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Broadening our knowledge and understanding of LGBT history
[Dall'Orto answering this letter]


08/10/2003

Dear Giovanni,

my name is Daniel Chazin, from New York.
I hope you won't think of me as an imperialist American for writing to you in English.

At first I was planning to write to you in Italian, but decided against it as I didn't want to make a complete ass of myself.  Also, I gathered from your site that you speak English, and I'm sure that your English is a hundred times better than my Italian, though feel free to respond to me in Italian, if it's more confortable for you, as I can read and understand it much better than I speak it (hence how I was able to surf your site ;-)  ).

In any case, I wanted to tell you that I think you're doing a wonderful job on your site on gay history and culture, and I appreciate all the work you've put into making this wealth of knowledge available to the general public so that members of the gay and lesbian community, like myself (and especially the closeted portions of the population, which would never dare to seek out this sort of information in a bookstore or public library) may broaden our knowledge and understanding of LGBT history.

I find the selection of texts spanning across different eras and countries wonderfully ecclectic and fascinating (this is especially laudable since many popular and scholarly writings on gay history place a disproportionate focus on the last century and a half).

Your comments are scholarly and insightful and are always a pleasure to read.

To top it all off, you've complemented the texts with stunning graphics.

I feel it is important for you to hear all this now and then so that you know you are making a difference and you will not have the impression that it's all worthless and meaningless as you did when the vile president of my country invaded Iraq (believe me, there were many of us here in New York who opposed the war just as strongly, and who did and still do worry about where this country is headed).


But I wish not only to thank you, but also to actively contribute to making this project even more perfect and comprehensive than it already is.

As a student of history at Yale University, with a concentration on the Middle Ages (understood in the broadest possible sense as the period from around 300 to 1546) and  in the year and a half since I graduated, during which I've been researching and writing about the formation of Western Christian attitudes toward homosexuality in hopes of eventually publishing a full-length study, I have acquired a wide array of information which I would be happy to share with you in the hopes of achieving that goal. 

I am most familiar with the theological and other ecclesiastical sources from this era (pastoral writings, canon law sources, etc.) as they relate to homosexuality and would be more than happy to help you locate any sources or information you might be looking for, to assist in any way possible when it comes to this area, and I welcome the opportunity to discuss these or any other issues that interest you.


1) A few quick notes about: Johansson, Dynes, and Lauritsen, Homosexuality, Intolerance, and Christianity.

Let me start with a few quick notes

John Boswell (1947-1994)A neat secondary source, Homosexuality, Intolerance, and Christianity, a collection of essays from Johansson, Dynes, and Lauritsen, previously available only in a relatively inaccessible New York journal, has just recently been placed on the web at 
http://www.galha.org/ptt/lib/hic/index.html, and provides a forceful and well-argued critique of Boswell's work [Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality] deserving of consideration.

I bet you've already read it, probably a long time ago, maybe even in the original print edition. 
Any lasting impressions? 
You mentioned that Dynes has been sort of like a mentor to you earlier on in your career.... What was that like? 

Personally I had a chance to look through the essays only just recently, now that they're conveniently digitilized, although I had read about and heard of the authors a number of times, and have read a few other essays they've written, particularly Johansson.

I think Johansson's criticisms of Boswell's work are right on the mark (apart from a few scattered comments about the necessity for psychoanalytic analyses in historical studies, that is): at http://www.galha.org/ptt/lib/hic/johansson.html, and especially the ten-point criticisms at http://www.galha.org/ptt/lib/hic/bibliography.html.

On the other hand, I think that he is perhaps somewhat too harsh on Derrick Shervin Bailey [1955] who, despite his strongly apologetical bias, has this merit, that he never went out of his way to skew or distort the evidence; having examined and re-examined Boswell's.magnum opus and many of the specific claims countless times, I can say for a fact that he went out of his way to bury certain facts, to minimize others, to give a false impression of lasting tolerance in Christian society up til the late 1100's when he wants us to imagine that, all of a sudden and in contrast to the longstanding tradition of Christian tolerance, lay society, in its own right, and without any prodding from the church or its teachings / propaganda-activities, became virulently homophobic.

