Sodomists and Angels
Renaissance sodomy was very different from anything encountered in contemporary Gay, Bi, Transgendered sexualities, communities, or subcultures.
Florence's incredible Ponte Vecchio is now the home of silver smiths, expensive tourist shops, exclusive perfumeries, and gentleman's outfitters. In Renaissance times the bridge was full of butcher's shops, the most prominent being those of owned by the Mazzante family. Three of the five butcher brothers were implicated in sodomy, whilst over fifty men, also wage earners on the bridge, were also investigated by civil authorities for sodomy.
males engaged in sodomy came from across the social spectrum” and lists that laborers in textile production were the largest group of those denounced, with 24%; next were the clothing makers, 15%; then the other crafts, merchants, butchers, barbers, with 6.4%; followed by the clergy, 3.6%.
In other words so-called "sodomites" were not restricted to the high art circles of Florence nor highbrow readers of Ficino's brand of Platonism. Whatever was meant by sodomy at that time, was practised by merchants, retailers, and craftsmen. Indeed erotic relations between men seems to have been a fruitful means of patronage, promotion, commerce, and advertising.
From the outset it must be noted that the definition of sodomy in European legal codes was highly variable. Maximally sodomy could refer to any form os sex that avoided reproduction. For this reason it is not surprising that heterosexual buggery should be labelled sodomy. Minimally, sodomy concerned sex between males with the recipients of so-called passive penetration being the worst of all..... as far as the city of Florence was concerned
Such value judgements arose because lacking any solid legal definition, alleged misdemeanours of sodomy originated in church laws and codes which classified as a "sin" and even here it was not completely obvious what sins of sodomy were. Secular courts had no theological moralists available to assist justices. Not surprisingly this "crime" fluctuated in both its meaning and the severity of sentences. In South Netherlands there were unusual prosecutions for sex between women. When tolerated male sexual performances they could used to promote patronage...for example using a particular butcher might be secured. Patronage through sex was not the preserve of high arts and learning. Furthermore, male on male sex was a social alternative to heterosexual sex when men did not marry until they were in their thirties. Buggering defeated males in war, seems to have been a summary means of humiliation, torture , and punishment during the ceaseless Italian wars of this period. This truly popular form of military rape was investigated only extremely rarely.
The madonna and child above are accompanied by two saints. One is Saint Peter, the other is Catherine of Sienna: a celebrated writer, visionary, and diplomat who underwent a "mystical marriage" with Christ. Saint Peter is commending the person financially responsible for the painting to the infant Christ and his mother. A familiar artistic trope is the infant functioning as a priest: here he is ritually blessing the donor -or backer- who is wearing the habit of a Carthusian monk.
Il Sodoma
The talented artist who produced this remarkable piece was Giovanni Antonio Bazzi 1477-1544, usually associated with the renaissance style of Sienna.Though once married, he soon separated and began to enjoy the company of "boys and beardless youths". He also loved pets. His home was full of all sorts of animals, as well as his beloved youth-boys. Fine clothing too was affectation he brought to perfection through his tailors. His infamous nickname instantly became an occasion for self affirmation. In poems, musical tributes, and the like he praised "the sodomite" -namely himself. So it isn't at all surprising that it became quite normal call him "il Sodoma" even when speaking to his face, as well as in everyday gossip. Like Oscar Wilde later, he loved being talked about -especially salaciously! Il Sodoma was used by at least one Renaissance pope as a form of personal address and sign of affection to him.
There is just one supposed self-portrait of Bazzi. It depicts a slightly vain young man wearing cap, fine clothes, with flowing locks. He is looking across and sideways at us -perhaps seductively. It is not impossible that this image is mock-up or pastiche; by which il Sodoma paints himself resembling the style of an artist whom he greatly admired -the younger, and ascendant, Raphael (1483-1520).This image is to be found amongst a series of frescos dedicated to the achievements of St Benedict.
Detail of fresco St Benedict repairs a Broken Colander through Prayer.
