Homosexuality in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance

The late Middle Ages and the Renaissance saw the beginnings of persecution of homosexuals. The term homosexual wasn't coined until 1892. Before 1892, and still in some place today, sexual acts between two people of the same gender was called sodomy. The people participating were called sodomites. This is different from the term, "acts against nature". "Acts against nature" not only includes sodomy, but also masturbation, bestiality and any sexual union not for the sole purpose of procreation. However, in spite of the laws and the persecution during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, homosexuality was still a prevalent way of life for most of Europe. England, France, and Italy are all prime examples.

ENGLAND

"And in the day when he shall walk abroad,
Like sylvan nymphs my pages shall be clad...
Sometimes a lovely boy in Dian's shape,
With hair that gilds the water as it glides,
And in his sportful hands an olive tree
To hide those parts which men delight to see,
Shall bathe him in a spring..." - Christopher Marlowe

"But I began to rue the unhappy sight
Of that faire Boy that had my hart intangles;
Cursing the time, the Place, the sense, the sin;
I came, I saw, I viewed, I slipped in." - Richard Barnfield

In England, sodomy was prevalent with its royalty as well as the common man. In addition, persecution was common to kings as well as peasants. King Edward II had trouble with his Parliament and with his wife, Isabella. Although he fulfilled his kingly duty by producing four children, England and Scotland were hostile with Edward's sexual preferences.

Pier Gaveston, Edward's first lover, was exiled by Edward's father while he was king, but also twice by Parliament once Edward became king. Edward's love for Gaveston was compared to David's love for Jonathan, whom was said to have loved Jonathon beyond the love of women. After 13 years together, hostile barons killed Gaveston.

Long after Gaveston's death, Edward fell for Hugh le Despenser. Despenser had been in Edward's service since they were both boys, but they do not appear to become lovers until after Gaveston's death. The two men tried to keep their affair discreet, but it still caused trouble with Isabella and the barons of England. Isabella started a revolted against her husband, which ended with both Edward and Despenser's deaths. Their manner of death was both gruesome and common for the crime of sodomy. Despenser had his genitals cut off and burned. Then he was decapitated. King Edward II was killed by the slow and painful insertion of a red, hot poker into his anus.

In the later part of the Renaissance, Christopher Marlowe wrote about homosexuality in his plays and poems. One of his most famous lines - 'Come live with me, and be my love' - was said to Corydon to Alexis while trying to convince him to live and love with him. In addition, Marlowe wrote about Ganymeade and Jupiter, Neptune and Leander, and even King Edward II and Gaveston.

FRANCE

"Louis, by the Grace of God, King of France, to all those who shall see or be made aware of the present letter. Whereas recently good peace and friendship has been established and negotiated between Us and our very dear and much beloved brother and cousin the Duke of Bourgogne, and to the end of affirming it yet further and in such a way that it will remain forever inviolated, and to place and instill therein a more perfect and cordial love, it has been suggested that We contract brotherhood in arms between us." - from "Agreement of Brotherhood" between Louis XI, king of France, and Charles, Duke of Bourgogne

In France, you also had kings who were sodomites. King Henry III was said to be bisexual. While he had sexual intercourse with women; including his wife, his mistress, and the most famous courtesan of the time. He also surrounded himself with his 'Mignons.' Henry's mignons were smartly dressed young men that not only had intimate relations with him, but also with each other. Henry also arranged marriages for his Mignons, and most of them had mistresses and male friends.

Henry's passion for his Mignons showed itself in several ways. When Megris dueled and was killed, Henry had him buried in his own church. The church ended up nicknamed the temple of Mignon. He would shower his Mignons with gifts of money, estates, jobs, and exalted marriages. Henry's pleasure in luxury was his biggest vice. He would give balls, fetes, and ceremonies in their honor. They, in return, fought and died for him. Their loyalties were to their king and their king alone.

Several of them were given titles. One, Joyeuse, married Henry's own sister-in-law and was made a duke. Another one, Epernon, was even more ambitious. He wanted control of the king. Henry was known for his obsession of having everything around him neat and clean. One day, Epernon came before Henry untidy. When the king got angry, Epernon threatened to quit. Henry quieted and gave Epernon his way. The king was once more under Epernon's thumb. All the young men that Henry chose were very handsome, and they devoted their attention to both sexes.

