The Corrupter of Boys: Sodomy, Scandal and the Medieval Clergy

By Dyan Elliott Author Interviews, Childhood and Youth, Medieval, Religion and Sexuality, Sexual Violence

Scandal-averse policies have enabled the widespread sexual abuse of boys and male adolescents within the Church.

The Manly Priest: Celibacy, Masculinity, and Reform in the Medieval Period

By Katherine Harvey Author Interviews, Medieval, Religion and Sexuality

The story of the imposition of clerical celibacy in the Anglo-Norman realms.

Her Virginal Members: Chastity and Sexual Desire in the Middle-Ages

By Kathryn Maude Medieval

Aelred of Rievaulx’s writings help us to understand medieval experiences of sex and sexual desire.

The Perfect Corpse: Death, Virginity and the Bishop in Medieval Europe

By Katherine Harvey Medieval

How could a medieval corpse reflect a person’s sexual behaviour?

Death by Celibacy: Sex, Semen and Male Health in the Middle Ages

By Katherine Harvey Medieval

Medieval priests were not supposed to have sex, but medical theory suggested that celibacy could kill them.

The Bishop’s New Stockings, or The Dangers of Love Magic

By Katherine Harvey Medieval

Love magic posed a real danger to medieval people, especially the clergy.

The Problematic Priestly Body: Celibacy, Sexuality and the Trials of the Medieval Clergy

By Katherine Harvey Medieval

Many medieval clerics struggled to obey rules which said they must remain celibate.