In some religious celebrations entertainments of a profane musical nature were prohibited. In the Codex Calixtinus are listed a series of offences that were able to bring down damnation on those who committed them:

“Then those who have indulged in shamefulness, or frivolity, or idle words, or brawling, or rape, or adultery, or theft, or drunkenness, or illicit partying, or have made or contemplated various games as are suited to jongleurs, or have sung or listened to roguish songs, if they do not make a forthright repentance, they will be damned”.

Dances and dancing were also seen to be intrinsically wicked and evil, but the diatribes and repeated prohibitions aimed at them served only to underline how extraordinarily well -established they were with the population at large. Which is why at the end of the sixth-century the Third Council of Toledo prohibited both dancing and the performance of obscene songs on feast days, a custom that must have been widespread in that it is referred to by Licinianus, Bishop of Cartagena, in AD 595:

“If only Christian peoples, if they are not to attend church on a Sunday, would do something beneficial rather than devoting themselves to dancing’.

The survival of these habits into later periods is testified by De saltationibus respuendis, a ninth-century manuscript kept in the Archives of Leon Cathedral (Ms. 22, fol. 156). The sermon it contains makes no distinction whatsoever between decent or obscene dances, as the Church considered that they all inflamed unhealthy passions. The repeated prohibitions by the bishops and many other Christian authors did affect a reduction in these types of activity, but they were never eradicated as dance was innate to certain forms of music, especially those that accompanied celebrations of a profane character. In courtly circles there were other aspects to music and dance, or at least that is what can be drawn from several medieval texts that recount moments of merriment and celebration. In Chrétien de Troyes’ The Knight with the Lion, a scene of rejoicing is described very expressively:

[...] bells, horns, and trumpets resounded so strongly throughout the castle that God’s thunder would not have been heard. The maidens danced in his honour, flutes and viols were played, kettle-drums, drums, and cymbals were beaten: elsewhere nimble youths leaped, and all strove to show their delight and with such celebration they most fittingly welcomed their King”.