Comedy and humor flourished in manifold forms in the Middle Ages. This volume, covering the period from 1000 to 1400 CE, examines the themes, practice, and effects of medieval comedy, from the caustic morality of principled satire to the exuberant improprieties of many wildly popular tales of sex and trickery. The analysis includes the most influential authors of the age, such as Chaucer, Boccaccio, Juan Ruiz, and Hrothswitha of Gandersheim, as well as lesser-known works and genres, such as songs of insult, nonsense-texts, satirical church paintings, topical jokes, and obscene pilgrim badges. The analysis touches on most of the literatures of medieval Europe, including a discussion of the formal attitudes toward humor in Christian, Jewish, and Islamic traditions. The volume demonstrates the many ways in which medieval humor could be playful, casual, sophisticated, important, subversive, and even dangerous.Each chapter takes a different theme as its focus: form, theory, praxis, identities, the body, politics and power, laughter, and ethics.

The consistent chapter titles across all 6 volumes make it easy to find relevant content by period or topic

List of IllustrationsNotes on ContributorsSeries PrefaceEditor's AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Comedy in the Middle Ages: Answers and Questions, Martha Bayless (University of Oregon, USA)1. Form: Its Expressions and Manifestations, Olle Ferm (Stockholm University, Sweden)2. Theory: Comedy Humbled and Exalted, Johan Verberckmoes (KU Leuven, Belgium)3. Praxis: The Location and Performance of Comedy, Katherine A. Brown (University of Notre Dame, USA)4. Identity, John DuVal (University of Arkansas, USA)5. The Body: Unstable, Gendered, Theorized, Susan Signe Morrison (Texas State University, USA)6. Politics: Comic Power, Foolish Men, and Holy Women, Max Harris (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA)7. Laughter: A Comedic Approach, Sebastian Coxon (University College London, UK)8. Ethics: Ethical Dimensions of Medieval Comedy, Nicolino Applauso (Loyola University Maryland, USA and Morgan State University, USA)NotesReferencesIndex