Forbidden Desire in Early Modern Europe
Male-Male Sexual Relations, 1400-1750
Published on 25. January 2024
Book
Hardback
608 pages
978-0-19-888633-4 (ISBN)
Description
A landmark study of the history of male-male sex in early modern Europe, including the European colonies and the Ottoman world.
Until quite recently, the history of male-male sexual relations was a taboo topic. But when historians eventually explored the archives of Florence, Venice and elsewhere, they brought to light an extraordinary world of early modern sexual activity, extending from city streets and gardens to taverns, monasteries and Mediterranean galleys. Typically, the sodomites (as they were called) were adult men seeking sex with teenage boys. This was something intriguingly different from modern homosexuality: the boys ceased to be desired when they became fully masculine. And the desire for them was seen as natural; no special sexual orientation was assumed.
The rich evidence from Southern Europe in the Renaissance period was not matched in the Northern lands; historians struggled to apply this new knowledge to countries such as England or its North American colonies. And when good Northern evidence did appear, from after 1700, it presented a very different picture. So the theory was formed - and it has dominated most standard accounts until now - that the 'emergence of modern homosexuality' happened suddenly, but inexplicably, at the beginning of the eighteenth century.
Noel Malcolm's masterly study solves this and many other problems, by doing something which no previous scholar has attempted: giving a truly pan-European account of the whole phenomenon of male-male sexual relations in the early modern period. It includes the Ottoman Empire, as well as the European colonies in the Americas and Asia; it describes the religious and legal norms, both Christian and Muslim; it discusses the literary representations in both Western Europe and the Ottoman world; and it presents a mass of individual human stories, from New England to North Africa, from Scandinavia to Peru. Original, critical, lucidly written and deeply researched, this work will change the way we think about the history of homosexuality in early modern Europe.
Until quite recently, the history of male-male sexual relations was a taboo topic. But when historians eventually explored the archives of Florence, Venice and elsewhere, they brought to light an extraordinary world of early modern sexual activity, extending from city streets and gardens to taverns, monasteries and Mediterranean galleys. Typically, the sodomites (as they were called) were adult men seeking sex with teenage boys. This was something intriguingly different from modern homosexuality: the boys ceased to be desired when they became fully masculine. And the desire for them was seen as natural; no special sexual orientation was assumed.
The rich evidence from Southern Europe in the Renaissance period was not matched in the Northern lands; historians struggled to apply this new knowledge to countries such as England or its North American colonies. And when good Northern evidence did appear, from after 1700, it presented a very different picture. So the theory was formed - and it has dominated most standard accounts until now - that the 'emergence of modern homosexuality' happened suddenly, but inexplicably, at the beginning of the eighteenth century.
Noel Malcolm's masterly study solves this and many other problems, by doing something which no previous scholar has attempted: giving a truly pan-European account of the whole phenomenon of male-male sexual relations in the early modern period. It includes the Ottoman Empire, as well as the European colonies in the Americas and Asia; it describes the religious and legal norms, both Christian and Muslim; it discusses the literary representations in both Western Europe and the Ottoman world; and it presents a mass of individual human stories, from New England to North Africa, from Scandinavia to Peru. Original, critical, lucidly written and deeply researched, this work will change the way we think about the history of homosexuality in early modern Europe.
Reviews / Votes
Forbidden Desire in Early Modern Europe: Male-Male Sexual Relations, 1400-1750 upends almost everything the academic world thought we knew about the subject... It is rare to find such a combination of original and polyglot research, moral courage and crisply elegant prose. * Daniel Johnson, Books of the Year 2024, The Critic * A work of deep scholarship... It is hard not to be swept up by Malcolm's tsunamic intelligence. * Peter Hoskin, Books of the Year 2024, Prospect * An exemplary exercise [in historical research], and overturns many orthodoxies. * Jonathan Clark, Books of the Year 2024, Times Literary Supplement * After Forbidden Desire ...sexuality studies has been moved into a new space. * Todd Reeser, Author of Setting Plato Straight: Translating Ancient Sexuality in the Renaissance, and Professor of French and Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, USA * Sir Noel Malcolm continues to produce books of the highest quality. I have had the privilege of reading the typescript of his latest book, Forbidden Desire in Early-Modern Europe: Male-Male Sexual Relations, 1400-1750. It is a work of stunning erudition, drawing upon material in most European languages. About 170, 000 words long, and written with Sir Noel's customary elegance and lucidity, it is far and away the best book to have been written on this challenging subject. * Sir Keith Thomas, Author of Religion and the Decline of Magic, and Honorary Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford * A book of startling originality and depth. The abundance of Malcolm's archival research, the range of languages and the geographical diversity of his material are stupendous... No one else has had the temerity or linguistic skills to attempt so comprehensive a survey. * Richard Davenport-Hines, The Spectator * Ambitious... full of real scholarly inquisitiveness and human sensitivity. * Daniel Brookes, Daily Telegraph * [A] magnificently researched and gripping book. * Andrew Hadfield, Irish Times * [A] learned forensic analysis... timely work. * Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Times * Noel Malcolm's survey... debunks many myths, but mostly catalogues the extreme violence perpetrated against those judged to have broken religious doctrine. * Peter Conrad, The