This book considers the medical and literary texts of the Middle Ages. It shows how many of the medical and moral questions which preoccupy us in the 20th century appear, surprisingly, to have worried our medieval ancestors as well. Through a detailed analysis of both expert and lay writings, Jacquart and Thomasset examine the conceptions of sexuality which were created by doctors, by theologians and by romantic and erotic literature. In the first section of the book they discuss how ideas of physiology, venereal disease and purity were described, and the influence of these anatomical tracts on popular perceptions of the body. The second part charts a history of erotic art and, through this, the differing conceptions of Eastern and Western sexuality. Finally, the authors present a history of the body, analyzing problems of impotence and hysteria and how female sexuality in itself came to be perceived as corrupt and diseased.
