2. How do we know about the Middle Ages?

The Middle Ages ended more than 500 years ago, but leaving behind, it left many traces. These testimonies of the past, which appeared in the Middle Ages and have survived to this day, are called historical sources.

Helmet from a burial at Sutton Hoo. Reconstruction

Historical sources are very diverse. The most complete and detailed information About the Middle Ages, written sources give us: laws, documents (for example, wills or inventories of land holdings), historical and literary works. Not all written sources that once existed have survived to this day. Many documents perished during fires and floods, wars and popular uprisings. Sometimes they perish in our time. Therefore, scientists try to ensure that documents fall into special storages - archives, and in addition, they strive to publish them whenever possible.

Visual sources can also tell a lot: illustrations in handwritten books, paintings, sculptures.

One of the most famous pictorial sources is an embroidered carpet (more than 70 m long) from French city Bayeux. The story of the conquest of England by the Norman Duke William is reproduced on the carpet. Of course, historians know a lot about this event of the 11th century from written sources, but only here you can see how people of that era built ships, sat at a banquet table, and held weapons in battle.

Diverse material sources are no less important for understanding the past. In many ancient cities, medieval fortifications, churches, and houses have been preserved. Material sources also include various utensils, clothing, tools, weapons, and much more. Some things from generation to generation have been preserved in private collections and museums, others end up in museums today as a result of archaeological sites(e.g. the 7th century treasure from Sutton Hoo in England).

Scene from the Battle of Hastings. Fragment of a carpet from Bayeux. 11th century

And more recently, in the south-east of France, in Lake Paladru, underwater excavations of a settlement based on a narrow cape at the beginning of the 11th century were carried out. After 30 years, it was suddenly flooded by rising waters. Leaving, the settlers barely had time to capture the most necessary things: money, some tools and weapons. The rest was flooded, and literally everything was preserved under water: the remains of dwellings, wooden utensils, iron tools, animal bones, plant seeds and much more. Here's what scientists have learned from these findings.

The inhabitants of the village skillfully combined farming and cattle breeding, fishing and handicrafts. The wealth of utensils and 32 coins found by archaeologists, which were dropped by the inhabitants, testify to the prosperity of the settlement.

Gold clasp for a cloak. Sutton Hoo. 7th century

But scientists were especially interested in the fact that, along with tools, weapons were found that only real warriors used: a battle ax, spears, fragments of swords. This means that the inhabitants of the village were both peasants and warriors at the same time. Thanks to archeology, it was possible to lift the edge of the veil of time and find out how these peasant warriors lived.

A lot can tell about the Middle Ages and other historical sources: names and titles, oral legends and legends folk customs that retain the features of deep antiquity.

Exploring the sources, generations of historians managed to learn a lot about the Middle Ages. But this does not mean that all issues have already been resolved. After all, history is always closely connected with the present, and therefore each generation of historians responds to the spiritual needs of their contemporaries, asks the past new questions and receives new answers to them. The Middle Ages is controversial, which means that people still care about it. His knowledge continues.

In the Middle Ages, 9 out of 10 people died before reaching the age of 40.

Of course, we do not have exact data on the average life expectancy in the distant past, but historians say that in the Middle Ages it was somewhere around 35 years. (In any case, 50% of those born lived to this age). But this does not mean that people died only at the age of 35. Yes, average duration life was approximately the same, but many died in childhood. We don't know exactly what percentage it is, but assuming that somewhere around 25% died before reaching five, we would not be far from the truth. About 40% died in adolescence. But if a person was lucky enough to survive childhood and adolescence, he had a good chance of surviving to 50 and 60. In the Middle Ages, there were even people who lived to 70 or 80.

In the Middle Ages, people were much shorter than us.

Not true! The people were a little lower. According to the skeletons found in the Mary Rose carrack, the height of the sailors was somewhere between 5 feet 7 inches and 5 feet 8 inches (that is, about 170 cm). Burials from the Middle Ages and other periods also show that people were slightly shorter than our contemporaries, but not by much.

The people of the past were very dirty and rarely washed.

The facts clearly show that people tried to keep themselves clean. It is absolutely true that most people bathed and changed clothes very often. They also tried to keep their homes clean. The opinion that people were dirty and smelled bad is a myth.

Perhaps it arose because people rarely took a bath. Until the 19th century it was difficult to heat a large number of water immediately. Imagine that you have heated a cauldron of water and poured it into a tub. By the time you heat up the second portion, the first will cool down. The Romans solved this problem with public baths that were heated from below.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, it became easier to bathe naked. In hot weather, people bathed in the rivers. It is also known that people washed their clothes quite often.

Once upon a time, the Pope under the name John was a woman

It is unlikely that this is true. According to legend, the female Pope was on the Holy Throne for 2 years - from 855 to 858. In fact, Leo IV held the papal throne from 847 to 855, and Benedict III from 855 to 888. The interval between them is only a few weeks.

According to legend, the female Pope was disguised as a man, and no one suspected anything strange until the head of the Catholic Church gave birth to a child in front of an astonished environment. Surprisingly, no one even noticed the pregnancy.

The first mention of a female Pope appeared 200 years after her alleged existence. If this is true, why didn't anyone write about it at the time? It should have been a sensation all over Europe, so why didn't anyone else do it?

Probably because the story is fictional.

King John signed the Magna Carta

No, he didn't sign! He put a wax seal on it, but did not sign it.

In the Middle Ages, scholars spent hours debating how many angels could fit on the head of a pin.

There is no evidence that anyone in the Middle Ages asked such a stupid question. The people who lived in the Middle Ages were far from being fools.

Some medieval armor was so heavy that knights were pulled onto horses with a rope.

It is not true. The armor, of course, was heavy, but not so much.

On the eve of 1000 AD. people all over Europe panicked. They were afraid that Jesus Christ would return and the world would end

There is no evidence that such a panic arose. Not a single chronicler of that time mentions anything unusual. Only centuries later, writers began to assert that this was the case before the advent of the year 1000. This is part of a larger myth that the people of the Middle Ages were stupid and gullible (even more so than we are!)

Vikings wore helmets with horns

There is no evidence that the Vikings wore horned helmets in battle. Also, there is no evidence that they wore winged helmets.

Most churchyards grew yew because men used yew wood to make bows.

This is almost certainly a myth. Records show that bow makers preferred yews from southern or eastern Europe (the English yew was not well suited for this purpose). In fact, yews grew in churchyards because their leaves are poisonous. Villagers could allow cattle to graze in churchyards. Yew trees were a good way to stop them.

Joan of Arc was burned like a witch

It is not true. She was burned for heresy (because she dressed like a man).

Before Columbus, people thought the earth was flat.

In fact, in the Middle Ages, people knew very well that the Earth was round.

Columbus discovered America

No. It is known for certain that the ancestors of today's Americans came to North America thousands of years before Columbus. Moreover, Columbus was not even the first European to discover America. The first European to see the continent was Bjarni Herjulfsson. He sailed to Greenland in 985 AD when he saw a new land (he did not come ashore). About 15 years later, a man named Leif Erickson led an expedition to a new land. He gave names to some areas of North America: Helluland (country of flat stones), Markland (country covered with forest) and Vinland (country of grapes). Erickson spent the winter in Vinland. He did not return there again, while other Vikings returned, but they never managed to establish a permanent colony there.

Centuries later, Columbus decided he could sail directly from Europe to China across the Atlantic Ocean. Columbus underestimated the size of the Earth. He did not know that there were North and South America And Pacific Ocean. Columbus made 4 voyages across the Atlantic and although he landed on several Caribbean islands, he never set foot on the North American continent.

Blackgate (Black Moor) in London got its name because victims of the London Plague (the so-called "Black Death") were buried there.

This is definitely not true. This place was called the Black Moor at the time of the Cadastral Book (a land inventory of England produced by William the Conqueror in 1086), almost 300 years before the plague of 1348-49. That the Black Waste got its name because black slaves were sold there is also a myth. It is not known where the name actually came from. Possibly due to blackness. In any case, this has nothing to do with the plague or black slaves.

Golf is an English abbreviation that means "only gentlemen, ladies are not allowed" (golf - 'gentlemen only ladies forbidden')

The word "golf" comes from the old Danish word "kolf", which means "club". (During the Middle Ages, the Danes already played with clubs, but golf itself originated in Scotland). The Scots changed the word to “gol” or “goff”, over time it turned into the “golf” we know.

Archers carried their arrows on their backs

Only when they were riding horses. Ordinarily, archers carried their arrows in containers strapped to their belts (it's much easier to get a bow arrow from a belt than from a shoulder). Robin Hood is usually depicted with a quiver of arrows on his back. If Robin Hood ever existed, he most likely wore arrows on his belt.

In the Middle Ages, spices were used to hide the fact that the meat was spoiled.

This is not true for one simple reason - spices were very expensive and only rich people could use them. They certainly didn't eat spoiled meat. They ate only the highest quality meat! Spices were used to improve its taste.