I can forgive a lot of the other faults, like the extremely faulty analyses of theological and literary sources, probably unintentional, but the willful misrespresentations and distortions I consider to be irresponsible (even unethical) scholarship. 

In any case, moving right along...

What do you think of Lauritsen's.mea culpa in the 2003 Preface? It was interesting to read his account of his personal experiences in meeting with Boswell, as it fit with everything which I heard about him from one of my professors who replaced him (after he passed away) as the the senior medievalist at Yale and from graduate students who were around while he was still there: according to all accounts, he was extremely likable, engaging and charming as a person, though I was often told not to lose sight of the flaws of his historical work, and have found the advice to be sage and beneficial in the end.

[Dall'Orto's answer to this point]


2) Marie de France, "Lay of Guigemar".
I noticed that you added material to the twelfth century section, and naturally I think that's fantastic!

I think you might also appreciate one of Marie's other lays, the Lay of Guigemar (there is a copy at the French-language site you're working off of here), the tale of a chivalrous, valourous and winsome knight who has every asset that a twelfth-century aristrocratic woman would find desirable but who, alas (you can almost hear Marie sighing in despair), has no interest whatsover in "love", that is, in women; however, determined not to let this one get away, Marie has her protagonist wounded while hunting in the forest (a freak accident of sorts) by a white hind who places him under a curse such that he absolutely must find a woman's love in order to cure him of his wound.

While Guigmar doubts this is even possible, as he's never cared for women that way, Marie fixes him up with a lusty dame who just happens to be married (thus making the affair adulterous, the way Marie likes it), and the two fall in love, and live happily ever after, and so on and so forth... the rest is rather predictable. 

But note the somewhat ambiguous comments at the very end of the narrative: when I first read it (which was months ago) I sensed a hint of uncertainty in assertions as to the blissfulness of the heterosexual couple, though it could just be the translation I was using. (Could it be that Marie herself has lingering doubts that the young man has been fully "converted"? Or about the longterm prospects of the couple?). 

With the benefit of two separate tales from the same author, the reader will have an unusual opportunity to examine one particular author's views on homosexuality in depth (and those of a [militantly heterosexual] woman, no less), although, as a literary text, this source introduces an element of the imagination and questions of representation which complicate the interpretation of the work.

Just a few points of interest to guide the reading of the text (they are phrased sort of like "study questions" but feel free to rephrase them): 

  • (a) Note Marie's depiction of the protagonist's sexual interests (or lack thereof), and the invocation of "nature" in this context (vv. 49-62 and following). How is this similar or different from other depictions of homosexually-oriented men you have encounted from medieval authors?
  • (b) What is the meaning of the cryptic symbolism surrounding the deer-hunting incident?  It is said that virtually all of the animals found in Marie's lays are embued with some sort of symbolic significance, though it's not always immediately clear what that is (as I recall reading in the introduction to a collection of essays on this topic that I browsed through), and it is possible that this episode relates to the homosexual themes of the story. 

  • Note that venery and the hunt were a frequent trope for sexual (and homosexual) liasons in the Middle Ages (recall, for instance, the French Roman Eneas, where the trope is used about two or three times in references to the activities of the men with strong suggestions of ludus).
  • (c) Observe the enigmatic episode involving the book burning and the unusual subject matter of the painting in the chamber which have long puzzled literary scholars. What is Marie trying to say here? The answer to this question may ultimately be a gateway to understanding the author's attitudes toward sex and sexuality. 

  • Ovid was one of the most popular classic writers in the Middle Ages, and his Ars amatoria, with its salient sexual content, was the medieval equivalent to soft-porn for many men, and so the contraversies surrounding the reception of his work were inextricably intertwined with medieval views toward sex. 
I'll leave it at that as I'm sure you'll have plenty of food for thought with this one and will have many intelligent comments and insights into the story... and I look forward to reading all of them!

