re: #298 Birth Control Works

English Translations of Obscure Medieval Texts Go Online

Many of the selections were popular when they were written, but were later overlooked by scholarship as lowbrow, and thus left untranslated. “The Drunkard,” a Middle High German 13th-century narrative verse, has 416 lines about a most epic inebriate: “However large the vessel might have been / It was not big enough for his drink, / unless one continually refilled it.” Another Middle High German 13th-century narrative verse — “The Gosling” — is a rather bawdy tale of a young monk who sets out from the monastery into a world of which he is ignorant. When he first sees a woman, he asks his abbot what she is, and the abbot attempts to dissuade him by saying women are “geese”: “The monk said: ’ My goodness! / Geese are lovely. / Why don’t we have geese? / They would fit in nicely / on the pasture at the monastery.’” Needless to say, the monk is soon seduced, and the abbot deeply embarrassed. Both of these texts demonstrate knowing humor, and a bit of playful depravity, not always associated with medieval manuscripts.

And a good guess as to why they were overlooked was whatever religious entity (Monks, Catholic Bishop, Rome/Pope?) saw them decided they should not be seen.

I bet tons of great writings, paintings, drawings, music and songs were all lost over time on purpose by those in control which many times was the religious leaders of the day.