Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Hear ye, hear ye!
A rare manuscript from the 15th century offers a glimpse into how minstrels entertained their audiences and that no matter a person's social standing at the time, no one was safe from being the butt of a joke.
A study from the University of Cambridge published last month in the Review of English Studies details several booklets containing notes of comedic skits and parodies taken from a memory aid written by an unknown minstrel who performed in the Derbyshire-Nottinghamshire border in England.
Researcher James Wade says the scribe, Richard Heege, who was a household cleric and tutor, likely had an appreciation for comedy to transcribe the manuscript unlike other literary experts who would have considered the content as "low-brow."
“Heege gives us the rarest glimpse of a medieval world rich in oral storytelling and popular entertainments,” Wade said in a news release. “Manuscripts often preserve relics of high art. This is something else. It’s mad and offensive, but just as valuable.”
The Heege manuscript found in the National Library of Scotland contains nine booklets
The study's focus on the first booklet details a poem with a killer rabbit, comparable to a scene in Monty Python and The Holy Grail. While the poem The Hunting of the Hare only has a brief scene with a rabbit, it's a grotesque parody about how peasants trying to hunt a rabbit actually end up in a massive brawl among themselves and their wives end up cleaning up the dead and patching up the wounded.
A nonsensical verse called The Battle of Brankonwet talks about Robin Hood, jousting bears, battling bees, and partying pigs. The poem includes references to real-life villages at the time so the audience could imagine strange occurrences in their region.
One of the most notable discoveries is perhaps the earliest reference to a red herring. In a mock sermon, the minstrel told the story of gluttony among the uber-wealthy in a sermon about three kings eating so much oxen that their stomachs explode and the oxen chop each other up into three red herrings.
“The images are bizarre but the minstrel must have known people would get this red herring reference," Wade said. "Kings are reduced to mere distractions. What are kings good for? Gluttony. And what is the result of gluttony? Absurd pageantry creating distractions, ‘red herrings.’”
The manuscript also included notes made by the minstrel creating these original shows, detailing their chaotic thought process to keep up with the various absurd characters and jokes they created, Wade theorizes. As nonsensical and raunchy as the jokes can be, the manuscript revealed a time in history where, despite human strife, attempts to let loose and enjoy life were heavily carried by the minstrels of the time.
"What we find in these texts is a vestige of medieval life lived vibrantly: the good times being as good as they ever have been, and probably ever will," the study states.
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.