ABSTRACT
Perhaps the two most typical features of aristocratic life in the later Middle Ages were the tournament and the banquet. Taking place in tapestried hall, amidst colorful costumes, shining service dishes, flickering torches, music and dancing, the feast presented a fusion of all the arts and senses. As the confines of stone keep gave way to the varied life of chateau and castle, an almost constant succession of banquets and entertainments formes the new way-of-life. Indeed, they constituted the principal forms of diversion, especially during the months when the hall became a communal gathering place. The troubadour and jongleur, writing verse, reciting sagas, singing and performing tricks were gradually supplanted by the more specialized minstrel and band of court musicians, who formed part of the feudal household, and who regularly entertained their master and his guests with music and song ( 1 ).
