A fabliau is a comic, often anonymous tale written by jongleurs and clerics in France between roughly 1150 and 1400, reaching its greatest popularity during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Fabliaux are generally characterized by sexual and scatological obscenity, and by attitudes generally critical or mocking of the church and the nobility. Several are reworkings of earlier stories, and many were later reused by writers such as Boccaccio and Chaucer. The scholar R. Howard Bloch has called fabliaux the first expression of literary realism in Europe.
Facts
Place of OriginFrance, flourishing there in the 12th and 13th centuries; also popular in England in the 14th century. 1 Notable ExampleBrowny, the Priest's Cow, written by Jean Bodel in the early 1200s, about a farmer and his wife whose donated cow is returned to them along with the priest's own cow. 1 Defining TraitGenerally characterized by sexual and scatological obscenity, and by a set of attitudes critical or mocking of the church and nobility. 1 Sources
1. Fabliau (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)Lead section, second sentence
They are generally characterized by sexual and scatological obscenity, and by a set of contrary attitudes generally critical or mocking of the church and nobility.
History and definition of the genre section, second sentence
In France, it flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries; in England, it was popular in the 14th century.
Authors and tales section, Browny the Priest's Cow subsection, opening sentence
Browny, the Priest's Cow was written by Jean Bodel in the early 1200s.
View the Source Frequently Asked Questions
Why were fabliaux considered scandalous, and where were they popular?
Their obscene humor mocked the church and nobility; they flourished in France in the 12th and 13th centuries and in England in the 14th.
Fabliaux are generally characterized by sexual and scatological obscenity, together with attitudes that are critical or mocking of the church and the nobility. That mix of crude humor and social satire is what set them apart from courtly writing. In France the form flourished in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and in England it was popular in the fourteenth century.
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