Homosexuality During the Renaissance

Uploaded by colakid on Oct 30, 2004

Sexuality, and the role that sexuality plays in the spectrum of life, from liter
ary to more contemporary reflections in the media, are difficult subject areas t
o approach. What makes this cultural and literary study impressively difficult
to tackle is the ever-changing perception of what it means to be gay against the
changing background of our societies. The idea of sexuality along with the soc
ial and ethical complications surrounding it during the Renaissance created a so
ciety of sexually repressed people, a society that few dared to rebel against.
In many ways, scholars such as Michael Rocke, author of Forbidden Friendships, e
xamine the accomplishments of the Renaissance, asking whether the products of th
is period of elitism actually have benefited society and people today, because m
uch of what occurred during this period acts as the foundation for many systems
of belief today.
Beginning with the publication of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwicks Between Men, in
1985, the emergence of male homosexuality has become a prominent topic of mediev
al and Victorian literary culture. During the introduction, Sedgwick comments o
n the importance of understanding and recognizing a homosexual continuum, paying
particular attention to the term, Renaissance. She states:
We cant possibly know in advance about the Harlem Renaissance, any more than we c
an about the New England Renaissance or the English or Italian Renaissance, wher
e the limits of a revelatory inquiry are to be set, once we begin to ask as it i
s now beginning to be asked about each of these Renaissances where and how the p
ower in them of gay desires, people, discourses, prohibitions, and energies were
manifest. We know enough already, however, to know with certainty that in each
of these Renaissances they were central.
Sedgwick, 58-59.
The actual definition of the word homosexual within the context of the period is e
ssential for a complete understanding of what it meant to be gay during the same
time. Often, the word homosexual is mistakenly associated with the words sodom
ite or sodomy. However, when those words are used interchangeably, the homosexu
al identity is blurred, and many times, is misunderstood. In an article by Giov
anni DallOrto, entitled Socratic Love as a disguise for same-sex love in the Italian
Renaissance, DallOrto differentiates between what was meant by the term sodomite, a
nd its relationship to homosexuality:
The recent stimulating discussion about the historical construction of the homose
xual deals with the problem of when who we now call homosexual people begin to iden
tify themselves as a different category, and when society began to see them as a d
istinct minority. In other words, when did the homosexual take the place of the so
domite. Recently, the original hypothesis that the category of homosexuality was
created about 1850 through the diagnostic and classificatory work of physicians
, psychiatrists, and neurologists has yielded to other theories, and the beginni
ng of a homosexual subculture, with features comparable to the modern ones has be
en fixed- for now at the beginning of the eighteenth century.
DallOrto 33.
The Italian Renaissance was fraught with Christian doctrine and belief,
and one of the most influential writers of the period that addressed issues such
as gender and sexuality was Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas represented the Christian
moral agenda, and spoke about the role of women, establishing gendered roles for
both men and women. In an article entitled, Sexual Relations in Renaissance Eur
ope, Garn LeBaron explores the relationship between the perceptions of sexuality
during the Renaissance as declared by Thomas Aquinas. He states:

