ABSTRACT
The most important question about noblemen's men is at how early a date some of them ceased to be musicians and became bona-fide players. Down to 1477, 128 payments to minstrels belonging to kings and lords are recorded in the accounts of five towns, and these men are never called players or lusores. This does not prove that some of them had not already begun to give dramatic performances, for it is possible that the men who had always been called minstrels would continue to be known by the same name even after they adopted a new mode. But the converse is equally probable - that chamberlains and clerks would ordinarily call men who sang minstrels and men who performed dramatically players. Be that as it may, the distinction is clearly made in 1477-8 when the officials of Dover reward two companies belonging to the Earl of Arundel, calling one company minstrels and the other players. That this use of two different designations did not result from mere scribal carelessness is made virtually certain by rewards to the same two companies in Dover in each of the two succeeding years. And in the third of these three years, 1479-80, rewards to Arundel's minstrels and his lusores are recorded at Lydd. I do not suggest of course that Arundel was the first nobleman to take under his patronage a company of proper players or minstrels turned players, but his are the first nobly patronized players recognizable in the extant records in Kent, and it seems more reasonable to assume that they were actually the first in Kent than that clerks and chamberlains suddenly began making a distinction to which they had before been indifferent. (1965, p.xii)
Item paid to the kynges mynstrell Item paid to iiij playeres playng byfore the mayr Item paid to playeres playng byfor the mayr Item paid the xxiiij day of Ianuarie to playares of my
lord of Arundell Item to Robert Gylys & other his felowez pleyng
byfor the mayr Item paid to a Bereward Item paid to a playrr thurow hopys Item paid to my lord of Arundell mynstrell Item paid for wyn geven to the pleyeres of Fulston Item paid by the mayr to the quenys mynstrell Item paid by the mayr to playeres of chyldryn Item paid to playeres in Sent Martyns Cherche Item paid to the duke of Glawceter mynstrell
vjs viijd & for wyn xd xxd ijs
xxd xxd xijd vjs viijd & wyn viijd ijs ijs & for wyn iiijd ijs vjd vjd vs & in wyn vjd5
The popular moralities were designed for performance by itinerant adult players, who were liveried retainers of an aristocratic patron, but who travelled all over the country acting for gain. Their plays required simple staging so that they could move from one location to another. They needed to be flexible to meet varying conditions of performance and their troupes were of limited size, so their plays had small casts or relied on extensive doubling. Whereas these popular players sometimes performed in the halls of the nobility, they did not rely on an elaborate hall-screen and gallery. This was the drama of the whole nation, which noble audiences also shared, but it was not exclusive in any way. (1991, pp. 127-8)
Travelling groups were plentiful all over the kingdom from the midfifteenth century, making J.T. Murray's starting date of 1558 more than one hundred years too late. Evidence of their existence comes from payments made by city councils from general funds, from the mayor's special allowance, or from the privy purse allowances of priors or bishops. An outstanding example of their number and variety can be found in the York Chamberlains' Books from the 1440s (REED: York,
pp. 65-77). Many of the named troupes are clearly musicians, but some are traveling players. Wherever these payments occur it is clear that we have not only troupes carrying warrants from the king or major magnates of the realm but also groups that can be localized by villages or by the name of a member of the local gentry. Traveling players is a term then, that applies not only to groups touring the provinces from London but also to more local groups on a more restricted circuit. ( 1989, p.8)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CHAMBERS, E.K. 1903. The Mediaeval Stage. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press. COLDEWEY, J.C. 1985. Plays and 'Play'. Early English Drama. Research Opportunities
in Renaissance Drama, 28, pp.l81-8. COULTON, G.G. 1938. Social Life in Britain from the Conquest to the Reformation.