[Dall'Orto's answer to this point]


3) Walter of Chatillon's "Multiformis hominum fraus" and sodomite clergymen

With the Walter of Chatillon texts in this same section, a valuble window into the homonegativist perceptions of twelfth-century society from one of the century's most caustic social commentators, I wanted to draw your attention to one of the other gay-related satires, also available at the site you link to (http://www.bu.edu/english/levine/walt821.htm), under the heading "Poem 5", Multiformis hominum fraus, which focuses (surprise-surprise!) on sodomite clergymen, with all the usual charges of sexual filth/depravity, hypocracy, profligacy, etc. 

I thought I should bring it to your attention just in case the text excaped notice, since you might want to include it, if for no other reason than that Walter accuses the pontiff of being a notorious cinaedus and man-whore; the actual wording of the charge (taken from Juvenal), which reads:

"Dic papa, dic pontifex, spes sponso, sponse dos,
(...)
inter Socraticos notissima fossa cinedos!", 
is quite biting, making the accusation all the more scandalous.

This would be guaranteed to raise an eyebrow among the typical American reader, at the very least (and for many, given the current scandals in the catholic church, it would probably confirm their assumptions regarding the clergy), though maybe, living over there in Italy, in such close proximity to the Vatican and the world of curial intrigues, this sort of thing doesn't faze you at all. 

In fact, there is something notable about this from a historical perspective: accusations of papal homosexuality abound in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but not so much in the twelfth-century, when, if not altogether unheard of, they were at least a lot less blatant as a general rule.

Also, unlike Boniface VIII, John XXIII and others, this time the charge is that there is a passive sodomite in the chair of St. Peter.

If you were already aware of the text and made a conscious decision not to include, please disregard my suggestion and excuse the presumption.

[Dall'Orto's answer to this point]


4) Cesare Beccaria, chapter 39, "Di un genere particolare di delitti"

Cesare BeccariaSimilarly, with the work of Cesare Beccaria (for whom I have much admiration), I wanted to call your attention to chapter 39, "Di un genere particolare di delitti", a brief but moving commentary on the cruelty and brutality with which Western society has treated the sexual "Other" (and the perverse pleasure which people seemed to derive from it) which, in my opinion, is the most powerful passage in Beccaria relating to homosexuality.

Though abiding by the traditional societal conventions concerning the great caution with which one must approach the "unmentionable vice", as he describes such practices with only the most vague and indirect description, he nevertheless manages to challenge the application of cruel and unusual punishments to "sinners against nature" and to negate the rationale with which this brutality had long been justified, as he casts aspersions on the notion that such behavior is a crime "against nature" and a threat to society.
 

Chiunque leggerà questo scritto accorgerassi che io ho ommesso un genere di delitti che ha coperto l'Europa di sangue umano e che ha alzate quelle funeste cataste, ove servivano di alimento alle fiamme i vivi corpi umani, quand'era giocondo spettacolo e grata armonia per la cieca moltitudine l'udire i sordi confusi gemiti dei miseri che uscivano dai vortici di nero fumo, fumo di membra umane, fra lo stridere dell'ossa incarbonite e il friggersi delle viscere ancor palpitanti.

Ma gli uomini ragionevoli vedranno che il luogo, il secolo e la materia non mi permettono di esaminare la natura di un tal delitto (...).
Io non parlo che dei delitti che emanano dalla natura umana e dal patto sociale, e non dei peccati, de' quali le pene, anche temporali, debbono regolarsi con altri principii che quelli di una limitata filosofia.

(Excerpted from "Liber liber").

The comments in the middle of the passage (the part I omitted from this block quotation) are not entirely clear to me, but he seems to be arguing that this "genere di delitti", while perhaps sinful, is a religious matter which the State should not and does not have the right to punish in this manner, while at the same time countering the notion that the taboos on homosexuality found in Western society are universal with his suggestion that human conventions (NOT the dictates of "right reason" nor some laws ingrained in nature itself, as the church had long claimed) are what are responsible for preventing someone like from speaking about or other ways aproaching this subject matter.

