A minstrels' gallery is a form of

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony ...

, often inside the

great hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the gr ...

of a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals ...

, and used to allow

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wr ...

s (originally

minstrel A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer ...

s) to perform, sometimes discreetly hidden from the guests below.

Notable examples

*A rare example of a minstrels' gallery in a sacred setting can be found in

Exeter Cathedral Exeter Cathedral, properly known as the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter, is an Anglican cathedral, and the seat of the Bishop of Exeter, in the city of Exeter, Devon, in South West England. The present building was complete by about 14 ...

. It is not clear why the term "musicians' gallery" has not been used here, as minstrels were always

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

performers and would therefore have been forbidden from performing in a liturgical context. *A fine example of a minstrels' gallery can also be seen in the Great Hall of Durham Castle,

University College, Durham , motto_English = Not for ourselves alone , scarf = , established = , principal = Wendy Powers , vice_principal = Ellen Crabtree , undergraduates = 698 , postgraduates = 153 , coordinates = , location_map = Durham , map_size ...

, which was once used for entertainment by the Prince Bishops and is now occasionally used during College Feasts. * A restored oak minstrels' gallery is visible in

Desmond Hall and Castle Desmond Hall and Castle, also called Desmond Castle and Banqueting Hall or Newcastle West Medieval Complex and Desmond Hall, are a set of medieval buildings and National Monument (Ireland), National Monuments located in Newcastle West, Republic ...

, Ireland (15th century).

References

External links

Minstrels' Galleries in British Castles
Architectural elements {{architecturalelement-stub