Animal Husbandry: Bestiality in Medieval Culture

Bestiality is always fraught with great meaning. Depending on the context, having sex with an animal may contaminate a man or bless him, give him offspring that are demigods or monsters, condemn him to death or make him a king.

---

How was bestiality perceived in the Middle Ages? The answer is far from simple. Depending on the context, it might be a kingmaking ritual, a boys’ game, a pact with the devil, a peccadillo or a capital offense. As dangerous as it could be to be suspected by one’s own neighbors of committing bestiality, medieval literature and art are full of often exhilarating erotic interspecies encounters. In the end, this book suggests that there is a zoophilic streak in all humans – the medievals as well as ourselves.

Contributors are Crystal Beamer, Bailey Flannery, Katherine Leach, Marian E. Polhill, Anna Russakoff, Joyce E. Salisbury, Andrea Schutz, Jacqueline A. Stuhmiller, Larissa Tracy, and Tess Wingard.