Of course, strictly speaking, one cannot technically say for certain that Beccaria is speaking about the sodomitical vice, as this is not explicitly stated, but the fact that the matter at hand is defined as a sin as well a crime and is regarded as unmentionable, that he avoids naming it directly, and yet at the same time expects the knowing reader to know exactly what he is referring to (note the comments addressed to "gli uomini ragionevoli..."), and the stipulation that people have been burned alive for this very reason for ages, all strongly suggest he is referring to "the vice against nature" here; as does the fact that the views expressed are consistent with those presented in the other passage which you have thoughtfully published on the site. (Granted, witches and Jews were also burned at the stake in Europe, but these examples do not seem to fit the general picture, and while I'm certainly no expert on eighteenth-century society,  I'm pretty sure the burning of heretics, the other group subject to this treatment, had already kind of faded out by Beccaria's day and can therefore be discounted as well).

[Dall'Orto's answer to this point]


5) Homophobia from the trial of the Templars in Poitiers (1308)

Also, I want to send you an extract from one of the depositions in the trial of the Templars in Poitiers (1308).

It is one of the first examples of homophobic violence that I am aware of (apart from the legendary story of St. Pelagius) and makes an excellent compliment to the phobic reaction of the narrator in the literary text by Zuane Manenti that you have e-published here).

When questioned about homosexual practices in the Order, a serving brother named Stephan, one of the 72 witnesses heard from in this particular trial (i.e., the trial in Poitiers), testified that brother Paul had wished to "corrupt and pollute him with that abhorrent sin, sodomy, but he abhorred that sin to such a degree that he hit Paul in the chin breaking three of his teeth and fracturing his jaw".
From the published trial records in Heinrich Finke, Papsttum und Untergang des Templerordens, tome 2 (Munich 1907), p. 336, quoted (and translated into English) by Anne Gilmour-Bryson, Sodomy and the Knights Templar, "Journal of the History of Sexuality", 7:2 (Oct. 1996), p. 175.

Two qualifications: 1) this testimony was atypical [qui manca qualcosa]

[Dall'Orto's answer to this point]


6)"Nefandos coitus contra naturam" in Lactantius, Institutiones divinae.

Next, I wanted to pass on some interesting selections from the Christian author Lactantius, who wrote from the late third through the early fourth centuries. 
His Institutiones divinae [303-311 AD] is considered "the first attempt at a systematic exposition of Christian theology in Latin" (according to the Catholic Encyclopedia) and, as such, it set the course for later patristic writers such as Ambrose and Augustine, not least of all in regard to the assessment of various forms of sexual behavior. 

The three selections below are extracts from Book 1 (an attack on pagan religious practices or "the false worship of the gods"), Book 5 (a discourse on justice and various forms of crime), and Book 6 ("Of True Worship"), respectively, all of them taken from Patrologia Latina, first edition, edited by Jacques-Paul Migne (1844-1855 and 1862-1865), vol. 6 (column numbers given below). 

Though unfortunately I do not possess sufficient command of Italian to provide the translation, I have included a brief synopsis of each passage that might (or might not) be useful. Also, there is an English translation of the Institutiones divinae at New Advent [note, however, that this is not necessarily the same edition as the Patrologia Latina version I've typed up] so perhaps there is already an Italian version out there, as well. 

While I will leave the commentary for you, my only point would be that the selections demonstrate the role which macho attitudes toward "passive" sexual behavior in males played in the formation of Christian thinking with regard to homosexuality.

[Note by Dall'Orto: I placed the text and the notes in a separate page, here]

[Dall'Orto's answer to this point]


7) Jacopo da Varagine, la Leggenda aurea e la morte dei sodomiti.

Adesso vediamo un brano dalla Leggenda aurea del domenicano Jacopo da Varazze, che ha aiutato a divulgare la leggenda secondo cui tutti i sodomiti del mondo sono periti la vigilia di Natale!

