But let us leave Guiraut Riquier for a moment and try to understand, who were the jongleurs? Their function in society was one of the most varied of the Middle Ages, including that of polished musician, skilled juggler and refined poet. Some were also plainly adventurers, who alternated musical performances with thefts in town squares and taverns. But above all, the jongleurs were fundamentally the cultural media of the Middle Ages, circulating musical and poetic techniques, news, social and personal experiences in a world that was largely illiterate and imbued with oral traditions.
These men, lovers of music and poetry, ran serious risks in their lives, wandering often as they did between plagues, wars and famines. A Cantiga di Santa Maria by the above mentioned Alfonso X the Wise depicts a jongleur for us. Wrapped up in his cloak, he requests hospitality from a nobleman in Catalonia. He dismounts from his horse and pulls out his vielle. Gaiety floods into that household. The master receives him kindly, whilst a young child amuses itself by climbing onto the new guest’s beast. He was “un jogar que ben cantava” (“a jongleur who sang well”). He was “sen vergoña” (“without shame”), “andando pelas cortes” (“roaming the courts”). But, when he made to leave the following morning, the master of the house had him assaulted by his servants to rob him of his horse and clothes. No wonder! Even the celebrated singer and poet, Guiraut de Borneil, was assaulted by the King of Navarra’s brigands, when he returned to France loaded down with gifts from King Alfonso VIII of Castile.
It’s difficult to form a clear idea of the jongleurs. Even modern researchers are not in agreement.
The church fathers employed the vocabulary of ancient Rome: they contemptuously called them mimi or histriones shameful men given to indecent displays. In 789 the Empire of the Franks prohibited bishops and abbots from allowing jongleurs onto their premises.
The word jongleur is derived from the Latin joculator, which in turn is based on jocus (game), the word appears in the Council of Carthage in 436 AD, and its use spread throughout the Middle Ages, referring to very different social and cultural categories.
How the jongleurs have been called
There are numerous words in various languages that derive from the Latin joculator (he who plays):
in Castilian one has joglar, jograr, in Catalan juglar, jutglar, in French juglor, jogleur, in English juggler, jugelere, in Portuguese jogra and in Italian giollare, zoglar.
Other words have also flourished: minstrel in England (from the Latin ministerialis= house servant). In 14th century Catalonia the word ministrer similarly prevails over that of juglar, jutglar, as does ministril in Castile.
In Germany Gengler becomes Gaukle then Spielman, whereas Spiel is just ‘game’, in Flemish Gokelaer. The Spielleute are the heirs to Skôp and Gléoman in the Teutonic sphere. There was also Spelmän in Sweden, Spillemaen in Norway and Speelmanni in Finland, Szpielmonas in Lithuania, Spilman in Czech lands and Smorok in Russia.
There are many different definitions of jongleur, because there were so many different jongleurs, with a thousand and one differing abilities and cultural upbringings. But put bluntly, jongleurs were those who exercised the craft of amusing and entertaining the people.
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The jongleur’s craft
“...A jongleur is a complex being: he is a musician, a poet, an actor, an acrobat; a sort of overseer of pleasures at the courts of kings and princes, he is a wandering vagabond putting on shows in villages, he is the vielle player that sings “the deeds of saints” at the pilgrims’ resting places, he is the charlatan amusing the crowd at the crossroads, he is the writer and actor in the jests that he recites on feast days, as people leave their churches, he is the dancing master that makes the young leap and dance, the peddlar of news and broadcaster of country matters, the player of the bombard and the ghironda that leads the processional march, he is the singer who cheers up parties, weddings and vigils, he is the trick rider of horses, the acrobat that dances on his hands, that plays with knives, that dashes round with hoops, that spits out fire, a contortionist, the announcer at sung and mimed parades, the buffoon that makes faces and talks nonsense. That is a jongleur, all this and more ...”
From Les jongleurs en France au Moyen Age by Edmond Far.
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