Gender and Sexuality in the Middle Ages

Martha A. Brozyna has taught courses on Latin and ancient and medieval sexuality at Rutgers University. She lives in Wyckoff, New Jersey.

TABLE OF CONTENTS



Introduction     



I. THE BIBLE

1. OLD TESTAMENT     

Genesis     

Leviticus     

Deuteronomy     

The Song of Songs (Song of Solomon)     

2. NEW TESTAMENT     

The Gospel According to Matthew     

The Gospel According to John     

The First Epistle to the Corinthians     

The Epistle to the Ephesians     

The First Epistle to Timothy     



II. CHRISTIAN THOUGHT

3. EARLY CHURCH FATHERS     

Tertullian: On the Apparel of Women     

St. Jerome: “Letter to Eustochium”     

St. Augustine: The Good of Marriage and The City of God     

4. REFORMERS, SCHOLASTICS AND PREACHERS     

Peter Damian: The Book of Gomorrah     

Pope Gregory VII: “Letter to Bishop Otto of Constance”     

John of Salisbury: Policratus     

Jacques de Vitry: Exempla from Sermones Vulgares     

St. Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologica     

Alfonso Martinez de Toledo: Archpriest of Talavera or Whip     

5. MYSTICISM     

Bernard of Clairvaux: Sermons on the Song of Songs     

Hadewijch: Visions of Hadewijch     

Mechthild of Magdeburg: The owing Light of the Godhead     

Julian of Norwich: Revelations of Divine Love     

6. HAGIOGRAPHY     

The Life and Conduct of the Blessed Mary Who Changed Her Name to Marinos     



III. CHRONICLES

7. EARLY CHURCH AND GERMANIC PEOPLES     

Tacitus: Germania     

Eusebius: Church History     

Gregory of Tours: History of the Franks     

Paul the Deacon: History of the Lombards     

8. CONTINENTAL EUROPE, THE BRITISH ISLES AND IRELAND     

Ibn Fadlan: Risala     

Thietmar of Merseburg: Chronicon     

Orderic Vitalis: Ecclesiastical History     

"Hugo Falcandus": The History of the Tyrants of Sicily     

Gerald of Wales: The Topography of Ireland     

Roger de Hoveden: Annals of Roger de Hoveden     

Salimbene de Adam: The Chronicle of Salimbene de Adam     

Jean Froissart: The Chronicles of Jean Froissart     

Jan Dùugosz: Annals of the Kingdom of Poland     

9. RUSSIA AND THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE     

Procopius of Caesarea: Secret History     

The Russian Primary Chronicle     

Niketas Choniates: Annals of Niketas Choniates     

Sigmund Herberstein: Notes Upon Russia     

Adam Olearius: The Travels of Olearius     



IV. LAW

10. SECULAR LAW     

Byzantine Law: The Ecloga     

Alamannic Laws     

Norwegian Laws     

      The Law of Personal Rights—Gulathing     

      The Law of Personal Rights—Frostathing     

Serbo-Croatian Laws     

      Vinodol Law Code     

      Law Code of Emperor Stefan Du§an     

London City Archives     

      Memorials of London and London Life     

      Liber Albus     

11. CANON LAW     

Penitentials     

      The Penitential of Cummean     

      The Penitential of Theodore     

Church Councils     

      First Council of Nicea     

      Second Council of Nicea     

      Fourth Lateran Council     

      The Register of Eudes of Rouen     

Consistory Courts     

      Cases from English Records     

      Kraków Archives     

12. A UNIVERSITY RECORD     

University of Kraków     



V. BIOLOGY, MEDICINE AND SCIENCE

13. UNDERSTANDING MALE AND FEMALE     

Galen: On the Usefulness of the Parts of the Body     

Isidore of Seville: Etymologia     

Medieval Woman’s Guide to Health     

14. SEXUAL ACTIVITY AND REPRODUCTION     

Soranus: Gynaecia     

Constantine the African: De Coitu     

Hildegard of Bingen: Causa et Curae     

William of Conches: Dragmaticon     

Pseudo-Albertus Magnus: On the Secrets of Women     

15. REMEDIES     

Trotula of Salerno: Writings of Trotula     

Moses Maimonides

      Writings of Moses Maimonides     

      Treatise on Cohabitation     

      Medical Aphorisms     

Peter of Spain: Thesaurus pauperum     



VI. LITERATURE

16. POETRY     

Lyrics     

      “A Knight Was with His Lady Fondly Lying” (Gaucelm Faidit)     