Secondo teologi come Ugo di Santa Chiara, Guglielmo Peraldo e Bonaventura, che hanno inventato il mito, attribuito (a torto, forse) al venerabile dottore della Chiesa Girolamo (non si sa se l'attribuzione è vera o no dato che gli studiosi non hanno ancora trovato la leggenda nelle sue opere), l'eradicazione di questo "vizio" e di quelli che lo esercitano [e si sopponeva che l'eradicazione fosse l'opera di Dio] è stato uno dei miracoli che accompagnarono la Natività di Gesù Cristo.

Ovviamente la leggenda, collegata a una santa festa annuale, ha fornito al braccio temporale un'altra giustificazione per lo sterminio dei sodomiti, e gli ecclesiastici, per parte loro, non hanno esitato ad aggiungere che questa strage divina era ben giusta. (

Uso qui la traduzione inglese di William Caxton (1483), edita da F.S. Ellis, ma penso di aver visto anche una traduzione italiana in Rete, non ricordo dove):
 

Jacob of Varagine, Legenda aurea, vol. 1, "Here followeth the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ".

"When the world had endured five thousand and nine hundred years, after Eusebius the holy saint, Octavian the Emperor commanded that all the world should be described, so that he might know how many cities, how many towns, and how many persons he had in all the universal world. 
Then was so great peace in the earth that all the world was obedient to him. And therefore our Lord would be born in that time, that it should be known that he brought peace from heaven (...).
In that night our Blessed Lady and Mother of God was delivered of our Blessed Saviour upon the hay that lay in the rack. At which nativity our Lord shewed many marvels (...).
And anon, as the angel had said this, a areas multitude of angels appeared with him, and began to sing. Honour, glory and health be to God on high, and in the earth peace to men of goodwill. 
Then said the shepherds, let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing. And when they came they found like as the angel had said.
And it happed this night that all the sodomites that did sin against nature were dead and extinct; for God hated so much this sin, that he might not suffer that nature human, which he had taken, were delivered to so great shame. Whereof S. Austin [sic: "St. Augustine"] saith that, it lacked but little that God would not become man for that sin.[Nota #1]

In this time Octavian made to cut and enlarge the ways and quitted the Romans of all the debts that they owed to him. 
This feast of Nativity of our Lord is one of the greatest feasts of all the year, and for to tell all the miracles that our Lord hath showed, it should contain a whole book; but at this time I shall leave and pass over save one thing that I have heard once preached of a worshipful doctor, that what person being in clean life desire on this day a boon of God, as far as it is rightful and good for him, our Lord at the reverence of this blessed high feast of his Nativity will grant it to him. 
Then let us always make us in clean life at this feast that we may so please him, that after this short life we may come unto his bliss. 
Amen".

Nota #1: La dichiarazione che Dio per poco non ha preso la carne, attribuita alla prestigiosa autorità di Sant'Agostino, aveva un significato a se stante; era la base per l'idea che, a causa di questo peccato, il Signore aveva rinviato a lungo l'Incarnazione.

[Dall'Orto's answer to this point]


So, that's all folks! I hope these leads have been helpful and look forward to hearing from you.

Daniel Chazin

Dear Daniel,
I can't see anything particularly "American" in writing in a language which is currently spoken in at least five (if we number Malta) European countries, including the one in which it was born...

And as for blaming you for what your government did, I'm not that silly. Had I  to be deemed responsible for all my government is doing against my will (including sending mercenary troops to Iraq)...
So let's jump to your questions and contributions.


As for point 1.

Since my answer came out rather long, I put it on a separate page, here...

[Back to question #2]


Concerning point 2
I have nothing to add. You already wrote a lesson concerning this text, and you are clearly more learned than I am on the topic.
Since I am going to publish your letter, your commentary will become part of the site.
I am going to link it from the Marie de France page, so that it can be located bay anybody interested in her.

[Back to question #3]


Concerning point 3
I added this texts (no, I was not aware of it: thanks) to those I have to edit, translate and publish... as soon as I have time to do it :-( .

Meanwhile, your introduction here will be an excellent sobstitute.

[Back to question #4]


Concerning point 4 (Beccaria), in this case I would rather disagree with you.

