Dan Snow's History Hit – "Medieval Sex"

Date: October 9, 2025
Host: Dan Snow
Guest: Dr. Eleanor Janega (host of Gone Medieval, historian with expertise on sex and gender in medieval Europe)

Episode Overview

In this lively and revealing episode, Dan Snow is joined by Dr. Eleanor Janega to dive into the myths, realities, and complicated politics of sex in medieval Europe. Dispelling persistent Victorian-invented ideas about prudishness and repression, they explore everything from church attitudes to sexuality, the myth of the chastity belt, public sex, same-sex love in monasteries and nunneries, the power of widows, sex work, contraception, pleasure, queerness, and more. If you thought medieval folk weren't getting any, this episode is here to set the record straight.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Church Attitudes: "Walking a Moral Tightrope"

• The Church promoted chastity as an ideal but acknowledged sex needed to happen for procreation, hence its regulation within marriage.

• Quote:

  "In their opinion, the ideal Christian isn’t going to have sex... but also, you know, God says, go forth, multiply, and you have to do that through sex... so, the answer for that is obviously marriage, you get married, it’s a holy sacrament..."
  (Dr. Eleanor Janega, 03:33)

• Strict rules around when sex could happen (no sex during Lent, Advent, certain days, etc.), but these weren't widely followed in practice.

• Quote:

  "If people really were following them, then there would be no one born in September."
  (Dr. Eleanor Janega, 06:59)

2. Female Desire: The Medieval View

• Contrary to modern perceptions, medieval people believed women were highly sexual and insatiable.

• Quote:

  "Women are just like out for it, women, you cannot stop them, they're horny as all get out."
  (Dr. Eleanor Janega, 08:16)

• Boccaccio’s famous line:

  "One rooster is able to service 10 hens, but 10 men would scarcely be able to service one woman."
  (Boccaccio, via Dr. Eleanor Janega, 08:21)

• The two-seed theory: Both men and women needed to orgasm for conception; this shaped ideas about marital sex.

3. The Chastity Belt: A Victorian Invention

• Chastity belts are a myth created by Victorians; not a medieval reality.
• Quote:

  "If you've heard of some particularly gruesome form of medieval torture... a Victorian made that up, really."
  (Dr. Eleanor Janega, 10:17)

4. Sex and Class: Contrasts in Practice

• Upper classes: More anxiety, control, and arranged marriages; development of "courtly love" as a sideline for marital dissatisfaction.
• Peasants: More relaxed, less regulation, married for love at typical ages (early 20s, not 14).
• Quote:

  "Peasants are kind of doing this handful of things and then there is a much more sort of torture thing that’s going on in upper class society, which then becomes the literature trope known as courtly love."
  (Dr. Eleanor Janega, 12:36)

5. Locations and Contexts for Sex

• Domestic space was communal; much sex happened outside — in fields, woods, sometimes even churches.
• Bristol’s “fucking woods” as a real location, used for privacy (15:09).
• Church and legal records serve as witnesses to people breaking social rules — showing what actually happened.

6. Pilgrimages: Holy Journeys or Medieval Stag Parties?

• Pilgrimages were occasions for sexual freedom, with the Church turning a blind eye for the sake of donations.
• Raunchy “pilgrim’s badges” (e.g. crowned vulvas, phalluses) were common souvenirs.
• Quote:

  "It's like a rugby tour. It's like a hen’s night. It is a fantastic time to do some shagging because you’re under plenary indulgence."
  (Dr. Eleanor Janega, 16:41)

7. Queerness, Sodomy, and Monastic Life

• “Sodomy” in the Middle Ages covered any non-procreative sex; no concept of “homosexuality” as we now understand identity.
• Extensive evidence of same-sex relationships in monasteries and nunneries; records are full of crackdowns on monastic nuns and monks having sex.
• Quote:

  "We know a lot about what we would call gay sex... monks and nuns are having a lot of it. And they write. They’re all literate. That’s the thing about being a monk and a nun."
  (Dr. Eleanor Janega, 21:02)

8. Sexual Imagery and Medieval Art

• Marginalia (doodles) in manuscripts are full of phalluses, nuns picking penises from trees, etc.
  • Example: The Roman de la Rose
• Such illustrations show a playful and irreverent approach, not Victorian prudery.
• Quote:

  "One of the really big art motifs... is images of nuns picking phalluses off a tree... it’s also a joke about how much women just love that D and they would harvest it if they could."
  (Dr. Eleanor Janega, 25:05)

9. Science, Contraception, and Abortifacients

• Medicinal knowledge: Humoral theory shaped views on menstruation and aging; herbal teas (e.g., pennyroyal) used to prevent unwanted pregnancies.
• The medieval Church was surprisingly relaxed about abortion in early pregnancy, preferring it over infanticide.
• Quote:

