Two Old French Satires on the Power of the Keys

"The thirteenth-century French comic dits of Les Escommeniemanz au lecheor and Le Pardon de foutre are two of the earliest vernacular texts to articulate anticlerical satire against the abuse of excommunications and indulgences. In Les Escommeniemanz, a relentless series of excommunications is promulgated against a broad range of social groups accused of activities ranging from the illegal and the...