Cesare BeccariaI was aware of the chapter, but I decided not to include it since it deals with heresy (in a broader sense) rather clearly, neither with witchcraft nor with sodomy.

I would like to call your attention on the section you did not quote, which clearly makes the point (while desperately trying not to be explicit): the author is dealing with what we would call today "delitti d'opinione".

He antifrastically explains that it is too certain that it is in the utmost interest of a State a perfect homogeneity in opinions among subjects, therefore the author is not, "of course", even going to deal with the matter, as being superfluous and already made clear, since "tutto ciò deve credersi evidentemente provato e conforme ai veri interessi degli uomini, se v'è chi con riconosciuta autorità lo esercita", which is not quite the same as saying "I believe in it because it is true"...

The part I call your attention on is the following one:
 

"Ma gli uomini ragionevoli vedranno che il luogo, il secolo e la materia non mi permettono di esaminare la natura di un tal delitto. Troppo lungo, e fuori del mio soggetto, sarebbe il provare come debba essere necessaria una perfetta uniformità di pensieri in uno stato, contro l'esempio di molte nazioni; come opinioni, che distano tra di loro solamente per alcune sottilissime ed oscure differenze troppo lontane dalla umana capacità, pure possano sconvolgere il ben pubblico, quando una non sia autorizzata a preferenza delle altre; e come la natura delle opinioni sia composta a segno che mentre alcune col contrasto fermentando e combattendo insieme si rischiarano, e soprannotando le vere, le false si sommergono nell'oblio, altre, mal sicure per la nuda loro costanza, debbano esser vestite di autorità e di forza".(...)

Your remark about the "fading out" of burning at the stake for heresy is true for sodomy and witchcraft as well: the stake "faded" away for all of them in the second half of 18th century, with a few occasional upsurges until the French Revolution in peripheral areas.
Yet at the time Beccaria was writing, the punishment was still well in the law books and it could be used anytime.

You are looking in hindsight, noticing the happy ending of a trend that had already started during Beccaria's lifetime. But he could not know it for sure. As far as he knew, it could only have been a pause, as it had already happened before in history.

And, for sure, he did not want to be burned in his turn for writing against punishing heresy.

This said, I'll leave your remarks here, linking them from my Beccaria page, so that readers may confront your opinion and make their mind by themselves.

[Back to question #5]


Concerning point 5, I am glad you submitted your remarks here, because I am not planning to upload the "sodomy" excerpts from the templars' trial. For my topic, this is a secondary source.
Everybody now knows that all charges were fabricated. It was a kangaroo trial such as those in Urss during the Stalin era.
The trial has much more to tell us about kangaroo courts than about actual homosexual behaviours at that time.
Therefore your own commentary is welcome, and it will likely remain the only one for years, here...

[Back to question #6]


Concerning point 6, Lactantius/Lattanzio will soon or late become part of this site.
But I am giving a low priority to translations from classical Latin because many, if not most, of these texts are easily available in recent prints with Italian translation.
I give a higher priority to texts which have not been published for a long time, and /or never translated into Italian.
But I am uploading your text, untranslated, since there is no reason to waste your effort.

[Back to question #7]


Infine, per Jacopo da Varagine (punto 7), è davvero divertente la coincidenza che sto per segnalarti: il tema è stato studiato a lungo proprio da... Wayne Dynes e Warren Johannson, che hanno cercato l'origine, e lo sviluppo, della leggenda della morte di tutti i sodomiti della Terra alla nascita di Gesù.
Anche questo testo lo lascerò per ora qui con la traduzione inglese che mi hai dato tu, che sostituirò col testo originario o una traduzione italiana quando l'avrò trovata.


Eccomi alla fine anch'io. Ti ringrazio per le parole cortesi e i complimenti (fanno sempre piacere :-) ) e per avermi dato l'occasione di ripercorrere cose avvenute vent'anni fa.

Grazie per il contributo che hai dato, che ho apprezzato come tutti i contributi esterni a questo sito.

Grazie ancora

Giovanni Dall'Orto

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