XVIth Congress of the International Courtly Literature Society

In the late medieval period the Crown of Aragon was a political and cultural crossroads, a coveted destination for artists of various kinds who attended the refined court of the Catalan kings. Musicians and performing entertainers with skills in the verbal and non-verbal domains were among the most sought after. In this panel, three members of the new project Ioculator seu mimus. Performing Music and Poetry in medieval Iberia (ERC-CoG-2017-772762) will review and analyse a corpus of documentary evidence (5.000 plus items) from the Arxiu de la Corona d’Aragó (Barcelona) informing us about musical activity and performing artists at the court of Aragon, with the aim to assess what it tells us about similar activity at other European courts. The panel will examine the professional profiles, cultural backgrounds and networks of patronage behind the minstrels who thrived in the Catalan court between 1235 and 1435