Same-Sex Marriage in Renaissance Rome : : Sexuality, Identity, and Community in Early Modern Europe / / Gary Ferguson.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Cornell University Press Complete eBook-Package 2016
• VerfasserIn: Ferguson, Gary,
• Place / Publishing House: Ithaca, NY : : Cornell University Press, , [2016]; ©2016
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Series: Signale: Modern German Letters, Cultures, and Thought
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (232 p.) :; 5 halftones, 1 map

From the tenor of contemporary discussions, it would be easy to conclude that the idea of marriage between two people of the same sex is a uniquely contemporary phenomenon. Not so, argues Gary Ferguson in Same-Sex Marriage in Renaissance Rome. Making use of substantial fragments of trial transcripts Gary Ferguson brings the story of a same-sex marriage to life in striking detail. He unearths an incredible amount of detail about the men, their sex lives, and how others responded to this information, which allows him to explore attitudes toward marriage, sex, and gender at the time. Emphasizing the instability of marriage in premodern Europe, Ferguson argues that same-sex unions should be considered part of the institution's complex and contested history.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction. Engagement -- PART I. Stories – Observers -- Chapter 1. A French Writer Visits -- Chapter 2. “Our Marriages”? Male to Male / Like Husband and Wife -- Chapter 3. Marriage—Rites, Analogues, Meanings -- Chapter 4. Other Witnesses, Other Stories -- PART II. Stories – Actors -- Chapter 5. Final Hours -- Chapter 6. Voices on Trial -- Chapter 7. Saint John at the Latin Gate -- Chapter 8. Marriage as Alibi, as Euphemism, as Recruitment -- Chapter 9. Marriage and Community -- PART III. Histories -- Chapter 10. Looking Forward / Looking Back -- Chapter 11. Ghost Stories. Queer History -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index