mediavel grapetrampling and harvesting from the Brothers Van Limburg calenderbooks, see below



history 2

After the fall of the Roman empire, on which we shall ponder in a special gallery, dealing with later fantasies and stuff, we delve into an era of complete blackness of about 900 years, during which our world, at least the world of images, was completely dominated by the roman-catholic church. Nothing arousing came out of that; if we don't count the sm aspects of crucification, and heroism of martyrdom which glorified St Sebastian. all were only depicted to convey fear and keep the faithfull from the act of sodomy. .
The morals of this issue has been dealt with already on the pages about the 'vagevuur' (purgatory) artwork. St. Sebastian has his own slideshow-gallery
Bosch hooi LBosch hooi M Bosch hooi R
The above work by Den Bosch's most famous artist is examplary of how religious themes were only used to convey fear and submission to church autority on to the ignorent masses.
Castration AttisKybeleSaturnus eet kinderen
above and below we can see in some anonymous (well, authors no longer tracable) Flemish book illustrations that for men of the clergy one of the easier ways to fame, fortune and eternal holiness was public castration rather than giving in to desires of the flesh. The last two, stained glass and painted panel, sing of the heroism of Saint Sebastian
Castration AttisCastratie CloseupSebastian stained glasSebastian Polayola
This part of our historic journey was the most hazardous, as there is so little verified and confirmed material actually dating from the first millennium of christianity.
the duke is on this work himself sitting at the rich table in blue, while the other guy shows his dick through his blue dress as entertainmentone of his castles
luckily at Nijmegen an exhibition was held in 2005 about the Limburg brothers, three guys who were employed by the filthy rich Duke Jean de Berry, brother of the king of France and very likely homosexual. He owned a dozen castles and moved through them as we move through seasonal clothing, with a massive staff to make sure he was comfortable all along the way. His most treasured staffmembers were 3 miniature painting artists, employed fulltime to keep on renewing his calendar books, with ever more eleborate graphics, using state of the art technology, at that time, coming down to the most expenisive basic mnaterials available: gold leaf, azuli blue, made of grounded precious stones only found in Persia, and extremely toxic red en white colors. These guys were only in the busines of pleasing their employer, and if that meant depicting barely clad males, they were very willing to stretch the churches guidelines on that subject.
SM and heavenly retributionflagelantsretribution in afterlife
Actually we are stretching the boundaries of historic timeframing a bit here. The above miniatures were made around 1408, just years before Columbus discovered America. So we can hardly call this the middle ages. The church had effectively kept itself at the top of the power pyramid by effectively blocking all individual thinking and creativity for almost a 1000 years. Since there is so little to be told about the true 'middle ages' we include the gradual slide to a more elighted period, renaissance.

What we do have all gives a deep and thorough rejection of anything that could smel of sodomy. a mix of SM feelings and heavenly retribution for sinfull conduct was a main topic in many works. Another good example is the fresco work of Luca Signorelli, still strongly founded in the meadeval tradition, but with first signs of new approaches and some relaxation of strong moral control by autorities. This was a process with a few of ups and many more downs, as the historic survey at the bottom conveys
Luca Signorelli (1441-1523) was born in a bordering area of Umbria and Tuscany, in the town of Cortona. His career developed not only in the great capitals of art, such as Florence and Rome, but also in minor provincial centers in Umbria, Tuscany and Perugia.

In 1492, the painter chose to leave Florence. He was commissioned to finish the decoration of the San Brizio Chapel in the Orvieto Cathedral. Signorelli's Orvieto frescos represent the most important forerunners to Michelangelo's Last Judgment. In those awe-inspiring frescos of the Apocalypse the artist reached the height of his development.

San Brizio chapel in Orvieto Cathedral was built at the beginning of the 15th century on the place of sacristy of the Orvieto Cathedral. The decoration of the chapel started in 1447 by Fra Angelico and Benozzo Gozzoli, who executed two compositions (Christ the Judge and Prophets) on the vaults. The commission was only revived at the end of the century. The painter Luca Signorelli was chosen thanks to his fame as a fast executor and because he took less money than other artists. Indeed, starting the work in April-May 1499 he finished it already in 1502, though the final payment was made only in 1504.

