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Rabelaisian Satire in Antwerp (ca. 1550)
In
DE GULDEN PASSER (publication of the Plantin Moretus Museum
in Antwerp), 43 (1965), p. 129- 134 Maurits de Meyer wrote
a nice essay about a satirical imprint of Plantin (Mid 16th
Centuyr): "Grosse court abbesse". I copy the text of the poem and
translate the essential remarks of De Meyer about the meaning of
this image (Hans Liefrinck) and the text, the author of which is
unknown, but the style is clearly Rabelais-ian, even
referring to the (in)famous Raminagrobis, a character created
by Rabelais.
The 'tric'of the satire (the pun) is based on the homonymia of ‘Grosse Courte Abesse’= Fat short abbess (= image) and the openingphrase of the poem, which is/sounds the same but should be understood as if was written ‘Grosse court abaisse’= An exuberant lifestyle debases
* "Vivez par compas" = live moderately ** "Quand n’a plus rien gist sur le fiens", fiens/fiente = shit *** ‘De trop grand train s'en suit l’estrain’, estrain = straw
* ‘Raminagrobis’. François Rabelais in his Tiers Livre gives this name to a poet/judge. Not a good one, but a hypocrite ** gringnenaude’ ‘grongnerie’: has something to do with pigs (sound & food).
A final and lucid observation by De Meyer: Abesse was also a very common name for a female brothelkeerper. A famous brother in Toulouse carried the name: La grande Abbaye. |
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