As a popular history [it] has considerable merits and offers a number of interesting suggestions. SPECULUM Goes deeper than the history of a profession: it suggests a new way of looking at the exercise of power useful and rewarding. Eric Christiansen in the DAILY TELEGRAPH Originally the word `minstrel' meant `littleservant to the king'and the crux of the profession was versatility musical skills were never enough in themselves. Fools, acrobats, singers, conjurors and puppeteers, this is the first book to tell the whole of the minstrels' story and put it into a developing historical perspective.