Sexuality and Medicine in the Middle Ages
Sexuality and Medicine in the Middle Ages

Author: Danielle Jacquart

Publisher:

Published: 1988

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 9780691055503

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Were the Middle Ages a period of unbridled licentiousness or, on the contrary, of severe repression? Between the two extremes this book provides an answer by drawing from medical and literary texts of the Middle Ages. It shows how many of the medical and moral questions that preoccupy us in the twentieth century worried our medieval ancestors as well. Through a detailed analysis of both expert and lay writings, Danielle Jacquart and Claude Thomasset examine the conceptions of sexuality that were created by doctors, by theologians, and by romantic and erotic literature. In the first section of this book, the authors discuss how ideas of physiology, venereal disease, and purity were described, and the influence of anatomical tracts on popular perceptions of the body. The second part charts a history of erotic art, and through this, the differing conceptions of Eastern and Western sexuality. Finally, the authors present a history of the body, analyzing problems of impotence and hysteria and how female sexuality in itself came to be perceived as corrupt and diseased.

The Meanings of Sex Difference in the Middle Ages
The Meanings of Sex Difference in the Middle Ages

Author: Joan Cadden

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1995-03-31

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 9780521483780

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This book examines how scientific ideas about sex differences in the later Middle Ages participated in cultural assumptions about gender.

The Fires of Lust
The Fires of Lust

Author: Katherine Harvey

Publisher: Reaktion Books

Published: 2022-11-28

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1789144884

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An illuminating exploration of the surprisingly familiar sex lives of ordinary medieval people. The medieval humoral system of medicine suggested that it was possible to die from having too much—or too little—sex, while the Roman Catholic Church taught that virginity was the ideal state. Holy men and women committed themselves to lifelong abstinence in the name of religion. Everyone was forced to conform to restrictive rules about who they could have sex with, in what way, how often, and even when, and could be harshly punished for getting it wrong. Other experiences are more familiar. Like us, medieval people faced challenges in finding a suitable partner or trying to get pregnant (or trying not to). They also struggled with many of the same social issues, such as whether prostitution should be legalized. Above all, they shared our fondness for dirty jokes and erotic images. By exploring their sex lives, the book brings ordinary medieval people to life and reveals details of their most personal thoughts and experiences. Ultimately, it provides us with an important and intimate connection to the past.

Handbook of Medieval Sexuality
Handbook of Medieval Sexuality

Author: Vern L. Bullough

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 482

ISBN-13: 9780815336624

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The subject of sexuality in the Middle Ages is examined here in 19 articles written specifically for this handbook. This volume seeks to offer a useful guide to the wealth of material and research that is available yet often overlooked.

Gender and Sexuality in the Middle Ages
Gender and Sexuality in the Middle Ages

Author: Martha A. Brozyna

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2005-04-04

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 0786420421

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Perceptions about gender and sexuality have shaped the lives of men and women in every known culture and in every period of history. To study these perceptions one must delve into the underlying religious, social, philosophical and scientific influences. Understanding gender and sexuality during the Middle Ages requires an examination of the ideas, laws and institutions of the time--for example, the regulations of the Christian church, the anatomical studies of the medieval medical community, the chronicles of the time and the social criticism found in medieval literature. This reader brings such documents from throughout the medieval world into one collection. Representing a diverse range of ethnic, geographic and religious backgrounds, documents of the late Roman, Germanic, Anglo-Norman, Mediterranean, Byzantine, Slavic, Jewish and Islamic identities are all included. The book's chapters are organized according to nine areas--the Bible; Christian thought; chronicles; law; biology, medicine and science; literature; witchcraft and heresy; Judaism; and Islam--allowing for comparative examination of different societies and periods of the Middle Ages.

Sexuality in Medieval Europe
Sexuality in Medieval Europe

Author: Ruth Mazo Karras

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-04-03

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1000859274

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Now in its fourth edition, Sexuality in Medieval Europe provides a lively account of a society whose attitudes toward sexuality both were ancestral to, and differed from, contemporary ones. The volume is structured not by types of sexual interactions or deviance, but to reflect the difference in gendered experiences when sex is seen as an act one person does to another. Sexual activity, within and outside of marriage, as well as sexual inactivity, had different meanings based on gender, social status, religious affiliation, and more. This book considers these iterations of medieval sexuality in its effort to show there was no single medieval attitude towards sexuality. With an emphasis on Christian Western Europe over the entire course of the Middle Ages, it also includes comparative material on neighboring cultures at the time. Alongside being reworked for further clarity and readability, the fourth edition offers substantial new material on trans scholarship and methodological attempts to recoup a trans past; changes in the treatment of sex work and its terminology; and new material on Byzantine and Muslim culture. Sexuality in Medieval Europe is an essential resource for all those who study medieval history, medieval culture, and the history of sexuality in Europe.

Meanings of Sex Difference in the Middle Ages
Meanings of Sex Difference in the Middle Ages

Author: Joan Cadden

Publisher:

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 9780521343633

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In describing and explaining the sexes, medicine and science participated in the delineation of what was "feminine" and what was "masculine" in the Middle Ages. Hildegard of Bingen and Albertus Magnus, among others, writing about gynecology, the human constitution, fetal development, or the naturalistic dimensions of divine Creation, became increasingly interested in issues surrounding reproduction and sexuality. Did women as well as men produce procreative seed? How did the physiology of the sexes influence their healthy states and their susceptibility to disease? Who derived more pleasure from sexual intercourse, men or women? The answers to such questions created a network of flexible concepts which did not endorse a single model of male-female relations, but did affect views on the health consequences of sexual abstinence for women and men and on the allocation of responsibility for infertility - problems with much social and religious significance in the Middle Ages. Sometimes at odds with, and sometimes in accord with other forces in medieval society, medicine and natural philosophy helped to construct a set of notions that divided significant portions of the world - from the behavior of animals to the operations of astrological signs - into "masculine" and "feminine." Even cases that seemed to exist outside the definitions of this duality, for example, hermaphrodite features or homosexual behavior, were brought under control by the application of gendered labels, such as "masculine women."

Medieval Sexuality
Medieval Sexuality

Author: Joyce E. Salisbury

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-01-17

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 0429616260

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Originally published in 1990. Well-annotated bibliographical entries cover works on history, religion, medicine, philosophy, law and literature in western Europe from about the third century A.D. through the end of the medieval period. The primary sources are organised thematically, and separately from secondary sources. Languages covered include English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, and Latin. The focus is on sexuality and sexual attitudes, not on the related topics of marriage and family. Detailed indexes are also included.

Sexuality in Medieval Europe
Sexuality in Medieval Europe

Author: Ruth Mazo Karras

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2017-01-20

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 1351979906

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Challenging the way the Middle Ages have been treated in general histories of sexuality, Sexuality in Medieval Europe shows how views at the time were conflicted and complicated; there was no single medieval attitude towards sexuality any more than there is one modern attitude. Focusing on marital sexual activity, as well as behavior that was seen as transgressive, the chapters cover such topics as chastity, the role of the church, and non-reproductive activity. Combining an overview of research on the topic with original interpretations, Ruth Mazo Karras demonstrates that medieval culture developed sexual identities that were quite distinct from the identities we think of today, yet were still ancestral to our own. Using a wide collection of evidence from the late antique period until the fifteenth century, this fully revised third edition has been updated to include the latest scholarship throughout, including expanded coverage of Islamic and Jewish cultures and new ideas on how medieval sexual violence relates to the modern world. A new companion website supplements the text featuring an interactive timeline of key events, links to key primary sources, and references to further reading. Sexuality in Medieval Europe is essential reading for those who study medieval history and culture.