THE ABBOT’S SEXUAL “RIGHT” IN PRE-MODERN ROMANIAN AND OTHER EUROPEAN CULTURES
THE ABBOT’S SEXUAL “RIGHT” IN PRE-MODERN ROMANIAN AND OTHER EUROPEAN CULTURES
Author(s): Oișteanu AndreiSubject(s): Comparative Studies of Religion
Published by: Romanian Assoc. for the History of Religions & Inst. for the History of Religions, Romanian Academy
Keywords: Homo- and hetero-sexuality; pedophilia; rape; sexual perversions; sexual sin and blasphemy; monastery; le droit du seigneur; young Gypsy slave women; discrimination of women in consecrated spaces.
Summary/Abstract: The author reviews the illicit sexual manifestations which happened (and may still happen) in the monastic and priestly milieu. It is a road which goes from asceticism to sin and even profanation. This concerns especially the pre-modern period in the Romanian and European space. Many Romanian abbots thought and behaved like alpha males on their monastic domain. The abbot would often use his “lord’s” role, deeming that he was owed the sexual “right of the lord” (including ius primae noctis), especially over young Gypsy women slaves on the monastic domain. This paper also analyses the way in which women were (are) discriminated against and marginalized within the Abrahamic consecrated spaces (synagogues, churches, and mosques).
Journal: ARCHÆVS. Studies in the History of Religions
- Issue Year: XX/2016
- Issue No: __
- Page Range: 317-351
- Page Count: 35
- Language: English
- Content File-PDF