The public body: sex work in twelfth and thirteenth century occitania

Abstract

Were medieval entertainers sex workers? My dissertation expands conventional scholarly definitions of medieval sex by centering what I term “lascivious corporeality.” This definition encompasses jongleurs, who engaged in paid performances such as dancing and acrobatics, as well as individuals who sold sex. I use an array of sources not previously studied together, such as laws, property records, and literature, to examine the less documented but widespread phenomenon of medieval sex work in 12th and 13th century southern France. By reconceptualizing how we study the selling of bodies, I argue sex work fundamentally changed social perceptions of gender in the High Middle Ages.