The Language of Sex Five Voices from Northern France around 1200
John Baldwin introduces five representative voices from the turn
of the twelfth century in northern France: Pierre the Chanter
speaks for the theological doctrine of Augustine; the Prose
Salernitan Questions, for the medical theories of Galen; Andre
the Chaplain, for the Ovidian literature of the schools; Jean
Renart, for the contemporary romances; and Jean Bodel, for the
emerging voices of the fabliaux. Baldwin juxtaposes their views
on a range of essential subjects, including social position, the
sexual body, desire and act, and procreation. The result is a
fascinating dialogue of how they agreed or disagreed with,
ignored, imitated, or responded to each other at a critical
moment in the development of European ideas about sexual desire,
fulfillment, morality, and gender. These spokesmen allow us into
the discussion of sexuality inside the church and schools of the
clergy, in high and popular culture of the leity. This
heterogeneous discussion