Borrowing from the past

Some of the best stories are ancient history. In my various Internet searches, came across the following story as a part of an otherwise very academic paper. Here's the synopsis:

"In the twelfth century, a nun at Watton, a monastery of the Order of St. Gilbert, disliked the cloistered life, fell in love with a young canon, and she became pregnant. When the disgrace became known to the sisters, the canon fled but was then caught by the sisters and brought back to Watton. The guilty nun, in the presence of her sisters, was forced to castrate her own lover and then return to her cell.[6]"

The reference [6] points to:

6. See Giles Constable, "Aelred of Rievaulx and the Nun of Watton," in Derek

Baker, ed., Medieval Women (Oxford: Blackwell, 1978), 205-26.

Is that an intense story or what? And it's real! Do you think he got hard with all those nuns looking at his genitals, and another one sharpening the knife?

Finder

Were they allowed to remain lovers after he was castrated?

happousai (imported) wrote: Sun Nov 30, 2003 3:15 am Were they allowed to remain lovers after he was castrated?

I doubt he was much use to her after they took his balls. Most women prefure guys that have stiff long cocks and are well built. Not soft men with softer dicks. She never spread her legs for him again. He was castrated for a reason. To be no longer a threat to the women, I bet it woked very well since the ladys probly did a good job of it.

This sounds like a prime example of recreation masquerading as moral discipline. Picture it: all the young nuns of the convent gathered around, buzzing with suppressed glee, and the older nuns fascinated but trying to look severe; the handsome young man stripped, with his legs spread wide (did he plead, threaten, weep, curse, scream?); the nun handling her lover's organs for one last time (did she caress before cutting?); the cut itself (one sweep of a sharp blade, or prolonged sawing and hacking? Did the man struggle or submit, cry out or be silent?); the gush of flowing blood (how was the bleeding stanched, or was it?); the reactions of the watching nuns (did their faces register pleasure or even ecstasy; did they say anything encouraging or exultant?); the reaction of the castrating nun (did she say anything to her lover before cutting - words of shame or apology or anger; was she reluctant to cut, having to be threatened, or wanting to regain the good graces of the other nuns by seeming eager; did she look at her lover's face or his organs while cutting?); the disposal of the severed organs (did the nun hold on to them or even have them as keepsakes, or were they taken from her, and by whom; were they immediately buried or burned or fed to the kitchen cats, or put on display in the refectory as a warning to all, or handed around to be felt and examined before the prioress removed them to her rooms?); what happened to the young man (did he live, or die of shock, blood loss, or infection; was he allowed to go; did he receive such medical care as existed; was he tortured further, or killed?); what happened to the young nun (imprisoned forever in her cell; forced to confess the most intimate secrets of her lovemaking to the other nuns (as an example of what not to do); starved to death in her cell; sent back to her father with the severed organs hanging around her neck?).

Ah, for the days of good old fashioned moral clarity!

12th Century, 'eh?

Bobov, do ya recon that they were castrating the Pope in effigy?

I hear that the Pope in those times had a convent for himself...

smokes: A-1

Pope Alexander Borgia might well have. I understand that he led orgies in the Vatican, with his children Lucretia and Cesare as participants. Ah, those were the days! The Church has since declared Borgia to be an "anti-pope."

I much prefer the story of Pope Joan. After this female Pope was discovered because she went into labor during a public processional, I understand that it became the practice for each newly elected Pope to sit in a chair with a hole in the seat through which his testicles dangled. Every Cardinal was required to kiss the new Pope's testicles, thus confirming the Pope's masculinity and declaring allegiance. (What if a rebellious Cardinal had decided to bite?) After several centuries, a medical examination became sufficient, but each new Pope must still prove that he has two testicles.

Bobov,

Do ya recon that he wore a ring somewheres besides his finger?

Maybe that is where the "ring kissing" custom came from.



A-1

Ooh, A-1, you have such a wicked imagination! But the story about the chair and the kissing is true. In those pre-feminist days, masculinity was equated with power and dominance, just as it still is in certain parts of New Jersey.