Minstrel is a term most broadly used to refer to professional entertainers who flourished in Europe during the Middle Ages. Minstrels were chiefly singers and musicians, but many were also storytellers, jugglers, clowns, and tumblers. These wandering performers were known by different names in different countries. They were called troubadours and jongleurs in France, and minnesingers in Germany. They were known as skalds in Scandinavia and bards in Ireland. The early English minstrel was called a scop. The name minstrel was used for the later poet-musicians of England.
Some minstrels belonged to the households of kings and nobles. Some traveled about and gave entertainments at the castles along their way. Sometimes they entertained the village folk. The minstrels often made up their own songs and stories as they entertained. But they also repeated ballads and folk tales of the time, thus helping to preserve them. The minstrels began to die out by the late 1400’s. The printing press eventually replaced the storytellers.
