goliard

go.liard \'go-l-y*rd, -.ya:rd\ \go-l-'ya:rd-ik\ n [F] : a wandering student of the 12th or 13th century given to the writing of satiric Latin verse and to convivial living and minstrelsy - go.liar.dic aj

goliard -- any of the wandering students and clerics in medieval England, France, and Germany, remembered for their satirical verses and poems in praise of drinking and debauchery. The goliards described themselves as followers of the legendary Bishop Golias: renegade clerics of no fixed abode who had more interest in rioting and gambling than in the life of a responsible citizen. It is difficult to be sure how many of them were in fact social rebels or whether this was merely a guise adopted for literary purposes. Of the identifiable poets, Huoh Primas of Orleans, Pierre de Blois, Gautier de Chbtillon, and Phillipe the Chancellor all became important establishment figures and to some extent outgrew their student high spirits. Only the one known as the Archpoet seems to have lived what he preached to the end of his life.... Encyclopaediea Britannica

goliard - A wandering student in medieval Europe disposed to conviviality, license, and the making of ribald and satirical Latin songs. American Heritage Dictionary