Regarding marriage, Aquinas thought that it had only two recommendations: It all
owed children to be conceived without sin, and it kept men out of sexual trouble
. Aquinas also went into great detail listing the various sexual sins in their
corresponding order of magnitude. These included: bestiality, sodomy
LeBaron,
4.
Once a foundation for understanding the existence of homosexuality is in
place, no real meaning can be assessed until it can be applied to a real person
. Once the existence is made into a reality for someone in particular, it becom
es more believable. For instance, many scholars have suggested that Eramus of R
otterdam was indeed homosexual. One such scholar is author, Forrest Tyler Steve
ns, who wrote an essay in the book, Queering the Renaissance, entitled, Erasmuss
Tigress: The Language of Friendship, Pleasure, and the Renaissance Letter. In thi
s essay, Stevens provides a bit of insight into who Erasmus was, and the suggest
ion that perhaps Erasmus dealt with homosexual feelings for his friend, Servatiu
s Rogerus. He asks:
Was Erasmus a homosexual? Worse still, was he a jilted homosexual pursuing an u
nwilling straight acolyte? Were the monasteries refuge for those pleasures one
dare not name among Christians? Most Erasmus scholars maintain an embarrassed s
ilence about the letters, refusing the speculate about either Erasmus or the mon
asteries; a small number talk of the love letters written by Erasmus as either a
key to his latent homosexuality of another example of hidden homosexual history
.
Stevens, 125.
The major problem in researching the history of the homosexual identity
is the significant lack of reliable and worthy information left available. Thro
ughout history, homosexual men and women have been silenced, while the public ra
rely acknowledges their community at all. Even more critical are the literary s
ources and histories that were written by homophobic authors. In all, the diffi
culty of researching this issue is substantial.
Florence, during the Renaissance, is quite unique, for it developed a re
putation for being pervaded with homosexuality, or sodomy in the language of the t
ime. Stemming from this reputation, reeling from significant decrease in the po
pulation due to the Black Death, and pressured by homophobic clerics, the city o
f Florence set up what was known as The Office of the Night, a judicial board sole
ly in charge of investigating and prosecuting acts of sodomy. Michael Rocke, au
thor of Forbidden Friendships, uses a large number of the texts that have surviv
ed, and reconstructs the Florentine homosexual history during the Renaissance.
In Rockes estimation, the issue of homosexual practices was a pervasive i
ssue in Renaissance Florence. In a city in which approximately 40,000 people li
ved, he concludes that nearly 17,000 men were charged with acts of sodomy during
the seventy years that The Office of the Night existed. He states:
During the seventy-year tenure from 1432 to 1502, this magistracy, with the limi
ted participation of other courts, carried out the most extensive and systematic
persecution of homosexual activity in any premodern city. Yet in doing so the
courts also brought to light a thriving and multifaceted sexual culture that was
solidly integrated into the broader male world of Florence.
Rocke, 4.
Whether Rockes population estimations are accurate or not, the fact that
so many charges of sodomy were brought against these people is remarkable, and i

t would appear to implicate a substantial minority of the male population over t

wo generations, almost half by Rockes estimation. Careful consideration must als
o be directed toward the number of individuals that never had charges brought ag
ainst them, and with that the number grows.
An interesting fact shows that most of the men accused of the act of sod
omy were beneath the age of 35 and/or unmarried men. The other interesting bit
of knowledge showed that most men in Florence married later in life, perhaps at
age 30 or 31. This created a city fraught with young, unrooted, sexually vigoro
us males in a city where many of the women were kept hidden away at home, beneat
h the overprotective watch of fathers and brothers. In turn, a culture of maleto-male sexual love arose.
The most common arrangement for these male lovers was quite traditional
in the sense that the older partner in the relationship was expected to penetrat
e the younger partner; no doubt a standard by which to measure the power between
the two men. However, exceptions to this unspoken rule were infrequent, yet st
ill existed. Reports of older men wishing to be penetrated existed, and Rocke a
ddresses this issue, stating:
But the number of passive partners declined sharply from the ages of eig
hteen to twenty as boys grew older and abandoned their subordinate position and
other males. Both younger and older men who continue to let themselves be sodomi
zed, as will be seen, not only were the objects of ridicule but also were liable
to harsh punishment.
Rocke, 1
00.
Properly wary of imposing anachronistic models of the past, Rocke repeat
edly stresses that these men were not homosexual, much less gay, and they were not a
t all involved in anything like the modern gay subculture of today. No doubt, a
s Rocke says, many men whom we would not call homosexual engaged in sodomy prima
rily because it was such a pervasive part of the drinking, gambling, and open se
xuality of the single male culture. But, despite his protests, clearly some men
had a lifelong preference for homosexuality. Lack of access to women clearly a
ccounted for much of the activity, but some men evinced a preference for men.
Some men pursued young males throughout their entire lives, sometimes fa
lling in love with their partners and developing relationships lasting anywhere
from two to four years. If they were single, that was likely their primary sexu
al outlet. On the other hand, if they were married, some still preferred their
young men to their wives. Some men apparently undertook homosexual marriages in w
hich the men swore fidelity to each other holding hands over the bible on a chur
ch alter. Even The Office of the Night appeared to regard such men as married to
one another. Rocke states:
Further, same-sex unions not only had classical antecedents in Greece an
d Rome, and in the Middle Ages were given a Christian blessing in special liturg
ical ceremonies, but also are found in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries els
ewhere in central Italy.
Rocke, 1
71.
Similarly, if no concept of a discreet subculture existed, there were int
erlinked networks of sodomites who gathered to drink and gamble together at specif
ic taverns and designated locations known as brothels or workshops, where men lo
aned their homes or businesses to friends who would rendezvous with other men th
ere. Judicial records afford glimpses of dinner parties, trips to country house