      “Am I, Am I, Am I Fair?” (Eustache Deschamps)     

      “Under the Lime Tree” (Walther von der Vogelweide)     

      “Ballade for Fat Margot” (François Villon)     

Marie de France: Lais     

“Laüstic”     

Andreas Capellanus: The Art of Courtly Love     

Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun: The Romance of the Rose     

Dante Alighieri: The Divine Comedy     

Same-Sex Love Poetry     

      “The End of a Letter to Ausonius” (Paulinus of Nola)     

      “Five Epigrams on an Adulterer and a Voluptuary” (Ennodius)     

      “To a Hermaphrodite Girl” (Luxorius)     

      “To a Boy of Angers” (Hilary the Englishman)     

      Later Graffiti in a Ninth-Century Manuscript (Author unknown)     

      Lesbian Love Letter from a German Manuscript (Author unknown)     

17. RIDDLES, SONGS AND STORIES     

Riddles from the Exeter Book     

      Carmina Burana     

      “Grates ago Veneri”     

      “Servit aure spiritus”     

      “Cur suspectum me tenet domina?”     

Fabliaux     

“The Priest Who Peeked”     

Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales—“The Wife of Bath’s Prologue”     

18. ADVICE MANUALS     

Dhuoda: Handbook for William     

Kekaumenos: Strategikon     

19. MEMOIRS     

St. Augustine: Confessions     

Guibert of Nogent: Memoirs of Guibert of Nogent     

Peter Abelard: History of My Calamities     

Margery Kempe: The Book of Margery Kempe     

20. SAGAS     

Laxdaela Saga     

Njal’s Saga     

21. DRAMA     

Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Dulcitius     



VII. WITCHCRAFT AND HERESY

22. WITCHCRAFT     

St. Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologica     

Martin Le Franc: Defender of Ladies     

Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger: Malleus Maleficarum     

23. HERESY     

St. Augustine: De Haeresibus     

Ralph of Coggeshall: Chronicle of Ralph of Coggeshall     

Pierre des Vaux de Cernay: Historia Albigensis     

James Capelli: “The Protests of the Heretics That in Matrimony No One Can Be Saved”     



VIII. JUDAISM

24. JUDAIC LAW     

Midrash Rabbah     

Babylonian Talmud     

Christian Law Pertaining to Jews     

      Laws of the Visigoths     

      Conciliar Canons     

      Penitential of Pseudo-Thedore     

25. JUDAIC THOUGHT     

Philo of Alexandria: “The Female Nature”     

Saadia Gaon: The Book of Beliefs and Opinions     

Moses Maimonides: The Guide of the Perplexed     

26. JEWISH CULTURE     

Josephus: The Jewish War     

Jewish Poets     

      Samuel the Nagid     

      Moses Ibn Ezra     

      Solomon Ibn Gabirol     

      Judah Halevi     

Ethical Wills     

      Will of R. Eleazer the Great     

      Will of Judah ibn Tibbon     

      Will of Eleazar of Mayence     



IX. ISLAM

27. ISLAMIC RELIGION AND LAW     

Qur’an     

Hadiths     

Abu Hamid al-Ghazali: Book on the Etiquette of Marriage     

Ibn Abdun: “The Markets of Seville”     

28. ISLAMIC CULTURE AND HISTORY     

Jahiz: Selections from Jahiz     

Al-Masudi: Meadows of Gold     

Ibn Butlan: Selections from Ibn Butlan     

Usama ibn Munquidh: “The Franks and Marital Jealousy”      

Imad Ad-Din: “Frankish Women of the Crusades of Peace and War”     

Women Poets     

      Fadl Ashsha'ira     

      Thawab bint Abdullah al-Hanzaliyya     

      Wallada bint al-Mustakfi     

      Buthaina bint al-Mu’tamid ibn Abbad     

Moorish Poets     

      Abu Hafs     

      Abu Bahr     

      Ibn Sa’id     



Index