Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe
The first edition cover featuring a depiction of a 7th-century icon of Serge and Bacchus now in the Kiev Museum of Eastern and Western Art.
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| Author | John Boswell |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Homosexuality |
| Publisher | Villard Books |
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Publication date
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1994 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
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Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe (UK title; The Marriage of Likeness: Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe) is a historical study written by American historian John Boswell and first published by Villard Books in 1994. Then a professor at Yale University, Boswell was a specialist on homosexuality in Christian Europe, having previously authored three books on the subject. It proved to be his final publication, released in the same year as his death.
Boswell's primary argument is that throughout much of Medieval Christian Europe, unions between figures of the same sex and gender were socially accepted. Outlining the problems with accurately translating Ancient Greek and Latin terms regarding love, relationships, and unions into English, he discusses the wider context of marriage and unions in the Classical world and early Christian Europe.
Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe attracted widespread academic and popular attention on publication. Reviews in academic, peer-reviewed journals were mixed, with some scholars arguing that Boswell's translation of key terms were incorrect. The book was also widely reviewed in the mainstream media and the Christian media, with some conservative reviewers claiming that it was written to support the "gay agenda".
In the Introduction, Boswell highlights the subjectivity of marital unions, which differ between societies in their function and purpose. He explains his use of "same-sex unions" over "gay marriage", outlining the epistemological problems of the latter in a historical context. Noting that same-sex unions have been ethnographically and historically recorded in Africa, Asia and the Americas, he remarks that there is no reason why they should not have been found in Europe. He acknowledges that the book focuses on male same-sex unions, explaining that the historical evidence from Pre-Modern Europe predominantly discusses men, the socially dominant gender of the time.
Chapter one, "The Vocabulary of Love and Marriage", highlights the problems in translating words describing both emotions and unions from Ancient Greek and Latin into Modern English, and explains that "marriage" carries with it many associations for contemporary westerners that would have been alien to pre-Modern Europe. The second chapter, "Heterosexual Matrimony in the Greco-Roman World", explains the multiple forms of mixed-sex union found in Classical Europe. Wealthy men could enter into one or more different types of erotic, sexual or romantic relationships with women; they could use those who were slaves or servants who were under their domination for sexual gratification, hire a prostitute, hire a concubine, or marry a woman (either monogamously, or in many cases, polygamously).
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