Castration and Culture in the Middle Ages

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Castration and Culture in the Middle Ages
Larissa Tracy, Larissa Tracy, ...
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Last edited by MARC Bot
September 15, 2024 | History

Castration and Culture in the Middle Ages

  • 2 Want to read

Castration and castrati have always been facets of western culture, from myth and legend to law and theology, from eunuchs guarding harems to the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century castrati singers. Metaphoric castration pervades a number of medieval literary genres, particularly the Old French fabliaux -- exchanges of power predicated upon the exchange or absence of sexual desire signified by genitalia - but the plain, literal act of castration and its implications are often overlooked. This collection explores this often taboo subject and its implications for cultural mores and custom in Western Europe, seeking to demystify and demythologize castration. Its subjects include archaeological studies of eunuchs; historical accounts of castration in trials of combat; the mutilation of political rivals in medieval Wales; Anglo-Saxon and Frisian legal and literary examples of castration as punishment; castration as comedy in the Old French fabliaux; the prohibition against genital mutilation in hagiography; and early-modern anxieties about punitive castration enacted on the Elizabethan stage. The introduction reflects on these topics in the context of arguably the most well-known victim of castration in the middle ages, Abelard.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
365

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Edition Availability
Cover of: Castration and Culture in the Middle Ages
Castration and Culture in the Middle Ages
2019, Boydell & Brewer, Limited
in English
Cover of: Castration and Culture in the Middle Ages
Castration and Culture in the Middle Ages
2013, Boydell & Brewer, Limited
in English
Cover of: Castration And Culture In The Middle Ages
Castration And Culture In The Middle Ages
2013, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, BOYE6, D.S. Brewer

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Book Details


ID Numbers

Open Library
OL34491475M
ISBN 13
9781782041108

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September 15, 2024 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
December 21, 2022 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
October 18, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
August 3, 2020 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
October 19, 2016 Created by Mek Added new book.