Prostitution in Medieval and Early Modern Literature

The Dark Side of Sex and Love in the Premodern Era

Albrecht Classen

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2019
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781978756540
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: European Medieval History
• Index: Literature

Prostitution is known as the oldest profession in the history of humanity. While historians have already given due consideration to the profession's social and cultural meanings across time periods, little has been written about literary representations of prostitution. Prostitution in Medieval and Early Modern Literature analyses the work of writers from an array of social positions, including courtly poets and even religious writers, dealing with the topic during the medieval and early modern periods. Its study shows that prostitutes and brothel owners were present on the literary stage far more often than we might have assumed. Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach and incorporating relevant sources from across the entire European continent dating from the early Middle Ages to the sixteenth century, it examines the phenomenon of prostitution in a variety of contexts and highlights the extent to which the institution mattered for both the higher and the lower classes.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Chapter One: Prostitution
• Chapter Two: Modern Voices and Witnesses of Prostitution in Literature
• Chapter Three: The Canoness Hrotsvit and the Prostitute
• Chapter Four: Christine de Pizan’s Advice to Prostitutes
• Chapter Five: Prostitution in the Work of Late Medieval Poetry
• Chapter Six: Prostitution in the Works by François Villon
• Chapter Seven: The Prostitute as Protagonist
• Chapter Eight: The Sojourn in a Brothel
• Chapter Nine: The Prostitute and Prostitution in Late-Medieval and Early Modern German Song Poetry
• Chapter Ten: Prostitutes in fabliaux, mæren, and novelli
• Chapter Eleven: Prostitutes in Sixteenth-Century Schwänke (Prose Jest Narratives)
• Epilogue
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author