Medieval female sexuality is the collection of sexual and sensual characteristics identified in a woman from the Middle Ages. Like a modern woman, a medieval woman's sexuality included many different aspects. Sexuality does not only refer to a woman's sexual activity, as sexual lives were as social, cultural, legal, and religious as they were personal.
Virginity Sexuality for the medieval woman began before marriage as a young virgin, mainly among elites whose mothers would arrange marriages. Marriage between nobles was often primarily an economic institution, traditionally based on politics, material wealth, and social status. However, it was not unheard of for young men and women to create relationships for themselves with sexual attraction in mind. Women displayed their availability for marriage through their hair, which would have been a great symbol of sexuality in the Middle Ages and was often kept hidden after marriage. Medieval women allowed their hair to grow throughout their lives. Married women would have kept their long hair tied up in braids beneath a head covering of some sort. Single women would allow their hair to fall freely over their bodies signaling that they were available for marriage.
The medieval values on virginity was a social construction, and memories of virgins was commonplace in popular stories, lyrics, romances, and poems, as well as biblical drama, sermons, and illuminated manuscripts. There are large swaths of secular records that reveal medieval society's conflicting attitudes towards fornication outside of marriage, where "losing ones virginity" was in certain instances harshly punished, especially when resulting in pregnancy: "John the son of Nicholas the clerk fornicated ridiculously with Julia Redes. Both appear, confess, and are whipped once in the usual way through the market. The woman is pregnant."Church court, deanery of Droitwich. Latin, 1300. Translated from
A similar passage speaks of one William Trumpour, who fornicated with Joan de Gyldesum in 1363:She confessed the article and abjured the sin on penalty of six whippings. She has three whippings for her confession. The woman said that the man betrothed her and promised to marry her as his wife. The man denied this on oath and immediately after promised on oath that if he should henceforth know her carnally, he would thereafter have her and hold her as his wife. The woman likewise promised that if hereafter she should allow him to know her carnally, she would have him as her husband.Act book, Dean and Chapter, York. Latin. Translated from YML, M2(1)f.However, it seems that such drastic measures to ensure public morality were rarer in this period than later times; premarital sex was tolerated publicly to a far greater level than adultery. According to The Decameron Web,
"...[I]t appears that unrestrained sexual activity was quite common throughout Europe during these times. In fact, most did not believe fornication was a sin at all, and many were taken by surprise at confession when priests informed them that they had indeed sinned by committing certain sexual acts. St. Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419) claimed that by age fifteen, all young men had lost their virginity...although premarital sex was obviously considered sinful by the church, in reality, once couples were betrothed, they often slept together during a sort of "trial period" before the wedding. That way, if one or both were not satisfied with the results, they might still attempt to release themselves from future consent to marry (sometimes by becoming godparents of the same child, a relationship which would lead to an incestuous union)."
Much popular medieval literature lampooned the supposed moral laxity of the lower and middle classes, especially the peasantry; revealing that such antics were considered amusing and not usually severely frowned upon. The common belief was that "rural populations were much more accepting of illicit sexual behavior, and that country folk were viewed as much more "free" sexually than urban dwellers." For instance, Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales includes many such passages that still have the ability to shock today and would have been extremely taboo in the more recent Victorian Era.
Still, the emphasis on virginity existed to a far greater degree for women than it did men. It was certainly possible for a woman to lose her virginity and be considered holy, as evident through the proliferation of "Saintly Queens" during the High Middle Ages: these women often were praised for dedicating their lives to good works and charity. An outstanding example is Queen Matilda of Scotland, first wife of King Henry I, who was described as "a woman of exceptional holiness, in piety her mother's rival, and in her own character exempt from all evil influence." However, if a woman was not a virgin she was less likely to be considered for sainthood.
Marriage and rape Once married, the importance of fidelity directly related to a woman's honor and her acknowledgment of male control of her sexuality.Judith M. Bennett et al., Sisters and Workers in the Middle Ages (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1989), 176, 179, 87, 101. A man was supposed to transform his wife from a virgin to a woman by consummating the marriage, ideally with a pregnancy. While an unconsummated marriage was subject to annulment, once a woman lost her virginity to her husband, the consummated marriage was permanent.
Sexual problems within a marriage, especially in explanation to an unconsummated marriage, existed in a woman's claim of her husband's impotence and inability to penetrate her or in a man's claim that his wife's vagina was too narrow or that it was somehow blocked.Joanne M. Ferraro, Marriage Wars in Late Renaissance Venice (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 91, 85. According to accepted Hippocratic thought in medicine, conception could only happen if a woman felt pleasure during sex, so the law tended to equate pleasure with consent.
