This study brings together widely divergent discourses to fashion a
comprehensive picture of sexual language and attitudes at a
particular time and place in the medieval world.
John Baldwin introduces five representative voices from the turn of
the twelfth century in northern France: Pierre the Chanter speaks
for the theological doctrine of Augustine; the "Prose Salernitan
Questions," for the medical theories of Galen; Andre the Chaplain,
for the Ovidian literature of the schools; Jean Renart, for the
contemporary romances; and Jean Bodel, for the emerging voices of
the "fabliaux." Baldwin juxtaposes their views on a range of
essential subjects, including social position, the sexual body,
desire and act, and procreation. The result is a fascinating
dialogue of how they agreed or disagreed with, ignored, imitated,
or responded to each other at a critical moment in the development
of European ideas about sexual desire, fulfillment, morality, and
gender.
These spokesmen allow us into the discussion of sexuality inside
the church and schools of the clergy, in high and popular culture
of the leity. This heterogeneous discussion also offers a startling
glimpse into the construction of gender specific to this moment,
when men and women enjoyed equal status in sexual matters, if
nowhere else.
Taken together, these voices extend their reach, encompass their
subject, and point to a center where social reality lies. By
articulating reality at its varied depths, this study takes its
place alongside groundbreaking works by James Brundage, John
Boswell, and Leah Otis in extending our understanding of sexuality
and sexual behavior in the Middle Ages.
"Superb work. . . . These five kinds of discourse are not often
treated together in scholarly writing, let alone compared and
contrasted so well."--Edward Collins Vacek, "Theological Studies"
" Baldwin] has made the five voices speak to us in a language that
is at one and the same time familiar and alien in its resonance and
accents. This is a truly exceptional book, interdisciplinary in the
real sense of the word, which is surely destined to become a
landmark in medieval studies."--Keith Busby, "Bryn Mawr Reviews"
" Baldwin's] attempt to 'listen' to these distant voices and
translate their language of sex into our own raises challenging
methodological questions that will be of great interest to
historians and literary scholars alike."--John P. Dalton,
"Comitatus"
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