First Signorelli finished the decoration of the vaults; the frescos Angels with Emblems of Passions and the Apostles are believed to be fulfilled from the cardboards of Fra Angelico. Signorelli executed the compositions Martyrs and Virgins, Patriarchs and Doctors of the Church from his own sketches, though it's believed that he followed Fra Angelico's program. On April 23, 1500 the decoration of the vaults was finished, also the drawings for the wall paintings were evidently ready, because a few days later a new contract for wall frescos was signed.

The subject of the wall fresco cycle is Apocalypse and the Last Judgment. The work is entirely the product of Signorelli's powerful imagination, though, of course, he was influenced by literary sources - Gospels, Apocryphal Gospels, Golden Legend, and Dante's Divine Comedy.

The cycle consists of six large compositions, each of them occupies the upper parts of the walls:

  • The Deeds of the Antichrist (on the left wall) opens the cycle; Antichrist is supposed to come to the world before its end. In Signorelli's fresco the action takes place in an Italian city and quite possibly it reflected recent events – revolt and execution (May 23 1498) of Savonarola, who was condemned as Antichrist by the Church.
  • The End of the World (over the entrance)
  • The Resurrection of the Dead (on the right wall)
  • The Hell (on the right wall, next to the Resurrection)
  • The Last Judgment (on the altar wall) the composition is divided into two parts by the window: the Damned Consigned to Hell (left part) and the Blessed Consigned to Paradise (right part).
  • The Paradise, or Coronation of the Chosen (left wall, next to Antichrist)
The lower parts of the walls are executed as decorative panels. In the center of each panel is a portrait of a poet or a philosopher – Dante, Virgil, Ovid, Horace, Lucian, Homer and Empedocles. Each portrait is surrounded by four tondos with the scenes from their works, painted in monochrome. Quite possible that the lower parts were executed by Luca's apprentices by his sketches.

close-ups of fragments of the top and bottom wall fresco's by Signorelli can be revealed by clicking on them !

below Moses reads the law to his - not too obedient - people.

Elected called to Paradise & Damned plunged into Hell

Deeds of theAntichrist

Apocalypse now



Signorelli, Nudestudy for above works here it becomes appearant there is not much of a gap left when it comes to technical devellopment between Signorelli (left) and Michelangelo (right) Michelangelo, study for Creation of Adam
baptismflagellation of Christ, Il Sodoma
Il sodoma, very out homosexual renaissance artists depicted the above "beweinung of Christ" and his "flagellation" below.
Notice how he, well aware of attitudes to deviant ways of life in his days depicts the observing capebearer, who,
contemplating what may happen to himself, decides it's wiser not to reveal his relations at this moment.


A special set of pages going deeper into punishment and feelings of guilt, that have always been connected to homosexual fantasies and acts, not only by authorities, but also in self loathing and attempts to ban out any emotion that could be linked to homosexuality and leading up to torture, extreme mutilation and death are dealth with in a special section of the masterclass called armageddon.
And
though up to now attention has focussed on what we call the western civilisation, including the threads that lead to and from the middle east, in recent years quite a lot study has been done of other asian cultures and evidence of homoexual art in the muslim world, although even more repressive as early christian civilisation, is not as rare as one thought. Sadly, because of the prevalent hotheadedness in current muslim culture (and not because the content is so mindboggling or offending). This section remains in the masterclass for now. A small collection has been built up on another separate page.
but with the advent of humanism there was light at the end of the tunnel . . .