SEXUAL LIFE OF A HUMAN IN THE MIDDLE AGES
(superficial judgments that do not claim to be fundamental)

It is he!
- Who is he?
- Boy!
- You didn't say anything about the boy!
Because I didn't want to talk about it!
From the americans. thin series "California"

Each of us - you, you, you, you and I -
I have my own personal life, which does not concern anyone -
not you, not you, not you, not you, and me too...
Sergei SOLOVYOV, film director (from a TV interview)

The world of medieval men and women was filled with strong and powerful passions.
In the medieval world, women were adored.
“I love you more than anyone! You alone are my love and my desire!”
But they also evoked hatred and disgust.
“A woman is just a bait of Satan, a poison for male souls,” wrote St. Augustine.
It was a world in which knowledge of medicine, physiology and hygiene of life was still insufficient.
"The mere sight of a menstruating woman can by itself cause disease in a healthy man."
It was a world where bishops get rich from prostitution and virgins "marry" Christ.
“Because I was standing next to the crucifix, I was overwhelmed with such fire that I took off all my clothes and offered all of me to Him.”
A world in which priests accuse their flock of extramarital affairs and other sexual sins.
“There is so much debauchery and adultery on all sides that only a few men are satisfied with their own wives” (1).
It was a time when in the dwellings of the church fathers and even in the palace of the Pope, everyone was indiscriminately engaged in a variety of sex, not disdaining intercourse with boys and young men, which was especially developed in monasteries.
"... the houses of the church fathers turn into a haven for harlots and sodomites."
It was a world in which God, according to the ministers of the church, promises to exterminate all mankind because of sinful aspirations. (As if one of them communicated with him or knows how to read his mind.)
“We must be afraid of human sensuality, whose fire flared up as a result of original sin, which established more great depths evil, producing various sins that caused divine wrath and his revenge" (2).

... "Really sexual relations began in 1963." So, at least, wrote the poet Philip Larkey. But this is not true. Sexual activity in the Middle Ages was as vigorous and varied as it is today. How diverse it was can be understood from the questions that medieval priests were obliged to ask their parishioners:
"Did you commit adultery with a nun?";
“Have you committed adultery with your stepmother, daughter-in-law, your son’s fiancée, mother?”;
"Have you made an instrument or device in the form of a penis and then tied it to your sexual organs and committed adultery with other women?"
“Did you not insert a device in the form of a penis into your mouth or into your anus, moving this tool of the devil there and receiving indecent male pleasure at the same time?”;
“Have you used the mouth and buttocks of your son, brother, father, servant boy for Sodomy pleasure?”;
“Have you done what some women do, who lie down in front of an animal and encourage him to copulate with any possible way. Have you copulated in the same way they did?”
Such interest suggests that sexual activity in the Middle Ages was no different from the sexual desires of people today! But the world in which all this happened was completely different! Knowledge about birth and hygiene, about life and death, physiology and human sexual desires was very different from today.
Considering that today people in all countries live up to 75-80 years, in the Middle Ages people barely reached the age of 40. Everyone has faced death own experience. Most people have seen a brother or sister die. Most parents have lost one or more children. In a medieval village of 100 houses, funerals could take place every eight days. This was facilitated by malnutrition, infections, disease, epidemics and wars.
Life in the Middle Ages was dangerous. It's easy to imagine medieval life as nasty, cruel, and short. At least, this was considered until recently: “At the heart of the early deaths of those years is the struggle for survival, the lack of pleasures, passions and the suppression of one’s sexuality.” But was it really so? Far from it! Medieval records suggest the passions that raged in various parts of society, the deep world of intimacy and sensuality, the close attention to love, sex and various pleasures. And some exotic ways to enhance them.
Many couples wanted to have fun, but in such a way that the woman would not "fly". But the easiest way to avoid fertilization was to cool the fire of desire. True, in this case, and pleasure could not be obtained. To put out the fire of his passion, "Guide to the Secrets of Women" recommended drinking the urine of a man. According to the authors of such nonsense, this should certainly work! There were other ways to avoid unwanted pregnancies. The monks, for example, recommended eating sage for this, which was cooked for three days. After that, allegedly, pregnancy does not occur for a whole year! There were more radical advice: if a woman swallows a bee, she will never get pregnant, and a man who will plant her deeply will feel pain and, probably, he will not want to ejaculate in her!
Since the church allowed sex only for procreation, it categorically rejected the use of contraception. The jurist Burchard, Bishop of Worms, even introduced penance (punishment) for a period of ten years for contraception. However, despite all these prohibitions, various contraceptives known since ancient times were used in practice: herbal tinctures, special exercises after intercourse, creams for the genitals, vaginal suppositories, and much more. Coitus interruptus was also practiced, perhaps the most effective method of contraception at that time. Termination of pregnancy was resorted to in extreme cases and mostly dispensed with surgical intervention: severe physical exercise, hot baths, tinctures and other medicines that cause miscarriage. Researcher of the history of contraception John Noonan noticed a very curious thing: if in early middle ages great attention As a means of contraception, it was given to sexual positions, conspiracies and magical amulets, then in the high and late Middle Ages it was already interrupted sexual intercourse and ejaculation of a man on a woman’s stomach or on a bed.
Obviously, the medieval understanding of sexual relations was primitive. The anatomy was undeveloped and an autopsy was rarely performed. (Which, by the way, the church actively opposed. It was the lack of knowledge in the field of medicine that caused the outbreak of the most dangerous epidemics in crowded places - primarily in cities.) But this did not stop some of the greatest minds from revealing the secrets of sex. In the centers for the study of sciences throughout medieval Europe, scientists pondered topical issues.
What is the difference between men and women?
Why do people most often like sex, and are they ready to break all conceivable biblical prohibitions for the sake of sexual pleasure?
What is the nature of sexual satisfaction?
What is attraction? What is its essence? And is the devil guilty of it or is it still a divine gift?
The consensus reached by these male authors, many of whom were clerics, was that the woman was the problem. According to the classic four fluid theory, men were conceived hot and dry. Which was good. The women were cold and wet. Which was bad. This made them sexually insatiable.
“A woman is more thirsty for copulation than a man, because the dirty is drawn to the good,” wrote St. Augustine.
The real mystery was how the female anatomy works. At Oxford in the 14th century, Dr. John Garsdon expressed the common belief of the Middle Ages that menstrual blood was in fact female semen. No wonder, it was thought, that women needed sex to get rid of this semen, menstrual blood.
“This blood is so disgusting that upon contact with it, fruits cease to grow, wine becomes sour, trees do not bear fruit, the air darkens and dogs become wild with rabies. The mere sight of a menstruating woman can by itself cause disease in a healthy man."
In a word, all women were poisonous in the literal sense of the word! (And not just some mothers-in-law, as they think now!)
Medieval thinking was as logical as ours, but based on different assumptions. It often came from religious doctrine or the opinion of ancient authorities. And the biblical story of the Garden of Eden dominated the explanation of the nature of female sexuality.
In the story of original sin, the devil chooses to deceive Eve, not Adam! As has been said, attack human nature where it is weakest. Eve's actions were an act of betrayal that few churchmen could forgive.
"Eve was a bait for Satan, a poison for men's souls," wrote Cardinal Peter Damien in the 11th century.
And he: “Evil from a woman! Women are the biggest evil in the world! Don't you women understand that Eve is you! You have desecrated the tree of knowledge! You disobeyed God's law! You convinced a man where the devil could not win by force! God's judgment on your sex still hangs over the world! You are guilty before men, and you must endure all hardships! You are the devil's gate!"
It is not surprising that with such an attitude towards women, medieval courtship was a rather unromantic activity that few dared to do. In general, marriage at that time was different from today's romantic ideal. He had very little to do with love, if at all. This appeared later.
Most often, it was an alliance between families and an agreement that included the transfer of some property. The wife was considered as part of this property. Such property should have been carefully inspected prior to the conclusion of the transaction. In 1319, Edward II sent the Bishop of Exater to inspect Philippa Edaena as a proposed wife for his young son. The bishop's report reads like a description of future property:
“The lady has attractive hair - a cross between blue-black and brown. The eyes are deep dark brown. The nose is quite even and even not upturned. Pretty big mouth. The lips are somewhat full, especially the lower ones. The neck, shoulders, her whole body and lower limbs are moderately well formed. All its members are well fitted and unmutilated. And on the day of Saint John this girl will be nine years old.”
The report was accepted by the customer with satisfaction. An agreement has been reached. Nine years later, Philippa married the son of Edward II, who later became Edward III.
And here is how the curiosity of a 13-year-old groom towards his bride is shown in the French feature series "Borgia":

“Have you seen my bride, brother?
- Saw.
- Your silence disturbs, brother! Calm down baby-Jofre!
- Be calm, Zhofre, she is not horned!
- She's beautiful?
- No.
- She is kind?
- Like, no!
Does she have anything good in her?
- She has two legs, a full set of eyes, ten fingers!
- So, she is not beautiful and not kind ... She has two eyes, ten fingers ...
- I forgot my toes. Also ten, in my opinion!
- I marry only once, mother!
- Brother Jofre! She's not just pretty!
- Yes?
- She's beautiful!
- Is it true?
- She is an angel who grew up on the land of Naples! And know: if you do not marry, I will marry her myself!
- Is it true?
- Yes its true! Do you allow me?
- No, Juan! She is my bride!
- Yes, that's right! Who is the lucky one?..”

