Description
Book SynopsisThis volume investigates the state of same-sex relations in later medieval England, drawing on a remarkably rich array of primary sources from the period that include legal documents, artworks, theological treatises, and poetry. Tom Linkinen uses those sources to build a framework of medieval condemnations of same-sex intimacy and desire and then shows how same-sex sexuality reflected - and was inflected by - gender hierarchies, approaches to crime, and the conspicuous silence on the matter in the legal systems of the period.
Trade Review"Tom Linkinen's study focuses on a variety of definitions, attitudes, beliefs and emotions about same-sex sexuality in England during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries." -- Professor Ruth Mazo Karras, University of Minnesota.
"Linkinen's work goes beyond previous work on same-sex relations in medieval Europe in several ways. Linkinen's work is deeply historical. The combined image of the plural and somewhat contradictory voices and shared understanding appears as something entirely new.'" -- Professor Jonas Liliequist, University of Umeå, Sweden.
"Same-Sex Sexuality in Later Medieval English Culture is a rigorous yet warm-hearted book that provides an excellent systematic guide to a variety of possible conceptualizations of, and reactions to, same-sex sexual desire, sexual activity, and love. " -- Kit Heyam on
H-Histsex "Linkinen demonstrates the benefit of opening analysis up to a wider variety of sources and performs a valuable service by gathering those materials together within the pages of a single volume." -- Robert Mills in
Mirator "Linkinen's book is comprehensive and he exhausts the relatively small number of texts, their actual statements, and their identifiable silences, and gets a lot out of them through his methodology of multiple frames." -- Paul Halsall,
The Medieval ReviewTable of ContentsIntroduction I. Framing condemnations: Sodomy, sin against nature, and crime II. Silencing the unmentionable vice III. Stigmatising with same-sex sexuality IV. Sharing disgust and fear V. Sharing laughter VI. Framing possibilities: Silences, friendships, and deepest love Conclusions Bibliography
