Although mumming sprang from the lower classes, Court Mummers can be traced back at least to 1296, when the festivities for the marriage of Edward I's daughter at Christmas included "mummers of the court" along with "fiddlers and minstrels". In this illustration from Froissart's Chronicles one of a group of mummers disguised as wild-men was burnt to death by accident, during marriage celebrations in the Hotel St Pol in Paris in 1393

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Size: 4568px × 3292px
Location: Paris, France
Photo credit: © De Luan / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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