The language of sex : five voices from northern France around 1200 / John W. Baldwin.

Author
Baldwin, John W. [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1994.
Description
xxviii, 331 pages ; 24 cm.

Availability

Available Online

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
Firestone Library - Stacks HQ18.F8 B28 1994 Browse related items Request

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Library of Congress genre(s)
    Series
    • Chicago series on sexuality, history, and society [More in this series]
    • The Chicago series on sexuality, history, and society
    Summary note
    This innovative study by a premier scholar of the Middle Ages brings together widely divergent discourses to fashion an unusually provocative, comprehensive picture of sexual language and attitudes at a particular time and place in the medieval world. John Baldwin introduces five representative voices from the turn of the twelfth century in northern France: Pierre the Chanter speaks for the theological doctrine of Augustine; the Prose Salernitan Questions, for the medical theories of Galen; Andre the Chaplain, for the Ovidian literature of the schools; Jean Renart, for the contemporary romances; and Jean Bodel, for the emerging voices of the fabliaux. Juxtaposing their views on a range of essential subjects, including social position, the sexual body, desire and act, and procreation, Baldwin allows us into the discussion of sexuality inside the church and schools of the clergy, in high and popular culture of the laity. The result is a fascinating dialogue of how these representatives agreed or disagreed with, ignored, imitated, or responded to each other at a critical moment in the development of European ideas about sexual desire, fulfillment, morality, and gender. This heterogeneous discussion also offers a startling glimpse into the construction of gender specific to this moment, when men and women enjoyed equal status in sexual matters, if nowhere else. In a pervasively patriarchal society, where male dominance was virtually unquestioned, sexual relations appear here as an exception. In varied ways, each spokesman argues for the equality of men and women in sexual matters, a proposition that received scientific undergirding from the Galenic theory of the two sperm distributed between male and female - and that would give way in the thirteenth century to the Aristotelian theory of the single male sperm. The turn of the twelfth century thus represented a last privileged moment for gender equality for centuries to come. Taken together, the five voices in this book extend their reach, encompass their subject, and point to a center where social reality lies. By articulating language at its varied depths, this remarkable study takes its place alongside groundbreaking works by James Brundage, John Boswell, and Leah Otis in extending our understanding of sexuality and sexual behavior in the Middle Ages.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references (p. 267-323) and index.
    Contents
    • 1. The Five Discourses. Pierre the Chanter and the Augustinian Tradition. The Prose Salernitan Questions and the Galenic Tradition. Andre the Chaplain and the Ovidian Tradition. Jean Renart and the Tradition of Romance. Jean Bodel and the Fabliaux Tradition
    • 2. Participants: The Sociology of Sexuality. The Physiological Parameters. The Social Parameters. The Marital Parameters. On the Margin: Prostitutes and Holy Matrons
    • 3. The Sexual Body. The Learned Body. The Body Concealed. The Body Exposed
    • 4. Sexual Desire. Concupiscentia: The Theology of Desire. Delectatio: The Physiology of Desire. Passio: The Ovidian Tradition. Joie et dolor: Their Interplay in the Romance Tradition. Talent: The Fabliaux. The Supremacy of Desire: Noncoital Sexuality and the Desire for God
    • 5. Coitus. Myths of Origins: Poets and Theologians. The Physiology of Coitus. Chastity. Sexuality Modesty. Sexual Techniques. Nonconsensual Coitus: From Seduction to Rape
    • 6. Children.
    • The Physiology of Reproduction: From Conception to Birth. The Natalist Policy of Churchmen. Restraints on Fecundity. The Politics of Lineage: The Romances
    • Conclusions: Sexuality, Gender, and History. Sexuality. Gender. History: A Postlude
    • Appendix 1: Robert of Courson, Summa [XLII, 31, 32]
    • Appendix 2: Pierre the Chanter, Verbum abbreviatum (Long Version)
    • Appendix 3: Pierre the Chanter, Questions
    • Table 1: Fabliaux Containing Sexually Active Characters Classified by Social Group
    • Table 2: Fabliaux Containing Sexual Encounters Classified by Ecclesiastical Categories.
    ISBN
    • 0226036138 ((cloth ; : alk. paper))
    • 9780226036137 ((cloth ; : alk. paper))
    • 0226036146
    • 9780226036144
    LCCN
    93006040
    OCLC
    28665444
    Statement on language in description
    Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage. Read more...
    Other views
    Staff view

    Supplementary Information