Adriaen van Ostade - Itinerant Musician GL GM 593

An itinerant poet or strolling minstrel (also known variously as a gleeman, circler, or cantabank) was a wandering minstrel, bard, musician, or other poet common in

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

Europe but extinct today. Itinerant poets were from a lower class than jesters or jongleurs, as they did not have steady work, instead travelling to make a living.

Medieval performers

In medieval England, a gleeman was a reciter of poetry. Like a

scop A ( or ) was a poet as represented in Old English poetry. The scop is the Old English counterpart of the Old Norse ', with the important difference that "skald" was applied to historical persons, and scop is used, for the most part, to designat ...

, a gleeman performed poetry to the accompaniment of a

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

or " glee wood". Gleemen occasionally attached themselves to a particular

court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

, but were most often ''wandering'' entertainers; this is unlike scops, who were more static. Gleemen were also less likely to compose or perform their own poetry and relied on the work of others for their material. A source cited that the number of itinerant poets were augmented by disgraced

courtiers A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other Royal family, royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as ...

, clairvoyants, and even the deformed as these entertainers formed troupes and catered to the whims of individual patrons. An example of a notable itinerant poet was

Till Eulenspiegel Till Eulenspiegel (; ) is the protagonist of a European narrative tradition. A German chapbook published around 1510 is the oldest known extant publication about the folk hero (a first edition of is preserved fragmentarily), but a background i ...

, a fictional character famous in the 12th century. These examples, however, do indicate that itinerant poets were merely fools working to elicit laughter with their acts. There are those suggested as geniuses such as Scottish bards and performers of the harp who were credited with composing and preserving "many fine old songs".

Ancient strolling songsters

Prior to the emergence of medieval itinerant poets, there were already strolling minstrels in

ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

. An account also identified these strolling songsters as Rhapsodists during

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

's time. These were more than entertainers, with an account describing them as men who recorded honorable feats and aristocratic genealogies. They were thus supported by a culture of patronage. Even in ancient England, their skill was considered divine and their person as sacred. They were accorded honor and reward everywhere they performed. Both in Ireland and Scotland, every chief or ''Regulus'' had his own bard, who not only entertained but also served as an ambassador.

References

Entertainment occupations Performing arts Medieval performers Poets {{Poetry-stub

Medieval performers

Ancient strolling songsters

See also

References