ed in the year 1315, and called forth by
the dishonest practice of certain persons who procured entertainment
under colour of minstrelsy. It was therefore ordered that "to the houses
of prelates, earls, and barons none resort to meat and drink unless he
be a minstrel, and that of these minstrels there come none except it be
three or four Minstrels of Honour at the most in one day, unless he be
desired of the lord of the house; and to the houses of meaner men that
none shall come unless he be desired; and that such as shall come so,
hold themselves contented with meat and drink, and with such courtesy as
the master of the house will show unto them of his own good will,
without their asking of anything."

Minstrels, however, were after all only an incident. They served to
entertain and amuse, as well as to keep alive the memory of great deeds
and sentiments of truth and honour. But they were essentially a luxury,
not a necessity, for the circumstances of a rough age sufficed to
perpetuate the type which it had created. For more stable and
significant elements we must look elsewhere. Just as the lower fabric of
society reposed on the humble apprentice, so its upper framework
depended on the page as the repository of its traditions and guarantee
of the future. As early as the reign of Henry II., and doubtless
earlier, the sons of nobles and gentlemen were entered at the King's
Court, baronial halls, and episcopal palaces as "henchmen." To these
scions of chivalry--and a similar remark applies to the "demoiselles,"
their sisters--such places were a school of manners wherein they learnt
the duties of obedience and reverence to their elders and betters; and,
in process of time, they attained the rank of squire, and, eventually,
the knight's belt. Received into the lord's family on the best terms, as
became their birth and connexions, they had, nevertheless, to wait at
table and perform other tasks that would now be deemed menial, such as
walking by the lord's charger; and, until their education was complete,
they had to submit to his orders, whatever they might be.

Perhaps the first of many books on etiquette in English is a treatise
written by Grosseteste for Margaret, Countess of Lincoln, and entitled
"Reules Seynt Robert." Here it is laid down that servants and retainers
should be of good character, loyal, diligent; and if they grumble or
gainsay, they should be discharged, as there are many others to take
their place.