Note 234 — Chapter VII
Reading edition
This is somewhat doubtful. The Sorbonne and the Parliaments might have been moved by ultra-orthodox opponents to prosecute Rabelais on this account. The true explanation seems to be that the form of his book was popular, and the popular French literature of the Middle Ages—fableaux, farces, and burlesque romances—can hardly be exceeded in the matter of coarseness (Ency. Brit., "Rabelais").