Medieval erotica
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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| :''[[medieval art]], [[medieval literature]], [[history of erotica]], [[Christianity and sexual morality]], [[corbel]]'' | :''[[medieval art]], [[medieval literature]], [[history of erotica]], [[Christianity and sexual morality]], [[corbel]]'' | ||
| - | As [[Peter Webb]] notes in ''[[The Erotic Arts]]'', [[eroticism]] is rare in the art of the [[Early Christian]] period and the [[Middle Ages]]. [[Pagan]] monuments were often overtly sexual, but Christian art shunned the world of [[physical love]]. Christianity was a [[non-sexual]] religion ([[Virgin birth of Jesus]], [[Saint Paul]] advocating [[Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)|clerical celibacy]]). | + | As [[Peter Webb]] notes in ''[[The Erotic Arts]]'', [[eroticism]] is rare in the [[Early Christian art and architecture|art of the Early Christian]] period and the [[Middle Ages]]. [[Pagan]] monuments were often overtly sexual, but Christian art shunned the world of [[physical love]]. Christianity was a [[non-sexual]] religion ([[Virgin birth of Jesus]], [[Saint Paul]] advocating [[Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)|clerical celibacy]]). |
| Very much contrary to the [[Classic erotica|sexual morality of antiquity]], the [[Middle Ages]] were an era of [[sexual repression]], with exceptions of course. There were [[elegiac comedy|elegiac comedies]] such as [[Lidia]], [[erotic folklore]] such as the [[fabliaux]], seductive enchantresses such as the [[Morgan le Fay]], [[succubi]] and [[incubi]], sexual church [[gargoyle]] ornamentations and [[Sheela na Gig]]s and sexual [[misericord]]s. | Very much contrary to the [[Classic erotica|sexual morality of antiquity]], the [[Middle Ages]] were an era of [[sexual repression]], with exceptions of course. There were [[elegiac comedy|elegiac comedies]] such as [[Lidia]], [[erotic folklore]] such as the [[fabliaux]], seductive enchantresses such as the [[Morgan le Fay]], [[succubi]] and [[incubi]], sexual church [[gargoyle]] ornamentations and [[Sheela na Gig]]s and sexual [[misericord]]s. | ||
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As Peter Webb notes in The Erotic Arts, eroticism is rare in the art of the Early Christian period and the Middle Ages. Pagan monuments were often overtly sexual, but Christian art shunned the world of physical love. Christianity was a non-sexual religion (Virgin birth of Jesus, Saint Paul advocating clerical celibacy).
Very much contrary to the sexual morality of antiquity, the Middle Ages were an era of sexual repression, with exceptions of course. There were elegiac comedies such as Lidia, erotic folklore such as the fabliaux, seductive enchantresses such as the Morgan le Fay, succubi and incubi, sexual church gargoyle ornamentations and Sheela na Gigs and sexual misericords.
The Christian repression of sexuality led to the depiction of erotic horrors in various frescos such as Giotto's Last Judgement.
It was followed by Renaissance erotica, when patronage shifted from the church to the bourgeoisie.
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The Merchant's Tale
The Merchant's Tale is one of the bawdier tales of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The Merchant's Tale is the story of a cuckolded an older husband and his young wife who by quick-witted lying get away with it. Though several of the tales are sexually explicit by modern standards, this one is especially so. One question that splits critics is whether the Merchant's tale is a fabliau. Typically a description for a tale of carnal lust and frivolous bed-hopping, some would argue that especially the latter half of the tale, where Damian and May make love in the tree with the blind Januarie at the foot of the tree, represents fabliau.
Christian Sexuality
Christianity supplemented the Jewish attitudes on sexuality with two new concepts. First, there was the idea that marriage was absolutely exclusive and indissoluble, thereby restricting the sphere of sexual activity and eliminating the husband's ability to divorce at will. Second, there was the notion of virginity as a moral ideal, rendering marital sexuality as a sort of concession to carnal weakness and the necessity of procreation.
Sexuality in Christian demonology
Christian demonologists agreed in the fact that sexual relationships between demons and humans happen, but they disagree in why and how. A common point of view is that demons induce men and women to the sin of lust, and adultery is often considered as an associated sin. Pierre de Rostegny supported the idea that Satan preferred to have sexual intercourse with married women to add adultery to her sins.
Gregory of Nyssa said that demons had children with women, which added to the children they had between them, contributed to increase the number of demons.
It was considered that demons always had sexual relationships with witches and warlocks in the form of incubi and succubae, and some witches had sexual intercourse with a male goat, as it was supported by Pierre de Rostegny. But common people, as it was believed, also were seduced by incubi and succubae, especially while they were asleep, and sometimes when they were awake, in the form of a beautiful man or woman that excited their desire to the point of not being able to resist the temptation, although the possibility of resistance always existed as asserted by Christian theologians, but the tendency to sin was stronger than their faith. Francesco Maria Guazzo offered detailed descriptions of sexual relationships between demons and humans.
First book burning, Decameron, Ovid and other "lewd" books
In 1497, followers of the Italian priest Girolamo Savonarola collected and publicly burned pornography, lewd pictures, pagan books, gaming tables, cosmetics, copies of Boccaccio's Decameron, and all the works of Ovid which could be found in Florence.
Visual art
