Pureté sexuelle au moyen age
2993 mots
12 pages
How important was the maintenance of sexual purity in the lives of early medieval women? Virginity and the regulation of sexual practices are primary objectives of the Church. Main rules related to sexual practices are laid down at the beginning of the middle age, as evidenced by the writings of Tertullien, dated from the IInd century. Tertullien expounded different types of virginity, and presented them as applicable to all sexes, because it expressed God's will.
“The first species is, virginity from one's birth: the second, virginity from one's birth, that is, from the font; which (second virginity) either in the marriage state keeps (its subject) pure by mutual compact, or else perseveres in widowhood from choice: a third grade remains, monogamy, when, after the interception of a marriage once contracted, there is thereafter a renunciation of sexual connection. The first virginity is (the virginity) of happiness, (and consists in) total ignorance of that from which you will afterwards wish to be freed: the second, of virtue, (and consists in) contemning that the power of which you know full well: the remaining species, (that) of marrying no more after the disjunction of matrimony by death, besides being the glory of virtue, is (the glory) of moderation likewise; for moderation is the not regretting a thing which has been taken away, and taken away by the Lord God, without whose will neither does a leaf glide down from a tree, nor a sparrow of one farthing's worth fall to the earth”.
Different types, or stages, of virginity are identified. The first virginity is the child's once, the second one come with the second birth given by the baptism,??? the last one is the one that need to be conserved/retained after the death of the spouse.
The woman, however, remains a special case. Her weakness is recognized, and she passes from the guardianship of the father to the guardianship of the husband or the priest. There is a need to control women, and ensure