1100 - 1199 (12th-Century)

Aelred of Rievaulx  

1100​      Death of William Rufus. His court was accused of effeminacy.

​          Ivo, Bishop of Chartres complained in a letter to Pope Urban II that Jean II, Bishop

                  of Orleans had been appointed, despite a reputation for sexual looseness, and

                  being too young for the role.  He also said Jean had been nicknamed ‘Flora’ after

                  a well-known prostitute, and was the subject of lewd street songs.

c.1100    ​A Spanish monk wrote a letter describing a man attempting to seduce a boy and the 

             boy’s reply.  These were used as models on how to reject same-sex advances

1102​    The Council of London ordered that in future ‘sodomy’ must be confessed as a sin.  

        St Anselm refused to publish this edict, arguing that hardly anyone is embarrassed

        by it, and many have therefore fallen into it because they were unaware of its 

        seriousness.  St Anselm: “The sin is now so frequent that no one blushes for it any 

        more, and many indulge in it without perceiving its gravity.”  Anselm pleaded for 

        tolerance and understanding.  Anselm’s apparent leniency is disputed by historians.

1107​Death of Baudri, Abbot of Bourgeuil.  Several of his poems and letters appear to

                 exhibit same-sex desire.

1110​Aelred of Rievaulx born. 

1111​Death of Al-Ghazali, Persian theologian & mystic, who said “anyone whose heart is

                 affected by the beauty of a boy…is forbidden to look at him at all”.  He also quoted

                 an early Muslim who is supposed to have said that there are 3 types of sodomite:

                 “those who look, those who touch, and those who do the act”. 

1120​ A Council in Nablus [Palestine] decreed that in cases of consensual sodomy both 

                   parties should be burnt.  

     The White Ship sinks with William Adelin, the heir to the English throne onboard.  

            His court had been reputed to be full of sodomites and “intemperate & foppish 

            youths.”

1123      Death of Marbode of Rennes.  Many of his poems, published later, celebrated same-

                 sex love, whilst simultaneously denouncing the physical expression of that love.

1125      Hilary the Englishman wrote Latin poetry before this date.  His poems ‘To a Boy of 

         Angers’ & ‘To an English Boy’ seem to express same-sex desire, which is not 

         completely spiritual. Four out of five existing lyrics are addressed to males.

c1128     Aelred may have had a relationship with another man at the court of King David II.  

c1140​Christian scholars inaccurately tried to denigrate Islam by claiming the Koran 

                  sanctioned sodomy.

c.1140​Bernard of Morlaix/Cluny believed that same-sex fornicators were as numerous as 

                  grains of barley, as many as the shells of the sea, or the sands of the universe.  

1142​Ordericus Vitalis refers to a group of companions leaving their household in Chester,

                 who returned “as if from the flames of Sodom.”

    Aelred meets St Bernard of Clairvaux, and on returning to England writes The Mirror 

        of Love.   It distinguishes between spiritual and earthly love.  He includes a lament

         on the death of a favoured Monk, Simon. 

1147 ​Aelred becomes Abbot of Rievaulx.  

1151​Hildegard of Bingen is deeply distressed when her secretary and intimate friend, 

                Richardis of Stave is elected Abbess of Bassum.  Richardis dies the following year.

1153​Death of Bernard of Clairvaux.  He writes about sharing a bed with Hugh of Vitry “in a 

                 bed so narrow it could scarcely hold one of them.”  

c1166​Aelred writes Spiritual Friendship.  Aelred mentions a passionate friendship with a 

                younger monk “who mounted with me through all the stages of friendship, as far as

                human imperfection allowed.”

1167​Aelred dies “surrounded by 12, now 20, now 40, now even a hundred monks….so

                 vehemently was this lover of us all loved by us.”

1170​The first accusation [probably false] of sodomy among the Cathars is made.

c.1170​Alan of Lille argues that sodomy is a denial of the natural aim of humankind.  

1179​The Third Lateran Council decided clerics guilty of sodomy would be degraded, whilst

                 laymen would be excommunicated.

1180​Death of Samau’al ibn Yahya, physician. He noted that eminent men had turned to 

                    youths because their physicians had warned them that intercourse with women 

                    would cause gout, haemorrhoids & premature aging.

c.1185  The poem ‘Debate between Ganymede and Helen’ written in French around this time.  

c.1187​Gerald of Wales depicts Irishmen making symbolic oaths in which they are joined

                     indissolubly as if by a betrothal.  

1187​Richard Lionheart and Philip Augustus of France are said to have shared a bed.  This

                     was not necessarily a sign of same-sex desire.

1190​  Cuenca, Spain, decrees that any proven sodomites were to be burned.  

              Richard Lionheart leaves England in the control of William Longchamp, Bishop of 

                  Ely, who was known to prefer boys.

      Titus the Venerable dies.  He was said to be in a long same-sex union with Deacon

           Egravius, but they fell out, and despite the entreaties of Titus, Egravius refused to 

           be reconciled.

      Layamon of Areley Kings, Worcestershire writes Brut, which contains a passage 

           about Yuni & Ivor, his wed-brother.

1191​Richard I make a public confession & penance.  Some believe this may have been for

                  same-sex acts.

Richard I’s Effigy

1192​Richard of Devizes describes London “every quarter of it abounds in great obscenities”

        and among them were glabriones (smooth-skinned, pretty boys) pusiones 

         (hustlers) molles (effeminates) and mascularii (man lovers).”

1194    Gerald of Wales complains of the Welsh “because of their oppressive sins and 

                especially that detestable and wicked sodomitic sin.”

1195​Richard I make a second public confession & penance.  This may have been for same-

                  sex acts.

1196     Vision of the Monk of Eynsham includes a chapter on the unclean and foul vice and 

                 sin of sodomites.  He was surprised to see women in his vision, as he was not aware 

                 that they could be involved in same-sex acts.

Bibliography

Bray, Alan, The Friend, University of Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Griffin, Gabriele, (ed.), Who’s Who in Lesbian & Gay Writing, Routledge: London, 2002. 

Norton, Rictor, My Dear Boy: Gay Love Letters through the Centuries, San Francisco: Leyland Publications: 1998.

Woods, Gregory, Homosexuality in Literature, London: Yale University Press, 1998.

Aldrich, Robert & Garry Wotherspoon (eds.), Who’s Who in Gay & Lesbian History: From Antiquity to World War II: London, Routledge, 2001.

Aldrich, Robert, Gay Life Stories, London: Thames & Hudson, 2023.

Rowse, A.L., Homosexuals in History, London: Wiedenfeld & Nicholson, 1977.

Spencer, Colin, Homosexuality, a History, London: Fourth Estate, 1995.