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RECREATIONS 607
establishment of minstrels, so the aristocracy, municipal corx
porations, and even some ecclesiastical foundations had their
own troupe. We hear not only of the bistrhnef of the earls of
Stafford or Derby or the ministralli ofthe countess ofWestmore^
land or the duke of Gloucester; of the bistrianes of the town of
Shrewsbury or the mimi ofthe city of Coventry, but also ofthe
minstrels and mimes ofthe lord cardinal It
(Bishop Beaufort).
is evident from the accounts ofDurham priory that in the first
years ofthe fourteenth century a troupe
ofhistriones were accus^
tomed to perform
there at Christmas or on the feast of St.
Cuthbert, and that a fool, stultus otfatuus, whose appropriate
garments were paid for, was kept on the establishment for the
delectation of the monks (PL 131 a). In the fifteenth century
the players (lusores) of the city or the minstrels of the bishop of
Winchester paid visits to Winchester College, whither also the
minstrels ofthe king or nobility were sent to provide entertain^
ment for the young scholars. In France there were scbolae minis'
trallorum to which English minstrels occasionally resorted to
improve their art. At the end ofthe period there was a guild or
fraternity of minstrels at London and at one or two other places
formed with the object, if possible, of controlling the profession.
But in the long run it was all but impossible to keep the
classes, the reputable and the disreputable, the household and
the vagrant entertainers entirely apart. The Church had not only
relaxed its stern attitude, but was actively participating in min^
strelsy. The great men kept buffoons and respectable gleemen
be found in the taverns. Berdic, thejoculator who
regis,
might
held lands in Gloucestershire recorded in Domesday Book,
may, like the bktrio who rushed to death at the battle ofHastings singing of Charlemagne and Roland, have recited epics; but
thejoculator regis ofthe twelfth century, who held a considerable
property in the county of Suffolk, performed as his service any
thing but an edifying
act at the Christmas festivities. It is at least
understandable that the great men found the recital of long
heroic epics
a trifle tedious and would encourage their versatile
entertainers to turn to the lighter
side oftheir art, to songs, even
ifa little coarse, to juggling and tumbling, to dancing on ropes,
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