Sodomy, Masculinity and Law in Medieval Literature: France and England, 1050-1230

✍ Scribed by William E. Burgwinkle

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 314
• Series: Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Shedding new light on the representations of masculinity and same-sex desire in medieval literature, William Burgwinkle offers a historical survey of attitudes towards same-sex love during the Middle Ages. His studies of a wide range of texts reveal that medieval attitudes towards sexual preferences were much broader than usually conceded. Although most texts of the period denounced sodomy, Burgwinkle reveals how some also endorsed it, however inadvertently.

✦ Table of Contents

Title......Page 5
Contents......Page 9
Acknowledgments......Page 10
Prologue......Page 13
Introduction......Page 15
DISCIPLINE AND PUNISH......Page 18
KNIGHT OUT......Page 21
1 Locating sodomy......Page 33
PRE-MEDIEVAL TRADITIONS......Page 37
THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL RESPONSES......Page 42
MONASTIC TRADITIONS......Page 47
PHYSIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS OF GENDER AND SEXUALITY......Page 54
2 Imagining sodomy......Page 60
PETER DAMIAN......Page 67
JOHN OF SALISBURY......Page 79
THE CURIOUS CASE OF RICHARD THE LIONHEART......Page 87
3 Making Perceval: double-binding and sièges périlleux......Page 103
PERCEVAL: MAKING MEN......Page 104
WOMEN UNDER CHIVALRY......Page 114
VICTIMIZATION......Page 127
CHRISTIAN KNIGHTHOOD AND SODOMY......Page 135
4 Queering the Celtic: Marie de France and the men who don’t marry......Page 152
NARCISSUS AND GUIGEMAR......Page 156
TROUBLED DESIRES......Page 174
5 Writing the self: Alain de Lille’s De planctu naturae......Page 184
CLOTHING AND ART......Page 189
GRAMMAR AND RHETORIC......Page 194
GENDER AND REPRODUCTION......Page 197
Conclusion......Page 214
INTRODUCTION......Page 217
1 LOCATING SODOMY......Page 221
2 IMAGINING SODOMY......Page 235
3 MAKING PERCEVAL: DOUBLE-BINDING AND SIÈGES PÉRILLEUX......Page 247
4 QUEERING THE CELTIC: MARIE DE FRANCE AND THE MEN WHO DON’T MARRY......Page 255
5 WRITING THE SELF: ALAIN DE LILLE’S DE PLANCTU NATURAE......Page 267
CONCLUSION......Page 281
Bibliography......Page 282
Index......Page 306