We add that the bride was five years older than her teenage fiancé. And later brother Juan (this historical truth) could not resist his lust and right during the wedding celebrations, having improved the moment, he took the girl out of the hall and took possession of her in an empty room, standing, pressing against the wall, lowering his pants, pulling up her wedding dresses, lifting her legs.
Here's this scene from the movie:

"Be good to him! Promise?
- Like this?
- He is my little brother!
- But how, "good"?
<Тут у обоих одновременно наступает бурный оргазм. Оба стонут, извиваются, переживают наслаждения, глубоко дышат...>
- That's it! .. That's it! ..
- So I can! .. Yes! .. Yes! .. "

After that, the bride, well inseminated by her older brother, went to "be kind" with her inexperienced young husband...
In all marriages, the woman's property and belongings became the property of her husband. Just like the woman herself.
The law often allowed husbands to treat their wives however they pleased. Therefore, on their wedding night, many young men and women subtly raped their young wives, considering only their desires and feelings, sincerely believing that they want the same and that they will like it. The cries of the young wife deprived of innocence during the wedding night delighted all the guests, the parents of the groom and even the parents of the bride. And in the morning, the young husband could publicly and in detail savor how, in what position and how many times he took possession of his young wife, how pleased he was, how his dearest wife did not want it, in what way, how he forced her to copulate and how it hurt during defloration.
“It is lawful for a man to beat his wife when she harms him, unless he kills or maims her,” said English law.
The female part of humanity, invoked as the cause of original sin, feared for its sexuality and taken in exchange for property, livestock or goods, and sometimes subjected to violence for its pleasure and satiety, was by no means happy.
During the late Middle Ages and early renaissance cruelty to women was a manifestation of the sexuality of young people in Venice as well. Rape was considered a serious crime if it was committed against children, the elderly, or members of the upper class. Sexual violence against women of lower or equal status was not criminalized (as long as the victim remained alive and unharmed), and was sometimes even considered part of a courtship ritual. For example, some Venetian youths proposed to their chosen ones after they had taken possession of them several times, most often with the use of force. With rare exceptions, the rape of a young girl was part of the wedding ritual. When the older generation had already agreed on everything, the parents with their daughter (or son) came to visit the parents of the future groom (bride). A young man and a girl, under some plausible pretext, retired. And while the parents talked to each other about the weather and city news, the guy behind the wall took possession of his young guest, regardless of her desires. The girl's cries were ignored. The children returned to their parents: he was satisfied with the pleasures received and sexual release, she, who had known male power, inseminated by a young lustful baboon, was in tears. The parents of both were satisfied with the past evening, the guy too. And the girl?.. Who asked her about it? After some time, there was a return visit, during which the girl no longer resisted her fiancé so much (mother explained everything to her in detail), but the ritual of returning to his parents - satisfied, and her - in tears was obligatory. And then, if the key fit the lock, an offer was made. Or another bride or groom was looking for. It is somewhat unclear how the issue of contraception was resolved in this case. However, there is evidence that many Venetians were not sure that the firstborn in their family was the offspring of the head of the family.
In general, in Venice, as in other European cities, there was an illegal, but very widespread sexual culture - prostitution, street and domestic rape, forced extramarital cohabitation. All this was the result of the fact that young people began to marry at a later age (3).
From the early Middle Ages, the secular authorities and the church believed that it was impossible to rape your bride if there was an agreement between the parents, or your wife, since she gave her voluntary consent to sex when she got married. It was also not considered a crime to rape a prostitute, because she earns with her body. Gang rape was also common in the late Middle Ages. Any woman walking or walking alone through the streets in the evening risked being raped by a pack of young scoundrels. The attackers announced their approach by shouting “Whore!” In order to legitimize their further actions in this way. Often, the cries of the raped women either went unheeded or attracted to themselves by the fact that the townspeople, even armed and well-wielding a sword, joined the rapists in order to deprive their pleasure on this wonderful evening, especially if the victim was sexually attractive. A case is described when a very young servant girl, after being raped by three 18-year-old young nobles, continued to be taken by force by the guys from the city guard who came running to the cries of the guard. (Now, if it was a robbery, then they would have stood up and detained the criminals!) It was an exception if one of the passers-by stood up for an unfamiliar woman out of noble motives. (After all, in his youth, this husband did the same thing: he caught victims and raped with his friends! Well, let the youth frolic!) Rather, one flock of guys, threatening another gang of youths with weapons, beat off the girl in order to become her first. Sometimes because of this, real fencing battles began on the streets with injuries and deaths of young people on both sides. During these fights, the girls were somehow forgotten (it was necessary to keep an eye on the enemy so as not to miss a dangerous injection or blow of a sword!) And they managed to slip away. Then it turned out like this: after a tense battle, the rivals retreated, there were wounded or even killed, and the prize with pretty eyes, a protruding ass and other fresh, appetizing forms, for the possession of which a swara began, disappeared! But it was a rare luck for the girls: the victim during the skirmishes was always carefully guarded by the younger members of the gang. I must say that sometimes the fights before the rape of the girls were provoked by older guys on purpose, because getting sexual release after a tough battle with a strong opponent was an exotic way to enhance the pleasure of copulation. For this, they did not even consider the possibility of the death of friends. Therefore, young men from adolescence were constantly trained, and then improved their art of owning a sword. It was not only prestigious, at that time the life of these undergrowths, and the number of girls they could recapture from their rivals, and then en masse to seize those who were considered whores depended on the reaction and ability to fence. Take possession here, right on the street...
They returned home in the morning. The servant helped to undress, put the young master to bed. (It was not customary to wash, take care of oneself.) And, young man, remembering what happened during the evening (those fights in which he participated, and those girls he had), falling asleep, he thought: yes, the day was not in vain! ..
French researcher Jacques Rossiod believes that young people deliberately sought to "spoil" as many girls as possible, thus expressing dissatisfaction with the social order. I suppose this is the primitive thinking of a person who, apparently, has read Marxist literature, after which public protests appear everywhere, even in obvious criminality (in modern times). How does this researcher imagine it? Probably so:
- Hey, guys, let's protest with this girl the existing order in our glorious Venice! Well, bring her here!
- Yes, be quiet, you fool, do not get out! We will only protest and let you go!.. Now, I’m already lowering my pants for protest!.. We, the protesters, are only ten people!..
- Spread your legs! .. You see how the desire to protest is already bursting me! It will get worse!
- Oh, how well my protest went! .. Who is next to protest? ..
- Oh, homies, how great we protested today! Wonderful night! Let Venice know: we are against it!..
No! Young people (most often with servants peers who were responsible for their master to his parents, and sometimes took part in the rape of victims after masters) willingly joined gangs, usually consisting of five or six (maximum 15) people aged from 18 to 20 years for the purpose of having fun and raping a group of girls and pretty women. Apparently, they were attracted not only by the chance to assert themselves, to get sensations unknown in adolescence, to “become an adult”, but also to see the exposure female body, which is not available in everyday life (how, to the horror of crazy hypocrites, how can one not think about the beneficial effects of pornography!), to notice fear in the eyes of his future victim. In addition, some were attracted by the opportunity to gain experience, to look at the sexual intercourse of their half-naked friends from the side (after all, there was no photo and video porn then!), And some were also excited by the fact that they were watching him during sexual intercourse ...
Here is what one of the Venetian rake wrote to his close friend:
“... In the evening you were not with us again! It's a shame your father didn't let you go. You lost a lot yesterday. The two girls we made whores have come to know us. One cried, tried to pay off, offering us<свой>wallet<с деньгами>. We wished (i.e. took by force) only her honor, not only, as usual, but also in a way condemned<церковью>(4). Both blood and tears<было>a lot of.<...>
You said that you admire (in the sense: excites) when you see how guys play (i.e. enjoy) with a girl. It also delights me (in the sense: turns me on). What you! Especially when I know<во время моего сношения>you are watching me. At such moments, I always want you to be with us (that is, near). Feelings of this<когда ты за мной наблюдаешь во время моего полового акта>are Arkhangelsk (5).<...>
Are you coming today? Make your father let you go! Do you want my father to talk to yours (6)? After all, our walks cost us nothing but a sleepless night. And now there is a girl near her husband or in her father's house, whom we will make today a city whore. Cynus!<...>I'm already burning with desire! Rather, the night! .. "(7)
At the head of such gangs was a slightly older leader. The appearance of such packs in the late Middle Ages testified to a significant decrease in the influence of the church, since the members of the gangs themselves often called themselves "monastic brotherhood", and their leader was called "prince", "king" or even "abbot". Young men left such groups on the day of their marriage. But there were also exceptions. In particular, if the young man was in one of the main positions, he could afford to be in a gang until the age of 30, especially if the guy was one of those who liked to watch the sexual intercourse of others from the side, or to have someone watch, how he does it - both are not available in the matrimonial bedroom. It was these men who, having become older, equipped their bedrooms with mirrors (which at that time were incredibly expensive), which could somehow make it possible to “look” at the sexual intercourse from the side or imagine that someone is watching you. For the same purpose, young servants were called into the bedroom, in the presence of which they had sex with spouses, maids or mistresses (whence the expression “hold a candle”, that is, see copulation). One must think that the young servant boys did not experience any particular disgust at the same time - after all, young people have always been interested in sex, and not only in our time, as some illiterate hypocrites believe. In addition, the walls of the premises were equipped with secret eyes, which made it possible to spy on the sex of young servants, and sometimes eminent guests.
In addition to men, the gang sometimes included girls who lured innocent victims into secluded corners, or were “on the hook” during ritual rapes to deflower innocent girls. They had immunity as long as they acted as future wives of gang members.
