In Depth

Mad Monks & Christmas Carols: Fra' Jacopone

Jacopone (1230-1306) started out in grand Franciscan style, living a fun, sometimes debauched, materialistic life. But when his young wife died in his arms, he had a spiritual crisis. He started going about on all fours like a dog, eating filthy food, and acting like such a nut that the Franciscans didn't at first accept his ecstasies as religious. For quite a while they refused to let him don their robes. He is chiefly remembered for telling off, in verse form, Dante's old nemesis, the reprehensible Pope Boniface VIII (the written jibes got him 5 years in a Roman dungeon). He also wrote catchy late-medieval poetry set to music that became, for all intents and purposes, the world's first Christmas carols.