A Cultural History of Sexuality in the Middle Ages

by Ruth Evans (Editor)

Overview

Historians of sexuality have often assumed that medieval people were less interested in sex than we are. But people in the Middle Ages wrote a great deal about sex: in confessors' manuals, in virginity treatises, and in literary texts. This volume looks afresh at the cultural meanings that sex had throughout the period, presenting new evidence and offering new interpretations of known material. Acknowledging that many of the categories that we use today to talk about sexuality are inadequate for understanding sex in premodern times, the volume draws on important recent work in the historiography of medieval sexuality to address the conceptual and methodological challenges the period presents.

A Cultural History of Sexuality in the Middle Ages presents an overview of the period with essays on heterosexuality, homosexuality, sexual variations, religious and legal issues, health concerns, popular beliefs about sexuality, prostitution and erotica.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781847888013
Publisher:	Berg Publishers
Publication date:	05/01/2012
Series:	The Cultural Histories Series
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	6.69(w) x 9.61(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Ruth Evans is Dorothy McBride Orthwein Chair of English at St Louis University. She has recently co-edited Medieval Virginities, Medieval Cultural Studies and Secrets, Mysteries and Silences.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction: What Was Sexuality in the Middle Ages?
Ruth Evans (St Louis University, USA)

2 Heterosexuality
Karma Lochrie (Indiana University, USA)

3 Homosexuality: Specters of Sodom
Robert Mills (King's College London, UK)

4 Sexual Variations
Cory James Rushton (St Francis Xavier University, Canada)

5 Sex, Religion, and the Law
Irina Metzler (University of Swansea, UK)

6 Sex, Medicine, and Disease
Jacqueline A. Tasioulas (University of Cambridge, UK)

7 Sex, Popular Beliefs, and Culture
Malcolm Jones (Independent Scholar, UK)

8 Prostitution: The Moral Economy of Medieval Prostitution
Kevin Mummey (University of Minnesota, USA)

9 Erotica
Sarah Salih (King's College London, UK)

Notes

Bibliography

Contributors

Index