Latin Homoerotics in the Central Middle Ages (ca. 950-1250)
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Mediaevalia: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Medieval Studies Worldwide
Organizer Name
Tina Chronopoulos
Organizer Affiliation
Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Binghamton Univ.
Presider Name
Tina Chronopoulos
Paper Title 1
Female Homoeroticism in Hrotsvit of Gandersheim and Elizabeth of Schönau
Presenter 1 Name
Colleen Butler
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Centre for Medieval Studies, Univ. of Toronto
Paper Title 2
Loving Men Then and Now: Reading Juvenal in the Twelfth-Century Classroom
Presenter 2 Name
Emily Blakelock
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Centre for Medieval Studies, Univ. of Toronto
Paper Title 3
Toward a History of the Reception of Homosexuality in Commentaries: The Case of the Scholia in Ibin
Presenter 3 Name
Pierluigi Gatti
Presenter 3 Affiliation
Columbia Univ.
Start Date
10-5-2014 3:30 PM
Session Location
Schneider 2355
Description
Homoerotic situations and desire in Latin texts in the Central Middle Ages have traditionally been approached through, for example, the poetry and letters of authors such as Marbod of Rennes or Baudri of Bourgueil, or Alan of Lille's De Planctu Naturae. It is clear that, particularly in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, there existed a discourse that included situations and desire that can be described as homoerotic. However, the bulk of the scholarly engagement with homoeroticism has been with texts written in the vernacular languages.
This panel seeks to shift the focus of enquiry from the vernacular to Latin texts produced in this period in order to broaden the conversation to include different types of genres (devotional texts, epics, historical narratives, letters, etc.) and to extend the geographical reach beyond the confines of France and England to the German Empire, the Iberian Peninsula, and beyond. The session is also designed to deepen our understanding of how homoerotic situations operated in Latin texts of this period and to explore how theories of gender and sexuality can be applied to them. The focus on Latin texts will allow us to discern more clearly how women and men in various contexts expressed homoerotic desires and how, if at all, these authors were in conversation with each other or earlier traditions of homoeroticism, if such traditions can be said to have existed.
Tina Chronopoulos
Latin Homoerotics in the Central Middle Ages (ca. 950-1250)
Schneider 2355
Homoerotic situations and desire in Latin texts in the Central Middle Ages have traditionally been approached through, for example, the poetry and letters of authors such as Marbod of Rennes or Baudri of Bourgueil, or Alan of Lille's De Planctu Naturae. It is clear that, particularly in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, there existed a discourse that included situations and desire that can be described as homoerotic. However, the bulk of the scholarly engagement with homoeroticism has been with texts written in the vernacular languages.
This panel seeks to shift the focus of enquiry from the vernacular to Latin texts produced in this period in order to broaden the conversation to include different types of genres (devotional texts, epics, historical narratives, letters, etc.) and to extend the geographical reach beyond the confines of France and England to the German Empire, the Iberian Peninsula, and beyond. The session is also designed to deepen our understanding of how homoerotic situations operated in Latin texts of this period and to explore how theories of gender and sexuality can be applied to them. The focus on Latin texts will allow us to discern more clearly how women and men in various contexts expressed homoerotic desires and how, if at all, these authors were in conversation with each other or earlier traditions of homoeroticism, if such traditions can be said to have existed.
Tina Chronopoulos