They were only answerable to the ecclesiastical courts. Priests were, in fact, protected from prosecution under secular law. Still, he does not appear at all in the legal documents of the Bruges’ magisterial courts. The behaviour of the priest was anything but what one might expect from a religious man.Īlthough sodomy was an ‘unnameable sin’, clerics were punished much more lightly than laypersons During the day, the priest had to celebrate mass but on one occasion, before he prepared for mass, he first commanded Willem to wait for him in the bed, and then after mass came home and had sex with the boy. Clerical protectionĭespite this setback, the sexual activity between the priest and the boys continued. Afterwards, according to the boys, the priest complained that he could not ‘become erect, even if he were with all the women in the world (‘al ware ic tusschen alle vrauwen van de werelt, ic zoude niet staen’). On one occasion the priest failed to get an erection while having sex with Willem. It seems that he did not solely prefer boys. Somewhat naively, the boys described how the priest did this several times in a row until some ‘wetness came out of the priest’s “manhood”’ (‘natticheyt uit de ‘mannelickhede’). Or, in the words of Willem: ‘ende nam een hende van een kerse ende stack hem confessant dat in zyn fondament ende datte terstont wut treckende stack zyn mannelickheyt in zyn fondament’.Įxcerpt from the interrogations of François and Willem, Bouc vanden steene (1558-1559) Apparently, he first liked to penetrate the boys anally with a candle before he had sex with them. There, they had sex, during which the priest masturbated and had penetrative sex with François and Willem several times. The priest met the boys in the Sint Jan’s Hospital in Bruges and regularly invited them, individually, to spend the night with him at home. From that account, it appears that the priest with whom they had sex had some rather unorthodox preferences for someone of his background. These statements were, thus, made in the torture chamber. The story of the two boys can be found in the Bruges’ ‘Bouc vanden Steene’, which includes the accounts of all questioning and confessions under torture in the prison. This was the case with François and Willem.Īnonymous, Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, from Biblia Figurata by Raphael de Mercatelis They were sometimes ‘lucky’ enough to receive a lesser punishment. In certain cases, the fact that an individual had not initiated the sodomy but was only a passive participant, was taken into account. Sodomites were sentenced to death by burning at the stake. Because of this, they had to be punished severely.
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Sodomites were considered to be acting against the natural order and divine hierarchy and could potentially call down the wrath of God on society. And it was a choice that could have severe repercussions. Committing sodomy was considered as an individual’s choice.
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The concept of ‘sexual orientation’ did not even exist.
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#Great rite gay sex art series
Society placed a series of sexual activities that we do not even associate with each other under the umbrella term ‘sodomy’. Masturbation, bestiality, anal sex between men and women, sexual abuse of children and homo-erotic activities were all referred to as sodomy. In the late Middle Ages, the term sodomy was used to describe almost any sexual activity that did not have procreation as the goal. Both cities were destroyed by holy fire because the men were having sex with each other. This Biblical term refers to the Old Testament story of Sodom and Gomorra. 54įrançois and Willem were accused of sodomy.