Signorelli
Church and worldly authorities finally, be it halfhartedly, gave a bit of space to creative geniusses again at te start of the 14th century. The first thing they did was get back to studying Roman and Greek culture:
panDaedalus Icarusvictory by Michelangelo
fisherboyNarcissus Farmese Bull, Napolia very young bacchus
There is masses and masses of stuff male nude statues, but do we need to be complete here?
and does anybody want to have a look at hundreds of male nudes with dicks fallen or cut off or covered up?
two St Johns here: Carravaggio did him as a child, Guido Reni as a gorgeous hunk . . .
St John, as a childSt John by Guido Reni
Caravagio has a gallery of his own. So we've only got the two rivals left:
Michelangelo scetch Michelangelo bigger dick so maybe he was into scat ?
maybe I've stretched the definition of erotic art here a bit, but we can't go without these examles, can we? giuliano dying slave just one more bit of the chapel then
and the only one from this era that we really know was a gay man as we now define it: Leonardo
I recently watched the new BBC series about the life of Da Vinci. I've always thought he lived a liberal life and could do and think practically whatever he wanted, but that does not seem to be the case.
Da Vinci was even jailed a while and got a judicial light beating for being acused (anonymously even) of homosexual behaviour. He got off light because a) he already was a known genius, b) he had rich and influential friends.
We all know that modern day sports-cameramen can be called homo, for having an eye for the male crotch. They still are 'doomed' if they as much as drop the camera to include the crotch when it goes beyond accidental. Did you see any pre-race presentation of the swimmers during the recent olympics . When I make a remark on this the standard reaction is: "you queers are obsessed with just one thing and one thing only . . ." Well, I've laid that argument to rest years ago.
OK, so I am obsexssed, what about it?
That must be the reason why the great renaissance artists, although allowed to sculpt and paint male nudes, were not likely to ever put more than accidental attention to the male sex organ. They hurried over that hotspot, afraid their affiliation with the subject would show through their painters-apron. That must account for the fact that their dicks were never more than 'average' in size.
If only these guys were alive today . . . Wow, we'd travel to Florence each year to admire David.
daVinci always wrote mirrored script Vitruvian Man pull my Leg
the old goats again the one on the left was the inspiration for Willem's drooggeilers.

warrior

St John the baptist
there's just one thing he has to say:
fuck you, man

St John, the male version of the Mona Lisa smile
How do we know Leonardo was gay?
When he was twenty-four years old, Leonardo was arrested, along with several young companions, on the charge of sodomy. No witnesses appeared against them and eventually the charges were dropped. It must be said that often anonymous charges like this were brought against people just for a nuisance. Renaissance Florentines didn't make the distinctions we make about sexuality today and apparently it was common for young men to get into sexual relationships; in fact, the word "Florenzer" was German slang for "homosexual".
Leonardo had no relationships with women, never married, had no children, and raised many young protégés, including one nicknamed "Salai" which means "offspring of Satan". Salai (pictured below) stole things, broke things, lied, and was generally a, well, devil; if he were a mere student or servant he would have been sacked. It's not hard for me to see how this imp would be attractive to Leonardo. He stayed with Leonardo for over twenty years, and appears many times in Leonardo's sketchbooks.
Dutch Caricature artist Siegfried Woldhek made an extensive study over the works of da Vinci, and how he must have looked, from feature similarities in the 3 faces below and the years they were dated he concluded that all 3 must be self portraits of our genius gay painter/scientist:

on Masterclass gallery art 24 we go deeper into Da Vinci's Last Supper and the many more explicitly gay adaptations that he inspired.

northern europe's equivalent was Albrecht Dürer,
who when he was forced to marry fled to Italy,
where renaissance liberal thinking had found root earlier..

and now you tell me you missed the David here,
guess you're right, but don't forget: Artchive's for all those.
and have you not seen the db foto galleries?
and promiss: as we're already sliding seamless
into the next, far more interesting, renaissance era
the next page in the series I'll make up for it.
ok then, one Raphael at least must be included:

go on delftboys to the golden ages, the lobby, masterclass overview or links


another era of queer history:


305 Spain
The Church Council of Elvira denies communion even at the hour of death to men who "defiled" boys, but is silent about consensual same-age male sexuality.
314 ItalyBecause of an inaccurate Latin translation, the Church Council of Ankara is incorrectly assumed to have referred to homosexuality, when it was referring to bestiality. As a result early Western Christian penances for sodomy are based on the penance for bestiality.
330 RomeA tax on male prostitution is instituted during the reign of Constantine.
330Lactantius, a Christian author and apologist expresses disgust that a man could be passive sexually.
342 RomeHomosexual marriages are outlawed in the West, although no penalties are imposed.
360St Basil wrote on how to avoid the temptations posed by a beautiful young monk in a monastery.
390 ConstantinopleIn his legal code, the Emperor Theodosian imposes the death penalty for forcing or selling males into prostitution.
390 Eastern Roman EmpireDriven by a profound horror of a man's sexual passivity to another man, St John Chrysostom issues many diatribes against homosexuality. He contends that homosexuality was rampant within the Christian society of Antioch.
391 EgyptFanatical Christians burn the library at Alexandria because its books were pagan. All but a small portion of Sapho's poetry, as well as an unknown amount of material touching on homosexuality is lost.
400 AD AfricaSt Augustine in describing the desolation he felt at the death of a friend of his youth regrets the sexual aspects of his passion. Augustine will set the anti-sexual tone of the emerging Catholic Church. His argument that sex is justified only for procreation becomes known as the Augustinian Rule.
476-7 Eastern EmpireThe Roman custom of forming a union with another man by the legal expedient of declaring him a brother is declared invalid in outlying Syriac, Armenian & Arabic speaking provinces of the Easter Roman Empire. The Syriac and Arabic versions of the code include a law imposing the death penalty for homosexual behavior.
500 AD Eastern Roman EmpireAt the beginning of the 6th Century the tax on male prostitution is abolished under the emperor Anastasius. While relieving the Christian government of this tacit acceptance of homosexuality, it probably did little to alter the institution. The Sixth-Century African poet Luxorius wrote a poem about a man who gave his wealth away to men who sodomized him.
533 Eastern Roman EmpireJustinian Code. In his codification of Roman law, the Emperor Justinian placed homosexual acts under the same category as adultery, and put them for the first time under civil authority. In a 538 revision of the Code homosexuality is criminalized for the first time under Roman law. "Because of such crimes there are famines, earthquakes, and pestilences; wherefore we admonish men to abstain from the aforesaid unlawful acts, that they may not lose their souls...We order the prefect of the capital to ...inflict on them the extreme punishments, so that the city and the state may not come to harm by reason of such wicked deeds." A great plague struck Constantinople in 541, that wiped out more than a third of the population in the next three years. It is not surprising that the "emperor and the Church believed this proved his predictions of the dangers posed by homosexuality. In a 544 revision of the Code, the emperor reminded the citizens that "Though we stand always in need of the kindness and goodness of God, yet is this specially the case at this time, when in various ways we have provoked him to anger on account of the multitude of our sins...We ought to abstain from all base concerns and acts -and especially ...the defilement of males which some men sacrilegiously and impiously dare to attempt, perpetrating vile acts with other men." Homosexuals were urged to desist and seek forgiveness through penance. The recalcitrant were turned over to the city prefect. The penalty was death, and the confiscation of the property of the guilty. Justinian and the Empress Theodora used the law to attack enemies and to enrich themselves through the confiscation of property. In the process, the homosexual became the enemy of the state.
538 Eastern Roman EmpireIsaiah of Rhodes, prefectus vigilum of Constantinople is tried under the new law against homosexuality. After severe torture Isaiah is exiled. Eastern Roman Empire - Alexander, Bishop of Diospolis in Thrace, tried under the Justinian ban, is exposed to public ridicule after being castrated.
540 EuropeRule of St Benedict. The code regulating most medieval monastic life stipulates sleeping arrangements to discourage sexual activity between monks.