The groups acted openly, the local authorities were well aware of what was happening in the cities, because often the sons of these same officials and nobles were members of the gangs. The secular authorities and the church not only did not pay any attention to gang rapes, but, on the contrary, were interested in them. Sexual violence on the streets of the city acted as a kind of restraining force for obstinate young ladies and overly active prostitutes, and also gave guys a sexual and emotional outlet. As victims, the rapists chose mainly the wives and daughters of laborers, prostitutes, mistresses of priests, divorced women, or simply servants. Therefore, fathers protected their daughters, and husbands protected their wives. But the girls themselves were very careful: alone, they appeared on the street only during the day, and in the evening - only accompanied by someone, as a rule, armed and able to wield a sword or other melee weapons. If the girl was defiantly dressed and went out into the street without an escort, then in the event of her rape, only she herself was to blame. Therefore, many young women dressed very chastely and led mostly home image life.
Only in very rare cases were rapists punished, most often if a woman was seriously injured or died. Injuries from repeated sexual intercourse with several males in a row were not considered as evidence of damage to the health of a woman. In the late Middle Ages, only 14 percent of cases of sexual abuse were punished by two years in prison or severe flogging. Most of the cases brought to court were punished either by fines or short imprisonment. The most severe punishments were received by offenders who encroached on the honor of the wives and daughters of the upper class and high-ranking officials. But this was also a great rarity, because such ladies did not appear on the streets of cities late at night without armed guards.
And suddenly, in a society that put women so low, there was a revolution that turned everything inside out. It began in southern France in the 12th century. Troubadours, itinerant poets and musicians began to talk about women and about love in a completely different way. They sang about deep, idealized sexual passion. Their poems reached the ears of one of the most powerful women that time, the daughter of King Louis VII of France, Marie de Champagne. Marie's court was a haven for singers, writers and poets. He soon became famous for the exciting ideas of the troubadours.
>> "When I lay down, all night and the next day
I keep thinking: how can I serve your grace.
My body rejoices and is full of joy because I think of you!
My heart belongs to you!”
The poets put the woman on a pedestal. She was worshiped as a distant and inaccessible object. They were her suffering lovers.
>> "I lost my will and stopped being myself
From the moment you let me look into your eyes!”
Thus the idea of ​​falling in love was born.
Of course, people talked about love before that time. But it was more lustful love. The poetry that captured the imagination of the ladies of the court, such as Marie de Champagne, was something special. It was an idealized kind of sexual passion, and sex was, as it were, a reward for passionate desires and worship of the object of one's adoration. Sometimes this love is called courtly or courtly love. Her hot ideas spread from court to court throughout Europe. And new generations of writers and poets began to sing of new views on love.
One of the most famous is Etienne de Trois, the author of a story about passion and adultery. His famous love story between Lancelot and Jenivera, a great knight in the court of King Arthur and the Queen, is punctuated by thrilling events of true love. For his wealthy patron and ladies of the court, this was the standard by which to measure the behavior of men and form an idea of ​​their own sexual worth. For courtly lovers, such feelings were exquisite love.
“If she does not heal me with a kiss, she will kill me and curse herself! Despite all the suffering, I do not refuse sweet love!
Lancelot tries to win the love of the queen, he exposes himself to untold dangers, including crossing a bridge made from a sword blade. Geneviere eventually relents and sets up a midnight date:
“Today, when everyone is asleep, you can come and talk to me at that window!”
It seems to Lancelot that the day drags on like a century. As soon as night falls, the queen appears in a purple cloak and furs. But iron bars separate them. Lancelot grabbed the bars, tensed up and pulled them out. Finally, there are all the possibilities for adultery. Now Lancelot had everything he wanted: he held his beloved in his arms. He held her in his arms. Their touches were so gentle, sweet, that through kisses and hugs they experienced such joy and surprise, equal to which they had never known.
The impact of this bold, new literature was dramatic. Exquisite love, unrequited love, mutual love, tragic love, adultery. For the first time noble ladies were exposed to passionate love literature with sophisticated love fantasies about a devoted noble lover who needed not so much their naked bodies and the opportunity to copulate with them, but their appearance, their voice, their feelings, and most importantly, their love.
The new poets challenged the old dogmas. Can love exist in marriage? Or should it be free? Does love survive by becoming public? Is it true that new love puts the old one to flight or is it possible to love two women?
“He who is tormented by thoughts of love, whether for a man or a woman, sleeps and eats little.” These words belong to Chaplain Andrew, who is only known to have been at the court of the aforementioned Marie de Champagne. His treatise "On Love" was similar to modern tutorials on seducing ladies and love relationship. Writers like Chaplain Andrew were themselves pioneers of love, blazing trails in this new, bold, emotional world. Most surprisingly, such writers were able to move away from the far unromantic relationships that existed between medieval men and women.
Why did the cult of exquisite love gain such popularity? Was it a release valve for emotional pressure and sexual energy? Was this all a natural development of religious love, in which the aristocracy honed their sexual manners? Nobody can say for sure! But the main ideas of this love were assimilated by a wide medieval culture. And they have caused scandals, even violence. It was one thing to discuss codes of love in aristocratic circles, and another to live by them!
One of the most wonderful medieval stories- a passionate, dramatic and, it seems, true story about the love of Adelyard and Aloise.
The young scholar Peter Adelyard arrived in Paris in 1100, when exquisite love had already swept Europe. In Paris, he met the young and beautiful Alois. She lived with her uncle, a former canon at Notre Dame Cathedral.
“I burn with the fire of desires for this girl. And I decided: she will be the only one in my bed! ”, - wrote Peter Adelyard.
Peter Adelyard became a home teacher, a mentor to a very young girl, Aloisa.
“If the uncle of my passion had entrusted the lamb to a predatory wolf, I would be less surprised! Our books lay between us, but we had more words of love than reading. We had more kisses than teachings. My hands touched her breasts and her peach under her dresses more often than the pages. Our desires have not left a single position and degree of love untested. I taught her to give herself to a man the way we both wanted. And not a single girl's cavity remained without innocence ... "
Soon, from this unbridled passion of a young insatiable teacher, the girl became pregnant. The young mentor's uncle was angry! And Abeler proposed to his beloved. However, she did not agree to marry her seducer for a long time. Aloisa had her own, rather unconventional ideas. According to her, only free-given love had meaning and the right to exist, and not what she called "the chains of marriage." And Peter wrote:
“The name of a wife seems to many more sacred and valuable, but for me the word mistress, or concubine, or harlot will always be sweeter.”
Aloisa used the thoughts of writers and troubadours about exquisite love, which said that true love can only exist outside of marriage. Such attitudes were contrary to the conditions that bound medieval society. In the end, her loved ones insisted and Aloisa agreed to a secret marriage. Peter Adelyard married his beauty. But a little later, the young woman suddenly retired to the nunnery. Her uncle and relatives suspected that Peter had deceived them by avoiding marriage by making her a nun. Their revenge was swift and brutal.
“One night I slept peacefully in the back room of my dwelling. They bribed one of my servants to let them in. And cruelly retaliated against me in such a terrible barbaric way that it shocked the whole world. They cut off a part of my body through which I committed the injustice they complained about."
After that, Adelyard retired to a monastery forever, and Aloisa actually became a nun. Their correspondence gives us an opportunity to look inside the medieval affairs of the heart.
Years later, Alois, having already become abbess, in her letter to Adelard said that she was still experiencing a strong sexual attraction to her castrated husband:
“The pleasure we then shared was too sweet. It is unlikely that he can be expelled from my thoughts, awakening melancholy and fantasies. Even during mass, obscene visions of those pleasures overwhelm my unfortunate soul. And all my thoughts are in debauchery, and not in prayers.
The ideas that began with the troubadours have transformed our culture. The language of romance, sexual longing was born, unrequited love and unbridled desires. The principles established in the Middle Ages persist to this day.
However, nothing could be more offensive to the medieval church than the idea of ​​human sexual pleasure. In the 13th century in England there were about 40,000 clergy, 17,000 monks, 10,000 parish priests, and they had to interfere in the sexual life of believers. Of course, the views of the church on the carnal pleasures of the flock (and not their own) differed significantly from the views of the troubadours.
“The dirty embrace of the flesh gives off fumes and contaminates anyone who sticks to it. And no one escapes unscathed from the sting of pleasure."
The Church Fathers worked tirelessly to turn their flock away from the sensual pleasures they officially denied.
“This is a sinful act, an abominable act, bestial copulation, a shameless union. This is a dirty, stinking, dissolute business!”
An author in the twelfth century had a useful hint on how to control lustful desires for a woman:
“Try to imagine what her body looks like inside. Think about what is under the skin inside the body! What could be more disgusting to look at, more disgusting to touch, more stinking to breathe. And if that wasn't enough, try to imagine her dead body! What could be more terrible than a corpse, and what in the world could be more disgusting for her lover, who until recently was full of wild desire for this fetid flesh.
In the medieval world, people were in the middle between animals and angels. Unfortunately for the priests, the animal always won in sex.
Then the church put forward its own alternative to the immorality of sex.
“Virginity is the highest dignity, magnificent beauty, source of life, incomparable song, crown of faith, support for hope. A mirror of purity, closeness to angels, food and support for the most enduring love."
In the monasteries, virginity was a treasure to be dedicated only to the divine bridegroom. Here the young woman became the "bride of Christ." The virginity of these young ladies was a treasure to be dedicated to Jesus. Medieval texts often say that there is still something sensual in a woman's passionate devotion to Christ. Jacques Demitre in 1220 describes several nuns so weakened by the ecstasy of love for the son of God that they were already forced to rest from reading the Bible. They melted away from the astounding love of the god until they buckled under the burden of desire. Long years they didn't get out of bed.
“Oh noble eagles and tender lamb! O burning flame, embrace me! How long can I stay dry? One hour is too hard for me! One day is like a thousand years!
At times the distinction between sensual and spiritual love disappears altogether.
A certain Angela of Folinia took the idea of ​​being "the bride of Christ" quite literally:
“I stood in front of the crucifix and was overwhelmed with such fire that I took off all my clothes and offered all of me to Him. I promised Him, although I was afraid, to always maintain my chastity and not offend him with any of my members. My feeling is more transparent than glass, whiter than snow, brighter than the sun ... "

