Entertainment for the peasants:
The poor had to wait until the harvest festivals and Christmas for pleasure. There were quarter-stave bouts, archery contests, music and dancing.
Entertainment for the "Nobility":
While the nobility entertained themselves by hunting and playing music and games, they also brought entertainers into their homes. Among the performers were:
jugglers, acrobats, tumblers, contortionists, minstrels, harpers and jongleurs, who would sing and played lutes and harps.
The games the nobles played were: chess, checkers, cards and backgammon.
They also went to the fairs and were entertained by:
tightrope walkers, jugglers, musicians, singers, tame bears, trained monkeys. There was merchandise from local sources, Europe, the Middle East and Asia for them to buy.
Some wind instruments: recorder (flute), cornet, trumpet, bugle, bagpipe, shawm (oboe).
Some stringed instruments: fiddle, lute, gittern (guitar), vielle (viol), lyre, dulcimer, psaltery, and harp.
They also had portable church-organs and tabor (small drum).
Singing:
Singers went under different names:
troubadours (lyric poets and musicians 11th-13th c. France and Italy), goliards (same as minstrel), and the previously mentioned jongleurs and minstrels.
Singing Styles:
Gregorian chants — liturgical, one-voice plain songs.
Monophonic — single melodic, no accompaniment.
Polyphonic — two or more independent voices.
Descant — counterpoint or melody above main melody.
Several types of music and songs:
motet (sacred vocal composition), madrigal (secular lyrical composition), ballade (song intended for dance accompaniment), rondeaux (instrumental), hocket (a contrapuntal vocal composition — counterpoint or various melodies).
The history of the harpsichord:
The harpsichord is a very important instrument because it led to the invention of the piano. The clavichord was also invented during medieval times, a keyboard instrument with a softer sound than the harpsichord.
The invention of the harpsichord came from the psaltery, an ancient instrument played with a plectrum. In about the year 1350, a keyboard was added to the psaltery, and the portable harpsichord was invented. The harpsichord was improved in the 1400's in Flanders, and again in the 1500's in Italy.
History of the organ:
The organ was invented by the Greeks, circa 100 BC.
After the fall of Rome, the organ was used only in the Eastern Empire. It was re-introduced to Europe circa 750.
There were three types of organs in use by the 12th century:
The portative, which could be carried about.
The positive organ, heavier with more keys.
The church organs, played in cathedrals, in use by the 10th century.
History of the violin:
9th century — stringed instruments played with a bow were in use.
10th and 11th centuries: The vielle and rote (a.k.a. rotta) were in use.
11th century — a pear-shaped resonance box was in use and there were also oval and elliptical stringed instruments that were flat-bodied. Also, Arab merchants and artists introduced the rebec to southern Europe.
11th century: The vielle and rote were replaced by the vielle. It soon had ribs added, the guitar-like shape and had 4 or 5 strings.
The three major stringed instruments by the 15th century:
The viola da gamba, held between the knees.
The lira da braccio, played with a bow.
The viola a braccia, held against the shoulder. This instrument was also known as the violin.
Some medieval composers:
Adam de la Halle (1238-1287)
Guillaume de Machaut (1340-1377)
John Dunstable (1369-1453)
Johannes Ockeghem (1420-1496)
Josquin des Pres (1450-1521)
Conrad Paumann (1453-1473)
Alexander Agricola (1446-1506)
Thomas Tallis (1505-1585)
Giovanni da Palestrina (1525-1594)
Giovanni Gabrielli (1557-1612)
William Byrd (1543-1623)
Gregorio Allegri (1582-1652)
To hear what some Medieval instruments sounded like go to:
www.s-hamilton.k12.ia.us/antiqua/instrumt.html
Some medieval tales:
The legends of King Arthur had been circulating for centuries before Geoffrey on Monmouth (c. 1100-1154) wrote his History of the British Kings.
The Welsh (Celtic peoples) legends were retold and embellished during the 12th, 13th and 15th centuries.
Along with Arthur in these tales were Lady Guinevere, Merlin the Magician, the Lady of the Lake, the city and fortress of Camelot, Arthur's sword Excalibur, the Round Table and Arthur's knights, of which were Lancelot, Galahad, Percival, Gawain and Tristan. The search for the Holy Grail was also a part of the legend, being that Joseph of Arimathea was said to have journeyed to Britain with the cherished item.
The legends of Robin Hood began to circulate in the year 1375. Robin Hood was supposed to have been alive during King John's reign.
Piers Plowman was a satirical poem written during King Edward III's reign by William Langland (1332-1400). Written circa 1362, it was a factor in the peasant's rebellion in 1381.
Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340-1400) was a poet. He wrote the Canterbury Tales, which was about a group of story-telling pilgrims.
Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) an author who wrote the Decameron, a story that described the Black Plague.
The Ballad of William Tell began in 1467.
Some other forms of entertainment were:
falconry, hunting, bear baiting, dice, chess, bowling, skating, bandy ball (field hockey), golf tennis and the battledore and shuttlecock (badminton).
Some of the toys were: the hoop and stick, windmill, clay animals, wooden horses and weapons, dolls and carved wooden soldiers.