567 FranceThe second Church Council of Tours endorses the Benedictine rule that monks should never sleep two to a bed.
600 AD Eastern EmpireSt Theodore of Sykeon. While visiting Constantinople , the patriarch Thomas became "so attached to him...that he begged him to enter into ceremonial union with him and to ask God that he would be together with him in the next life."
654 SpainKing Reccesvinth, the ruler of Visigoth Spain passes legislation penalizing sodomy, stipulating castration as the penalty. This is the first European secular law to criminalize sodomy.
693 SpainThe church Council of Toledo describing sodomy as being "prevalent" in Spain, declares that, "if any one of those males who commit this vile practice against nature with other males is a bishop, a priest, or a deacon, he shall be degraded from the dignity of his order, and shall remain in perpetual exile, struck down by damnation." Guilt by association carries with it the penalty of a hundred lashes, a shaved head, and banishment.
735 AD RomePenitential of Pope Gregory III specifies a penance of 160 days for lesbian activity, and as little as one year for homosexual acts between males.
741 Eastern EmpireThe Edoques, a legal handbook issued by Leo III and Constantine V, constitutes the major code of secular law in the East for several centuries. It ameliorates the penalty of Byzantine civil law for homosexual behavior from death to mutilation.
789 FranceCharlemagne warns monks to desist from homosexual practices. A church council admonished priests and bishops to "attempt in every way to prohibit and eradicate this evil." No penalties were recommended.
829 AD FranceThe church Council of Paris prohibits priests from referring to penitentials for penances for homosexual acts, as it considered those penances as too lenient.
867 Eastern EmpireBasil I (867-886) founder of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire possibly entered into same-sex unions with two men, each of whom helped to advance his career. Nicholas, a parish cleric, upon finding the homeless Basil "went with him to the baths and changed (his clothes) and going into church established a formal union with him, and the rejoiced in each other." Basil next entered the service of Theophilos, who "had a great interest in well-born, good-looking, well-built men who were very masculine and strong". Basil was appointed chief equerry. While traveling in Greece a wealthy widow showered Basil with gifts asking only that he enter into a same-sex union with her son, John. After this Basil was taken into the service of the Emperor Michael III, who became so attracted to him that he named him "companion of the bed chamber", adopted him as a son, and eventually made him co-Emperor. Not long after Basil assisted in the assassination of Michael.
900 AD EuropeThe Penitential of Regino of Prun which enjoyed widespread authority and influence was largely gender blind. The penance for anal intercourse whether heterosexual or homosexual received a three years of penance, the same as for simple heterosexual fornication.
938 RomePope John XII (938-964) models himself after the emperor Heliogabalus, holding homosexual orgies in the papal palace.
1000 AD GermanyBurchard, Bishop of Worms classified homosexuality as a variety of fornication less serious than heterosexual adultery. He assigned penance for homosexual acts only to married men. In civil legislation regulating family life in the diocese of Worms there is no mention of homosexual behavior.
1051 EuropeIn his denunciation of the clergy, Liber Gomorrhianus, (The Book of Gomorrah) St Peter Damian describes homosexual activity among the clergy in lurid detail, claiming it is all too common. He also complains about the widespread practice of priests confessing to one another in order to avoid detection. Pope St Leo IX is angered by St Peter Damian's attack on the clergy and in his reply agrees only to defrock those who have engaged in homosexuality "as a long-standing practice or with many men." He is more concerned with maintaining stability and seems to have had a low estimatimation of the seriousness of homosexual offenses among the clergy. This is at a time when the church is trying to impose a ban against the marriage of priests. No doubt the hierarchy relied on the tacit acceptance of the ban by homosexual priests for support.. Anselm of Lucca, the future Pope Alexander II, and a pupil of the Abbot Lanfranc famous for his passionate devotion to younger monks, stole the Liber Gomorrhianus from Peter Damian, thus suppressing its distribution.
1059 RomeThe Lateran Synod issues a series of canons responding to each of St Peter Damian's demands for clerical reform except the issue of homosexuality .
