Sexual Practices and the Medieval Church

by Vern L. Bullough (Editor), James A. Brundage (Editor)

"Sexual Practices and the Medieval Church" analyses the Christian assumptions about sexuality, chronicles the early institutionalisation of these assumptions, and explores the theological debate of the meaning of marriage and the role of sex in marriage. The theological conception of sex, including issues such as rape, seduction, impotence, and prostitution, is then examined as it came to be developed by canon lawyers and justified by medical and scientific writers. The book concludes with an overview of late medieval sex practices as seen in the literature of the period and in demographic studies.Professor Vern Bullough, the well-known researcher in human sexuality, and Professor James Brundage, a historian of the Medieval period, have combined their scholarly talents to develop an in-depth analysis of sexual attitudes and practices during the Middle Ages. Skilfully blending readability and scholarly thoroughness, this is a volume general readers as well as professionals recognise as a major contribution to the study of medieval sexuality.

Genres: History, Sexuality, Medieval

289 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1982

About the author

Vern Leroy Bullough (July 24, 1928 – June 21, 2006) was an American historian and sexologist.

He was a distinguished professor emeritus at the State University of New York (SUNY), Faculty President at California State University, Northridge, a past president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, past Dean of natural and social sciences at the Buffalo State College in Buffalo, New York, one of the founders of the American Association for the History of Nursing, and a member of the editorial board of Paidika: The Journal of Paedophilia.

Until her death in 1996 he was married to Bonnie Bullough

Reviews

[Trinity Benstock · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tad out dated

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume, edited by Vern Bullough and James Brundage, should be essential reading for students of Medieval society, ecclesiastical history, or the history of sexuality. Comprising a collection of essays, primarily by the editors with a handful of contributions by other scholars, it provides a comprehensive treatment of Medieval Church law as it related to questions of human sexuality.

The legal corpus itself, and the commentaries of those who attempted to rationalize and apply it, both reflected and shaped social norms and popular ideas about sex in the Christian West. In many cases, the legislation can be seen to depend upon the differing moral possibilities commonly ascribed to men and women. The authors make an important distinction in this regard concerning the different objectives of theologians as compared to canon lawyers. Whereas both groups drew upon a more or less shared set of assumptions, the latter were constrained to reconcile Biblical injunctions and piety, as well as Roman Imperial law and Germanic customary law, with the 'facts on the ground' of human behavior. The essays herein demonstrate the evolution of Christian law and doctrine, from the first centuries of the organized Church up to the 16th century, through this dialectical process.

The legacy of conclusions drawn by Medieval churchmen are also evident within present-day assumptions and institutions. Beliefs about the purpose of sex, and by extension marriage; the tolerability of prostitution; which acts were classified as 'deviant' or criminal, what kinds of people were assumed to practice them, and how they should be punished: the answers to these questions are still being debated today, and in many cases the positions whose protagonists argue from a basis of 'tradition' or 'nature' find their earliest codification in Medieval law books.