User:Acalva2/Homosexuality in medieval Europe

Sexuality in the Middle Ages strongly revolved around males, more specifically about male genitalia. There was a definite lack of male homosexuality. Many writings depicted a form of lesbianism, that in nature was not sexual as long as there were no phallic-like objects used. Many of the writings that described lesbianism came from the church and other religious writings. One such writing is from St. Paul and his letters to Rome. However there is one such writing that depicts male homosexuality, this writing came from St. Peter Damian who detailed in a letter to Pope Leo IX his sexual encounter with the male anus. However, towards the end of the Middle Ages, secular authorities defined Sodomy as having anal intercourse between two males. Between the ages of the 13th and 15th centuries, natural philosophers and medical experts wondered about the pleasures of sexual pleasure through the anus among males, as well as some men's willingness for a new role other than coitus. Many of these thinkers were concerned with anal penetration as the openness of some men to anal pleasure and sexual passivity was a recurring problem in late medieval accounts.

The Passive Role

Homosexuality among men was more prominent than many people believed, the problem arises from the lack of evidence and sources that document these encounters. Men between the 13th and 15th centuries of Medieval Europe shared similar patterns of male sexual preference with the Greeks. The Greeks believed that as long as a man was an active partner, then it did not matter if they penetrated a woman or boy (young man). There were elements of this in Europe, but the stark difference was how the gender of a man's partner was described. In Greece it was preference-based but in Medieval Europe, it was defined by the role people played.

As previously discussed the difference between homosexuality in Greece and Medieval Europe was the passiveness that men in Europe expressed. While there was no real concept of homosexuality in the middle ages, men participated in the same sexual encounters but one needed to play the passive role. Alain of Lillie denounces same sexual encounters because it requires men to play the inferior passive role. While it was common for men to not care about the sex of their partner, it was still frond upon by many as men should not be in the inferior role of passivity.

During the 12th century, many described male homosexuality as sodomy. Male homosexuality did not exist during this time instead it was connected to specific groups who practiced or were thought to practice sodomy. One such group that was linked were heretics because they practiced unnatural and non-reproductive sex. In Medieval Germany, they used the word Ketzer (heretic) to describe someone who commits heresy with another. This was used as a euphemism to describe male-on-male sexual intercourse. There was one such case in 1456, called the Regensburg case where a man was accused of heresy with many boys and men.

The Church

The church had its fair share of homosexual encounters. Many depictions of the church have homosexual ties. The eras range from the 12th century to the 16th century, but many priests or people within the church depict themselves as lovers of Christ. Many of these depictions can be vivid and lewd imagery or lewd statements from people within the church who describe their love for the Lord. Augustine and his friend practiced Manichaeanism, which leads people into considering their relationship was sexual. This is because there were many accusations of sexual immorality made against people who were Manichaeans. The group was known for its “unchaste perversity, in the name of religion. And the crimes committed are unknown and shameful to brothels. As brothels only contained female prostitutes, the crimes that Manichaeans committed had to revolve around homosexuality amongst men.

When it came to burials in the Middle ages people who were same-sex couples shared a grave. These burials are very well documented and one such is in Constantinople in 1391 for Knights Sir John Clanvowe and Sir William Neville. Their tombstone depicts a kiss amongst "sworn brothers", same-sex couples were scattered throughout Medieval Europe and were not solely about men in the church, but a variety of people were involved. These burials were made to commemorate the love and bond two people shared, while lesbianism is more well known male homosexuality can be traced back to these commemorative burials, as well as the lewd depictions from the church and church officials.

Art

In the subject of homosexuality in medieval Europe, art is one of the least studied aspects when researching the matter. As Constantine legalized Christianity in the fourth century, the religion became widespread through medieval Europe over the centuries leading to less secular subjects to be produced as more energy was used to convert practicers of pagan religions. This was also in part because from the early to late middle ages most art was produced under the church, leading art of the time to have more theological themes. Though this was the case depictions of homosexuality as sodomy did exist varying in form from region to region, either in forms of damnation by the church or depictions of love mainly through manuscripts and literature.

Literature and Poetry

One of the earliest documented mentions of medieval sodomy comes from the 10th century. From poet German Roswitha of Gandersheim/Hrotsvitha there exist the Passio S. Pelagic, in which homosexuality as sodomy is dictated a practice of foreign lands, Arabic to be precise. Within its content, championed was the christian protagonist, Pelaguis, for sticking to his faith against pursuits of the caliph of Cordoba, Abderrahmann, denying his embrace and becoming a martyr. Anglo-Saxon literature of this time exist as well, such as De Lantfrido et Cobbone, a latin work corroborating the idea of homosexuality/sodomy as a pagan and pre-christian ideals and also one of the first depictions of bisexuality within literature.

Placed within the poetry of the 11th and 12th century of the medieval world laid a contradiction to the damnation of homoeroticism of the church. As Latin was pushed into practice in the French realm, the poetry produced in this time had elements of homosexuality and christianity. Most notable of this genre are the works of three bishops, Marbodius of Rennes, Baudri of Bourgueil and Hildebert of Lavardin. An Excerpt from Marbod reads:

"A handsome face demands a good mind, and a yielding one...

This flesh is now so smooth, so milky, so unblemished,

So good, so handsome, so slippery, so tender.

... When this flesh, dear boyish flesh, will become worthless.

Therefore, while you flower... be not slow to yield to an eager lover"

Illuminated Manuscripts

"Monk Kissing Layman and Two women Embracing"

As more depictions of sodomy became prevalent, there came about a form of writing that interlaced the writing of homosexual love and biblical texts.These became known as “moralized” texts. This form of writing was typically accompanied by illuminated manuscripts, which lead to them to be more costly and also just as rare. Typically commissioned by someone of royal status, they existed as a reinventing of ancient literary text of the bible and greek literature. Within this they are translated and the context is reinvented to fit the morals of christianity in the thirteenth and fourteenth century. The most famous of these being the “Bible Moralisée” which features manuscript illustrations in circles to show which moral it stands for.  Paired with this was the “Ovide Moralisée”, used to change feelings against previous pagan literature. With this in mind typically works within them that portrayed homosexual love where then reinvented to instead condemn the happening inside of the manuscript. Within the "Ovide Moralisée", a text on Jupiter and Ganymede is instead used to condemn sodomy, though its actual meaning was to show the story of Ganymede becoming the cup bearer of the gods.

Punishments

In the latter half of the 13th century, the church began to punish those who lay with other men. The most common form of punishment was excommunication from the church, and the first church council that passed these sorts of sanctions was Lateran III in 1179. These laws took into effect during the 13th century, but even though there were severe punishments for homosexual behavior; they did not have any effect on Scandinavian legislation. In 1227 Pope Honorius III wrote to the archbishop of Lund attempting to appeal to them and set the punishment to be a pilgrimage to Rome. 22