No one knows the name, date of birth, or date of death of the man who has become known as the Archpoet (in Latin, Archipoeta). Little about his life can be inferred from the ten poems in 714 lines his latest editor attributes to him. That he refers to Reinald von Dassel as the archbishop of Cologne indicates that he was writing between 1159, the year Reinald was elected archbishop, and 1167, the year of Reinald's death. His reference to himself as ortus e militibus (of knightly birth, IV 18,2) suggests that he was an aristocrat, and his mention of Salerno in poem VI may indicate a journey he undertook. In spite of the dearth of details about his life, the persona he adopted for his poetry--that of a beggar, prophet, flatterer, biblical exegete, drunkard, and lecher-has made him one of the most popular of all medieval Latin lyric poets. No poem...