Let us now return to our Guiraut Riquier, from Narbonne, and from whom we parted company at the beginning of this journey into the art of the jongleur. We left him on his way to the Court of Alfonso the Wise, to whom in 1274 he made the famous address,“Suplicatió al Rey de Castela per lo nom dels juglars” (“Supplication, in the name of jongleurs, to the King of Castile”), claiming a specific dignity for his professional category. He was unhappy that those who performed acrobatic tricks with monkeys, or those that played with marionettes should be called jongleurs. Or those that strummed away badly on an instrument amongst the lower orders, to then spend fourpence on themselves in taverns.
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These men, continually wandering, were the principal means of spreading medieval poetry in the various European languages (Provençal, French, Castilian, Galician, Catalan, Italian, English and German). The troubadours entrusted the jongleurs with the popularization of their compositions.
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According to Riquier, the jongleur’s art was something else entirely, arising from people of culture wishing to honourably brighten up the lot of others. Then the troubadours appeared, to spur on the knights in their noble deeds. Following on from this, however, the role of the jongleur went into a terrible decline. To Riquier jongleurs were only those who were skilful musicians who had competently dedicated themselves to the art of entertaining. The enlightened sovereign responded promptly; in 1275 there appeared “Declaratió del senher rey N’Amfos” (“Declaration of his Lordship King Don Alfonso”). He solemnly affirmed that whilst in France the title of jongleur was attributed to diverse people, in Castile different definitions existed: just the instrumentalists were denominated as jongleurs, the mimics as remedadores and the troubadours as segreries. Those shady and dishonourable people who performed in the streets and taverns were to be known instead as “cazurros”. They formed part of the old category of jongleur that feigned madness at court, telling obscene jokes; these individuals in Italy are called buffoni (buffoons). One has to distinguish between troubadours and jongleurs, but those people playing around with monkeys and birds in the town squares are not worthy of the name jongleur.
In reality troubadours did become confused with jongleurs. These men, continually wandering, were the principal means of spreading medieval poetry in the various European languages (Provençal, French, Castilian, Galician, Catalan, Italian, English and German). The troubadours entrusted the jongleurs with the popularization of their compositions. Alfonso the Wise, and scholars such as the Archpriests of Hita and Villasandino entrusted the jongleurs with their poetry so that it might be as widespread as possible. Jongleurs were often charged with dispatching eulogies or harsh criticisms. As a result many of them ran serious risks, to the point of their lives being at stake.
The social origins of this versatile category are varied. One was able to go from being a cleric to being a jongleur, and vice versa. Peire Rogier of Alvernia, the erudite Canon of Clermont, became a jongleur around 1160, and died as a Benedictine in the monastery of Grandmont. The clerics were very familiar with the art of the jongleurs, as is the case with the Archpriest of Hita who “sabía los instrumentos e todas juglerías” (“knew all the instruments and all the arts of the jongleur”).
Female jongleurs
Female jongleurs constituted an altogether different category. In the Iberian Peninsula, as with their male colleagues, they could be Christian, Muslim or Jewish. A special type of female jongleur was the “soldadera”, or rather “she who lives on daily pay”. The Council of Toledo in 1324, whilst execrating the soldaderas nevertheless referred to their grace in dance and song. Their trade cannot be associated with that of prostitutes, even if at times their performances strayed into rather private areas.
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