The Fires of Lust: Sex in the Middle Ages

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Nor can it explore why explicit sexual content was acceptable in some genres and almost completely absent from others, even when those genres were being used by the same audience, or whether the absence of sex in situations where we might expect it to occur means it wasn’t occurring, or it was taken for granted that the audience would understand what was happening. I can't think of a more brilliant Christmas book to give to one's significant other if they have even a passing interest in medieval Europe or the rich and extraordinary sex life of its inhabitants. Large and loose breasts suggested ample sexual experience and that impression might damage a single woman’s reputation. Harvey’s specialism in the history of medicine provides particular depth, and is integrated with legal and cultural material to create a sparkling and convincing whole.

The narration is dry, the value comes entirely from the many, many, many historical sources referenced throughout, so an interest in history - of the middle ages, or sex, or both - is a must for this. Really hope the author does more work for us general readers covering this period and its less well known subjects like Heresy etc. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. By exploring their sex lives, the book brings ordinary medieval people to life, revealing details of their most personal thoughts and experiences.

Being the most fundamental biological goal, studying it is bound to reveal a good deal about the mores and thoughts of its practitioners. However, at times its detail is overwhelming, with a barrage of a names and dates that seemingly have little importance to the overall narrative.

There was a strong desire to separate the Virgin from not only the indignities of sexual intercourse, but the related contaminations of the female body, so that it was widely believed that the birth of Christ was free from pain and from the polluting effects of afterbirth. Alicia Spencer-Hall, BBC History Magazine ‘I can’t think of more brilliant Christmas book to give to one’s significant other if they have even a passing interest in medieval Europe or the rich and extraordinary sex life of its inhabitants. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Her message is, depending on your perspective, reassuring: “then” is not all that different from “now” — when it comes to sex, plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.Courtship was a family matter: the wealthy and titled wanted their children to marry into the same class but, even among the common folk, clan approval was vital. It also confronts the fashionable stereotypes of the middle age and though she uses the ‘us/them’ vocabulary, the theme of the book is ‘similar but different’. The Virgin Mary seemed to have a particular weakness for sexual sinners, and collections of her miracles often include stories of fornicators who were saved by her intervention; the Castilian priest Gonzalo de Berceo (c. Mary Flannery, Times Literary Supplement ‘An expansive, accessible and highly engaging account of what we do – and don't – know about western European sexual culture in the Middle Ages.

This allows the reader to make some judgements of their own, whilst still offering some suggestions and context where it is needed. This is an interesting topic but I think it would have been better placed earlier in the book, before the reader gets to the more serious topics. The Fires of Lust: Sex in the Middle Ages was published in October 2021 by Reaktion Books, and is distributed by University of Chicago Press in the US. A distinction was also made between a woman who had sex for pleasure and ones who did so for financial need and desperation. Learned, fun, and full of surprises – a fascinating, wide-ranging guide to medieval sexual attitudes and experiences.Fara Dabhoiwala, author of The Origins of Sex: A History of the First Sexual Revolution ‘A lively and readable account rooted in a deep knowledge of the scholarly literature on sexuality in medieval western Europe. The historian cautions that her account of sexual crimes and punishments is somewhat bleaker than the truth.

Today he might be considered bisexual, given his activity, but nonbinary, trans, or gender fluid as to his identity. What all of these individuals had in common, besides their sexual transgressions, was a genuine contrition for their sins. 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. Harvey notes that “According to the other monks, the elderly pair spent much of their time reading in the kitchen. T he Irish Times ‘An entertaining but thoughtful study, descriptive without becoming didactic or pedantic.As an overview the section zips over this vast field, tending to focus on the more well-known ribald and obscene examples. He was socialized as a man, even though he had breasts and it was generally agreed that he looked more female than he did male. This was not a survival strategy that could endure, however, and he was tried as a sodomite and burnt to death. In Venice, a man was accused of bestiality, but in his defense claimed that he had been unable to have relations with a woman or even masturbate. It’s still worth remembering the people at the end of this shortened timespan were as distant from those at the start of it as we are from them.