Obscenity: Social Control and Artistic Creation in the European Middle Ages

This volume contains nearly 20 essays on obscenity in medieval culture. They represent an attempt to probe the natures, origins and consequences of obscenity in medieval literature, art, theatre and law. Although a core is devoted to obscenity in medieval French literature (where the fabliaux have elicited more previous attempts to come to terms with obscenity than has any other type of medieval literature), other contributions to the volume explore manifestations of obscenity in other cultures and languages.