In search of same-sex sexuality and later medieval English culture

The definition of sodomy from the first and the second editions of the Oxford English Dictionary represents a framework of same-sex sexuality that may sound “medieval,” yet the authoritative lexicon served its readers this piece of information a couple of decades, not a couple of centuries ago. Such a definition is also an argument, pointing towards the unnatural in sexual acts between people of the same sex, and revealing the condemnatory approach to same-sex sexuality in our modern culture not so long ago. Similar arguments are relatively easy to find in medieval culture, be the source a theological treatise, an exemplum recalling morals, a chronicle, or a piece of poetry.

Associating the definition above with the “medieval” may lead a reader to one major presumption regarding medieval culture; namely that of its grave morals and repressive tone against anything different. The truthfulness of this presumption has been established successfully, and this aspect of medieval culture has traditionally been emphasised in much of the historical research – research that did not contradict with definitions found in dictionaries. A second presumption regarding medieval culture would perhaps be that it gave rise to carnivals and care-free joyfulness. A third one could probably recollect violence, torture and executions, with same-sex sexual matters included in such considerations. All these modern-day generalisations regarding the Middle Ages are, of course, only partial aspects of the story.