A brief look at how the medieval world viewed the Intersex individual.
The Fabulous Saga of Guðmundr inn ríki: Representation of Sexuality in Ljósvetninga saga
August 16, 2014 By
Guðmundr, a powerful goði living in the late 10th and early 11th century, was subjected to sexual insults by his rivals Þorkell hákr and Þórir goði Helgason. These sexual insults described him as effeminate and cowardly, and the thesis shows that the Ljósvetninga saga text follows suit with these slurs.
Kissing Cousins: Incest and Sex Change in Tristan de Nanteuil
August 6, 2014 By
In this paper I re-examine Blanchandine‘s sex change in light of its relation to the issue of incest; as I will show, incest is directly related to the sex change and also punctuates the narrative at other points. Tristan de Nanteuil depicts two sexual and/or romantic relationships between cousins…
A Kiss Is Just a Kiss: Heterosexuality and Its Consolations in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
August 5, 2014 By
The famous line from that modern romance- “A kiss is just a kiss”- is the message the Gawain-poet gave his listeners six centuries ago.
BOOK REVIEW: A Triple Knot by Emma Campion
July 29, 2014 By
BOOK REVIEW: A Triple Knot by Emma Campion I had the pleasure of reading another Emma Campion (Candace Robb) novel recently. Campion, who has written extensively about Alice Perrers, the royal mistress of King Edward III, in her hit, The King’s Mistress, is back on the shelves with a new book released this month entitled: A Triple Knot. This […]
The soldier’s life: martial virtues and hegemonic masculinity in the early Byzantine Empire
April 13, 2014 By
This dissertation argues that martial virtues and images of the soldier’s life represented an essential aspect of early Byzantine masculine ideology. It contends that in many of the visual and literary sources from the fourth to the seventh centuries CE, conceptualisations of the soldier’s life and the ideal manly life were often the same.
BOOKS: Daily Life in the Middle Ages
February 16, 2014 By
Ever wonder how monks, women and Vikings lived their day to day lives in the Middle Ages? These books will give you a glimpse into their world.
How far did medieval society recognise lesbianism in this period?
February 15, 2014 By
There are countless practical issues surrounding the study of women and their sexuality during the Middle Ages. An unfortunate fact is that the majority of contemporary sources available from this period were written, compiled or transcribed by men. It can, as such, be incredibly difficult to detect the medieval women’s voice.
Valentine’s Day Medieval Love: Books for that special someone
February 2, 2014 By
Love is in the air! Here are a few medieval books on the topic of love for your Valentine.
Sodomy and the Knights Templar
January 26, 2014 By
In this article, I will analyze testimony relevant to the charges of the Inquisition that members of the order of Knights Templar throughout Christendom practiced homosexual acts of various sorts from illicit kisses to sodomy.
A Male Transvestite Prostitution In 14th Century London: The Testimony of John Rykener
January 12, 2014 By
A Male Transvestite Prostitution In 14th Century London: The Testimony of John Rykener By Erkan Oruçoğlu Published Online (2013) Introduction: Studies of sexuality, homosexuality, and sex in public places, show that homosexual behavior does not give arise automatically, or even necessarily, to a homosexual identity. Homosexual roles and identities are historically constructed. Throughout the history of […]
Queer times: Richard II in the poems and chronicles of late
January 7, 2014 By
The article focuses on the representation of deviant sexual behavior in 14th-century English poetry and other chronicles. The portrayal of King of England Richard II as a rebellious youth, which is interpreted as perverse and lacking manliness, and the propaganda needed to offset this perception are discussed. Historical information is given about the political culture and power of the church. The murder of Edward II after being accused of sodomy by the Bishop of Hereford is mentioned.
They Hasten toward Perfection: Virginal & Chaste Monks in the High Middle Ages
January 1, 2014 By
As perennial Christian ideals, virginity and chastity were frequent themes in medieval religious discourse. Male religious were frequently virgins and were expected to cultivate chastity; however, women not men were usually the focus of such discussions. But some monastic writers did draw on those models when considering their own spirituality, and it is worth knowing how they were understood and enlisted in those instances.
