What Was Sex Really Like in the Middle Ages?

Episode Overview

• The episode challenges the common perception of the Middle Ages as a puritanical and grim era, revealing that medieval people had more relaxed and open attitudes towards sex and obscenity than we might think.
• It explores the world of medieval pleasure by examining sex work, which was an open and often regulated part of city life, as evidenced by literal street names like "Grope Lane" in York.
• The video discusses the Catholic Church's contradictory role, which officially condemned sex for pleasure but whose records (like penitentials and court documents) provide historians with detailed insights into medieval sexual practices.
• The episode covers various aspects of medieval sexuality, including the lack of privacy, the public nature of royal marriage consummation, queer history, and the use of humor and bawdy tales across all social classes.

Key Concepts

• Medieval Attitudes vs. Modern Perceptions: The primary theme is debunking the myth of a sexually repressed Middle Ages. The host argues that while the Church imposed strict rules, everyday life, art, literature, and even language reveal a culture that was often bawdy, humorous, and open about sexuality.
• The Role of the Church: The Catholic Church is presented as a central, yet complex, influence. It officially restricted sex to procreation within marriage and laid out numerous rules to prevent pleasure. However, the clergy themselves were often rule-breakers, and the Church's own legal and confessional documents are now invaluable sources for understanding the very practices they sought to control.
• Commercial and Public Sex: Sex work was a visible and integrated part of medieval urban life, sometimes zoned to specific areas like "Grope Lane." It was also a viable, if regulated, economic option for women with few alternatives. Furthermore, privacy was a luxury, meaning sexual activity, even within households, was often a semi-public affair.
• Courtly Love and Bawdy Humor: The episode contrasts the refined, non-procreative romance of courtly love literature with the explicit, crude humor found in tales like Chaucer's "The Miller's Tale." This demonstrates a wide spectrum of sexual expression, from the idealized and romantic to the earthly and comical, enjoyed by all levels of society.
• Queer and Trans History: The video touches upon medieval queer history, citing a 14th-century London court record of Eleanor Rykener, a trans woman working as a sex worker, and an 8th-century penitential that specifically asks women about using strap-on dildos, indicating an awareness of and interest in practices beyond heterosexual, procreative norms.

Quotes

• At 00:10 - "Actually, medieval people had very different and more relaxed attitudes towards obscenity and sex than we do." - The narrator setting the episode's central thesis against the common misconception of a puritanical medieval period.
• At 02:54 - "Grape Lane is a contraction of 'grope', which... this street was originally recorded as being 'Grope Cunt Lane'." - Dr. Kate Lister explaining the explicit and literal naming of a medieval red-light district street in York.
• At 10:59 - "The Church's guide to sex: Not on the weekend. Missionary only. Not fully naked. Don't have fun!" - The host, Dr. Eleanor Janega, humorously summarizing the strict and pleasure-averse rules the Catholic Church tried to impose on marital sex.
• At 14:31 - "How are you going to make your money? ... It's really, really limited. And that doesn't mean that everybody turned to being on the game, but it was an option that you can make a lot of money in a short amount of time, and everybody knew about it as well." - Dr. Kate Lister discussing the economic realities that made sex work a practical and known profession for women in the Middle Ages.
• At 17:16 - "Have you ever made an object in the shape and size to match your carnal desires? And have you ever taken the object, fastened it about your waist, and used it on another woman?" - Dr. Eleanor Janega quoting an 8th-century penitential, revealing the Church's awareness of dildos and female same-sex acts.

Takeaways

• Medieval society was far from sexually repressed; people were open about sex, told bawdy jokes, and had a more relaxed attitude toward nudity and obscenity than is commonly believed.
• The Catholic Church's strict rules on sex (e.g., only for procreation, missionary position only) were frequently ignored by all levels of society, including the clergy themselves.
• Sex work was an established and often regulated profession in medieval cities, providing one of the few avenues for women to achieve economic independence.
• Privacy was a luxury not afforded to most, leading to a more communal and less private experience of life, including sex.
• Historical records, from court documents to doodles in the margins of religious texts, show that a wide range of sexualities and practices, including what we would now consider queer and trans experiences, existed in the Middle Ages.