Salvete Romani,
When one thinks of the Middle Ages, one thinks of castles, knights, monastries, small villages and an occasional war or epidemia. With regards to culture, medieval culture is almost exclusively associated with spiritual culture. Monks sang, prayed and wrote mostly in Latin. The language of the common folk was considered underdeveloped and not suitable for cultural, let alone spiritual purposes. Latin was also an intercultural language - an Italian monk could understand an English monk writing to him, for example (not that it occurred often) - serving political purposes.
What few people know, however, is that in and around cities, (self)-exiled priests, monks, students or city inhabitants with some form of education, also had Latin songs which were a far shot from the ascetic spiritualism found in Gregorian chants. On the countrary, these songs revolved around earthly life in all its aspects: love, death, sex and the joy of drinking with comrades. An ever-satirical tone was also present throughout these songs.
Where I live, in Belgium, some of these songs have survived up until today and are included in the students' "codex", a book compiling songs sung during drinking festivities (also known as a "cantus"). Here are a few examples of well-known songs: