• Premodern ruling sexualities
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Premodern ruling sexualities

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This book brings together a range of methodological approaches to highlight royal and elite sexualities – the sexualities of rulers, and those who were ruled by their sexualities – and how these ca...
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  • 20 January 2026
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This volume explores a range of premodern rulers and their depictions in historiography, literature, art and material culture to gain a broader understanding of their sexualities. It considers the methodologies and motivations of premodern writers and rulers when fashioning royal and elite sexualities and offers new analyses of an array of texts and artwork from across Europe and the wider Mediterranean.
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Price: £30.00
Pages: 272
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Imprint: Manchester University Press
Publication Date: 20 January 2026
ISBN: 9781526195807
Format: Paperback
BISACs:

HISTORY / Europe / Medieval, European history: medieval period, middle ages, LITERARY CRITICISM / Medieval, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Gender Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Human Sexuality (see also PSYCHOLOGY / Human Sexuality), Literary studies: ancient, classical & medieval, Gender studies, gender groups, Sex and sexuality, social aspects
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Introduction: Premodern ruling sexualities: representation, identity, and power - Gabrielle Storey and Zita Eva Rohr

Part I Scandal, perception, and representation
1 “And though she made use of three openings...”: How and why to sexualise a late antique empress - Alexander Thies
2 Eadwig’s coronation scandal: sexuality, rhetoric and the vulnerability of reputation - Matthew Firth
3 Scandal, romance, political affairs. Walter Map’s “Portuguese King” and Anglo-Flemish relations in the twelfth century - Fabrizio De Falco
4 Isabella of France and Roger Mortimer: lovers or allies? - Michael Evans
5 Isabel of Castile and her images: viewing sex, scandal, and sanctity in fifteenth-century Spain - Jessica Weiss

Part II Gender, morality, and desire
6 Gender, moral, and sexual warfare in the Roman de Silence - Kathleen M. Blumreich
7 Muslim caliphs and homosexuality: al- Amin (787- 813) and al-Hakam II (915-976). Two men in pursuit of ‘hub al-walad’ - Fatima Rhorchi
8 The Tour de Nesle affair: succession and sexuality in fourteenth-century France - Emily Lalande
9 Chaste kings and unsuitable women: sex, interfaith relations, and sovereignty in the Castigos of Sancho IV of Castile - David Cantor-Echols
10 ‘Sine communi favore’ the intersection of power, perception, and sexual morality in the careers of Piers Gaveston and the ‘royal favourites’ of fourteenth-century England - Audrey Covert