During the renaissance time period many men were being
married around the age of thirty while the women would be married at a much
younger age. This distance between ages created a certain type of event to
become very popular, especially in cities such as Florence. This event was the
act of sodomy. Although not viewed today in the same way as it was back in the
renaissance period, back then the idea of sodomy was viewed as a very bad thing.
With this event consuming Florence’s bachelors, an organization was formed with
the purpose to stop the acts of sodomy. This group was the Office of the
Night. One of the main reasons why the
act of sodomy was so common during this time was the fact that men would
normally be married around the age of 30; whereas the girls were married around
a much younger age. This means that a man in his twenties was likely to be a
bachelor until the age of 30. Because a woman’s virginity was a key component
for marriage the young unmarried woman of this time were kept under close guard
by their fathers, which means that men had to find alternative ways in which to
pleasure themselves; thus the act of sodomy. Although the Office of the Night
did not have any pictures of their organization (or at least none that I could
find) they did keep excellent records of their work. Some of this work can be referred
to in the book “Forbidden Friendships”.
Well written with a nice background on how sodomy during the Renaissance came about. Would love to know more about how the organization acted on it.
ReplyDeleteInteresting discussion of some of the plausible reasons behind sodomy in Florence. Thank you for the mention of the book about the Office of the Night; it seems like an interesting read.
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