Piers the Plowman used words of Norman extraction for them, as he
speaks of their "Saylen and Saute."
The minstrel and harpist does not appear to have danced very much, but
to have left this to the joculator, and dancing and tumbling and even
acrobatic women and dancers appear to have become common before the
time of Chaucer's "Tomblesteres."
[Illustration: Fig. 33.--Herodias tumbling. From a MS. end of 13th
century (Addl. 18,719, f. 253b), British Museum.]
That this tumbling and dancing was common in the thirteenth century is
shown by the illustration from the sculpture at Rouen Cathedral (fig.
34), the illustrations from a MS. in the British Museum (fig. 33) of
Herodias tumbling and of a design in glass in Lincoln, and other
instances at Ely; Idsworth Church, Hants; Ponce, France, and
elsewhere. It is suggested that the camp followers of the Crusaders
brought back certain dances and amongst these some of an acrobatic
nature, and many that were reprehensible, which brought down the anger
of the Clergy.
[Illustration: Fig.
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