medieval sexuality

Tag: medieval sexuality

The Manly Priest: Celibacy, Masculinity, and Reform in the Medieval Period

By Katherine Harvey February 9, 2016 Author Interviews 0 comments

Interview by Katherine Harvey In The Manly Priest: Clerical Celibacy, Masculinity, and Reform in England and Normandy, 1066-1300, Jennifer Thibodeaux tells the story of the imposition of clerical celibacy in the Anglo-Norman realms. For much of the medieval period, priests in both England and Normandy were not only permitted to marry, but […]

The Perfect Corpse: Death, Virginity and the Bishop in Medieval Europe

By Katherine Harvey June 2, 2015 Medieval 0 comments

Lietbert was renowned for his piety, and in particular his sexual continence.

The King’s Favourite: Sex, Money and Power in Medieval England

By Katherine Harvey January 15, 2015 LGBTQ, Medieval 0 comments

Katherine Harvey In November 1326, Hugh Despenser was condemned to death for treason. Drawn to the gallows on a hurdle, he was hanged from a height of 50 feet; then, before he was completely dead, he was cut down from the gallows, eviscerated, and beheaded. His head was displayed on […]

Carnivalesque #107

By Katherine Harvey December 6, 2014 Early Modern, Medieval 0 comments

Katherine Harvey Welcome to Carnivalesque #107! Carnivalesque is an interdisciplinary blog carnival dedicated to pre-modern history (to c. 1800 C.E.), and NOTCHES is delighted to be hosting the final edition of 2014. If you are already a NOTCHES reader, then fear not, there is plenty of material on the history […]

The Bishop’s New Stockings, or The Dangers of Love Magic

By Katherine Harvey August 12, 2014 Medieval 0 comments

Katherine Harvey At some point in the first half of the eleventh century, Archbishop Poppo of Trier (1016-1047) decided to commission a new pair of pontifical stockings. He sent some material to a young canoness who belonged to a nearby religious house; shortly afterwards, he received his new footwear, and decided to try […]

Cunnilingus in the Middle Ages and the Problem of Understanding Past Sex Lives

By Tom O'Donnell July 29, 2014 Medieval 9 comments

Tom O’Donnell In order to conjure up the sexual practices of our forebears we have to bridge gaps. Gaps in language, time and ways of thinking. In order to write a history of medieval sexuality we need to know what that sexuality consisted of. It is hard enough to mentally […]

What was the Ultimate Medieval Aphrodisiac?

By Katherine Harvey June 5, 2014 Medicine and Sexuality, Medieval 0 comments

Katherine Harvey The idea that food and sex are somehow connected is deeply entrenched in contemporary western culture, and one of its most common manifestations is the idea that certain foods and drinks have aphrodisiac properties. Articles on food and drink with aphrodisiac properties are a common feature in newspapers […]