  "The medieval church is pretty chill about abortion. They're kind of like, babe, up until the first trimester, it's a freebie."
  (Dr. Eleanor Janega, 42:03)

10. Agency, Property, and Sexual Politics for Women

• Widows could have substantial independence, run businesses, and control property.
• Marriage, especially among the elite, could be coercive; rape, sexual autonomy, and property tightly intertwined.
• Quote:

  "Rich widows, the merry widows, they've hacked the medieval world... they're the ones who are just kind of doing whatever they want to do."
  (Dr. Eleanor Janega, 33:34)

11. Women in Power and Military Life

• Women ran estates, served as military leaders, and managed supplies—much more active than in Victorian society.
• Quote:

  "Medieval women play huge roles in society in ways that women don't... in the Victorian period or in the early modern period."
  (Dr. Eleanor Janega, 37:59)

12. Medieval Queerness and Gender

• Evidence for what we now call trans experience: e.g., Eleanor Rykener in 14th-century London.
• Trans men (assigned female at birth, living as monks) were celebrated for “conquering their femininity.”

13. Dangers: STI's, Childbirth

• STIs existed but syphilis came later (early modern period); unwanted pregnancy managed through abortifacients.
• Childbirth was extremely dangerous—the leading cause of death for women.

14. Medieval Sex and the Soul

• The Church threatened hell, but most expected to go to purgatory for sexual sins—where "horny aunts" could be prayed out for a donation.
• Quote:

  "The church kind of wants people to be sinning a little bit because you know how you get your relatives out of hell for shagging too much? So... just kick the Church a little bit of money. They'll pray for your horny aunt and she'll be let out."
  (Dr. Eleanor Janega, 46:22)

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On why so many rules about sex:

  "You’re walking a tightrope... do not get naked. That’s one of the rules. It shouldn’t be during daylight. Yeah, it should be at night. Ideally do it as quickly as possible. Get in, get out, ninja."
  (Dr. Eleanor Janega, 05:56)

• On the myth of 14-year-old marriages:

  "You get married at 14 if you are a princess, and then even then you’re not, like, allowed to shag your husband until you’re 16 or so."
  (Dr. Eleanor Janega, 11:29)

• On nobles and courtly love:

  "This is an express way of having extramarital sex and making it really beautiful."
  (Dr. Eleanor Janega, 14:20)

• Bristol’s ‘fucking woods’:

  "They had a bunch of woods that was called fucking woods. Because they don’t care. They’re not here to play."
  (Dr. Eleanor Janega, 15:09)

• On Medieval contraceptive advice:

  "The big thing... is drink Penny Royal tea. Just get some Penny Royal down you... and if you drink enough of it, it can induce... as soon as you feel in the first trimester."
  (Dr. Eleanor Janega, 42:28)

• On getting out of purgatory for sexual sins:

  "Just kick the church a little bit of money. They’ll pray for your horny aunt and she’ll be let out."
  (Dr. Eleanor Janega, 46:22)

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Topic | |-----------|-------------------------------------------------------| | 02:10 | Introduction and warning about explicit content | | 03:27 | Church attitudes and rules about sex | | 05:17 | Church's rules for sex within marriage | | 08:16 | Medieval understanding of female sexuality | | 10:11 | Myth of the chastity belt | | 11:29 | Marriage age and class differences | | 14:49 | Courtly love and extramarital sex | | 15:03 | Where and how peasants had sex | | 16:41 | Pilgrimages as sites of sexual license | | 19:46 | Same-sex sex, “sodomy”, and monastic life | | 25:05 | Sexual imagery in manuscripts | | 26:49 | Medieval reproductive science | | 30:31 | Medieval love spells and odd aphrodisiac claims | | 31:54 | Women's agency, rape, widows, and property | | 37:59 | Women’s power, leadership, and military roles| | 38:53 | Medieval queerness and gender nonconformity | | 41:02 | STIs, childbirth, and sexual risk | | 42:03 | Abortion, abortifacients, and Church policy | | 45:16 | Sex, sin, and the afterlife (purgatory) |

Tone and Concluding Notes

Dan Snow and Dr. Janega’s conversation is energetic, irreverent, and deeply informed. Their banter (“Don’t threaten me with a good time!”) and memorable metaphors ("like a rugby tour, or a hen's night...") perfectly suit the subject’s mix of taboo and everyday life.

This episode robustly corrects persistent myths about medieval prudery, showing a world of desire, rule-breaking, pleasure, and remarkable tolerance—much more “sex positive” (at least in practice) than the subsequent Victorian era. Yet it also underscores the real dangers and politics of sex, from deadly childbirth to the ownership of women’s bodies and complex attitudes towards queerness.

A must-listen for anyone interested in how societies police, celebrate, or simply get on with the act of sex.