Book Summary: Sex In The Middle Ages

Sex in the Middle Ages
Sex is a taboo subject; many do not want to talk about it. Sex may be talked about more and premarital sex may be more accepted, but many still have the same views as those of medieval times did. When researching about sex in the middle ages, a person usually happens upon crazy escapades of the rulers and find very little on the culture as a whole. It is common knowledge that the Church was very strict about intercourse; however, sex was not as rare as many would like to think.
All the sexual morals of medieval Christianity are from Pagan Roman culture. The church, of course, had strict rules about sex.1 Christians promoted chastity for all, even those in marriages: “limitations were paced on couples about when, where, how and with whom they could make love; in other words, not in
the daytime or on special church days and only in bed in the ‘missionary’ position and then only with the person to whom one was married.”2 Even though they promoted such strict rules, Jesus said very little about sex. He only says that celibacy is a gift from God and whoever can receive this gift should do so. Most historians focus on the escapades of the rulers of the Middle Ages because the Pagan Romans were known for their modesty.
Many think that during medieval times people believed sex was dangerous, which may or may not be the case. Although everyone assumes sex was seen as a sin and an evil, sex was seen as being beneficial to the health. Physicians did not, however, condone excessive sex; they thought it to be dangerous. It was believed that ladies drained the fluids out of men and a sexually hungry woman could actually drain the life out of a man. The only real danger was the act of giving birth. Girls married shortly after puberty and had children very young in age; being so young, girls died quite frequently.
There are some medical writings on contraception even though they were against the teachings of the Church. There were cervical caps made from wool or cotton soaked in honey, condoms made from animal tissue, and herbal formulas. Of course, some still used coitus interruptus, also known as the withdrawal method.3
Written sometime between 1174 and 1186, Andreas Capellanus explained the Art of Courtly Love. In Book Two: On the Rules of Love it was stated that “a true lover does not desire to embrace in love anyone except his beloved.”4 However, many of the richer married men were allowed to engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Prostitution and concubines were common; in fact, there were separate ethnic houses for these women and their services so that the blood of any illegitimate children will still be pure.5 There were even houses for people with leprosy. Kings were allowed to have concubines to produce heirs to the throne if the queens could not. The more money and/or power a person had, the more people were willing to overlook these things.
In the poorer areas, sex was not so strict. They had the same Church rules as everyone else but didn’t abide by them. “Nonetheless illicit affairs could not be stemmed and were perhaps more common than courtly love ever was.”6 If a girl engaged in premarital sex and had children from the encounter, she would actually be more acceptable to marry because they knew that she was fertile. Being fertile was a vital part of marriages in the more rural areas because they needed big families to help with their trades and their farm work. They were less likely to have prostitutes because of the lack of free time and money.
Peter Damian wrote the Liber Gomorrhianus discusses the homosexuality in the middle ages.
It wasn’t very common but Damian offers the only complete book. Written in the late 11th century, he wrote about what he calls the “sins against nature”. Those sins include masturbation, mutual masturbation, interfemoral intercourse (between the thighs) and anal intercourse, the complete act against nature. He goes on to say that “the devil 's artful fraud devises these degrees of failing into ruin such that the higher the level the unfotyunate soul reaches in them, the deeper it sinks in the depths of hell 's pit.”7 So it is apparent that the ideas of sex haven’t changed much in all these centuries. Things aren’t kept as secret but many still retain these same thoughts that the Pagan Roman church did. Many don’t think about the personal lives of people in the Middle Ages when looking at this era; they usually focus on wars and religious debates. The significance of knowing this information is that thought the Church set up and tried to enforce strict rules, much of the time those rules were not followed. It makes the people of medieval times, more like actual
people.

Works Cited
Backman, Clifford R. "Daily Life at the Medieval Zenith." The Worlds of Medieval Europe. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2009. 405-36. Print.
Capellanus, Andreas. "The Art of Courtly Love, Book Two: On the Rules of Love," ed. Paul Halsall. Internet Medieval Sourcebook. http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/source/Capellanus.asp (accessed April 8, 2013).
Damian, Peter. "Liber Gomorrhianus." Internet History Sourcebooks Project. N.p., 1996. Web. 10 Apr. 2013.
Peakman, Julie. "Poise and Passion in the Middle Ages." History Today 61, no. 8 (August 2011): 36-41. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed April 16, 2013).