The great distinction between "modern" and "ancient
and medieval" history lies in the quantity of available sources.
In pre-modern culture we rely primarily on literary and legal
sources to understand homosexuality. Both types of source are
highly distorting. Although we can - with care - outline the contours
of some "homosexual" subcultures in pre-modern societies,
such efforts always remain tentative.
From the late fifteenth century in Europe this all changes. Large
amounts of source material begins to survive, and new sorts of
material at that. Most important are court records - especially
when full trial records remain. So great are the survivals in
some Italian cities that statistical surveys of the data are possible
(for which see the work of Michael Rocke and Guido Ruggiero in
the bibliography). The sources are not perfect, but now a social
history is possible.
Real progress has been made for some parts of Europe - especially
Italy. Other areas remain less well investigated. But debates
are now flourishing about what exactly was the social "identity"
of homosexually active men (there is still not enough evidence
to document Lesbian subcultures until much later than for males).
At the same time, the types of "homosexual source" we
have for previous societies continued to be produced. Plays and
poems are less central to our conception of homosexuality in this
period, but they remain important. Especially because we now have
evidence about audience and styles/occasions of performance, socially
significant inferences can be made. This data cannot be disgarded.
Documents of Early Modern Queer History [At Rictor Norton's website]
[Rictor Norton has informed me that "During the coming few months I hope to add pages on various broadside ballads, satires and trials, e.g. John Dunton's The He-Strumpets, 1710; The State of Rome, 1739; Love in the Suds, 1772; excerpts from Sodom and Onan; a molly trial of 1709; a molly trial of 1707; A Sapphick Epistle, 1777; the Latin Epitaph on Bob Jones, 1773; A Dialogue Concerning Venus, 1691, and Jenny Cromwell's Complaint Against Sodomy, 1690s."]
Montaigne: A Homosexual Marriage in Rome, [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook].
Account of a gay marriage in 16th-century Rome by Montaigne.
Jeremy Bentham: "Offences Against One's Self" (c. 1785) [Full text] [At Columbia U.] Bentham's work was one of the earliest modern ethical texts in favor of the rights of homosexuals. The treatise examines the question of what, if any, legal sanctions should be applied against homosexuality.
John Addington Symonds (1840-1893): A Problem in Modern Ethics (London: 1896)
John Francis Bloxam: Story: The Priest and the Acolyte,
1894
An extraordinary short story which combines high ritualism, saccharin
melodrama, and a quite specific plea for acceptance of difference.
Fr. Faber:
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889): Select Poetry [At U. Toronto]
A gay Jesuit priest and poet. See "Felix Randell" and
"The Bugler Boy's First Communion".
Famous British Paedophiles [At GL Garden]
I am not very happy about this site - which addresses both heterosexual
and homosexual pedophilia - but it does contain picture and information
on a number of 19th and early 20th century figures.