1095 EuropeAn Appeal from the Eastern Emperor, a forgery widely circulated in the West to drum up support for the Crusades, accuses the Muslims in Jerusalem of having "degraded by sodomizing them men of every age and rank: boys, adolescents, young men, old men, nobles, servants, and, what is worse and more wicked, clerics and monks, and even - alas and for shame something which from the beginning of time has never been spoken of or heard of bishops! They have already killed one bishop with this nefarious sin."
1102 AD EnglandWhen the Church Council of London decreed that the general public be informed that homosexual intercourse should in the future be confessed as a sin. St Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury prohibits the decrees publication saying, "this sin has hitherto been so public that hardly anyone is embarrassed by it, and many have therefore fallen into it because they were unaware of its seriousness." Anselm, like Pope Alexander II, had been a pupil of the Abbot Lanfranc.
1114 FranceA heretic at Bucy-le-long, a village near Soisons confesses that after desecrating the sacraments the heretical devotees seized whoever was nearest, even men with men, and women with women. While sexual orgies were often ascribed to the rituals of heretics and witches, this is the first to explicitly mention homosexuality. It would become a commonplace allegation in later trials.
1120The Church Council of Nablus specifies burning at the stake as the penalty for homosexual acts.
1123 RomeThe first Lateran Council declares clerical marriages invalid. Contemporaries point out that homosexual priests are more likely to enforce the prohibition, which may explain the rather casual attitude taken towards homosexuality amongst the clergy by Popes Leo IX and Alexander II.
1150 FranceEchoing the 1st Century Epistle of Barnabas, Bernard of Cluny attacks homosexual relations, writing that he who "dishonors his maleness (is) just like a hyena." He also noted that homosexuals "are as numerous as grains of barley...the entire universe - alas is addicted to this sordid practice."
1179 RomeThe Third Lateran Council decrees degradation and confinement within a monastery for clerics guilty of sodomy, and excommunication for the layman.
1210 ADA number of heresies appear in Germany, the Low Countries, and Italy. Known as the Brethren of the Free Spirit in the North, and the sect of the Freedom of the Spirit in Italy. Arguing that since all things are God, there is no evil. Urges to lust, greed or other so-called sins should not be resisted. Practicing asceticism as neophytes, they believe that when they are fully initiated as "men of freedom", they will be incapable of sin. They fully accept homosexuality in those having the desire.
1212 FranceIn Paris the penalty for sodomy is fixed at death. This is the first secular law to criminalize sodomy since the Spanish Visagoth law of 654. It is the first to prescribe the death penalty.
1227 DenmarkPope Honorius II, in reply to a request for advice on dealing with sodomy, advises the Danish archbishop to adopt a penance which is neither to harsh, nor too lenient.
1230 FranceJacques de Vitry denounces students at the Sorbonne for practicing sodomy.
1233 ItalyThe papacy accuses the forces of the Holy Roman Empire, with whom it is fighting, of sodomy, and enlists the aid of the newly founded Franciscan and Dominican orders (who were currently directing the Inquisition in Southern France) to denounce the supporters of Emperor Frederick II of heresy, sodomy and other offenses against morality.
1259 ItalyBologna punishes sodomites with burning at the stake, or perpetual banishment.
1262 ItalyIn Siena those accused of sodomy are given a week and a day to confess, or they will be expelled and their property confiscated.
1265 SpainThe most important medieval compilation of Spanish law, Las Siete Partidas of Alfonso X, prescribe the death penalty for sodomy.
1265 ItalyA Dominican brother, and a Guelph (a member of the pro-Papal party) introduce statutes in Bologna requiring the state to assist in prosecuting heretics and sodomites.
1266 ItalyWith the Guelph victory over the Ghibellines at Benevento, the Inquisition again attacks political opponents as heretics, sodomites and adulterers. The first record of burning at the stake for sodomy in Italy dates from this time.
1270 FranceArticle 22 of Le Livres de jostice et de plet, the French penal code derived from the district of Orleans states: "He who has been proved to be a sodomite must lose his testicle. And if he does it a second time, he must lose his member, and if he does it a third time, he must be burned." This is perhaps the first secular law to also regulate lesbian sexuality.
