The Fires of Lust: Sex in the Middle Ages

By Katherine Harvey Medieval

By exploring their sex lives, The Fires of Lust brings ordinary medieval people to life.

‘Longer than a big man’s thigh’: The Perfect Penis in Medieval Europe

By Katherine Harvey Medieval

What did medieval people think about penises?

‘Behaviour Which Merits a Horrible and Wretched Death’: Sex, Sin and the Black Death in Medieval England

By Katherine Harvey Medieval

Medieval people feared that the Black Death was a punishment for sin, and hoped that abstaining from sex could save them.

Like a Virgin? The Medieval Origins of a Modern Debate

By Katherine Harvey Medieval

A recent Vatican ruling on consecrated virgins has caused controversy, but there are medieval precedents for the new approach.

Carnal Knowledge: Regulating Sex in England, 1470-1600

By Katherine Harvey Author Interviews, Early Modern, United Kingdom

Sexual behaviour was strictly regulated in late medieval and Tudor England.

Same-Sex Marriage in Renaissance Rome

By Katherine Harvey Author Interviews, Early Modern, LGBTQ

Same-sex couples in the early modern period claimed marriage in their own particular ways.

The Boswell Legacy: Revisiting John Boswell’s Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality

By Katherine Harvey Medieval

Three historians explore the legacy of John Boswell’s landmark text.