Laws on sex within marriage were skewed against women, and they were generally also written by the Church. Concerning consent, once a man and woman were married for two months, "ecclesiastical authorities would uphold the husband's right to consummate the marriage." So, exchanging consent between spouses was enough to legally bind a marriage according to the Church. While parental consent, the presence of a witness, and/or an officiating priest was important to declaring marriage complete, it was really sexual consent that mattered.Dyan Elliott, "Marriage," The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Women's Writing, ed. Carolyn Dinshaw and David Wallace, 40-57, 41-42. However, the German Schwabenspiegel allowed a woman over twenty-five to engage in sexual activity without her father's consent or threat of the loss of inheritance. To complicate this matter, Salic Law prevented women from inheriting land, reign, and property from the baseline in many kingdoms around Western Europe.
Consent was assumed and declared forever after two months of the marriage, so it was impossible for a married woman to be legally raped by her husband. Rape in the eyes of the law was a huge problem for women who were assaulted. According to a Yorkshire Peace Session in 1363, Elias Warner of Malton feloniously raped Ellen Katemayden of Malton "and lay with her against her will and assaulted her and so battered her that she died within the next three days (...) Elias, brought by the sheriff, came before the justices. The jurors (...) say on their oath that the aforesaid Elias is in no way guilty of the aforesaid felony... Therefore it is judged that the aforesaid Elias is acquitted thereof, etc."Peace Sessions, Yorkshire. Language: Latin. Translated from Putnam, ed., Yorkshire sessions of the peace. 1363. This is but one example of medieval men being acquitted for rapes, kidnappings, and assaults. Secular and Church courts did little to protect women when it came to sexual violence, especially if the woman became pregnant.
Medical perceptions of sexuality In the Christian medieval world, some theories held that women received far more pleasure from a sexual encounter than men, and had much greater sexual appetite. As a result, some churchmen taught that men took more responsibility for sexual sin than women, since women were "weaker" and less biologically capable of resisting their urges. However, this could also be used as a reason to keep women under stricter control than men. Women commonly dealt with a double standard in how their sexuality was treated in comparison to men.Vern L. Bollough and James A. Brundage, eds., Handbook of Medieval Sexuality (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1996), 199, 44.
Medieval Christian philosophy told women that, as the daughters of Eve, they are responsible for the fall of mankind due to their innate sin, and this generalized scorn seeped into every facet of their lives, including sexuality. Moreover, religious prejudice against women and female sexuality seeped into legal, intellectual, and medical knowledge.Ian., Mortimer (2014). The time traveler's guide to medieval england : a handbook for visitors to the fourteenth century. Touchstone. pp. 55–56. . .
Medical knowledge of the time drew on the ideas on third-century writer Galen, and held that women's wombs were "cold," and required the heat of men's seed both to conceive and for general health. The weakness of women in resisting their physical desires was an obstacle in conception, since they would ignore the ideal conditions to conceive, and over-indulgence in sex could inflame female desire so that women were insatiable.Crawford, Katherine (2007). "The science of sex". European Sexualities 1400-1800. Cambridge University Press. p. 120-121. It was important to have sex in moderation to ensure health and fulfillment of its reproductive purpose. It was believed that unmarried women should find a husband as quickly as possible, or risk serious health consequences. Unmarried women who were hindered by their lust were told to exercise regularly and take medicines. If she had a fainting fit, one text by John of Gaddesden recommended that they should find a midwife who would insert an oiled finger, a laurel, or a spikenard into her vagina, and "move it vigorously about."Jacquart, Danielle and Claude Thomasset (1998). Sexuality and Medicine in the Middle Ages. Princeton University Press. p. 176.
Medieval Christian writers recognized women's sexual pleasure and many thought that in order to conceive a child, a woman had to achieve orgasm. This belief came from the Galenic model of reproduction, which held that conception occurred due to the union of male and female "seed," both of which were emitted in response to sexual pleasure.Proctor, Caroline. "Between Medicine and Morals: Sex in the Regimens of Maino de Maineri". Medieval Sexuality. p. 117.Karras, Ruth (2005). Sexuality in Medieval Europe. Routledge. p. 78-79. This meant that the sexual satisfaction of women was considered important. However, because of this belief, the conception of a child due to rape was often taken as evidence that the woman enjoyed the assault. Some other writers disagreed, maintaining that physical pleasure could occur even when the mind was not consenting.Karras, Ruth (2005). Sexuality in Medieval Europe. Routledge. p. 113. Largely, the woman's consent was not what defined rape, however, but rather whether the perpetrator had stepped outside of the boundaries that entitled him to sex; a married woman could not be raped by her husband, because as her husband he had a right to sex with her.
Canon law and secular courts