Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 4008
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Frantzen , Allen J.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Where the Boys Are: Same-Sex Relations in the Anglo-Saxon Penitentials
  • Source: Old English Newsletter 29, 3 (Spring 1996):
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Conference Paper Abstract
  • Subject (See Also): Children Homosexuality Penitential Books Sexuality
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: British Isles
  • Century: 10-11
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations:
  • Table:
  • Abstract: The Anglo-Saxon penitentials are a rich source of information about children in the period. My paper categorizes references to children in four categories: children mentioned as the consequence of unlawful intercourse; the care of infants; sex acts involving children; and miscellaneous non-sexual acts. A total of thirteen canons describe sex acts involving children; six of these are heterosexual, seven homosexual. A number of the homosexual acts involve young boys and older boys, or young boys and men. I look closely at these canons in particular and consider them in the light of Foucault's comments, in "The Uses of Pleasure," on sexual relations between men and boys in ancient Greece [Reproduced by permission of Robert Schicler, the “Abstracts of Papers in Anglo-Saxon Studies” editor, and the editors of the “Old English Newsletter.”].
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: Loyola University, Chicago
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 1996.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 00301973