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Didacticism is a pervasive trait of mediaeval literature, even if the subject matter is eroticism. This paper surveys in its first part the intersections between both in Latin literature, paying particular attention to the High Middle Ages. School literature influences the learning used in mediaeval poetry by the poeta doctus, and the poets themselves were sometimes teachers or adopted the role of a poeta doctor. The second part presents a case in point, CB 88, a poem in which two different songs (‘Amor habet superos’ and ‘Iove cum Mercurio’) were combined and adapted. The result is a new poem, which in some measure parodies the first two. Its subject matter is the seduction of a young girl called Cecilia by the speaker, who presents himself as Cecilia’s warden, and the playful discussion about which point it has attained. The poem’s irony is based on the different meanings of the verb ludere, some of which are not easily compatible with the speaker’s assertion that the girl is still a virgin. Ludere can also mean to speak playfully or even to compose a poem, and some stanzas are an instance of the seducer’s learned talk as a poeta doctus and a poeta doctor. As the parodied songs have recently been attributed to the circle of Peter Abaelard, CB 88 could have a satirical edge against the philosopher and have originated in a learned group in France still during his lifetime. At the end, a further possibility is mentioned, namely that the poem alludes to the verse epistles addressed to women by the poets of the Loire circle.

Didacticism is a pervasive trait of mediaeval literature, even if the subject matter is eroticism. This paper surveys in its first part the intersections between both in Latin literature, paying particular attention to the High Middle Ages. School literature influences the learning used in mediaeval poetry by the poeta doctus, and the poets themselves were sometimes teachers or adopted the role of a poeta doctor. The second part presents a case in point, CB 88, a poem in which two different songs (‘Amor habet superos’ and ‘Iove cum Mercurio’) were combined and adapted. The result is a new poem, which in some measure parodies the first two. Its subject matter is the seduction of a young girl called Cecilia by the speaker, who presents himself as Cecilia’s warden, and the playful discussion about which point it has attained. The poem’s irony is based on the different meanings of the verb ludere, some of which are not easily compatible with the speaker’s assertion that the girl is still a virgin. Ludere can also mean to speak playfully or even to compose a poem, and some stanzas are an instance of the seducer’s learned talk as a poeta doctus and a poeta doctor. As the parodied songs have recently been attributed to the circle of Peter Abaelard, CB 88 could have a satirical edge against the philosopher and have originated in a learned group in France still during his lifetime. At the end, a further possibility is mentioned, namely that the poem alludes to the verse epistles addressed to women by the poets of the Loire circle.