Goliard SongsLatin songs written from the 10th to early 13th centuries. They are among the earliest examples of Western secular music. They were created by wandering scholars called goliards. The name probably comes from a mythical patron of poets, Bishop Golias. Goliard songs praise the beauty of nature and the pleasures of love, drinking, and student life. Many satirize the church and society. The 20th-century composer Carl Orff based his Carmina Burana (1937) on a 13th-century German collection of goliard songs.
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