glythbythenestra (vide supra,
Note (H)), Fr.Jengleresse, Med. Lat.Joculatrix, Ministralissa, Fœmina Ministeralis,
&c.-- Vide Du Cange, Gloss. and Suppl.
See what is said above concerning the "Sisters of the fraternity of Minstrels;"
see also a passage quoted by Dr. Burney (ii. 315) from Muratori, of the Chorus of
women singing through the streets accompanied with musical instruments, in 1268.
Had the female described by Walsingham been aTombestere, or Dancing-
woman (see Tyrwhitt's Chaucer, iv. 307, and v. Gloss.), that historian would probably
have used the wordSaltatrix.-- See T. Warton, i. 240, notem.
TheseSaltatriceswere prohibited from exhibiting in churches and
churchyards along withJoculatares,Histriones, with whom they were sometimes
classed, especially by the rigid ecclesiastics, who censured, in the severest terms, all
these sportive characters.-- Vide T. Warton, in loco citato, et vide supra, notes (E) (F),
&c.