Cuckoldry, Impotence and Adultery in Europe (15th-17th century)

Sara F. Matthews-Grieco is Professor of History and Coordinator of Women's & Gender Studies at Syracuse University in Florence, Italy. She is also the editor of Erotic Cultures of Renaissance Italy.

In Renaissance and early modern Europe, various constellations of phenomena - ranging from sex scandals to legal debates to flurries of satirical prints - collectively demonstrate an increased concern with cuckoldry, impotence and adultery. Deploying analytical tools from a range of disciplines, these essays interrogate and explore those phenomena to reveal the central importance of sexuality and sexual metaphor for our understanding of European history, politics and culture.

Contents: Introduction: Sexual Transgression as Social Metaphor, Sara F. Matthews-Grieco. Part I Defamed Buildings and Shamed Bodies: Adultery, cuckoldry and house-scorning in Florence: the case of Bianca Cappello, Jacqueline Marie Musacchio; Vincenzo Gonzaga and the body politic: impotence and virility at court, Molly Bourne; Historical and literary contexts for the Skimmington: impotence and Samuel Butler¿s Hudibras, M. A. Katritzky. Part II Impotence, Magic and Medicine: Impotence, witchcraft, and politics: a Renaissance case, Matteo Duni; The satyr in the kitchen pantry, Laura Giannetti; Impotence and corruption: sexual function and dysfunction in the early modern Italian Books of Secrets, Meredith K. Ray. Part III Horns and Visual Innuendo: `Divine cuckolds¿: Joseph and Vulcan in Renaissance art and literature, Francesca Alberti; Niklaus Manuel and Urs Graf: cuckolds, impotence and sex workers in Swiss Renaissance art (c.1510-1517), Christiane Andersson; The cuckoldries of Baccio del Bianco, Louise Rice; Picart¿s browbeaten husbands in 17th-century France: cuckoldry in context, Sara F. Matthews-Grieco. Index.