Songs About V

In 1803, a collection of medieval-era songs were found in German monastery. What is remarkable about these bawdy ballads is that they digress from appropriately classical melodies fit for all audiences, to lewd and vulgar lyrics that rival many of today's rap and pop songs. Prior to these songs, acts of sexual intercourse were written about in a dry and blunt way, but in this collection, the anonymous authors jazzed up these sexual encounters, including such memorable lines as "My virginity makes me frisky". One song is a satire of Ovid's famous manuals on love-making techniques and is a first-person narrative account of a ten-hour long sexual romp with Venus, the goddess of love. Hubba Hubba!

Known as the Carmina Burana, it is believed that these songs, with their primary focus on drinking, sex, and dodging fate, were written by the Goliards, a group of monks who rebelled against the oppressive authority of the church. The Goliards lived by the "you-only-live-once" philosophy long before the YOLO acronym gained its current popularity. In fact, the Goliards were defrocked in 1300 because they were more interested in eating, drinking, and making merry than they were in reading scripture and praying. Sounds like the medieval version of frat boys! 

Interested in learning more about bawdy medieval ballads? Look for Medieval Vagina: A Hysterical and Historical Perspective of all Things Vaginal During the Middle Ages coming soon.