Minstrel

Minstrel, professional entertainer in medieval Europe, skilled at playing instruments, singing, telling stories, and performing acrobatics and other tricks. Many minstrels were employed in houses of the nobility, but the majority were itinerants. After about 1300 they began to form guilds in the towns. Such entertainers were called jongleurs before about 1100, and they were often hired to perform the songs written by troubadours and trouvères.

In the 19th century-United States, the term was also applied to white performers, appearing with blackened faces, who would entertain and sing in characteristically black American musical styles in minstrel shows.