VI. The two laws and the three sexes: ambiguous bodies in canon law and Roman law (12th to 16th centuries)

Abstract

This article traces the history of medieval canon (and Roman) law on 'hermaphrodites' as a third sex, bodily different from both men and women. Contrary to what has been claimed, there is no evidence for hermaphrodites being persecuted in the Middle Ages, and the learned laws did certainly not provide any basis for such persecution. The legal status of hermaphrodites was discussed regularly, and canon lawyers were clearly aware of contemporary theology and natural philosophy. In the sixteenth century, while legal dogma remained essentially unchanged, court records show a marked change in legal practice compared to the later Middle Ages. Perhaps due to developments in contemporary medicine, hermaphrodite anatomy, gender change and sexual deviance were increasingly conflated. A more gender-symmetrical definiton of crimes against nature seems to have led to (female) hermaphrodites and tribades being confused in this time. This also shows the complex relations between different pre-modern discourses on hermaphrodites which cannot made fit any linear narrative.

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