jongleur

[French, from Old French, variant of jogleor, from Latin ioculātor, jester, from ioculārī, to jest. See juggle.]

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(Fr.)

A medieval entertainer, sometimes a minstrel. The term (also joglëor, janglëor, juggler) covers a range of instrumentalists and story-tellers. See Minstrel; Guilds.

jongleur [zhoⁿ‐gler], the French term for a kind of wandering entertainer in medieval Europe, especially one who sang or recited works composed by others, such as chansons de geste. The term also covered jugglers and acrobats, as did the profession itself—many jongleurs seem to have combined various forms of entertainment. Although they appear to have been active across Europe for several hundreds of years before, the jongleurs flourished in the 13th century, by which time they were distinguished (not always sharply) from the troubadours and trouvères, who were writers but not necessarily performers, and from the minstrels, who often had more settled positions at noble courts. One notable jongleur is the 13th‐century French satirical poet Rutebeuf.

A public entertainer in the Middle Ages who recited or sang chansons de geste, fabliaux, and other poems, sometimes of their own composition, but more often those written by the trouveres.