Homosexuality in the Renaissance Period

The Renaissance in the history of the world, especially the western hemisphere, is seen as a time which turned the course of human civilization. It marks the transition between medievalism and modernity through a rediscovery of the arts, culture, science and other knowledge systems of classical culture which in turn enable human thought to chart new territories. The Renaissance period also saw a ferment in the sexual practices of the times and here is how homosexuality charted its course during fifteenth and sixteenth century Europe.

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Repression by Church

The repression of homosexuality by the Roman Catholic Church in the High Middle Ages - which reached its height during the Medieval Inquisitions –c ontinued unabated in the Renaissance too. Church used every means at its disposal to fight what it considered to be the "corruption of sodomy". In those times, the term homosexuality had not yet made an appearance and hence sexual acts between two people of the same gender was referred to as sodomy.  Men were fined or jailed and boys were flogged. The harshest punishments, such as burning at the stake, were usually reserved for crimes committed against the very young, or by violence. The Spanish Inquisition begins in 1480 during which sodomites were stoned, castrated, and burned. In France, first-offending sodomites lost their testicles, second offenders lost their penis, and third offenders were burned¹. Women caught in same-sex acts could be mutilated and executed as well. Very soon such ecclesiastical measures soon found state support as numerous heads of state outlawed homosexuality and imposed the death sentence. 1532 the Holy Roman Empire made sodomy punishable by death.[29] The following year King Henry VIII passed the Buggery Act 1533 making all male-male sexual activity punishable by death.

Homosexuality and Royalty

In England, sodomy was prevalent with its royalty as well as the common man. Though King Edward II fulfilled his kingly duty by producing four children, his wife and the Parliament were perpetually hostile to his sexual preferences. Edward's first lover was Pier Gaveston who was exiled by Edward's father while he was king and later again twice by Parliament once Edward became king. After thirteen years together, hostile barons killed Gaveston. The next male lover to come into prominence was Hugh le Despenser. Though Despenser had been in Edward's service since they were both boys, they do not appear to become lovers until after Gaveston's death. The two men tried to keep their affair discreet, but news of it leaked out and Isabella supported by the barons of England, initiated a revolt against Edward II. This eventually ended with both Edward and Despenser's deaths – in a slow, horrific manner as was common punishment for sodomy or homosexuality in the times. In France too kings tended to engage in homosexual relationships. King Henry III of France was said to be bisexual; even though he had a wife and several mistresses, he kept himself surrounded by Mignons - smartly dressed young men who not only had intimate relations with him, but also with each other. Yet another example of homo-erotic relations is the 'Agreement of Brotherhood’ between Louis XI and Charles, Duke of Bourgogne. This contract was supposed to underline the affection between Charles and Louis as 'a more perfect and cordial love' and for it to 'remain forever inviolated.

‘The Italian Vice’

While almost all European countries had to deal with homosexuality in all levels of their populace, its presence was rather too visible in Italy, particular in certain regions like Tuscany and cities like Florence. So much so that in 1432, Florence, at the behest of the Roman Catholic Church appointed a special magistrate to deal with sodomy. This magistrate, called the Official of the Curfew and the Convents, was started mainly on the urging of St. Bernardino of Siena² who believed that Tuscan cities were being overrun with sodomites.

Homosexuality and the Arts

The Church however could not repress all expressions of homoerotic desire. One of the most famous examples is an ironic philosophic defense of the practice provided by Antonio Rocco, in his infamous L'Alcibiade, fanciullo a scola, or Alcibiades the Schoolboy, in English. This is written in the form of a dialogue in which a teacher seeks to use philosophy to convince a male student to have sex with him. However, given the tongue-in-cheek nature of the writing, it seems unclear whether it is meant to be satire or genuine under the pretense of a joke. In the hey-day of the Renaissance in England, Christopher Marlowe wrote about homosexuality in his plays and poems. One of his most famous lines - 'Come live with me, and be my love' - was said to Corydon to Alexis while trying to convince him to live and love with him. In addition, Marlowe wrote about Ganymeade and Jupiter, Neptune and Leander, and even King Edward II and Gaveston.

To a great extent this love of the male form and lover was a consequence of Humanist studies which formed the core of Renaissance though. around this time, scholars, painters and sculptors were rediscovering the classical Greek texts and philosophies which are replete with many instances of positive, creative and sexual bonding between men. This rediscovery was seen in the Renaissance’s preoccupation with classical like Apollo, Narcissus, Cupid, Bacchus, and Ganymeade. Two painters, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, had strong emotional attachment to their male assistants while only vaguely acknowledging women in platonic and/or professional relationships. While women could be companions and patrons, men were their passion.

Leonardo da Vinci and Giacomo Caprotti

Leonardo has long been regarded as the archetypal Renaissance Man, one whose skills ranged from painting, sculpture and architecture to science, physiognomy, research and philosophy. Leonardo maintained long-lasting relationships with two pupils who were apprenticed to him as children. These were Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno, who entered his household in 1490 at the age often as well as Count Francesco Melzi, the son of a Milan aristocrat who was apprenticed to Leonardo by his father in 1506, at the age of fourteen, remaining with him until his death. Of these it is speculated that Caprotti, or as he was nicknamed Salai, was probably the greater object of affection on the basis of erotic drawing probably modeled on Salai like John the Baptist and The Incarnate Angel.

Michangelo is another name that is an embodiment of Renaissance creativity. one of the leading painters, sculptors, architects and poet of the time, Michelangelo was believed to have fallen in love with Tommaso Cavalieri age 57. Tommaso stayed with Michelangelo for 32 years until master artist’s death. Michelangelo wrote a long series of sonnets and madrigals for Cavalieri, which in fact make up the first large sequence of poems in any modern tongue addressed by one man to another, predating Shakespeare's sonnets to the fair youth by fifty years. Even more than his personal life, it is Michelangelo’s art which expresses his deep attraction to the male form and essence. He painted women in an Amazonian way – most of them were with hard bodies while Michelangelo's paintings of men were the classical example of homoerotic art.

Despite the many religious and state repressive measures that homosexuality was subjected to during the Renaissance, the practice continued to flourish. The notion of same-sex love as creative and positive had been brought back by the study of the classicists even though the new stirrings of Reformation made sharper the distinction between sex in marriage and ‘deviant’ sex³ which apart from prostitutions also included sodomy. In this way homosexuality during the Renaissance was caught up in the intellectual, artistic and political ferment of the times, which was the main characteristic of this historic period.

References:

1. Fone, Byrne R. S. (2000). Homophobia: a history. New York: Metropolitan Books.
    
2. Rocke, Michael J. 1988. Sodomites in fifteenth century Tuscany: The views of Bernardino of Siena. Journal of Homosexuality, 16 (Spring/Summer)
    
3. The Garn LeBaron Writing Project - Sexual Relations In Renaissance Europe