Note 268 — Chapter III · THE MINSTREL LIFE

For the ioculator regis, cf. Appendix E, and Leach, Beverley MSS. 179. He is called ‘jugler’ in N. H. B. 67. Is he distinct from the royal gestator (gestour, jester)? Both appear in the Shrewsbury accounts (s. ann. 1521, 1549). In 1554 both le jugler and le gester were entertained. The gestator seems to have merged in the stultus or court fool (ch. xvi). The accounts in App. E often mention the royal bearward, who remained an important official under Elizabeth.