When you think of raunchy displays of sexuality , you likely do n’t directly retrieve of Medieval sheepskin base in a dusty Austrian monastery . However , a one C - old text edition reveals that the mental imagery of the Middle Ages was amazingly unprudish when it came to sex .
assimilator at the Austrian Academy of Sciences ' Institute of Medieval Research ( OeAW)recently analyzeda newly discovered fragment of the textRosendorn , translated asThe Rose Thorn , that ’s two C old than any other known written matter .
Although it looks like a evenhandedly bland historical papers at first glance , theRosendornactually details a amazingly vivid slice of erotic caustic remark . The poem is about a youthful female virgin arguing with her vulva about who is more appreciated by men . agree toThe History Blog , the quarrel leads to the fair sex and vulva departing from each other , hop to prove who unfeignedly is the most worthy .
However , the break of serve up spirals into catastrophe . The vulva is used and abused by every homo it play , while the fair sex offers herself to a crowd of men who trample her . In the end , the woman and her vulva accord they are better together , at which spot the manful teller – who has been keep an eye on all of this drama stretch out from afar – reunites the duo through the number of sex .
All ’s well that ends well , I guess ?
Christine Glassner , a researcher from the OeAW who work out on the project , explain in astatementthat the poem is an “ fantastically clever ” narrative that explores whether a person can ever be separated from their sexuality .
The newly reveal airstrip was found in the archives of Melk Abbey in Austria . The parchment consists of a thin strip just 22 centimeters long and 1.5 centimeter wide ( 8.7 by 0.6 inches ) , so only a few letters per line are recognizable . Nevertheless , through conscientious analytic thinking , the squad managed to tack together together the write up and discover it was written 200 years earlier than previously thought , towards the destruction of the thirteenth century . It ’s believed this kind of titillating poesy was recited and possibly performed , but rarely ever written down .
The sexual themes of the poem could also provide an invaluable perceptivity into how sexuality was viewed in the Middle Ages . It ’s well-fixed to assume people from pre - modern eld had a nun - like posture towards sexuality or were perhaps too busy warding off plagues and fearing God to featherbed in such decadent delight . However , sex activity remains a constant melodic theme of the human experience , regardless of time , property , or civilization – and theMiddle Ages are no elision .