1270 FranceThe poet Guillot cites the Rue Beaubourg in Paris as a cruising place for sodomites.
1270 ItalySiena expels those accused of sodomy, and confiscates their property.
1281 SwedenThe Bishop of Skara proclaims that "a person who sins against nature, must pay a fine of nine marks to the bishop. There was no civil law against sodomy.
1292 BelgiumJohn de Wettre, "a maker of small knives", is condemned for sodomy and is burned on the pillory next to the church of St Peter, in Ghent.
1292 FranceThere are 26 public baths in Paris, providing steam and hot water, even during the winter. They are closed to prostitutes, vagabonds, lepers, and men of bad repute.
1305 AD ItalyFra Giordano condemns the city of Florence for being a veritable Sodom, where fathers encourage their sons to engage in prostitution.
1309 ItalyIn Perugia, mild penalties for sodomy are replaced with burning at the stake.
1309 ItalyThe Siena commune orders a fine of 300 lire for first sodomy offense. Those who can not pay within a month are to be hung by their penis in the town square.
1309 EuropeTrial of the Knights Templars in France, Italy, Spain, England, Scotland, Ireland and Cyprus. The Militia of the Templars had been formed to guard the holy places of Palestine, and the routes of the pilgrims. A military order, their rule was said to have been devised by St Bernard. Novices were initiated at night behind guarded doors, in rituals that remain secret. As the Crusades declined the order became the bankers of the Mediterranean, and much of Europe. At dawn on Friday, October 13,1307, all the Templars in France, some two thousand in number, were arrested and charged with idol-worship and obscene practices. Tortured, they confessed to worshipping idols, one shaped like a cat, another like the devil and another like a satyr; that they had spat on the cross, that they had engaged in sodomitical practices and that they had betrayed the cause of the Crusades and had plotted against the Pope and the King of France. When the Templars faced the tribunals of the Inquisition, under the control of Pope Clement V, they withdrew their confessions, but pressed by Philip of France the Pope ordered all Christian princesses to arrest the Templars. While charges of widespread homosexuality among the Templars is likely true, it is doubtful that it ever received official sanction. The real motive for attacking the Templars was to plunder their vast treasuries, and to break their considerable power.
1324 ItalySiena orders its citizens to track down sodomites "in order to honor the Lord, ensure peace, maintain the good morals and praiseworthy life of the people."
1325 ItalyFlorence issues a law proscribing severe penalties for sodomy.
1327 EnglandMurder of Edward II. Notoriously attracted to male favorites during his reign, he is held in the Tower, tortured and eventually murdered by his wife Isabella, whose henchmen shove a molten poker up the King's rectum.
1336 AustriaTrial of heretics extracts testimony that they met underground in covens where Lucifer appeared as the king of heaven with a crown and scepter. After practicing a blasphemous communion they engaged in sexual orgies that included homosexuality.
1342 ItalyThe city code of Perugia establishes that a delegation of eight men from each of the five sections of the city be chosen to denounce sodomites.
1348 ItalyVenice, two servants caught sharing a bed, confess under torture to sodomy. One is burned alive in front of the Doge's Palace.
1350 FranceJean II gives the office of Constable to his relative and favorite, Charles d' Espagne, who is rumored to be the object of the King's "dishonest affection."
1361 SwedenIn a political attack on King Magnus, St Bridget jeers, "You have the most indecent reputation inside and outside this land that any Christian male can have, namely that you have had intercourse with men. This seems likely to us, because you love men more than God or your own soul or your wife."
1368 FranceViolante Visconti marries the seventeen year old Marquis de Montferrat, who is given over to strangling boy servants.
1373 BelgiumWillem Case and Jan van Aersdone are executed for sodomy in Antwerp. Another man is burned at the stake in the town of Mechelen.
1375 BelgiumTwo men are executed for sodomy in Ypres.
1391 BelgiumA mass trial of seventeen people accused of Vuyle faicten (sodomy), including two women, is held in Mechelen. One person confesses and is executed.
1403 AD ItalyThe Questa is created in Florence, to protect publicmorals and suppress sodomy.