Sex and Sagas
Would you have sex with a troll woman? In this episode of the Medieval Grad Podcast, Lucie talks with Matthew Roby, who deciphers for us the dirty details of these Old Norse and Icelandic texts. Turns out there are a lot of them, and many include monstrous beings!
Medieval Contraception with Eleanor Janega
One of the things medieval and modern people definitely have in common is an interest in preventing unwanted pregnancies. This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Eleanor Janega to get all the details on medieval contraception.
The Art of Courtly Love
The Art of Courtly Love by Andreas Capellanus is a twelfth-century guide to the ins and outs of medieval love affairs, from how to find love to how to keep it – and why maybe it’s best to avoid it altogether. This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Peter Konieczny about this fascinating book, and why it’s probably time to ditch some of its outdated dating advice.
Mutilation as Gendered Punishment: State Violence and Sexual Transgression in Medieval Europe
I want to talk today particularly about the use of mutilation as punishment for sexual offenses and particularly those involving same-sex activity in medieval Europe.
Byzantine Orthodoxy and homosexuality, with Stephen Morris
A conversation with Stephen Morris about the attitudes toward male homosexuality in different sites of Byzantine culture and the prospects for an orthodox recognition…
Spring in the Middle Ages
How did medieval people perceive the arrival of Spring? How was Spring depicted in medieval calendars and literary texts? And, was Spring the “mating season” for humans, as it is for many animal species?
Love, Lust, and Libido: Aphrodisiacs in Medieval Europe
Delve into the period cookbooks, artworks, and courtly feasting cultures of northern Europe to discover ingredients, recipes, and customs thought to arouse the libido, heighten pleasure, increase potency or, conversely, kill the mood.
Byzantine erotic epigrams, with Steven Smith
A conversation with Steven Smith about worldly and sinful epigrams from the sixth century that talk about love, sex, food, and other pleasures.
A Guide to Medieval Marital Sex
With whom and why should you have sex? When can you engage in sexual activities and when should you refrain from them? How and where is it appropriate to have intercourse?
Marriage, Adultery and Divorce in the Middle Ages with Bridget Wells-Furby
Marriage was an important part of many medieval women’s lives, but not all marriages followed the neat path that the church had laid out for them. This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Dr. Bridget Wells-Furby about fourteenth-century heiress Lucy de Thweng and what her story can tell us about medieval marriage, adultery, and even annulment.
Gilote and Johane: Promiscuous Preachers
In a lighthearted poem called Gilote and Johane, two women argue both for and against virginity.
Sex in the Not-City: Bad Behavior in the Medieval English Village
Why was the policing of sexual relationships in these medieval communities thought to be necessary in the first place?
The Story of the Dog whose Eyes led to Adultery
Once upon a time, there was a knight who was called away on business, and in what might be the heaviest bit of foreshadowing ever, said…
Getting Away with Adultery in the Middle Ages
Although adultery wasn’t sanctioned by the church, it made for some of medieval Europe’s most beloved stories, from romance to fabliaux.
Five Medieval Tricks to Make You Luckier in Love
The Distaff Gospels is a fifteenth-century collection of pseudo-serious advice given by fictional women, and it covers a wide range of the topics we can’t seem to get enough of, love and lust included.
Fragment of medieval erotic poetry discovered
Medieval historians have uncovered part of an erotic poem known as The Rose Thorn.
Medieval Sexuality with Eleanor Janega
This week, Danièle speaks with Dr. Eleanor Janega about getting medieval in the bedroom.
Love Sex Magic in Medieval Europe: The archaeological evidence
Love magic was used for a variety of purposes connected to love, sex and reproduction in the Middle Ages. It was most often used to arouse love or sexual desire, or to impede it by causing hatred or impotence.
‘I wanted to make them a little book’: The knight and the book for his daughters
I wanted to make them a little book to read so they might learn and study and understand the good and evil that has already happened, in order to keep them from that which is yet to come.
How to be a Medieval Romance Hero in Five Easy Steps
If you follow these simple steps, you can be a hero straight out of a medieval romance in no time at all.
Medieval Marriage with Ruth Mazo Karras
Episode 7 of The Medieval Podcast – What was marriage in the Middle Ages really like? Danièle is joined by Ruth Mazo Karras to discuss love, weddings and partnerships in medieval society.
Gwerful Mechain and the Joy of (Medieval) Sex
For medieval Europeans, talking openly about sex in what we might think of now as explicit detail was a very normal part of life.
Love and Eroticism in Medieval Norwegian Runic Inscriptions
Although other emotions are obvious in various inscriptions, clearly the one most often and most explicitly expressed is love, at times more specifically erotic interest.
Episcopal Virginity in Medieval England
The literature on medieval sainthood is substantial, rich and varied, but on one point it is almost unanimous: sexuality, and in particular virginity, was of far greater significance to female saints than to their male counterparts.