Sexuality in the Medieval West
Michelle M. Sauer (dir.) et Jenny C. Bledsoe, ARC Humanities Press, 2025.
This invaluable reference work addresses sex, gender, and sexuality in medieval Europe and North Africa, providing an important update previous handbooks from the 1990s. With lucid definitions, theoretical engagement, and wide geographic coverage, it is the new indispensable guide to the subject. The editors and authors establish institutional foundations and explore expressions of sex and sexuality across medieval cultures, analyzing examples from legal, religious, artistic, literary, medical, and other sources. This handbook begins with a section devoted to definitions and vocabulary before progressing to cultural topics and concluding with geographically-specific traditions and practices related to sexuality. Essays authored by specialists in relevant fields include both primary and secondary sources, contain examinations of the three major religions, and address broader cultural and historical ramifications of these topics.
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
« Preface » by Diane Watt
« An Introduction to Sexuality Studies in Medieval Europe and North Africa » by Michelle M. Sauer and Jenny C. Bledsoe
Part One. Concepts
Chapter 1. « Defining Medieval Heterosexuality: Institutional, Literary, and Artistic Sources » by Jenny C. Bledsoe
Chapter 2. « The Multiple Medieval Discourses of Female Homosexuality » by Lisa M. C. Weston
Chapter 3. « Lesbian Visibility in the European Middle Ages » by Michelle M. Sauer
Chapter 4. « (Re)Visioning Male Homosexuality in the Middle Ages » by Mark L. Patterson and Robert L. A. Clark†
Chapter 5. « Medieval Male Homosexuality: Restrictions and Prohibitions » by Will Rogers
Chapter 6. « Negotiating the Medieval World as Women » by Heather Blatt
Chapter 7. « Femininity as Revealed through Verbal Strategies in Medieval Texts by Women » by Fumiko Yoshikawa
Chapter 8. « Three Masculinities of Medieval Western Europe » by Paul Gaffney
Chapter 9. « The Genesis of Masculinity » by Ellen R. Ketels
Chapter 10. « Female Virginal Bodies: Medieval Religious and Secular Approaches » by Sarah Noonan
Chapter 11. « Male Virginity in the Middle Ages » by Katherine Harvey with Robin Gilbank
Chapter 12. « Trans Sexualities in the Middle Ages » by M. W. Bychowski
Chapter 13. « Medieval Intersex: Discourses and Discontents » by Micah Goodrich
Chapter 14. « Medieval Eunuchs: The Third Gender » by Rhonda L. McDaniel
Chapter 15. « The Medieval Western Culture of Castration » by Larissa Tracy
Chapter 16. « Incest and Religion in the Creation of Medieval Kinship » by Erin I. Mann
Part Two. Social-Cultural Intersections
Chapter 17. « Medieval Jewish Sexuality: Texts and Contexts » by Marla Segol
Chapter 18. « Institutional Foundations for the Study of Sex in Medieval Western Christianity » by Jenny C. Bledsoe and Michelle M. Sauer
Chapter 19. « Medieval Islam: Sexuality in and Beyond the Sacred Sources » by Michael Muhammad Knight
Chapter 20. « Race, Intersectionality, and Sexuality in the Medieval ‘West' » by Michelle M. Sauer and Dorothy Kim
Chapter 21. « Sexuality and Socioeconomic Status in the Middle Ages » by Lynn Arner
Chapter 22. « Age and Sexuality in Medieval Western Europe » by Jennifer N. Brown
Chapter 23. « Sex and Disability in the Middle Ages » by Natalie Grinnell
Chapter 24. « Sexuality and Disease in the Middle Ages » by Heide Estes
Chapter 25. « Sex Work in the Western Middle Ages » by Brian Gastle
Chapter 26. « Music and Sexuality in Medieval Western Europe » by Rachel May Golden
Chapter 27. « An Art History of Sexualities in Medieval Europe and North Africa » by Bryan C. Keene
Part Three. Geographical Intersections
Chapter 28. « Sex and Sexuality in Medieval England » by Carla María Thomas
Chapter 29. « Sex and Sexuality in Medieval Scandinavia » by Larry Swain
Chapter 30. « Sex and Sexuality in the Insular Celtic World » by Gregory R. Darwin
Chapter 31. « Sex and Sexuality in France and the Low Countries » by Leona Archer
Chapter 32. « Sex and Sexuality in Medieval Germany » by Joshua S. Easterling
Chapter 33. « Sexual Practices in Medieval Iberia » by Martha M. Daas
Chapter 34. « Sex and Sexuality in Al-Andalus and North Africa » by Adriano Duque
Chapter 35. « Sexualities in Medieval Italy » by Nicole Lopez-Jantzen and Janine Larmon Peterson
Chapter 36. « Sexualities in Medieval Eastern Europe and the Holy Roman Empire » by Anna Kłosowska and Michelle M. Sauer
Index