Pious Kings, Promiscuous Priests and Italian Hussies
Gender and Sexuality in Early Medieval ItalyNicole Lopez-Jantzen, PhD
Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY
Friday, March 1, 2019
7:30pm
7:30pm
CUNY Graduate Center
Room 4406
There has been little scholarship directly
addressing sexuality in early medieval Italy. Indeed, the main scholar of early
medieval Italian sexuality, Ross Balzaretti, notes that the early Middle Ages
is often ignored both in histories of western sexuality more generally and by
early medievalists despite the early medieval evidence. The majority of
sources for early medieval attitudes towards sexuality were written by clerics,
and thus are not necessarily representative of women’s views, or those of lay
men. An analysis of these sources shows that the idea of pious rulership, which
extended over the morality of subjects, began in the late Lombard period and
developed further as it was encouraged by the Carolingians. However, Christian
and especially monastic norms coexisted with and at times came into conflict
with an array of masculine sexual values. Above all, both aristocratic men and
many clergymen denied the idea that sexual behavior marked a man’s suitability
for public office, although our sources throughout the period equate women’s
sexual behavior with their appropriateness as queens, duchesses, and nuns.
Instead, aristocratic men placed more value on family strategy, while clergy
felt that not having a female partner opened one up to the charge of desiring
men. Finally, issues of class and proper hierarchical relationships remained
important throughout the early Middle Ages, from Liutprand’s laws prohibiting
free women from marrying slaves, to Liudprand of Cremona’s charge that Pope
John XII had sex with women from all social classes.
