E. Cobham Brewer 18101897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
brought to England in the reign of Edward III., when John of Gaunt returned from Spain. In the dance, bells were jingled, and staves or swords clashed. It was a military dance of the Moors or Moriscos, in which five men and a boy engaged; the boy wore a morione or head-piece, and was called Mad Morion. (See MAID MARIAN.)