[265] “This indenture, made 5 June in the 3rd year of our sovereign lord King Henry the fifth since the Conquest, witnesseth that John Clyff, minstrel, and 17 other minstrels, have received from our said lord the king, through Thomas, Earl of Arundel and Surrey, treasurer of England, forty pounds as their wages, to each of them 12d. a day for a quarter of a year, for serving our said lord in the parts of Guyenne or elsewhere.” Rymer’s “Fœdera,” ed. 1704–32, year 1415, vol. ix. p. 260. [266] The chief of the minstrels of Beverley was called _alderman_. [L.T.S.] [267] “Fœdera,” year 1387, vol. vii. p. 555. In Sir John Hawkins’ “History of Music,” London, 1893, vol. i. p. 193, John of Gaunt’s charter to the king of his minstrels in Tutbury, dated 4 Richard II, is given at length. [L.T.S.] [268] “Fœdera,” year 1464, vol. xi. p. 512. [269] “Issue Roll of Thos. de Brantingham,” ed. Devon, pp. 54–57 and 296–298. These pensions were granted for life. [270] “La feumes nous en joie et en depport Dix jours entiers, atendant le vent nort Pour nous partir. Mainte trompette y povoit on oir De jour, de nuit, menestrelz retentir.” MS. Harl. 1319, in the British Museum, printed in “Archæologia,” vol. xx. p. 297. [271] Of which letters, models have come down to us, “and judging by the lavish eulogy they employ, the minstrels themselves must have had a hand in drawing them up.” E. K. Chambers, “The Mediæval Stage,” Oxford, 1903, 2 vols., i. p. 53; three chapters on minstrels of great interest and importance, beginning with a bibliography of the subject, i. 23. [272] Warton’s “History of English Poetry,” Hazlitt’s edition, 1871, ii. p. 98. John of Gaunt orders £16 13s. 4d. to be paid to “various minstrels of his very dear cousin the count of Flanders,” and £65 to various heralds, etc., of “our most redoubted lord and father, the king at Eltham.” “John of Gaunt’s Register,” ed. S. A. Smith, 1911, vol, ii. p. 279. Langland notices the good reception given, when they were travelling, to the king’s minstrels, in order to please their master, known to be sensible of these marks of good will. [273] November 26, 1372. “John of Gaunt’s Register,” ed. S. A. Smith, 1911, ii. 98. [274] Chambers, ibid. i. 51. [275] “Piers Plowman,” Text C, pass. viii. l. 97. [276] See a drawing of such a gallery in a miniature reproduced by Eccleston, “Introduction to English Antiquities;” London, 1847, p. 221. To the sound of the minstrels’ music four wild men or mummers are dancing with contortions; sticks lie on the ground, no doubt for their exercises; a barking dog is jumping between them. [277] “Album de Villard de Honnecourt,” edited by Lassus and Darcel, 1858, plate I. [278] “Si vint de sà Loundres; en un prée Encontra le roy e sa meisnée; Entour son col porta soun tabour, Depeynt de or e riche azour.”