Carolingians gay

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, meanwhile, saw anti-Catholic writers singling out convents as corrupt institutions, and writing titillating fiction about them. The existence of gay monks also reveals historical change in other ways. Internet Medieval Sourcebook Selected Sources: The Carolingians and After Contents The Rise of the Carolingian Dynasty and Papal Support Charles Martel Pepin Charlemagne Personality Wars Legal and Social Documents Carolingian Culture Carolingian and later East Francia (Germany) Carolingian and later West Francia (France) Carolingian Decline and.

Classical Greece and Rome, for example, focused on the difference between active and passive sexual acts. How do we categorise and label particular forms of social groupings or behaviour, and how do we find evidence for them? Nowadays what would probably appal most British people, what would seem really socially transgressive, is not being gay, but being in a religious order.

This paper explores the references and perceptions of homosexuality within Carolingian monasteries from AD. It highlights how same-sex desire and behavior were documented in various texts, reflecting a complex understanding and recognition of homosexual relationships among monks and nuns during this period.

We have no known accusations of homosexual acts from the Carolingian period, and yet there have been a number of discussions as to whether such figures as Alcuin or Gottschalk may have been gay, and how seriously to take the homoerotic tone of some of their writings.

One is how social attitudes can alter, quite abruptly. See here:. Finally, gay monks are good to think with because they remind us of two important dimensions of life within most societies, and their changing interaction: religion and gender. I research masculinity too at the OU — albeit of the contemporary kind — and am also fascinated by religion and history.

The problems of drawing boundaries between social groups has been a continual issue within monasticism. History does show change as well as continuity. There are simply too few sources to make it a major field of study. Most historians, especially those studying the pre-modern world, are not going to end up researching LGBT history, or even teaching it.

Sunday, 5 February From the sources Hilary the Englishman, a gay poet of the twelfth century Happy LGBT History month everyone. Like Like. There is no obvious right or wrong choice as to how sexual practices or preferences are lumped together or split: there are still arguments about how much transsexual people have in common with gay, lesbian and bisexual people, for example.

Finding evidence about gay monks is also fraught. Search for: Close. Gay monks have almost always been regarded differently from lesbian nuns, and from those not in religious orders. Who is really a monk, and how can they be distinguished from those in other forms of the religious life, or from those still in the world?

As far as we know, every society has had some proportion of people who are sexually attracted predominantly to their own sex, rather than the opposite sex. Skip to content Open Menu Home About. Charlemagne had heard rumours of sodomitical monks in , and was greatly disturbed.

Gay monks are also very interesting as a historical problem because they raise two of the most basic problems of analysis. Next Post Women, archaeology, history and literature. What is far more recent is an increasing awareness that categorising aspects of human behaviour, even at the most basic biological level, is still difficult and subjective.

And yet I somehow seem to have acquired a reputation for discussing gay monks, on the basis of a couple of posts. Since its that time of the year, I thought I’d explore something I’ve barely ever touched on here – the history of medieval sexuality. The Carolingian dynasty (/ ˌkærəˈlɪndʒiən / KARR-ə-LIN-jee-ən; [1] known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD.

[2] The dynasty consolidated its power in the 8th century, eventually making. Yet although gay people exist in every society, there are many societies without monasticism, or any comparable institution. There have always been people with particular kinds of sexual preference, but that does not mean that they were categorised by other societies in the same way.

Like Loading Previous Post The uses of Carolingian law. Best wishes Martin Like Like. By examining primary sources, including capitularies and allegorical. What can usefully be deduced from the scanty normative sources and the even rarer cases?