INTRODUCTION 



lover, took part, began to be produced for the 

 diversion of castle-folk. For daily entertain- 

 ment, every castle of any pretension had its own 

 minstrel or minstrels, whilst in the smaller castles 

 a wandering singer was warmly welcomed. 

 Sometimes the lady gave audience to a poet, 

 who read his latest idyll, a minstrel, to the 

 accompaniment of his viol, singing the inter- 

 spersed lyrics. Such a scene may be found 

 depicted in miniatures, and suggests how such a 

 story as " Aucassin and Nicolette," and many 

 another, partly in prose, partly in verse, was 

 rendered. One such miniature shows a lady re- 

 clining on a couch, with a lordling seated beside 

 her, the poet, with his small parchment leaflets, 

 declaiming his story, the minstrel waiting to 

 take up the theme in song. It is of interest 

 to note that in this particular miniature the 

 gown of the lady is ornamented with heraldic 

 devices. By such means we are enabled not 

 only to identify the person represented since 

 portraiture, even if there was anything worthy of 

 the name, was in a very rudimentary condition 

 and thus arrive at the approximate date of the 

 picture, but also to verify a custom, and a stage 

 in social life. It was not until the end of the 

 twelfth century, when some sort of heraldic 

 system became necessary owing to the introduc- 

 tion of the closed helmet, that armorial bearings, 



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