Brooklyn Museum Quarterly . Skald or Trouvere, is recorded by the DuchessMatildas Almoner, Guy of Amiens, as having made the re-quest that he be placed first in battle. The account in Latinhas it: Incisor-ferri mimus cognomine dictus Histrio coe andax mimium quam nobilitabat (Taillefer ^ (cut-iron), an actor known by that name,A Jougler whom a very brave heart ennobled) (The Jougler made this strange request:) Ottreiez mei que io ni faille Li premier colp de la bataille (Grant that I haA^e the first place in the battalion) To which WilHam replied, Io Ioetrei (I grant it). This scene has appear
Brooklyn Museum Quarterly . Skald or Trouvere, is recorded by the DuchessMatildas Almoner, Guy of Amiens, as having made the re-quest that he be placed first in battle. The account in Latinhas it: Incisor-ferri mimus cognomine dictus Histrio coe andax mimium quam nobilitabat (Taillefer ^ (cut-iron), an actor known by that name,A Jougler whom a very brave heart ennobled) (The Jougler made this strange request:) Ottreiez mei que io ni faille Li premier colp de la bataille (Grant that I haA^e the first place in the battalion) To which WilHam replied, Io Ioetrei (I grant it). This scene has appeared most extraordinary to the mod-ern writers, to Mr. Henry James, for instance, but to Scandi-navian students it assumes a familiar aspect. Taillefer, theysay, was the Norman equivalent of the Northern Skald, notan actor at all, but one of the free and independent warriorsskillful in prose and song, often mentioned in the sang before the warriors at the feast in the hall, inciting ^ Tailler-—to cut; AN EARLY MEDIAEVAL REPRESENTATION OF A MINSTREL SINGINGTO THE HARP. GATHERED AROUND HIM ARE THREE MUSICIANS ANDA JONGLEUR PERFORMING WITH THREE BALLS AND THREE DOVE SIGNIFIES INSPIRATION. them to glorious deeds by accounts of what others had done;so that when battle was imminent, what more fitting thatsuch an one should ask for precedence? Themselves men ofarms, they played with their weapons skillfully while sing-ing. This, at first a mere accompaniment, became in thecourse of time a major feature, and the Jongleur, as he wascalled, became finally the juggler, who knew only how todo feats of manual skill with no song at all. One chief isrecorded as throwing three daggers in turn while walkingon the oars of a ship at sea—an example of the honorattached to skill of this kind. It is recorded that the warriorsGunnar and King Olof of Trygge so played with the feats were said to be performed in the Hall of Odin. 41 Taillefer, called un ha
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidbrooklynmuseumqu46broouof
