Humour, History and Politics in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Notes on contributors......Page 11
Preface......Page 14
Abbreviations......Page 16
INTRODUCTION ‘Don’t worry, I’ve got the key’......Page 17
PART I The fate of humorous writing......Page 39
DISCONTINUITY......Page 41
Parodies or works with strong parodic elements......Page 42
The comic parallels the obscene......Page 43
Christian laughter......Page 44
Risus sardonicus......Page 46
Le roi s’amuse......Page 47
Taking control: victims’ jokes and cheek......Page 51
CHANGE......Page 53
Hagiographical humour......Page 54
The furniture of hagiography......Page 55
Intoxicating beverages......Page 58
Unspilt beer......Page 59
Drink and women saints......Page 60
Nuns and lettuces......Page 61
CONCLUSION......Page 63
CHAPTER 2 Humour and the everyday in Byzantium......Page 64
PART II Humour and the politics of difference......Page 89
INTRODUCTION......Page 91
DRUNKENNESS AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF ILLEGITMACY......Page 92
CONSTRUCTED DRINKING......Page 97
THE EXCESSES OF CONSTANTINE......Page 100
CONCLUSION......Page 103
INCONGRUITY: THE HUMOUR OF THE INAPPROPRIATE......Page 105
THE FAR SIDE: IMAGES OF THE BARBARIAN......Page 107
OVERTALL, OVERFED AND OVER HERE: SIDONIUS AND THE BURGUNDIANS......Page 109
INCONGRUITY AGAIN: HOW TO SHOCK A SAVAGE......Page 112
MY DINNER WITH ATHAULF......Page 115
GELIMER’S LAUGHTER: PROCOPIUS AND THE VANDALS......Page 118
THE PERILS OF GOTHIC EDUCATION......Page 122
BELISARIUS’ LAUGHTER: THE SIEGE OF ROME......Page 125
CONCLUSION......Page 129
CHAPTER 5 Liutprand of Cremona’s sense of humour......Page 130
RECOGNITION......Page 132
INTENTION......Page 133
NARRATION......Page 134
LIUTPRAND’S SENSE OF HUMOUR......Page 139
PART III Humour, history and politics in the Carolingian world......Page 145
CHAPTER 6 ‘He neve even allowed his white teeth to be bared in laughter': politics of humour in the Carolingian…......Page 147
THEGAN AND LOUIS THE PIOUS......Page 149
DESCRIBING KINGS: EINHARD, THEGAN AND SIDONIUS......Page 153
MONASTIC KINSHIP AND THE DANGERS OF SECULARITY......Page 158
CHRIST AND THE EMPEROR IN THEGAN AND NOTKER......Page 163
THE POLITICS OF HUMOUR IN THE CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE......Page 169
CHAPTER 7 Alcuin’s Disputatio Pippini and the early medieval riddle tradition......Page 173
Text......Page 190
Translation......Page 192
Commentary......Page 193
CHAPTER 8 Laughter after Babel’s fall: misunderstanding and miscommunication in the ninth-century west......Page 195
BISHOP GRATIOSUS OF RAVENNA, A ‘TRUE ISRAELITE’......Page 200
SIGNS THAT FAIL: NOTKER THE STAMMERER......Page 207
‘I WANT TO DRINK’: THE ‘PARIS CONVERSATIONS’......Page 216
LAUGHTER AFTER BABEL’S FALL......Page 217
Index......Page 219