Medieval Prostitution

Family, Sexuality, and Social Relations in Past Times

by Jacques Rossiaud, Lydia G. Cochrane (Translator)

In fifteenth-century France, public prostitution was condoned by all sectors of society. Clerics and municipal officials not only tolerated prostitution, but were often its principal beneficiaries, owning and frequenting brothels quite openly. The explanation of this remarkable state of affairs is just one aspect of Jacques Rossiaud's vivid reconstruction of a part of medieval society that has previously received little attention. Drawing upon extensive research in medieval archives, the author shows that most fifteenth-century Frenchwomen could expect a life of constant subjugation to male desire. Rape, for instance, was common and considered only a minor crime. He then considers whether public prostitution might paradoxically have been seen by the secular and religious authorities as a means of social control, and of preserving marital the virtue of wives and daughters was best protected by the existence of public brothels, where sexual urges could be satisfied without adultery or rape. Jacques Rossiaud also describes the social background of the prostitutes, brothel-keepers, pimps, and their clientele, providing a vivid overview of the context in which medieval prostitution existed. Medieval Prostitution will be of interest to medieval historians, as well as to students of the history of the family and sexuality.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Medieval History, Historical, Medieval

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Kersplebedeb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just read this book for the second time; i first picked up a copy after seeing Silvia Federici reference it briefly in her Caliban and the Witch, where she cites Rossiaud's description of a 'rape movement' (her term i think, not his) amongst young men in 14th-15th century southern France.

i am not going to write a thorough review here, partly because i don't have the academic background to judge the book on its finer points, and partly because i hope to at some later point write something more comprehensive about it.

What i do want to say is that this book is about medieval prostitution in southern france, but also a lot more. Three main things i got from reading it were:

1) how different, and particular, medieval society was from our own. you can't just zoom in and out of medieval history, the context demands that you pay attention to how differently people lived their lives and saw themselves and the world. and you can't just generalize about how everyone in 1436 thought X or everyone in 1372 thought Y -- you really have to unravel how different people at the same time thought different things, and how this could change from one decade to another for knowable reasons, and how this could differ from one place to another. And of course, between classes. So you have to give the time period its due. Books like Rossiaud's, which trace a series of changes in attitude, seesawing back and forth, regarding sexual freedom, prostitution, and sexual violence against women, does just that.

2) related to the above, people in the 14th or 15th or 16th centuries were not rehearsing for our world, or prefiguring us, or on a road that necessarily lead anywhere in our direction. Prostitution within this time period ranged in extreme cases from being seen as completely licit though only fine for some people (foreign women, and women who had been raped; young men, and priests), to being seen as a necessary evil, to being seen as one of several blights to be eradicated. The reasoning almost invariably, for the male intellectuals involved, had to do with what was deemed best for society in terms of social control and/or population growth (though not directly so).

3) Most importantly and of greatest relevance to the present moment from my point of view, this book shows insights into a deep structural connection between rebellious authoritarianism (what in the 21st century we might call right wing populism or fascism, though these terms would make no sense projected backwards six hundred years) and misogyny, and very roughly sketches (without actually proving it, more just saying it) both how rebellious violence against women (Federici's aforementioned 'rape movement') functioned as an instrument of social control, and separately, how repression of prostitutes segued into repression of wider numbers of women, culminating in a Handmaid's Tale kind of renewed and more repressive patriarchy. Reading this i remembered how neighbourhood mobilizations against sex workers in Montreal in the 1990s ended up with attacks against random women on the streets, and created an opening for the tiny kkk cell in the city to get involved. Obviously centuries later and an ocean away, not trying to say more than that this stuff resonated with how i have seen things play out. Which is what i mean by a deep structural connection.

For feminists, antifascists, and radicals in general who like to geek out about medieval history, i strongly do recommend this book.

[Irene Lázaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

El título puede ser un poco equívoco porque el autor se centra solo en unos cuantos prostíbulos de una zona de Francia. Es un libro muy específico pero me ha enseñado bastantes cosas y ha acabado con algunos estereotipos que tenía.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read, although it does get a little heavily into intellectual history, which I didn't expect. However, that is one of the strengths of the book - Rossiaud places prostitution in its intellectual context, and traces changing morals, which allows us to understand the changing attitudes and actions towards prostitutes and prostitution. One minor complaint: I thought the book would provide an overview of medieval prostitution, but the title is misleading. It should more accurately be called "Medieval Prostitution in 13-16th century France with a few side-trips to Italy" - there is nothing in here about the rest of Europe. The focus is largely on the 15th century - how we get to the level of permissiveness and integration found from 1430-1480, and the sudden decline in that liberty in the 16th century. Early medieval prostitutes are not examined at all. Still, in its focus of examining the social mores surrounding prostitution in this time period, and the changing social functions of prostitutes, the book is a success.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent scholarly examination of Prostitution in France, with hard data and some excellent analysis,and some terrifying information on rape culture and young men's 'gangs.' A little gut-wrenching, but too well-documented to be ignored. In fact, to me, it placed the early modern 'protection of women' in a whole new cultural light...

Yuck. But then, history is full of surprises, beautiful and ugly. A fine book.

[Amalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, so I did not read this book page by page however I read a lot, almost 70% of this, not because it was the exact one I was looking for but because, it was an interesting read.

Although the book title says "Medieval" it is really focus on the Late Middle Ages in France so if someone wants to know what was happening in England, or in the Early Middle Ages; it would be quite a different story from this I'm sure.

[Kempu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aviso a navegantes: esta obra es la tesis doctoral del autor (de ahí el prólogo de Duby que fue el que la dirigió). Por esto casi que recomiendo omitir toda la primera mitad del libro y pasar directamente a la segunda, donde ya entramos en puro terreno de la historia cultural de Annales aplicado a la moral sexual del Medievo.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
ya know just a casual light read
the footnotes are longer than the actual paragraphs
not exactly what i envisioned when reading a book about medieval prostitution. i guess the document section is more what i was expecting.
wish it included more countries than just italy and france.

[Marinella]

.... negativo
ripetitivo..

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't agree with many of his interpretations, but good as a point of reference.