Laughter and Power in the Twelfth Century

Surveying a vibrant wave of medieval humour, from the laughing prophecies of Merlin to the cutthroat mockery of royal palaces and the outrageous jokes of the law courts, Laughter and Power in the Twelfth Century exposes the functional, ferocious, and often mystical power of humour in the period between the Norman Conquest and Magna Carta.