Forbidden friendships : homosexuality and male culture in Renaissance Florence /
The men of Renaissance Florence were so renowned for sodomy that "Florenzer" in German meant "sodomite." Indeed, in the late fifteenth century, as many as one in two Florentine men had come to the attention of the authorities for sodomy by the time they were thirty. In the sevent...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
Oxford University Press,
1996.
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| Series: | Studies in the history of sexuality.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Contributor biographical information Publisher description |
| Summary: | The men of Renaissance Florence were so renowned for sodomy that "Florenzer" in German meant "sodomite." Indeed, in the late fifteenth century, as many as one in two Florentine men had come to the attention of the authorities for sodomy by the time they were thirty. In the seventy years from 1432 to 1502, some 17,000 men - in a city of only 40,000 - were investigated for sodomy; 3,000 were convicted and thousands more confessed to gain amnesty. Michael Rocke vividly depicts this vibrant sexual culture in a world where these same-sex acts were not the deviant transgressions of a small minority, but an integral part of a normal masculine identity. Rocke uncovers a culture in which sexual roles were strictly defined by age, with boys under eighteen the "passive" participants in sodomy, youths in their twenties and older men the "active" participants, and most men at the age of thirty marrying women, their days of sexual frivolity with boys largely over. Such same sex activities were viewed as a normal phase in the transition to adulthood, and only a few pursued them much further. Rather than precluding heterosexual experiences, they were considered an extension of youthful and masculine lust and desire. As Niccolo Machiavelli quipped about a handsome man, "When young he lured husbands away from their wives, and now he lures wives away from their husbands." Florentines generally accepted sodomy as a Common misdemeanor, to be punished with a fine, rather than as a deadly sin and a transgression against nature. There is no word, in the otherwise rich Florentine sexual lexicon, for "homosexual," nor is there a distinctive and well-developed homosexual "subculture." Rather, sexual acts between men and boys were an integral feature of the dominant culture. Rocke roots this sexual activity in the broader context of Renaissance Florence, with its social networks of families, juvenile gangs, neighbors, patronage, guilds, and confraternities, and its busy political life from the early years of the Republic through the period of Lorenzo de' Medici, Savonarola, and the beginning of Medici princely rule. |
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| Item Description: | Originally presented as: Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton. The Cushing Library/Women & Gender Studies copy was acquired as part of The Don Kelly Research Collection of Gay Literature and Culture. |
| Physical Description: | x, 378 pages : 1 illustration ; 25 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 331-346) and index. |
| ISBN: | 0195069757 9780195069754 0195122925 9780195122923 |