From taking potions to become a virgin again to priests casting love spells to charm women into bed, the VERY raunchy history of sex in the Middle Ages is revealed in a new book

 

Brutal punishments for immoral behaviour

From taking potions to become a virgin again to priests casting love spells to charm women into bed, the VERY raunchy history of sex in the Middle Ages is revealed in a new book From monks thought to have died from a lack of sex, to priests conjuring demons to lure women into bed, a new book offers fascinating glimpses into the history of sex in the Middle Ages. Katherine Harvey's illuminating novel The Fires of Lust: Sex in the Middle Ages offers a peak into the bedrooms of ordinary mediaeval men and women living in western Europe. Harvey is a London-based historian and author specialising in the medieval period and Honorary Research Fellow specialising in history, classics and archaeology at Birkbeck, University of London. The book explains how the majority of ideas and attitudes towards sex and relationships were rooted in two dominant belief systems: Roman Catholic Christianity and Galenic medicine. From women trying to reduce their breasts to look more virginal to drinking wine mixed with powdered hare testicles in a bid to conceive a son, the book reveals many astonishing practices. As well as some surprises, like an emphasis on female pleasure when it came to reproduction, there are shocking anecdotes of brutal punishments for behaviour deemed immoral during the period. Here, FEMAIL reveals some of the most fascinating revelations from the book. Religious beliefs played a huge part in shaping medieval attitudes and understanding towards sex, with Roman catholic dogma stating that humans were never meant to feel lust. God-fearing medieval people believed that humans were not supposed to derive pleasure from sex, women were not meant to menstruate and men not supposed to ejaculate - however did so thanks to the sins of Adam and Eve. With this biblical story as a guiding principle when it came to sex, it's no surprise that it was believed the only certain way to achieve salvation was to remain pure and chaste until the day you died. While being married was better than having sex out of wedlock, medieval people did not assume this was an automatic ticket into heaven - with many women staying chaste until death despite being married. In fact, being a true virgin didn't just mean abstaining from sex and masturbation, but having no thoughts of a sexual nature at all. For example one young monk claimed to be taunted by a demon who would rub against his genitals while he prayed until he ejaculated. Despite never having had sex with another person, he was deemed by Bishop Hildegard of Le Mans (1096–1125) to no longer be a virgin after participating in the 'shameful act of fornication'. Meanwhile, Norfolk mystic Margery Kempe (c. 1373– c. 1438) who despite being a married mother of fourteen claimed that after her lifelong dedication to religion Christ had reassured her she was 'a maiden in [her] soul'. The Trotula was the most influential book of women's medicine in medieval Europe and included several remedies for re-gaining your virginity - including potions made of egg white, flowers and various herbs. Alternatively, a woman who wanted to fake her virginity could place leeches in her vagina so 'blood comes out and is covered into a little clot. And thus the man will be deceived by the effusion of blood.' Italian surgeon William of Saliceto suggested women should wash her genitals in a hot bath and rub on special ointments before placing a dove's intestine filled with blood in the vulva. Virginity was held in high regard in the Middle Ages, and some believed it was possible assess how pure a woman was simply by the way she looked - with large, loose breasts thought to indicate sexual experience. There were many medieval methods to prevent breasts from growing too large or to reduce their size, with numerous recipes based on ingredients with 'cooling and tightening properties'. While some recommended binding, others opted for dosing them with blood from the testicles of a castrated piglet, hemlock, or vinegar. Medieval medicine was based on the humoral system, a set of beliefs that says a person's health depends on the equilibrium of four humours - blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. Pictured, a woodcut of a doctor taking a sample of a pregnant woman's urine (c.1480-1526) Medieval medicine was based on the humoral system, a set of beliefs that says a person's health depends on the equilibrium of four humours - blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. In the Middle Ages spouses were taught to pay the 'marital debt' meaning they were obliged to have sex with each other on demand. However twelve factors were considered to be valid reasons a spouse might refuse the marital debt: Another key belief system was that the balance of heat within the body was another key factor in determining how healthy a person was, with men generally hot and dry and women cold and wet. It was believed that women were essentially defective men, who had the same genitalia which grew inside of the body and menstruated because they lacked body heat to 'dry up the bad and superfluous humours in them'. Erections were believed to be the result of a 'windy spirit' meaning those suffering with impotence were advised to eat foods which caused wind and bloating like chickpeas, while semen was said to be derived from excess food. Too much sex was said to be very dangerous because it could cause the body to dry out, leading to hair loss, heart and lung problems, and kidney failure. German Dominican friar Albertus Magnus recounted the story of one unfortunate monk who died because he lusted over a woman so much his 'brain had shrunk to the size of a pomegranate, and his eyes had been destroyed'. Meanwhile, physician and a religious reformer Arnau de Vilanova was tasked with curing a man who was ill as the result of too much sex - suggesting he 'sit naked in a clean tub in which 30 or 40 eggs have been broken, and draw all these eggs in through the anus.' However too little sex was also dangerous, particularly for women, who needed to absorb heat and 'temper their frigid natures' through sex - according to The Secrets of Women, a medieval guide to female sexuality. But a more serious consequence of not having sex as a woman was 'suffocation of the womb' which teenagers and widows were said to be very susceptible to. Symptoms included fainting, stomach upsets and loss of appetite and while remedies including 'cupping of the inguinal and pubic area' and pessaries made from powdered fox penis however the best treatment was, of course, marriage. In the most serious cases of women abstaining from sex, doctors would occasionally attempt to bring the woman to orgasm so she could release the 'excess seed' causing her illness. But women should also be wary of too much sex, with prostitutes said to struggle to conceive because regular intercourse made their wombs too smooth to preserve semen. Everyone in the Middle Ages was forced to conform to restrictive rules about sex, and when those rules were broken the church were ready and waiting to doll out a punishment. In minor case, once the priest had obtained a confession from the guilty party, he would offer a court-imposed penance often requiring the offender to walk before the congregation in shame. The offender would have to carry a candle and stand or kneel in church for part of the service in a state of semi-undress and occasionally were whipped before financial punishments became the norm. Grave sins like incest, adultery or sex with a nun were passed on to the local bishop and required serious penance including fasting, genuflexions, beatings, or sexual abstinence. Public beatings were a particularly common punishment while adulterers would often have to run through the street tied together by the genitals while being flogged. Under some legal systems adultery was a capital crime while in other areas common punishments included castration for men and nose slitting for women. One 13th-century lay brother from Orte in Italy, was found guilty of bestiality and buried alive alongside the animals he had abused. Female servants and enslaved women who were caught having sex with anyone but their master could be branded, whipped and banished.