Search Strategies for Lesbianism in the Middle Ages
The Medieval Era is defined as the 5th century to the 15th century. The Medieval Era can be separated into 3 categories: Early Middle Ages (5th century CE to 10th century CE), High Middle Ages (11th century CE to 13th century CE), and the Late Middle Ages (14th century CE to 15th century CE). Studying lesbianism in the Middle Ages will take some specific search strategies because of the fact that the term lesbian was not a term that was used in that era. It doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't use search terms like lesbian or any related terms. In fact, modern historians may decide to apply modern terms to historical cases of desire between women because it makes it easier for people in our era to find their work and understand what is being discussed. For this reason, it will be helpful to utilize search expanders and use multiple key terms.
Some terms you may want to try:
- lesbianism
- lesbian-like
- pre-modern sexuality
- medieval OR middle ages
- female homosexuality
Resources to check out
- “Where Are the Lesbians in Chaucer?” Lack, Opportunity and Female Homoeroticism in Medieval Studies Today
This article explores many of the issues in studying the middle ages through the lens of lesbianism and how queer historical studies about homoeroticism tend to be male centric. The author claims that this veers into simply reproducing the phallocentric conceptions of the time and we need to have more levels of nuance when studying pre-modern queerness, especially lesbianism. One of the drawbacks of this article is that it addresses some of the issues of studying queerness in this time period, but does not give us much of a glimpse into what queerness in the era would have looked like.
Same Sex Love and Desire among Women in the Middle Ages by ISBN: 0312210566Publication Date: 2001-01-01Grounded in queer studies, this book explores different aspects of love and desire between women in the middle ages and the issues that come along with studying the topic. The book provides a really great overview of different aspects and across many different cultures in the time period. One drawback of the book, which it addresses, is how desire between women in the time is not often talked about and this history is frequently erased which makes it difficult to study and causes for a lot of information to be extrapolated.
Queer Love in the Middle Ages by ISBN: 1403963428Publication Date: 2005-01-31This book explores queer themes that are present in medieval French literature. The second chapter of the book is most relevant because it discusses a work that features a cross dressing female heroine that ends up with the princess and what it has to say about lesbian identity forming. The scope of this book is quite narrow as it only discusses French works.
- Unveiling the Untold Tales of Medieval Lesbians in History
This webpage provides a brief overview of lesbianism in the middle ages. The page talks about some historical figures from the era who were thought to have relationships with women, the conceptions of lesbianism in the era, and the contributing factors to the issues of studying. This page loses some of its credibility because it is a blog about the Knights Templar so some bias may be introduced.
- GLQ, Vol. 1, pp. 000–000 997 Paul EeNam Park Hagland © Duke University Press BORN OF TWO VAGINAS Love and Reproduction between Co-Wives in Some Medieval Indian Texts
This source discusses the narratives of the Bengal story of Bhagiratha who birthed two co-wives. The story is placed in conversation with the medieval Hindu notions of same sex relations and co parenting and how it relates to modern debates of same sex relationships. This source is only discussing a story and not the lives of people from the era, but it does get related back to popular conceptions of same sex relations.