Archpoet

This article is about the 12th-century anonymous Latin poet. For the early Irish concept of "arch-poet", see Ollam.
Archpoet
Bornc. 1130
Diedc. 1165
Pen nameArchipoeta
LanguageMedieval Latin
GenreCourtly poetry
Literary movementGoliard
Notable works"Confession"
A cellarer testing his wine
A cellarer testing his wine. (13th century)

The Archpoet (c. 1130 – c. 1165),[1] or Archipoeta (in Latin and German),[2] is the name given to an anonymous 12th-century author of ten medieval Latin poems, the most famous being his "Confession" found in the Carmina Burana manuscript (under CB 191). Along with Hugh Primas of Orléans (with whom he has sometimes been confused),[nb 1] he is cited as the best exemplar of Goliardic poetry[3] and one of the stellar poets of the Latin Middle Ages.[4]

Knowledge about him comes essentially from his poems found in manuscripts:[5] his noble birth[6] in an unspecified region of Western Europe,[7][8] his respectable and classical education,[9][10] his association with Archchancellor Rainald of Dassel's court,[11] and his poetic activity linked to it in both content and purpose.[4][12] As such, it has been speculated that the bibulous, extravagant personality emanating from his work could be only serving as a façade despite its apparent autobiographical trend.[13]

  1. ^ Adcock 1994: xix; Waddell 2000: 295.
  2. ^ Jeep 2001: 21.
  3. ^ Whicher 1949: 102; Haskins 1971: 179–181; Adcock 1994: ix; Harrington and Pucci 1997: 566.
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