Archpoet

Who is Archpoet?

The Archpoet, or Archipoeta, 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. Along with Hugh Primas of Orléans, he is cited as the best exemplar of Goliardic poetry and one of the stellar poets of the Latin Middle Ages.

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