Late 16th century Venice, where a woman can be a nun, a wife or a courtesan. For Veronica Franco, the free spirited girl scorned by because of her lack of wealth, the choice is an obvious one…
Veronica Franco and the ‘Cortigiane Oneste’: Attaining Power through Prostitution in Sixteenth-Century Venice
August 12, 2015 By
Franco was a published author, a poet, and counted the King of France among her lovers.
John Rykener, Richard II and the Governance of London
June 9, 2015 By
Its narrative of cross-dressing, male prostitution, gay sex, clerical promiscuity and the like seems to offer a rare window onto late medieval sexuality and sexual mores.
Genre Medievalisms: Geek Goes Chic!
June 4, 2015 By
Is Cersei a collection of bad medieval stereotypes? Have nerds gone mainstream? Were American cowboys a modern retelling of the medieval knight? Put down that comic, put away your bag of dice, and indulge your inner nerd.
Medieval Viagara
April 4, 2015 By
Over a thousand years before Viagra was invented, medieval men were looking for ways to treat erectile dysfunction. We take a look at the prescriptions offered in one of the most popular medical textbooks from the Middle Ages.
How to restore virginity – advice from Caterina Sforza
February 13, 2015 By
If you follow the advice of Caterina Sforza, ‘you will see that thing become so narrow that you yourself will be in admiration.’
The medieval roots of gender and sexuality in Spanish colonial law
February 12, 2015 By
Marie Kelleher will discuss the medieval roots of gender and sexuality in Spanish colonial law, beginning with the written law (both secular and ecclesiastical) and how it defines the parameters of respectable female behavior.
Chaucer the Love Poet: A Study in Historical Criticism
January 27, 2015 By
This thesis is an historically based inquiry into the aesthetic function and moral significance of the themes of marriage, fornication, and adultery in Chaucer’s poetry about sexual love
The Trouble with ‘Female Sexuality’
January 10, 2015 By
Using medieval western art to speak of female sexuality is difficult.
Intersex in the Middle Ages
January 9, 2015 By
A brief look at how the medieval world viewed the Intersex individual.
Medieval Books for Christmas
December 15, 2014 By
It’s that time of year again – the mad scramble for the perfect Christmas gift for the historian, nerd, avid reader on your list. Here are a few suggestions for you – new releases for December and January!
How Witches Looked in Medieval Art
December 13, 2014 By
I recently visited the British Museum and enjoyed their Witches and Wicked Bodies exhibit which runs until January 11th, 2015. It displays art depicting witches from the middle ages up to the late nineteenth century. This post looks at a few late medieval interpretations of witches and the artists behind these works.
‘Hag of the Castle:’ Women, Family, and Community in Later Medieval Ireland
November 30, 2014 By
In a letter written as part of his work for the Irish Department of the Ordnance Survey in 1840, Thomas O’Conor recorded his reaction to a “Sheela- na-gig” sculpture—the image of a naked woman shown exposing her genitalia (fig. 1)—that he saw on the old church at Kiltinane, Co. Tipperary.
Transvestites in the Middle Ages
November 11, 2014 By
An examination of the lives of the transvestite saints whose legends and myths help set Western attitudes toward transvestism.
The Episcopal Body and Sexuality in Late Medieval England
October 15, 2014 By
How was long-term celibacy thought to affect the health of religious men? How could medical knowledge help clerics to achieve bodily purity?
Gender and Matrimonial Litigation in the Church Courts in the Later Middle Ages: The Evidence of the Court of York
October 8, 2014 By
If some later medieval males thought the courts were biased, what might the female perspective have been?
Prevention Strategies and Changes in Sexual Mores in Response to the Outbreak of Syphilis in Europe in the Early Modern Age
September 21, 2014 By
Prevention Strategies and Changes in Sexual Mores in Response to the Outbreak of Syphilis in Europe in the Early Modern Age By Eugenia Tognotti Journal of Ancient Diseases and Preventive Remedies, Vol.2:2 (2014) Abstract: In the same way as AIDS in the 20th century, syphilis was the sexual scourge of the 16th century. Both of these […]
The Lewd, the Crude and the Downright Rude: Heterosexual Sex in Medieval Western Europe
September 13, 2014 By
If one has never really considered thinking about sex in the Middle Ages, it is useful to pause and think of what images pop up when one does.
An Analysis of Child Sexual Abuse During the Byzantine Empire
September 13, 2014 By
During the Byzantine Empire, child sexual abuse was more prevalent and less stigmatized than it is today.
On the Significance of Secrecy in the Medieval Arabic Romances
September 13, 2014 By
In this essay, I analyze the keeping and divulging of secrets as they relate to aspects of love and sexuality portrayed mainly in a selection of medieval Arabic romances known as the ‘Udhri love stories.
Nicolette : action transvestite, or, who and what is the heroine of Aucassin et Nicolette?
August 24, 2014 By
In this paper, I will show how Nicolette is constantly, deliberately, changing, in appearance and identity, from the beginning of the story, and how she is thus Izzard’s action transvestite.
The Depiction of Jews in the Carnival Plays and Comedies of Hans Folz and Hans Sachs in Early Modern Nuremberg
August 23, 2014 By
This study will thus demonstrate that the Bakhtinian model and its critics both contribute to our understanding of the Fastnachtspiel and the development of early modern German attitudes toward Jews.
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.
Caught in Love’s Grip: Passion and Moral Agency in French Courtly Romance
August 12, 2014 By
French royal courts in the late twelfth century were absolutely smitten with love. Troubadaours traveled from place to place reciting stories of knights and the ladies they wooed.
A figurine from Stare Bielsko. Sexuality in Middle Ages
August 9, 2014 By
ceramic figurine from late Middle Ages, found in Stare Bielsko, shows a couple that is having sex and can be a good example of not such sanctimonious way of thinking.
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