Cutting your hair is a symbol that you renounce your earthly beauty... And now you dedicate yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ... You will become Christ's bride, a servant of Christ... Christ will be your love, your bread, wine, your water. ..
(From the French artistic series "Borgia")

The cult of virginity dominated the minds of many women, sometimes giving rise to genuine tragedies.
Take the story of the Baptism of Marquiate. She was from a prosperous English family. A guy from her entourage, Veprod, wooed her and received the approval of her parents. But Christina agreed on one condition: she would remain a virgin for life. She had already sworn to that. Her parents laughed at her, did not allow her to go to church often, go to parties with her friends and gave her love potions. Finally, they agreed with Veprod that they would let him into the house at night. But Christina did not allow the guy to talk about love and take her to bed, but began to tell exemplary stories of chaste marriages. In the event of marriage, she promised to live with him in such a way that "so that other townspeople do not mock you that I refused you." But, nevertheless, she must remain a virgin.
These moralizing conversations were, apparently, so tedious that the guy lost his desire. Veprod this time was left without sex.
Friends laughed at him and teased him. Therefore, he made another attempt to penetrate the house and take possession of it, in order to deprive his love of these absurd ideas once and for all. Burning with lust, not without the help of relatives of the girl, the guy broke into the bedroom to rape his future wife. But she somehow miraculously hid from him in the depths of the house.
Christina's stubbornness and stupidity infuriated her parents. Her father threatened to kick her out of the house, and her mother grabbed the girl by the hair and beat her. Only visions of the Virgin Mary supported her in trials. To avoid the wrath of the family and sexual intercourse with the groom, Christina ran away from home and became a recluse. Two years later, Veprod gave in and freed her from marriage obligations, and soon married another girl who had a less absurd character.
Christina and the cult of virginity emerge victorious from this bitter family conflict. This girl founded a convent, where she received equally absurd fools and died a virgin, devoted in her "marriage" to Christ. (Lord, there are such stuffed fools!)
Most, of course, would rather marry a flesh-and-blood man or woman than a mythical god, even the most beautiful. People wanted marriage, sexual intercourse, the pleasures of it, and children. But the bedroom and sex were the territories that the church stubbornly wanted to subjugate and completely control. However, marriages in the early Middle Ages had little to do with the church. They were entered into very informally.
Here is a description of a peasant wedding given by a witness in a lawsuit in Jötte:
“At three o'clock after nine, John Big Shorney, sitting on a bench, called Margeret to him and said to her: “Will you be my wife?” And she answered: “Yes, I will, if you want!” And taking right hand mentioned Margeret, John said: “- Margeret, I take you as my wife! And in joy, and in sorrow, I will be with you until the end of my days!
Such an ordinary approach horrified the church authorities. In 1218 the charter for the Diocese of Salisbury was amended. It was legal that marriages should be celebrated with reverence and honor, and not with laughter and jokes in a tavern or at public drinking parties. No one has the right to put a ring on a finger, made of reeds or other material, cheap or precious, on a girl’s hand in order to freely commit adultery with her, because he can later say that he was joking, although in fact he bound himself with marital duties. ” .
"Marriage," the church argued, "is not a contract, but a religious event."
Over time, it was declared a sacrament, like baptism or confession.
As far as sex was concerned, for the church marriage did not excuse unlimited lovemaking. What Saint Augustine said became a proverb: “Passionate love for one’s own wife is adultery!” Procreation was the only legitimate reason for sexual intercourse. And it was a big responsibility. And no pleasure and thoughts about it!
Only the church, through its religious courts, dealt with what should or should not happen in the marriage bed.
John, a man from York, was accused by his wife of impotence. Various efforts were made to awaken him. This procedure has been documented in court records:
“The Witness exposed her naked breasts, and with her hands, warmed by the fire, held and rubbed John's naked member and his testicles, hugging and kissing them often. She excited him before the court to show courage and potency, urging him to prove them to the judges and take her right here on the table in the courtroom. She pointed out to the court that all this time his penis remained barely 7 centimeters long, without any signs of enlargement and hardness ... "(6)
In 1215, in Rome, Pope Innocent III intervened sharply in the sexual affairs of believers. He issued a bull, according to which all Christians were required to confess their sins and sinful thoughts at least once a year. This decision was supposed to help the clergy root out depravity. To help priests take confession, decide what questions to ask, assess the seriousness of the sins they hear about, and understand what to do about them, encyclopedias known as the Confessor's Guide were widely circulated. The biggest chapter in this guide to sin was, of course, sex. The main idea for confessors: sexual relations can only be in marriage and only for the birth of heirs. Any other form of sexual activity, including sex for pleasure and not for conception, sex by rubbing the penis against the chest, buttocks, between the legs of the wife without inserting it inside the woman, and even more so self-satisfaction, ejaculation outside the woman's body, were considered a sin.
But even in marriage, sexual relations were not an easy issue. To avoid sin, the church had a checklist that a husband must first read before having his wife:
"Is your wife menstruating?"
"Is your wife pregnant?"
"Is your wife breastfeeding a child?"
"Now is the great post?"
"Now is the second coming of Christ?"
"Today is Sunday?"
"Is it a week since Trinity?"
"Easter week?"
"Is today Wednesday or Friday?"
“Is today a fast day? Holiday?"
"Are you naked?"
"Are you in church?"
"Did you wake up this morning with a stiff penis?"
If you answered “no” to all these questions, then the church, so be it, on this day allowed married couples to have sex once a week and never again! But only in the missionary position, in the dark, with your eyes closed, without groans, even if you want to scream with pleasure and without showing your other half that you were pleased! Otherwise, God's disfavor and hell await you! After all, He is the all-seeing eye, he watches over all of us, and even such a bastard will not turn away when you enjoy with your beloved wife (option: with your beloved husband)! And, God forbid, not in the position that He prescribed to us through His prophets, or did not do it the way and not what He likes in the sexual acts of people! Fuck you! In that world, he will definitely punish!
Thus, the church regulated when, where, with whom, and in what way one could have sex. Those who broke these rules even in thought were to be punished. Punishment or penance included a complex system of hunger strikes and abstinences separately for each sin:
For adultery, even in thoughts - penance for two years!
For treason twice - five years!
For sex with an animal - seven years!
There were also special questions for women:
"Have you used your husband's sperm to ignite your passion?" - five years!
"Have you secretly added your menstrual blood to your husband's food to agitate him?" - ten years!
“Would you like your husband to bite or kiss your breasts?” - five years!
“Have you ever wanted your husband to kiss or lick between your legs?” - seven years!
"Would you like to take your husband's penis in the pharynx?" - six years!
"Did you want to swallow your husband's seed?" - seven years!
“Have you watched your husband ejaculate? - two years!
“Did you give yourself to your husband, throwing your legs over his shoulders?” - one year!
“The same, in the position, sitting on his lap?” - two years!
"The same if you're on top of a man?" - three years!
“Did you allow yourself to be mastered in a doggy position, on all fours?” - four years!
“Have you ever had a desire to give yourself to your husband in the anus?” - nine years.
The process of confessions and penances regulated every aspect of the believers' sexual life and systematized a sliding scale of punishments. And for those who chose to defy the rules, there was a completely different level of investigation and retribution.
Aside from the mystery of confession stood a religious court, one where the sins of the believers were to be exposed and publicly judged. The creation of religious courts greatly expanded the church's control over people's behavior, including in bed. Confession was common. It was completely different! Because of a misunderstood phrase said in a tavern, anyone could be called to court on suspicion of his behavior and the assumption that in bed, even with his wife, he does something that is not approved by the church. The minds of the ecclesiastical authorities occupied intimate relationship, and even the sinful thoughts of man. Judges could impose harsh punishments, excommunications, fines, public penances, and executions by stake, hanging, or drowning.
Here are the records from the books with records of court cases that were obeyed by the ecclesiastical judicial authorities in the dioceses of some English cities in the 14th century:
“John Warren was accused of extramarital affairs with Helen Lanson. Both appeared and confessed their sin, and swore not to sin again under penalty of a fine of 40 pence. Both were ordered to be whipped publicly three times near the church.
“Thomas Thornton, clergyman, is believed to have had an extramarital affair with Aless, daughter of Robert Masner. As punishment for seducing a church official, she was sentenced to 12 lashes in the marketplace and 12 lashes outside the church, naked, wearing only one shirt.” (“The seduced” minister of the church, presumably, escaped with a slight fright.)
“Teenager Michael Smith, 13 years old, was convicted of sinful thoughts while singing in the church choir, because during the service his pants bulged when he saw the priest bending over the fallen gospel, turned his back to him. Sentenced to 10 lashes outside a church." (Apparently, the priest who dropped the book unknowingly gave away that pose that the teenager focused his attention on it!)
“Edwin Cairncros, a teenager of 14 years old, was convicted of masturbating with his pants down, lying on his side, while simultaneously sticking a saliva-moistened forefinger into his anus and lowering his sinful seed in front of him on the straw. Sentenced to 14 lashes in the marketplace."
“Alain Solostell, aged 15, the son of a fishmonger, repeatedly allowed his dog to lick his penis, testicles and anus, confessed to receiving sinful pleasure from this several times, while lowering his semen on his stomach or on his dog’s tongue. Sentenced to 18 lashes outside a church. The dog was hanged. Alain Solostell cried, asked to spare the animal, showed that it was his fault, accustoming the dog to sin. He asked the court to increase his punishment to 40 blows, just to save the life of the dog. The court remained adamant."
“Beatrice, daughter of William Ditis, is pregnant by no one knows. Appeared in the meeting room and confessed to sin. She was pardoned. I vowed not to sin again. Sentenced to 6 blows near the church on Sunday and on holidays in front of the whole procession” (8).
Religious authorities relied heavily on fear and shame to maintain order among the congregation and keep them within the bounds of their permitted sexual relations. The church apparatus across the country has been enlisted to have access to the sexual activity of believers! For the church, sexual purity was the ideal. But physiologically to any healthy person it was difficult to live up to the ideal, including for priests and members of religious tribunals.
Take, for example, a book transcribed by the monks of St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury around 1200. The first half of the book is harmless and rather boring. This is the history of the English bishops. But at the end there is a series of pornographic stories written by the monks with great sexual details and, obviously, they enjoyed. One of them concerns the story of a husband and wife who undertook a pilgrimage to the "holy land". One night they took refuge in the depths of a cave. But then nine Saracens enter the cave (9). They light torches, undress and begin to bathe, helping each other. From touch they are excited.
