of the ancient
customs to which they tenaciously clung, and these included the
customs of Christmastide.

The Norman kings and nobles displayed their taste for magnificence in
the most remarkable manner at their coronations, tournaments, and
their celebrations of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide. The great
councils of the Norman reigns which assembled at Christmas and the
other great festivals, were in appearance a continuation of the
Witenagemots, but the power of the barons became very formal in the
presence of such despotic monarchs as William the Conqueror and his
sons. At the Christmas festival all the prelates and nobles of the
kingdom were, by their tenures, obliged to attend their sovereign to
assist in the administration of justice and in deliberation on the
great affairs of the kingdom. On these occasions the King wore his
crown, and feasted his nobles in the great hall of his palace, and
made them presents as marks of his royal favour, after which they
proceeded to the consideration of State affairs. Wherever the Court
happened to be, there was usually a large assemblage of gleemen, who
were jugglers and pantomimists as well as minstrels, and were
accustomed to associate themselves in companies, and amuse the
spectators with feats of strength and agility, dancing, tumbling, and
sleight-of-hand tricks, as well as musical performances. Among the
minstrels who came into England with William the Conqueror was one
named Taillefer, who was present at the battle of Hastings, and rode
in front of the Norman army, inspiriting the soldiers by his songs. He
sang of Roland, the heroic captain of Charlemagne, tossing his sword
in the air and catching it again as he approached the English line. He
was the first to strike a blow at the English, but after mortally
wounding one or two of King Harold's warriors, he was himself struck
down.

At the Christmas feast minstrels played on various musical instruments
during dinner, and sang or told tales afterwards, both in the hall and
in the chamber to which the king and his nobles retired for amusement.
Thus it is written of a court minstrel:--

"Before the King he set him down
And took his harp of merry soun,
And, as he full well can,
Many merry notes he began.
The king beheld, and sat full still,
To hear his harping he had good will.
When he left off his harping,
To him said that rich king,
Minstrel, we liketh well thy glee,
What thing that thou ask