Foul-Mouthed Fowl: Parrots & Performance, Gender & History Susannah Crowder Assistant Professor John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY

Susannah Crowder
Assistant Professor
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY    "Foul-Mouthed Fowl:  Parrots & Performance, Gender & History"

 

 

In the early fourteenth century, a surprising thing happened to the citizens of Metz:  they found themselves the target of a mud-slinging parrot.  In the midst of a devastating war that pitted their city against a coalition of powerful princes, a short performance was represented. 

 

Entitled Le Serment le pappegay des tresez de la guerre de Metz et du commun, this piece depicts a foul-mouthed bird who preaches a biting sermon to the local audience.  In this talk, I discuss the Serment and its afterlife, exploring how its deliberate provocations functioned in a historical moment and over time.  Looking first at the regional power struggles that inspired its creation, I then tackle the Parrot’s “bad” language, exploring the construction of a partisan physical experience for the viewer.  For contemporary audiences, the Serment reenacted a specific, historical experience to create vivid political propaganda.  Yet the ongoing performance history of the Serment conceals a surprise:  a century of the hidden history of the women of Metz.