When the woman saw the powerful genitals of young guys, rearing members, she was so excited that she immediately forced her husband to repeatedly make love to her. (One must think that the Saracens do not hear anything and do not notice anything!) On the fourth time, the hubby could no longer and fell asleep. Then the woman offered herself to the Saracens. All nine...
This is followed by a fairly detailed description of group sex with her young lustful males. Nine guys had it in different positions and in all cavities, alternately changing each other, or even two at the same time. (It was the husband's turn to pretend that he was sleeping.) But the Saracens were simply exhausted during the night by this lustful female.
In the morning, all of them, sleepy (except for the husband), but satisfied (including the husband), parted, warmly saying goodbye. However, having visited the “holy land” and bowed to the “holy places”, this lady was cleansed of “filth” and sinful thoughts, became a respectable parishioner, did not allow intimacy, even with her husband ... (If this is so, it remains only to sympathize her spouse. Although, however ... I wonder if there is at least one person who believes in such a absurd religious end to this story? One might think that from pilgrimage to the "holy land" the physiology of a woman in some miraculous religion) has changed!.. But, most likely, without such an artificially created ending, this plot could not have been included in such a collection.)
Priests were supposed to be single, it was in the late Middle Ages that church authorities decided that they could no longer marry. However, you can put on a dignity, but what to do with your physiology? Therefore, most of them circumvented these prohibitions, in their youth living with mistresses, wives of other men, or finding joy with boys and young servants, skillfully corrupting them. Even then, the people understood perfectly well that priests are endowed with the same human and sexual desires as everyone else. Therefore, he willingly laughed at the servants of God, who put on a vow of celibacy. The clergy became the targets of satirical pamphlets and poems:
>> “What do priests do without their own wives?
They are forced to look for others.
They have no fear, they have no shame
When married women are taken to bed
Or beautiful boys...
The medieval clergy had other ways to satisfy their sexual desires, using methods even older than the church itself. Records from the Dijon brothel in France indicate that at least 20% of the clientele were churchmen. Elderly monks, itinerant monks, canons, parish priests - they all visited prostitutes in the city baths. Therefore, venereal diseases spread very quickly.
Medieval brothels could provide churchmen, in addition to sexual satisfaction, also with a good income. The Bishop of Ventchester was regularly paid from the brothels in Salsford's red-light district. That is why prostitutes from there were called "Venchester geese."
But what is due to Jupiter is not due to the bull. The behavior of the clergy and their participation in depraved sex did not prevent the clergy from punishing their flock for most types of sexual activity of believers.
However, there was one kind of sex that the church in other people condemned especially severely ... The sin of sodomy! It turns out that medieval churchmen understood male homosexuality quite well! And then there was someone to punish! It was a time when thousands of men lived together in communities and rarely saw women.
“My eyes long to see your face, the most beloved! My arms reach out for your embrace! My lips yearn for your kisses! So that there is no left for me in the world of desires, your company will make my soul full of joy in the future.
Such words sound erotic even to today's heterosexually oriented readers, if one imagines that they are written to a lady. But such language was very common among young men of that time and had a pronounced homosexual coloring. And the above lines are addressed specifically to a young man, as the story tells, a young man of rare physical beauty.
What lustful rabbit wrote them? Perverted aristocrat? An unbridled citizen? A peasant not afraid of God? No. These lines are written by the most zealous campaigner against homosexuality, Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury. According to Anselm, "this deadly vice spread throughout England." The bishop warned that the islanders would face the fate of the lustful inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah if they were subjected to this sin. However, the punishment for the sin of Sodom is waiting for someone else, the bishop himself does not shy away from such relations, apparently believing that closeness to God will protect him from divine punishments.
Fearing divine retribution, medieval society imposed horrendous punishments for any kind of sexual behavior that was considered unnatural. Castration was the punishment in Portugal and Castile, and hanging for a man's penis in Sieny. In 1288, in Polonia, homosexual contacts were punished by death by burning at the stake. But somehow, always, at all times, there was some indestructible group of people who experienced an irresistible sexual attraction to people of the same sex, no matter how terrible the punishment could be. For, as Nicholas Stoller states, "The real delight<…>we experience when we balance between danger and peace.”
According to the church, homosexuals were no better off in the afterlife. Some depictions of late medieval Italy show sodomites burning in eternal hell. One of the images shows a sodomite who is pierced through the anus to the mouth with a skewer and the devil roasts him over a hot fire. The other end of the skewer coming out of the sinner's mouth enters the mouth of another naked guy sitting next to him. There is a clear allusion here, where the punishment for homosexuals is a mirror image of their methods of obtaining sexual release. We see the allusion to anal sex by piercing the anus. And the pierced mouth is an allusion to oral sex.
At the end of the 14th century in Perugia, an Italian drama about the last judgment enumerates God's punishments to which sinners will undergo in hell. At the very climax of the drama, Christ describes the punishments for sodomites:
“You stinking sodomites tormented me day and night! Get out immediately to hell, and stay there in torment! Immediately send them to the fire, as they sinned against nature! You damned sodomites, roast like pigs!”
And then Satan tells one of the devils to turn this homosexual roast well. It's a very clear allusion to the roasting sodomite...
In general, Christian Europe, the entire flock (acre, of course, God's servants who sinned with their lovers in the same way - humanity did not invent anything new in sex) was waiting for such a terrible punishment for such unbridled sexual deviation.
A religious court could consider any ejaculation of a man outside a woman's vagina as a "sodomic sin": between her breasts, thighs, or buttocks, in her arm, on a woman's face, on her back, or on her stomach. Any man could be called a sodomite if he had a Jewess, or a Jew if he slept with a non-Jewish woman. And this in Spain, Portugal or France could end in burning at the stake. So, the draconian Nuremberg Laws were not an invention of German Nazism!
At the same time, many of the most holy popes of Rome did not hesitate to deal with the “sin of Sodom”, despite the outwardly negative attitude towards it. Roman Catholic Church and "holy" writings.
Of the popes, they became famous for their homosexuality: Vigilius (among other things, he loved young boys. And once he killed with a rod the unfortunate 12-year-old teenager who dared to resist him. This led to a rebellion. The rebellious people dragged the pope out of the palace and dragged him through the streets on a rope Rome, subjecting him to scourging. However, everything ended there. The publicly flogged pope returned to the palace in the evening and continued to rule the Catholics as if nothing had happened until he was poisoned by his successor.), Martin I and bestiality), Sergius I (even issued a bull, according to which everything is permitted, as long as it was covered), Nicholas I, John VIII (fell in love with a handsome married man, whom he ordered to be kidnapped and with whom he later cohabited, while in revenge was not poisoned by his lover's wife), Adrian III, Benedict IV (under which, as stated in a letter from his contemporary priest, the houses of the Church Fathers "turn into a haven of harlots and sodomites"), Boniface VII, Boniface IX, Sylvester III, John XII , Gregory VII, Innocent II, John XII (ascended to the papal throne at 18), Benedict IX (received papal power at 15), Paul II (known for collecting antiquities and ancient art, whose obligatory attribute was a naked beautiful male nature, seduced the beautiful monks who served him), Sixtus IV (who shamelessly raised his lovers to the cardinal dignity), Calist III (who corrupted his own son and cohabited with him without a twinge of conscience), Innocent X (introduced to the college of cardinals of his lover Astalli - young man, whom he passionately fell in love with), Alexander VI Borgia, Alexander VII (whom subordinates called “the child of Sodom” behind their backs), Julius II (cohabited with illegitimate sons, nephews, cardinals), Leo X (was the lover of Julius II), Paul III, Julius III, Sixtus V, Innocent X, Adrian VII, Pius VI...
Oh, yes, how many of them were there - Sodom and Gomorrah! ..
Yes, dads! Saint Augustine himself, the founder of Catholic asceticism (to which he apparently came after he became impotent) in his "Confession" repented that in his youth he indulged in this "shameful love."
The founder of the Order of the Jesuits, Ignatius Loyola, who loved young novices, was also a homosexual! Loved very young boys and young guys and the founder of the Franciscan order, Francis of Assia! What do they all care about biblical prohibitions when it comes to their own sexuality, personal physiology and their own pleasures! Prohibitions are for others, for the flock, for these sheep who sincerely believe in everything that is written in the Bible! schools")
... I must say, the "prophets" in general often foreshadowed death. (Otherwise, who will listen to them!?) They soon demanded terrible protection.
In 1348 William of Edandon, Bishop of Winchester, wrote to all the clergy of his diocese:
“It is with regret that we report the news that has reached our ears. A cruel plague began to attack the coastal regions of England. Although the Lord punishes us for our frequent sins, it is not in human power to understand the divine plan. One must be afraid of human sensuality, whose fire flared up as a result of original sin, which established even greater depths of evil, producing various sins that caused divine wrath and its revenge.
The Black Death killed half the population of Europe. The infected were swollen with boils the size of an egg or an apple. They vomited black and green liquid and coughed up blood. This resulted in a quick and painful death. Relations fell apart.
“Brother left brother, uncle left nephew, sister left brother and wife left husband,” lamented Boccaccio.
For Bishop of Rocher Thomas Brinton, the onset of the plague was God's punishment for the sins of his contemporaries:
“There is so much debauchery and adultery on all sides that only a few men are satisfied with their own wives. But every man covets his neighbor's wife, keeps a stinking mistress, or makes nightly pleasures with a boy. This is behavior that deserves a terrible and miserable death,” he wrote.
The Black Death was the apocalypse of the 14th century. But so it was! It was a payment for non-observance of elementary hygiene, about which even doctors then had a vague idea. Non-compliance with hygiene, not God's punishment for "sins"! As soon as people began to wash more often, wash their hands before eating, regularly change bedding and "God's punishments" immediately stopped. Although the physiology and sexual desires of a person remained at the same level!
The medieval world was much less secure than ours today. A complex world of passions and romance, misogyny and eternal love for your beloved, for whom you are not afraid to die, infant mortality and adult cruelty, piety and poetry, human stupidity and the search for truth. In that world there were girls who were seduced by men, and boys who attracted mature husbands with their youth, virgins, devoted to Christ and priests who indulged in all the pleasures of the flesh. It was a life that, it must be said, became difficult for some, short for others. But just as sexually intense and not entirely cruel, if a person and his love knew how to keep the secrets of his sexuality from society, his confessors and the state ...