s and other social activities.

Many of these sodomitical relationships were apparently tolerated and even
encouraged by parents and relatives who saw that they could gain protection and
political advancement from a sons well-placed lover. In addition, since older l
overs customarily gave their partners gifts or money from time to time, families
often welcomed the financial gain. Rocke addresses this issue by stating that:
In addition to companionship, networks of friends could provide concrete
forms of assistance and protection. The friendships formed through and around
sodomy perhaps helped some med find jobs with others who shared their erotic int
erests, as the many examples of employers and their workers implicated in sodomy
might suggest.
Rocke, 1
89.
The ideas of youthful sodomy or contacts that did not become too open an
d notorious were in fact tolerated in Florence during the Renaissance. Despite
the large number of accusations, fewer than 3,000 men were convicted, which is l
ess than twenty percent, and many fewer actually paid their fines, and rarely wa
s there any action taken against them for doing so. When pushed too hard to pun
ish people severely, The Office of the Night itself engaged in a passive resistanc
e, once refusing to convict anyone for fourteen months.
During the reign of the fanatical and homophobic friar Savonarola in the
1490s, young patrician males, no doubt involved in sodomy, staged a wild riot insi
de the Cathedral during the friars Ascension Day sermon to protest his puritan cr
ackdown. Savnarolas reign was soon followed by historys first known gay rights de
monstration where a group of young aristocrats demanded that all sentences for t
hose exiled or deprived of office for sodomy be revoked. Rocke describes the even
t stating:
Nothing better justifies the prominent role in sodomy ascribed to youths
than the remarkable defense of convicted sodomites by a band of young aristocra
ts during a daring raid on city hall that helped overturn the Republican regime
in 1512. On August 31, with Spanish and Medicean troops at the city gates, some
thirty young partisans of the Medici led by twenty-three-year-old Antonfrancesc
o degli Albizzi invaded the government palace and forced the Gonfalonier Piero S
oderini to resign.
Rocke 12
8-29.
The existence of homosexuality throughout the Renaissance can at times b
e difficult to find. For many years, the extensive evidence has been piled bene
ath layers of homophobia, and as the material surfaces, a deeper understanding o
f the role that homosexuality played in real life situations in the Renaissance
becomes more clear. Indeed, many times, the same questions centered on the sign
ificance of sexuality, and the important role it plays in creating an accurate r
epresentation of the culture, are asked today. The rediscovery of his and much
other material makes Rockes interpretation found in Forbidden Friendships fascina
ting and occasionally startling. More importantly however is that books like th
is and other material that shed light on the history of homosexuality establish
a confirmation of human continuity with the past.

Bibliography

DallOrto, Giovanni. Socratic love as a disguise for same-sex long in the Italian Ren
aissance, Journal of Homosexuality, 16 (1988), pp. 33-65. Reprinted in Gerard an
d Hekma, The Pursuit of Sodomy (9189), 33-65.
LeBaron Jr., Garn. Sexual Relations in Renaissance Europe. http://www.lebaronet.ne
t/sex.htm
Rocke, Michael . Forbidden Friendship. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. Epistemology of the Closet. Los Angles: University of Ca
lifornia Press,1990.
Stevens, Forrest Tyler. Queering the Renaissance. Ed. Jonathan Goldberg. Durham
and London: Duke University Press, 1994.
Submitted by : colakid
Date Submitted : 10/30/2004
Category : History
Views : 10434