Another French king, Louis XI fell in love with a man. Louis XI loved Charles, Duke of Bourgogne, enough to contract a 'Agreement of Brotherhood' with him. The agreement made Charles and Louis' love 'a more perfect and cordial love' and for it to 'remain forever inviolated.'

ITALY

"Your will includes and is the lord of mine;
life to my thoughts within your heart is given;
my words begin to breathe upon your breathe...
Why should I seek to ease intense desire
with still more tears and windy words of grief,
when heaven, or late or soon, sends no relief
to souls whom love hath robed around the fire?" - Michelangelo

In 1432, Florence, Italy appointed a special magistrate to deal with sodomy. This magistrate, called the Official of the Curfew and the Convents, was started because of the belief that the Roman Catholic Church was being over run with sodomites. St. Bernardino of Siena thought that Florence and other Tuscan cities were filled with sodomites. In fact, Tuscan cities were so notorious for sodomy that the Genoan government wouldn't allow Tuscan schoolmasters to teach in Genoa. In the 14th and 15th centuries, acts against nature were starting to be associated with witchcraft. It was said that demon and devils would collect semen to make new bodies for themselves. Sodomy was not the only thing feared to be devil worshiping, but also masturbation and nocturnal emissions.

In addition, Florence blamed their declining birth rate on sodomy. They went as far as recruiting female whores from other cities to come to Florence, and seduce their men away from the evils of sodomy. Then the Florentine government outlawed the whores from dressing as boys to pick up clients. While St. Bernardino railed against the sin of sodomy, in Florence there were only 50 prosecutions in 113 years for the crime. And while the punishment was death, only about 20% of all the cases in Italy had that punishment carried out.

Even as St. Bernardino and the Italian government were persecuting sodomites, humanism was coming back into fashion. Humanist rediscovered the classical Greeks' positive thinking on sodomy. This ideal can be seen in the art. Many of the classical archetypes showed up in the paintings during that time. Those archetypes included Apollo, Narcissus, Cupid, Bacchus, and Ganymeade. Two painters, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, had strong emotional attachment to their male assistants while only vaguely acknowledging women in platonic and/or professional relationships. Women were their friends and patron, while men were their passion.

In 1476, Leonardo da Vinci, at the age of 24, spent two months in the goal because he was accused of sodomy with Jacopo Saltarelli. Eventually, the charges were dropped with the help of his friends and family. After that Leonardo had a long line of assistants, including Salai. Salai would steal from both Leonardo and clients. But still Leonardo took him back. In later years, Leonardo went on to paint women as mysterious and ethereal.

Michelangelo on the other hand, painted women in an Amazonian way. They were all hard bodies. But Michelangelo's paintings of men were the classical example of homoerotic art. It was said that Michelangelo fell in love with Tommaso Cavalieri at age 57. Tommaso stayed with Michelangelo for 32 years until Michelangelo's death. Both Leonardo and Michelangelo have showed their pain in its intensity through their art. They also show how humanism ideal fought the prevalent fear and persecution from the church and government.

ELSEWHERE

"Great Alexander loved Hephaestion,
The conquering Hercules for Hylas wept,
And for Patrolus stern Achilles drooped.
And not kings only, but the wisest of men:
The Roman Tully loved Octavius,
Grave Socrates, wild Alcibiades..."
- from "Hero and Leander" By Christopher Marlowe

Sodomy was not confined to England, Italy, and France. In Prussia, Fredrick the Great's father killed his male lover while Fredrick watched. In the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Suleiman I gave his male lover, Count John of Siebunburger, the governance of Buda. In Greece, Kekaumenos, a moralist and writer, admonished the Vlachs for making homosexual unions impulsively. In some Native American tribes, men who dressed as women and did women's work, were allowed to take husbands. And in the Incan Empire, it was prevalent to take same-sex lovers until you were ready to marry.

Throughout history, there has been same-sex pairings from Ancient Egypt to present day. And during all this time, there have been people who have found homosexuality unnatural, perverted, and a "sin". It has always been that way. It will always be that way. Those that live outside of society's norm, whether in Ancient times, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, or Modern times, will be persecuted in one form or another.

Sources

Boswell, John (1980). Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

_______(1994). Same-sex Unions In Pre-modern Europe. New York: Villard Books.

Rowse, A. L. (1977). Homosexuality In History. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co.

Spencer, Colin (1995). Homosexuality In History. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Co.