Two Old French Satires on the power of the Keys

These thirteenth-century French comic texts, L'Escommeniement au lecheor and Le Pardon de foutre, are two of the earliest satires on the Church's power to 'loosen and bind', symbolised by St Peter's keys. In L'Escommeniement, excommunications are relentlessly launched against various social groups accused of activities ranging from the illegal and the immoral to the nonsensical and obscene. In Le Pardon, a cardinal freshly arrived from Rome proffers absolutions and indulgences to a number of groups whose graphically alleged sexual incontinence would appear to merit anything but pardon. These hitherto unedited poems are complemented by an English translation, glossary and commentary.