Citizens and Sodomites : : Persecution and Perception of Sodomy in the Southern Low Countries (1400-1700) / / Jonas Roelens.

• Superior document: Crime and City in History Series ; Volume 6
• VerfasserIn: Roelens, Jonas,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden, The Netherlands : : Koninklijke Brill NV,, [2024]; ©2024
• Year of Publication: 2024
• Edition: First edition.
• Language: English
• Series: Crime and city in history ; Volume 6.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (438 pages)

The Southern Low Countries were among Europe's core regions for the repression of sodomy during the fifteenth century: nowhere across the Alps were more sodomites convicted at the time. This is the first comprehensive study of sodomy in this region.

Table of Contents

Intro -- Contents -- Figures and Tables -- Figures -- Tables -- Abbreviations -- Part 1: Methodological and Discursive Framework -- 1 Introduction -- 1 Sodomy: a Contested Historiography -- 1.1 Homosexuals in History -- 1.2 Queer Theory -- 2 Sodomy: an Urban Vice? Geographical and Chronological Demarcation -- 2.1 Urban Justice in the Southern Netherlands -- 3 Sources and Methodology -- 3.1 A Quantitative Approach -- 3.2 A Qualitative Approach -- 4 Structure -- 5 Terminology -- 2 Sodomy in Religion, Law, and Popular Culture -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Religious Views on Sodomy -- 2.1 Defining a Taboo -- 2.2 The Religious Discourse on Sodomy in the Southern Netherlands -- 2.2.1 Jean Gerson -- 2.2.2 The Ten Commandments -- 3 Legal Views on Sodomy -- 3.1 A European Perspective -- 3.2 Law on Sodomy in the Southern Netherlands -- 3.2.1 Customary Law -- 3.2.2 Princely Legislation -- 3.2.3 Juridical Treatises -- 4 Cultural Views on Sodomy -- 4.1 Sodom and Gomorrah in Popular Culture -- 4.2 Sodomy in an Artistic Context -- 4.3 Depictions of Same-Sex Desire in the Southern Netherlands -- 5 Conclusion -- Part 2: Urban Prosecutions -- 3 Cycles in the Urban Prosecution Policy -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Cycles in Early Modern Europe -- 2.1 Italy -- 2.2 The Iberian Peninsula -- 2.3 The Holy Roman Empire -- 2.4 France and England -- 2.5 The Northern Netherlands -- 2.6 Scandinavia -- 2.7 Russia -- 3 Sodomy in the Southern Netherlands: Facts and Figures -- 3.1 A Persecution with Ups and Downs -- 3.2 The Southern Netherlands: a Northern Precursor -- 4 The Sodomite as Scapegoat -- 4.1 Sodomy and the Persecuting Society -- 4.2 Jews -- 4.3 Heretics -- 4.4 Witches -- 4.5 Civic Morality in the Fifteenth Century -- 5 Bruges: Sodom of the North -- 6 Bruges and Its Reputation: Some Possible Explanations -- 6.1 State Authority -- 6.1.1 Bruges and the Burgundian Theatre-State.

6.1.2 Sodomy and the State -- 6.2 The Black Death -- 6.2.1 Associations between Sodomy and the Plague -- 6.2.2 The Plague in the Low Countries -- 6.3 Economic Crisis -- 6.3.1 The Economic Logic of Sodomy -- 6.3.2 The Economic Ups and Downs of a Medieval Metropole -- 6.3.3 A Sexual Economy -- 7 Conclusion -- 4 Social Profiles -- 1 Introduction -- 2 The Young Sodomite -- 2.1 Recognizing Youth -- 2.2 Punishing Youth -- 2.3 Defining Youth -- 3 The Bourgeois Sodomite -- 3.1 Citizenship -- 3.2 Occupation -- 3.3 Marriage -- 3.4 Locations -- 3.5 Confiscations -- 4 The Noble Sodomite -- 4.1 Privileged People and Political Victims -- 4.2 Noble Sodomites in the Southern Netherlands -- 5 Conclusion -- 5 Clerical Sodomy -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Clerical Sodomy in Context -- 3 Clerical Sodomites in the Southern Netherlands -- 4 Sodomy and the Reformation -- 5 The Sodomy Trials of 1578 -- 6 Tridentine Reforms and Same-Sex Desires -- 7 Conclusion -- 6 Foreign Sodomy -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Discursive Constructions of Sodomy -- 3 Migration in the Southern Netherlands -- 4 Migrant Sodomites in the Southern Netherlands -- 5 Conclusion -- 7 Female Sodomy -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Female Sodomy in Theological and Legal Traditions -- 3 Female Sodomy Prosecution in the Southern Netherlands -- 4 Female Visibility as an Explanation? -- 5 Conclusion -- Part 3: Urban Discourses -- 8 Sodomy, Gossip, and Defamation -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Rumors and Gossip in the Early Modern City -- 3 Gossiping about Sodomy -- 4 Suspicious Communities or Severe Authorities? -- 5 Conclusion -- 9 Sodomy, Religious Conflict, and Urban Memory -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Anti-monasticism and the Ghent Sodomy Trial of 1578 -- 3 Catholic Rehabilitation in City-Chronicles -- 4 Sodomy and Urban Memory -- 5 Conclusion -- 10 Sodomy, Witchcraft, and Public Discourse -- 1 Introduction.

2 The Remarkable Romance of Mayken and Magdaleene -- 3 Female Sodomy in Seventeenth-Century Europe -- 4 Female Sodomy and Hermaphrodites -- 5 Sodomy and Witchcraft -- 6 Conclusion -- Conclusion -- Appendix Chronological Overview per City -- Bibliography -- Primary Sources -- Belgium -- National Archives of Belgium -- State Archives Bruges -- State Archives Brussels -- State Archives Ghent -- State Archives Liège -- State Archives Mons -- State Archives Namur -- City Archives Antwerp (Felixarchief) -- City Archives Bruges -- City Archives Brussels -- City Archives Ghent -- City Archives Leuven -- City Archives Mechelen -- City Archives Oudenaarde -- Archiepiscopal Archives Mechelen -- Episcopal Archives Bruges -- Archives of Saint Bavo's Cathedral Ghent -- Ghent University Library -- Royal Library of Belgium -- Henri Conscience Heritage Library -- Archives of the Public Center for Social Welfare Bruges -- France -- Archives départementales du Nord -- Série B -- Médiathèque Municipale Jean Lévy Lille -- Bibliothèque nationale de France -- The Netherlands -- Royal Library The Hague -- Austria -- National Library of Austria -- Printed Sources -- Inventories and Catalogues -- Literature -- Index.