Observer * A masterclass of what historians can and cannot do with evidence... Malcolm is one of the few preternaturally gifted linguists who could take on such a diverse source base... Noel Malcolm's sweeping survey has given us a lot to chew on. It is a powerful indictment of a priori theorizing. His answers raise new questions that need further investigation. * Jan Machielsen, TLS * [A] deeply erudite, highly original and epoch-making book... This is a work of formidable scholarship that will transform its subject but, like all the best historians, Malcolm is also an elegant writer who never allows his vast corpus of material to obscure his argument... this is an academic page turner. * Daniel Johnson, Engelsberg Ideas * An important [book], put together with the ambition and carefulness that those familiar with Malcolm's work on other topics have come to expect... this is likely to be an epochal study in its field. Powered by breathtaking care and scholarship, it is a book that specialists will be grappling with for years to come. * Tim Smith-Laing, Literary Review * Marshaling an impressive array of sources, Malcolm's lucid prose conveys a vivid sense of the lived realities of his subjects. The result is a landmark volume of social history. * Publishers Weekly * The sweep of this book is impressive and its erudition is without question. It moves easily from broad analysis to specific detail... a scholarly work of history, taking a measured and informed view. * Lucy Wooding, The Tablet * One of the most thought-provoking books I have read in some time... an ambitious comparative study that raises plenty of questions. * Catherine Fletcher, History Today * One of the most compelling and accomplished pieces of social history that I have read... Forbidden Desire is an extraordinary achievement -and the work of an extraordinary historian. * Rhodri Lewis, Prospect * With its comprehensive analyses of varied sources and search for deeper understanding, Forbidden Desire in Early Modern Europe's investigation of one part of gay history is illuminating. * Addissyn House, Foreword Reviews * I felt respect for the measured advance of this work and its call to eschew easy links between a topic of research and current global experience... the book is a surprising exposition of how to research and argue a slippery subject. * Matthew Hawkins, Morning Star * This is historical scholarship at its best, presented in an eminently readable fashion and supported by an extensive bibliography and detailed notes... a major contribution to the study of human sexuality and its history. * Natalie K. Watson, Church Times * A monument of careful scholarship. * David Luhrssen, Shepherd Express * [Malcolm] is a master historian with a remarkable flair for languages and an unusual rigour with evidence. * Miles Pattenden, Australian Book Review * Malcolm's prose is lively and engaging. * Choice * A new book from Noel Malcolm is always an event and "Forbidden Desire in Early Modern Europe" does not disappoint. Combining polyglot archival virtuosity with perspicacious revisionism and literary elegance, "Forbidden Desire" is a work of breathtaking ambition and accomplishment... Historians of sexuality will be reckoning with this book for decades. And for the rest of us, the book is a wonderful opportunity to see the maestro at work. Not to be missed. * Joseph Hone, History Today * The fact that this book is the first attempt at providing a pan-European overview of the pre-modern history of male homosexuality, and offers this through the prism of historical/cultural/regional models, makes Noel Malcolm's Forbidden Desire an important landmark in the history of sexuality and queer studies. * Hanna Filipova, The Journal of Religious History, Literature and Culture * The book is fantastic. Because of its broad temporal and geographical scope, it is definitely worth reading. * Wolfgang Burgdorf, H-Soz-Kult * Noel Malcom's work Forbidden Desire in Early Modern Europe, Male-Male Sexual Relations, 1400-1750 provides a well-argumented and researched introspective into same-sex relations of the early modern period. ...Malcom demonstrates meticulous attention to detail, as evidenced by a 45-page bibliography and archival material from all the linguistic regions examined in the book. This effort can only be shown respect. * David Kronawitter, Suedost-Forschungen * So vast and learned a book deserves to change its field. The patterns it identifies will become a common heuristic for studies of sexuality in early modernity ... Just as important, the book restores actual sex to its central position in a field which can lose itself dilating on the act's symbolic value as a marker of a vague, if politically agreeable, 'otherness'. * James Butler, London Review of Books *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 241 mm
Width: 167 mm
Thickness: 55 mm
Weight
869 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-888633-4 (9780198886334)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
12/2023
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€24.99
Available for download
E-Book
12/2023
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€24.99
Available for download
Person
Noel Malcolm gained his doctorate at Cambridge, where he began his career as a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, teaching History and English Literature; he was later Foreign Editor of the Spectator. In 1999 he was a lecturer at Harvard; he gave the Carlyle Lectures at Oxford in 2001. Since 2002 he has been a Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. A Fellow of the British Academy, he has published numerous books and articles on early modern intellectual history, and Balkan history and culture. He was knighted in 2014 for services to scholarship, journalism and European history.
Content
Gregorio and Gianesino Diplomats, Renegades, and Catamites Prejudices Ottoman Realities Western Mediterranean Realities: Men and Boys Contexts of Sexual Life Typical and Untypical The Western Mediterranean Lands Theology and Religion Law and Punishment Literary Works Western Mediterranean Attitudes Ottoman Religion, Law, and Culture Northern Europe: Broad Patterns Northern Europe: Forms of Sexual Behaviour Northern Europe: Contexts of Sexual Life Northern Europe: Literary Works European Colonial Societies England after 1700 France and the Netherlands after 1700 Conclusion: From Sodomy to Homosexuality