The Goliards

Once, long ago, there were certain men of faith who followed the legendary Bishop Golias. They  were renegade clerics. Men of no fixed abode, they are noted more as gamblers and tipplers than as poets or scholars.

Their satire was almost universally directed against the most powerful political entity of the day, the Church.

In 1277a.d., they were forever banned from chanting in the service, and later they would be removed from the privileges of  the clergy. Their songs of love and drinking, thought the church, were at last silenced.

And yet, their spirit remained alive and very well, indeed.

In the songs of troubadours and in the antics of jugglers, these followers of the mythical Bishop Golias began to serve a higher purpose - one recognized throughout history - that of the entertaining a weary and frustrated public.

In the spirit of the Goliards, Rabbi Dave and Friar Cook will bring you their irreverent and raucous views of the day.

So come, fill your mug and sing boisterously along and ask yourself the simple question:

What the Frock?

John Wilmont, 2nd Earl of Rochester

The Goliards