Gay Reformers? Why the Medieval Church Banned Priests from Marrying
December 17, 2013 By
Among the issues that the current-day Roman Catholic Church is debating are whether or not priests should marry, and how accepting they should be of homosexuals. Interestingly, about nine hundred years ago both of these issues intertwined in the Anglo-Norman world.
Holding it Straight: Sexual Orientation in the Middle Ages
November 5, 2013 By
Historians tend to be reticent about applying the phrase ‘sexual orientation’ to periods before the nineteenth century, but should we be so quick to dismiss the concept?
Transvestite Knights: Men and Women Cross-dressing in Medieval Literature
September 29, 2013 By
In this thesis, I will look at mainly French and German texts from the 12th to the 15th centuries which deal with the subject of cross-dressers in the decidedly masculine domain of the knight. There are many tales of cross-dressing, particularly of women, but the concept of men dressing as women while jousting, and women dressing as knights, brings up several questions about the clothes, what it meant to be male and female, and how cross-dressing could be viewed on the tournament field.
Ganymede/Son of Getron: Medieval Monasticism and the Drama of Same-Sex Desire
September 8, 2013 By
The subject of this essay is a late-twelfth-century St. Nicholas play called Filius Getronis (The Son of Getron) that has been little studied, and never in this context
Caught in the (One-)Act: Staging Sex in Late Medieval French Farce
August 21, 2013 By
Caught in the (One-)Act: Staging Sex in Late Medieval French Farce Sharon D. King Paper given at the 14th Triennial Colloquium of the Société Internationale pour l’étude du Théâtre Médiéval Poznań, Poland, 22nd – 27th July (2013) Abstract Among the myriad subjects for comical delectation of audiences of late medieval France,the rules and roles of […]
Worse than buggery? Incest discourses in the 12th and 13th centuries
August 2, 2013 By
In my paper today, I will not attempt the question why it was possible that the law developed in such an extreme way as to exclude such an excessive number of people as potential marriage partners, although my opinions on some recent approaches to this problem may become transparent in the course of this talk. Instead, my interest is focussed on what I call the incest discourses in the twelfth and thirteenth century.
Impregnable friendship : locating desire in the middle English ‘Amis and Amiloun’
July 24, 2013 By
Scholarship on Amis and Amiloun has generally been divided into two critical schools. The majority of critics have read the work as an exemplar of perfect friendship, overlooking (or ignoring) any trace of homoeroticism, citing the possibility itself as anachronistic, or explaining away its presence by offering historical or theoretical justification for intimacy among medieval men.
Are We Post-Queer? A Roundtable on the Present and Future of Queer Theory in Medieval Studies
May 14, 2013 By
This was part of an excellent panel discussion on the future Queer Theory, pedagogy, gender and the cross over between Queer Studies and politics.
Julian of Norwich’s “Christ as Mother” and Medieval Constructions of Gender
April 13, 2013 By
Recent Christian feminists have revived an interest in women mystics and feminine religious imagery. In light of what most people generalize about medieval misogyny and about the veneration of the Virgin as a surrogate for a female divinity, Julian of Norwich’s trope of Christ as Mother seems even more remarkable.
The Interrogation of of a Male Transvestite Prostitute in Fourteenth Century London
April 11, 2013 By
Despite the general rule that sexual offenses were matters for the church courts, in some cases the city of London took charge of these offenses. Prostitution and procuring, for example, involved public order; the temporal courts dealt with them for that reason, so that the same people might be prosecuted in both jusrisdictions for the same offense.
Woman-Woman Love in Islamic Society
March 9, 2013 By
Women have only recently become visible at all in Islamicist/Orientalist discourse. Within most present-day Islamic states, where representation of even married heterosexual conduct is heavily censored, woman-woman sexuality remains thoroughly submerged.
Mi Suete Leuedi, Her Mi Béne: The Power and Patronage of the Heroine in Middle English Romance
February 10, 2013 By
The Middle English Romances are somewhat difficult to study as a group. In order to examine these works accurately, one must take into consideration other literature produced at the same tirne, as well as that which preceded it.
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