» After:

>> My sexuality is only my sexuality. It belongs to no one: not to my country, not to my religion, not to society, not to my brother, not to my sister, not to my family. No one!
Ashraf ZANATI
__________________________
(1) Author's remark: So, maybe this is the norm human being and relationships, if the majority seeks to have some fun on the side? And those few who are "satisfied with their own wives" are some kind of aberration? After all, adultery (sexual betrayal) is characteristic of the entire animal world. Zoologists have established: only two species remain faithful once and for all to their chosen partner - leeches and shrimps. But this is not because they are so "moral", intelligent and God-fearing, but because this is due to their physiological being. Like this! All! The rest seek to diversify their sensations! Therefore, the norm is where the majority is! AND sexual relations The human being is no exception...
(2) Author's note: God has nothing else to do - first give a person sexual pleasure, and then forbid him to use it, prescribing what and how to do, and what and how not! And follow, follow everyone, literally everyone, in order to be sure to punish them later! Not a god, but some kind of sadist!
(3) Guido Ruggiero "The Limits of Eros".
(4) In other words, these young men were from wealthy families, did not need funds, and at night they walked around the city not for robbery, but were looking for adventure for their penis and testicles! It is curious about what “method condemned by the church” - who else could condemn in those centuries? Society, huh? says this young scoundrel? The Church already then condemned any ejaculation of a man outside the female vagina.
(5) And this is closer to bi- or even to homosexuality. In these lines, completely different feelings of the author of the letter to his friend can be clearly traced. This is more than friendship! Yes, and according to Freud, through the intercourse of a group with the same woman, the guys in this way, deep down, have sex with each other. This is especially true if they are excited to watch the sexual acts of their friends, buddies and comrades. Or for someone to see their sexual intercourse.
(6) C. Perugio “Psychoanalysis of youthful eroticism. What letters from the past can tell, Rome, 1959
(7) It turns out that the parents of the guys are aware of the nightly fun of their underage!
(8) Record of the Religious Court, York, 1233.
(9) Saracens (literally from Greek - "eastern people") - a people mentioned by the ancient Roman historian of the 4th century Ammianus Marcellinus and the Greek scientist of the 1st-2nd centuries. AD Ptolemy. Nomadic bandit tribe, Bedouins, who lived along the borders of Syria. Since crusades European authors began to refer to all Muslims as Saracens, often using the term "Moors" as a synonym.

Reviews

God, dear Author, you approached the writing of the article so seriously! Could you advise me the authors who write about the history of Europe, starting from the fifteenth century? I am especially concerned about France, Italy, Burgundy and Spain... And I am also interested in a more detailed study of the life of people living in the Renaissance. In addition, it haunts what the legislative system was like ...

Sometimes the Middle Ages are called the Dark Ages, as if opposing enlightened antiquity and the Age of Enlightenment, which went before and after the Middle Ages. For some reason, it was after this relatively short era, which lasted one millennium and was full of wars and epidemics, that democracy began to dominate in Europe, technical progress and there was such a thing as human rights.

Changes

Interesting facts about the Middle Ages - important changes. The Middle Ages were characterized as the time of the establishment of Christianity. It was with the help of religion that many changes occurred in the minds of people, which was reflected in the changes in society as a whole.

Women were completely equal in rights with men. Moreover, a woman in the ideals of chivalry has become a higher being, not attainable for understanding and a real inspiration for a man.

Antiquity was filled with such a close connection with nature that it was actually deified and feared at the same time. According to their characteristics, the ancient gods corresponded to natural areas and elements (sacred groves, forests, volcanoes, storms, lightning, etc. Antiquity, despite some technical progress, was characterized by a small number of scientific achievements. That is, the foundation of scientific knowledge was laid, but in general discoveries were few and rare.In the Middle Ages, man ceased to deify nature and natural phenomena. From Judaism to Christianity came the teaching that nature was created for man, and should serve it. This became the basis of technological progress.

Despite close cooperation, religion and the state in the Middle Ages began to separate from one another, which became the basis of a secular state and religious tolerance. This came out of the principle "To God - God's, and to Caesar - Caesar's."

In the Middle Ages, the foundations for the protection of human rights were laid. Strangely enough, the model of justice was the court of the Inquisition, where the accused was given the opportunity to defend himself, witnesses were interviewed, and they tried to obtain information as fully as possible without resorting to torture. Torture was used only because it was part of the Roman law on which medieval justice was based. As a rule, most of the information about the cruelty of the Inquisition is nothing more than ordinary fiction.

Features of society

Sometimes you can hear that the medieval church held back the development of culture and education. This information does not correspond to reality, since it was the monasteries that had large collections of books, schools were opened at the monasteries, medieval culture because the monks studied ancient authors. In addition, church leaders knew how to write at a time when many kings put a cross instead of a signature.

In medieval Western European churches, special holes were made in the walls for lepers and other sick people who could not come into contact with other parishioners. Through these windows people could see the altar. This was done in order not to completely reject the sick from society and so that they would have access to the Lituria and church sacraments.

The books in the libraries were chained to the shelves. This is explained great value and the monetary value of the books. Books were especially valued, the pages of which were made of calfskins - parchment and copied by hand. The covers of such publications were decorated with noble metals and precious stones.

When Christianity won a landslide victory in the city of Rome, all pre-Christian sculptures were destroyed. The only bronze sculpture that has not been touched is the equestrian monument of Marcus Aurelius. This monument has been preserved due to the fact that it was mistakenly considered a sculpture of Emperor Constantine.

