As Kathryn Warner states in the introduction and then proceeds to debunk throughout this short history book, there are certain myths about the Middle Ages that, even though they might not be as widespread as they used to be, still are entrenched in the popular consciousness. Myths about child marriage, expressions and forms of sexual attraction, bodily (lack of) cleanliness, and that women had no rights at all.

Warner focuses her critique of popular misrepresentations of Medieval culture and mores on cinema and, tangentially, historical fiction. But whilst those are still significant today, I would argue that currently the main and greatest offender is the Fantasy genre, where Medieval and Medievalish settings are as much a staple as magical swords and everyday wear cloaks, and where most take the warped depictions of a feudal society as truthful historical reality (looking at you, "Game of Thrones" fans and your "back in those times..." arguments). Of course, Warner's book doesn't deal with the ins and outs of feudalism and governance that Fantasy distorts for plot purposes, but with sexuality and related topics, which is just as wrongly depicted in Fantasy as in historical romance. Case in point, the endless arguments over child marriage and sexual violence sparked by one particularly infamous episode in GOT, when defenders of the show (and books) would use the "realistic for the times" defence and even some named Margaret Beaufort as an example of child marriage and consummation/maternity being "normal for the Middle Ages."

In 'Sex and Sexuality in Medieval England', Warner demonstrates, succinctly, with sources and people named with their full names and residence, that no, this wasn't normal and Margaret Beaufort was an outlier. Next time some Fantasy fan comes to me with arguments of this kind, I'm going to tell them to read this book. Next time some Romance reader asks me why I detest the "romantic" abduction trope, I'll refer them to this book.

It's an invaluable book, especially for a non-academic and for simple readers who love history but don't have the background (or the patience) for ponderous scholarly tomes. In seventeen chapters, Warner covers the whole range of sexuality-related aspects from appearance to cleanliness to love languages, illegitimacy, prostitution, rape and abduction, same-sex relationships and gender roles. She touches on popular topics such as marriages with a huge age gap to more obscure ones such as what they thought of people of the same gender sleeping together in the same bed. You will learn so many things about sex and sexuality in the late medieval period, from the early 1300s to the mid-to-late 1400s, with specific examples and dates, because you can't generalise and apply what was true for 1340 to the year 1440, and Warner makes this crystal clear.

The author doesn't hide the difficulties in surmising the thoughts and attitudes of the period due to lack of sources and the fact that existing sources have an aristocratic slant, so she's careful to not say that because nobles did and thought something, commoners did too. I appreciated this intellectual honesty very much, Warner taught me a fair bit about the struggles a medieval scholar faces with interpreting sources, and that made me also appreciate her style of presenting her information by citing specific circumstances happening to specific people in specific years, which others might find dry and perhaps even boring. So-and-so did such-and-such on the town of Prettyton in Whatsitsnameshire won't be everyone's cup of tea as regards reading history, but it worked for me, maybe because I already have a decent familiarity with the period and the country, so if you are at least passingly familiar with Medieval England, even if only from the bodice rippers you filched from your ma, you will too.

And more importantly, you'll learn the true facts. Most of them were known to me thanks to exposition and familiarity, but even I learnt new things I had never heard about. I didn't know, for example, that foteball (football, or soccer if you're American) was played as part of celebrating weddings, and that "ravishment" or abduction of well-off women wasn't exclusive to women because underage males were also abducted for exactly the same reasons, and how much the custody and guardianship of noble and wealthy children cost. So many fascinating little details in this book!

If you enjoy historical romance this book adds a little depth to what the husband & wife really did while alone in their chambers! As a medical provider I found myself cringing and wondering HOW people ever believed some of the healthcare tips and medical care given in Medieval times was truly lucky it didn’t kill the person being treated.

Here is an example of advice given to men with regards to bedding a woman.

“John Gaddesden, born c. 1280 and a graduate of the University of Oxford, is perhaps the most famous English physician of the later Middle Ages. In his Rosa Anglica (‘English Rose’), Gaddesden wrote: To excite and arouse a woman to intercourse, a man ought to speak, kiss and embrace [her], to touch her breasts, to caress her breasts and to touch the whole [area] between her perineum and her vulva, and to strike her buttocks with the purpose that the woman desires sex [...] and when the woman begins to stammer, then they ought to copulate.”

Followed by this rare gem:

“In stark contrast to the opinions of later centuries, medieval England believed that women experienced more pleasure in intercourse than men, and that women’s need for intercourse was insatiable and stronger than men’s. Another common belief was that both men and women emitted seed that united to create an embryo, and it followed that if a woman felt a ‘lack of pleasure’ she did not emit this ‘sperm’ and therefore, no conception could take place. Medical belief in the Middle Ages, by holding that women must orgasm in order to conceive a child, followed Galen.2 A further idea was that male seed was precious and should not be wasted, while female seed was both prodigious and potentially lethal unless frequently purged. Menstruation achieved this, as did intercourse, and masturbation was recommended to avoid the dangers of a woman storing up her ‘seed’. If she did not, she would suffer from an affliction called ‘uterine suffocation’, which would cause her to have difficulty breathing and to endure fainting fits and convulsions. John Gaddesden stated: If the suffocation comes from a retention of the sperm, the woman should get together with and draw up a marriage contract with some man. If she does not or cannot do this, because she is a nun and it is forbidden by her monastic vow or because she is married to an old man incapable of giving her her due, she should travel overseas, take vigorous exercise and use medicine which will dry up the sperm … if she has a fainting fit, the midwife should insert a finger covered with oil of lily, laurel or spikenard into her womb and move it vigorously about.”

Glad we don’t have uterine suffocation any longer, Phew! 😅

Last but not least, this is some scary thoughts on birth and wandering wombs:

“If a woman struggled in labour, the Trotula recommended that she take a bath in water containing mallow, fenugreek, linseed and barley, and afterwards, ‘let there be a fumigation of spikenard and other aromatic substances’. Trying to make her sneeze with powder of frankincense was another option. For opening and strengthening the birth canal, white hellebore ground into a powder was recommended; alarmingly, this was believed to ‘shake the organs’ and help push the fetus out. After childbirth, says the Trotula, ‘[t]he womb, as though it were a wild beast of the forest, because of the sudden evacuation, falls this way and that, as if it were wandering’. As the wandering womb caused terrible pain, the Trotula recommended the tops of the elder plant mixed with barley flour and the white of an egg made into little wafers with suet, and warm wine with cumin. The womb could wander from its rightful place on other occasions as well, said the Trotula, following widespread contemporary medical opinion, and one symptom was pain in the left side.”.

I am so glad our wild beastly wombs stopped wandering around after giving birth!

I have to commend the author Kathryn Warner on her extensive research into the sex and sexuality of Medieval England. I am surprised the human species did not die out with the excellent medical care given. As always if in doubt - just bleed the patient.

Thank you for this very interesting look into a somewhat closed door subject. I really enjoyed reading this book!

5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️