Misrepresenting the Middle Ages
A candidate for most sensational headline of, at least, the day:
I meant to write on this yesterday, but didn’t have the time. And now that it’s over a day old, I don’t really have the inclination anymore. But do check out the article yourself, and tell me if the evidence - “legal documents” from, apparently, fifteenth century France - convinces you that the sweeping headline, is accurate.
I’ll save you the trouble: unqualified “legal documents” (which apparently in this instance simply means the documents were notarized), by themselves are not proof of socially-sanctioned anything. I haven’t read the academic essay on which the article is based, but I think the notion that, in Catholic medieval France, gay unions were “socially sanctioned” is preposterous. But that’s just me.
Here’s more misrepresentation of the Middle Ages, as one of the most interesting kings of medieval England, Richard I the Lionheart, suffers from the persistent myth that he and Philip II of France were lovers…
Topics: history
Posted by Angevin13 at 6:49 am on Wednesday, August 29, 2007
5 Responses to “Misrepresenting the Middle Ages”
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August 29th, 2007 at 7:07 am
Indeed. That last myth was repopularized in our time by the greatest movie about the Middle Ages ever made, The Lion in Winter.
As I think you know, Angevin13, my father was a medievalist and indeed an expert on France of that period. He spent thousands of hours reading thirteenth and fourteenth century legal documents, he being more an institutional historian than a more modern social historian. I’m guessing that he would have been useful in the calling of bullsh!t here.
August 29th, 2007 at 7:35 am
Absolutely, Tigerhawk. It’s unfortunate that The Lion in Winter - not only a great film about the Middle Ages, but a great film, period - perpetuates that myth. Still, I loved the movie.
I’m certain he’d be helpful, not in pointing out the B.S. here - the article, on it’s face, does that by itself - but rather in utterly demolishing it, the way only someone who’s spend the time pouring through the sources can do.
Perhaps I’ll be skewered for saying this, but I’m partial to Braveheart as my medieval movie. I once gave a lecture to a group of American students in Scotland, and all they wanted to know about was whether Edward I was as “mean” as he was portrayed in the movie, and whether Edward II was really gay. Go figure.
August 29th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
The article in question doesn’t mention what these men in these “unions” did for a living. Were they warriors? Farmers? Merchants? Knowing that might shed some light on their motivation for living together in a time when being without family might mean your own extinction.
August 29th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Not that I think there weren’t homosexuals in the Middle Ages, of course, but you don’t see much evidence anywhere that homosexuality was sanctioned.
August 29th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Now I know why old Herr Vanguard got on that boat and left the old country. Heh.