In ancient times, buttons were usually used as decorations, and clothes were fastened with brooches (clasps that look like safety pins, only in large sizes). In medieval times (around the 12th century), buttons began to be fastened into loops, their functional significance approaching the present. For wealthy citizens, however, buttons were made exquisite, often with noble metals, and could be sewn onto clothing in large quantities. Moreover, the number of buttons was directly proportional to the status of the owner of the clothes - on one of the camisoles of King Francis I of France there were more than 13 thousand buttons.

Women's fashion was interesting - girls and women wore sharp conical hats up to one meter high. This greatly amused the guys who tried to throw something to knock off their hats. Also, ladies wore long trains on dresses, the length depended on wealth. There were laws that limited the length of this decorative piece of clothing. The violators cut off the excess part of the train with a sword.

In men, the level of wealth could be determined by the boots - the longer the boots, the richer the person was. The length of the toes of shoes could reach one meter. Since then, the proverb “live in a big way” has gone.

Beer in medieval Europe was consumed not only by men, but also by women. In England, each resident consumed almost one liter per day (on average), which is three times more than today and twice as much as in the modern beer champion - the Czech Republic. The reason was not the general drunkenness, but the fact that the quality of the water was poor, and the small amount of alcohol that was in the beer killed the bacteria and made it safe to drink. Beer was popular mainly in northern and eastern European countries. In the south, wine has traditionally been drunk since Roman times - children and women diluted, and men could sometimes afford to drink undiluted.

Before winter, animals were slaughtered in the villages and meat was prepared for the winter. The traditional way of harvesting was salting, but such meat was not tasty and they tried to season it with oriental spices. The Levantine (Eastern Mediterranean) trade was monopolized by the Ottoman Turks, so spices were very expensive. This prompted the development of navigation and the search for new, oceanic sea ​​routes to India and other Asian countries, where spices were grown and they were very cheap there. And mass demand in Europe supported high prices The pepper was literally worth its weight in gold.

In castles, spiral staircases were twisted clockwise so that those on top would have an advantage in battle. Defenders could strike from right to left, this strike was not available to the attackers. It happened that in the family the men were mostly left-handed, then they built castles in which the stairs twisted counterclockwise - for example, the German castle of the Wallensteins or the Scottish castle of Fernihurst.

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Introduction: Myths about the Middle Ages

About the Middle Ages, there are many historical myths. The reason for this lies partly in the development of humanism at the very beginning of the New Age, as well as the formation of the Renaissance in art and architecture. Interest in the world of classical antiquity developed, and the era that followed was considered barbaric and decadent. Therefore, medieval Gothic architecture, which today is recognized as extraordinarily beautiful and technically revolutionary, was underestimated and left aside in favor of styles that copied Greek and Roman architecture. The term "Gothic" itself was originally applied to Gothic in a derogatory light, serving as a reference to the tribes of the Goths who sacked Rome; the meaning of the word is "barbaric, primitive".

Another reason for many of the myths associated with the Middle Ages is its association with Catholic Church(hereinafter - "Church" - approx. Newo than). In the English-speaking world, these myths have their origin in disputes between Catholics and Protestants. In other European cultures, such as Germany and France, similar myths were formed within the framework of the anti-clerical position of influential thinkers of the Enlightenment. The following is a summary of some of the myths and misconceptions about the Middle Ages that arose as a result of various prejudices.

1. People believed that the Earth was flat, and the Church presented this idea as a doctrine

In fact, the Church never taught that the earth was flat, not in any period of the Middle Ages. Scientists of that time had a good understanding of the scientific arguments of the Greeks, who proved that the Earth was round, and knew how to use scientific instruments such as the astrolabe to determine the circumference of a circle quite accurately. The fact of the spherical shape of the earth was so well known, generally recognized and unremarkable, that when Thomas Aquinas began work on his treatise "The Sum of Theology" and wanted to choose an objective indisputable truth, he cited this very fact as an example.

And not only literate people were aware of the shape of the Earth - most sources indicate that everyone understood this. The symbol of the earthly power of kings, which was used in coronation ceremonies, was the power: a golden sphere in the left hand of the king, which personified the Earth. This symbolism would not make sense if it were not clear that the Earth is spherical. A 13th-century collection of sermons by German parish priests also mentions in passing that the earth is "round like an apple" in the hope that the peasants listening to the sermon will understand what it is about. And the English book "The Adventures of Sir John Mandeville", popular in the 14th century, tells about a man who traveled so far to the east that he returned to his homeland from its western side; and the book does not explain to the reader how it works.

The common misconception that Christopher Columbus discovered the true shape of the Earth, and that the Church opposed his journey, is nothing more than modern myth created in 1828. Writer Washington Irving was commissioned to write a biography of Columbus with instructions that he present the traveler as a radical thinker who rebelled against the prejudices of the Old World. Unfortunately, Irving discovered that Columbus was in fact deeply mistaken in the size of the Earth and discovered America by pure chance. The heroic story did not work out, and so he invented the idea that the Church in the Middle Ages thought the Earth was flat, and created this tenacious myth, and his book became a bestseller.

Among the collection of popular expressions found on the Internet, one can often see the alleged statement of Ferdinand Magellan: “The Church claims that the Earth is flat, but I know that it is round. Because I have seen the Earth's shadow on the moon, and I trust the Shadow more than the Church." Well, Magellan never said that, in particular because the Church never claimed that the Earth is flat. The first use of this "quote" occurs no earlier than 1873, when it was used in an essay by an American Voltairean (a Voltairian is a free-thinking philosopher - approx. Newo than) and the agnostic Robert Greene Ingersoll. He did not indicate any source and it is very likely that he simply made up this statement himself. Despite this, Magellan's "words" can still be found in various collections, on T-shirts and posters of atheist organizations.

2. The Church suppressed science and progressive thinking, burned scientists at the stake, and thus set us back hundreds of years

The myth that the Church repressed science, burned or suppressed the activities of scientists, is a central part of what historians writing about science call "the clash of ways of thinking." This persistent concept originated in the Enlightenment, but established itself in the minds of the public with the help of two famous works 19th century. John William Draper's A History of the Relations Between Catholicism and Science (1874) and Andrew Dickson White's The Struggle of Religion with Science (1896) were highly popular and authoritative books that spread the belief that the medieval Church was actively suppressing science. In the 20th century, historiographers of science actively criticized the "White-Draper position" and noted that most of the evidence presented was grossly misinterpreted, and in some cases even invented.

In the era of late Antiquity, early Christianity did not welcome what some clergymen called "pagan knowledge", that is, scientific work Greeks and their Roman successors. Some have preached that the Christian should shun such works, for they contain unbiblical knowledge. In his famous phrase, one of the Fathers of the Church, Tertullian, exclaims sarcastically: "What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?" But such thoughts were rejected by other eminent theologians. For example, Clement of Alexandria argued that if God had given the Jews a special understanding of spirituality, he could have given the Greeks a special understanding of scientific things. He suggested that if the Jews took and used the gold of the Egyptians for their own purposes, then Christians can and should use the wisdom of the pagan Greeks as a gift from God. Later, Clement's reasoning met with the support of Aurelius Augustine, and later Christian thinkers adopted this ideology, noting that if the cosmos is the creation of a thinking God, then it can and should be comprehended in a rational way.

Thus natural philosophy, which was largely based on the work of such Greek and Roman thinkers as Aristotle, Galen, Ptolemy and Archimedes, became a major part of the medieval university curriculum. In the West, after the collapse of the Roman Empire, many ancient works were lost, but Arab scholars managed to save them. Subsequently, medieval thinkers not only studied the additions made by the Arabs, but also used them to make discoveries. Medieval scientists were fascinated by optical science, and the invention of glasses is only partly the result of their own research using lenses to determine the nature of light and the physiology of vision. In the 14th century, the philosopher Thomas Bradwardine and a group of thinkers who called themselves the "Oxford Calculators" not only formulated and proved the average speed theorem for the first time, but were also the first to use quantitative concepts in physics, thus laying the foundation for everything that was achieved by this science. since then.

All the scientists of the Middle Ages were not only not persecuted by the Church, but they themselves belonged to it. Jean Buridan, Nicholas Orem, Albrecht III (Albrecht the Bold), Albert the Great, Robert Grosseteste, Theodoric of Freiburg, Roger Bacon, Thierry of Chartres, Sylvester II (Herbert of Aurillac), Guillaume Conchesius, John Philopon, John Packham, John Duns Scotus, Walter Burley, William Hatesberry, Richard Swainshead, John Dumbleton, Nicholas of Cusa - they were not persecuted, held back or burned at the stake, but they were known and revered for their wisdom and learning.

Contrary to myths and popular prejudice, there is not a single example of someone being burned in the Middle Ages for anything related to science, just as there is no evidence of the persecution of any scientific movement by the medieval Church. The trial of Galileo happened much later (the scientist was a contemporary of Descartes) and was much more connected with the politics of the Counter-Reformation and the people involved in it than with the attitude of the Church towards science.

3. In the Middle Ages, the Inquisition burned millions of women, considering them to be witches, and the burning of “witches” itself was a common thing in the Middle Ages

Strictly speaking, the "witch hunt" was not a medieval phenomenon at all. The persecution reached its apogee in the 16th and 17th centuries and almost completely belonged to the early period of modern times. As for most of the Middle Ages (i.e. 5th-15th centuries), the Church was not only not interested in hunting so-called "witches", but she also taught that witches do not exist in principle.

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