Court of Minstrels

The court was founded by John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, who held Tutbury Castle, for the encouragement of the minstrels' art and for their better regulation.

His royal court at Tutbury encouraged the art of the minstrels, including by bringing some over from Spain, and was a key centre for the musicians.

[3][2] The Tutbury king of the minstrels is the only known non-royal officer to hold such a position in England and Gaunt may have been inspired to make the appointment by his pretensions to Castile.

[7] The court looks to have created a well-ordered society of minstrels with pride in their work and as such to have functioned in a similar manner to the tradesmen's guilds of the period.

[10] The court sat on 16 August and all minstrels in the jurisdiction were compelled to attend the annual ceremony on penalty of a fine of three shillings and four pence.

[6] After a church service the minstrels proceeded to Tutbury Castle to hold court, which was presided over by the woodmaster of Needwood Forest.

[12] Afterwards the juries met to select a new king for the following year from among the stewards, typically the holder of the post alternated between minstrels from Staffordshire and Derbyshire.

[14] After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the Duke of Devonshire, who had acquired the priory estates, provided the bull and the event commenced from the barn of the town's bailiff.