History of Western Civilization, Dr.

Wallech, Long Beach City College, Spring 1993

From the ancient GrecoRoman cultures to the Early Middle Ages European world views of homosexuality maintained, for the most part, an attitude of acceptance. Public and Christian attitudes towards homosexuality changed, however, from acceptance to intolerance as European culture shifted from the sophisticated worldview of the GrecoRoman world to the culture of the High Middle Ages. Four key elements; xenophobia, the rising fear and hate of heretics, the systematization of law and the ascending strength of the nation-state worked together to create a social climate antithetic toward homosexual acceptance and insisting on conformity. Christians in the first and second centuries did not live in a social or intellectual vacuum; Jewish and Roman cultures were the only cultures Christians knew. Christian attitudes reflected public acceptance of homosexuality thus illustrating the way early Christians adopted the views of their contemporary world. Christians of the third and fourth centuries continued to imbibe the attitude of the world in which they lived. Many Romans indulged in homosexual activity, and contemporaries did not consider such behavior, or inclinations to it, immoral, bizarre or harmful. Several emperors were openly homosexual and homosexuals participated freely in all aspects of Roman life and culture. Early Christians, too, considered homosexuality a conventional expression of physical desire and were no more susceptible to antihomosexual prejudices than pagans were. Some prominent Christians experienced loving same-gender relationships that probably had a sexual element. While some of the church fathers, such as Saint John Chrysostom (347-407), preached against them, a general indifference to homosexual activity prevailed throughout the early Middle Ages. In the early twelfth century, a large homosexual literature circulated. Publicly known homosexuals such as Ralph, archbishop of Tours (1087-1118),

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History of Western Civilization, Dr. Wallech, Long Beach City College, Spring 1993

and King Richard I of England held high ecclesiastical and political positions. Beginning in the late twelfth century, however, a profound change occurred in public attitudes toward homosexual behavior. Between 1250 and 1300 homosexual activity passed from being completely legal in most of Europe to incurring the death penalty in all but a few legal compilations. Spain, France, England, Norway and several Italian city-states adopted laws condemning homosexual acts. In the thirteenth century, a fear of foreigners or xenophobia, especially Muslims, became associated with homosexuality. Additionally, heretics were a despised minority in an age that stressed religious and social uniformity. The notion spread that both Muslims and heretics, the great foreign and domestic menaces to the security of Christian Europe, were inclined to homosexual relations. The association of hated heretics and Muslims with homosexuality encouraged prejudice against homosexuals in general. The general suspicion was that if you were a homosexual you were probably either a heretic or a Muslim and therefore a nonconformist in a world that demanded conformity. Finally, the systematization of law in tandem with the rising strength of the nation state made any sexual distinctiveness increasingly unacceptable. The extension of law and justice led to a phenomenal amount of legal codification all over Europe. The English judge Henry of Bracton wrote a Treatise on the Laws and Customs of England; the French jurist Philippe De Beaumanoir produced the Customs of Beaumonoir; the German scholar Eike von Repgow compiled the Sachsenspiegel; and Pope Gregory IX published a codification of ecclesiastical law, the Extravagantes. Legal texts and encyclopedias exalted royal authority, consolidated royal power, and emphasized political and social uniformity,

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History of Western Civilization, Dr. Wallech, Long Beach City College, Spring 1993

all of which are integral components of the birth of the nation-state. The pressure for social conformity in turn contributed to a rising hostility toward minorities, one of which was the homosexual community. In just fifty years European culture transformed form a society accepting of homosexuality into a society where fear and hate of any personal distinctiveness proliferated. Homosexuals, being different, became a target of hate. Today, as we enter an age of increased enlightenment the stigma attached to homosexuality, which was cemented into social mores by Christian dogma and governmental edicts, is being chiseled away slowly and for some there is hope.

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