This image is in the public domain and dated c. 1502
Maybe this is a self portrait after all. Nevertheless there is definite homage to Raphael's portraiture.
Raphael: Portrait of Agnolo Doni c. 1506 public domain
This nickname -Il Sodoma- is perhaps better translated into modern English by "the paedophile" . This noun better catches the overtones of danger, sleaze, illicit sexuality, immorality, exhibitionism, public prurience, and illegality that constantly menaced men of his sort. Sodomite could be, like the more contemporary term paaedophile, a word encouraging anything from social approbation to public lynching.
Persecution and Cancelling Life
Sodomites were more than marginal oddities, curiosities, or liminal people. The Renaissance sodomite was regularly male and a suspect criminal easily targeted by churches, princes, states and public prurience. A guilty verdict could result in death by public burning, which was a punishment first recommended centuries ago in laws enacted by Theodosius.
The inscription in the upper body of this coloured cartoon reads
Verbrennung des Ritters Richard (Reichardt) Puller von Hohenburg mit seinem Knecht, dem Barbier und Lautenschläger Anton Maetzler am 24. September 1482 vor den Toren Zürichs (tatsächlich aber auf dem Fischmarkt) wegen Sodomie
The incineration of the knight Richard Puller of Hohenburg with his servant, the barber and lute player Anton Maetzler on September 24, 1482 at the gates of Zurich (but actually on the fish market) because of sodomy
Burning of Convicted Sodomites ZurichDie Grosse Burgunderchronik Diebold Schilling de Altere, circa 1483 public domain
A pan-European campaign was regularly waged by papacy and curia against sodomy from the thirteenth century onwards. Death penalties were encouraged, revived, and special courts established. The item above depicts the state murder of Alsatian knight Richard Puller von Hohenburg and Anthony Mätzler, his servant. Having successfully avoided prosecution in Europe, Richard was eventually convicted by testimony extracted barbarically from a former servant who had become the knight's blackmailer and persecutor. The two men were burnt alive.
Individual principalities, as well as nation states, took over responsibilities from churches for investigating and punishing this crime of sodomy. One estimate argues there to have been seventeen thousand people tried for sodomy in Florence between 1432 and 1502. England lagged behind continental Europe; it was in 1533 that Henry VIII, both king and defender of the Roman faith, introduced the Buggery Act whereby felons received sentences of death by hanging. This punishment was mitigated by Victorian law-makers in only 1861.
Sodomy laws were a gift to those who wished to cancel, harass, and even kill rivals, enemies, or hated factions. Monarchs, princes, nobles, entire religious orders, as well as private individuals could easily be accused -or rather "denounced" - as sodomites by using the legal machinations of the day.
As far as Renaissance Florence was concerned, the body responsible for investing and prosecuting sodomy, prostitution, and public nuisance was an institution called Ufficiali di notte e conservatori dell'onestà dei monasteri or night officers. This organization founded in 1432 operated until 1502. They erected taboro (letter boxes) around Florence, explicitly used for anonymous accusations of sodomy. The populace was not only welcome to use the taboro, but were actively encouraged to do so and in some instances bribed to fabricate allegations. Cooperating with the Ufficiali was a laudable civic duty.
Between 1432 and 1502, its years of activity, about seventeen thousand men came to its attention (which represents a great number in a population of about forty thousand). The board and its morality police were regularly criticized for being too lenient, despite the seventeen thousand men that attracted its attention. At any one time the estimated population of Florence during the Renaissance was around forty thousand people. There appears to be an awful lot of sodomists in Florence during those seventy years or so!!
And here is the rub. It was difficult to determine precisely was "sodomy" was -especially in Florence. The full title of the night officers included the words e conservatori dell'onestà dei monasteri. A literal translation of this morality policing board is Night officers and guardians of the honesty of the monasteries. This reference to guarding the reputation of monasteries or convents was somewhat anachronistic even in the fifteenth century. But it is a useful indication that "sodomy" originated as a religious offence and one which is never precisely defined. It might include male to male sex, public sexual abuse of minors, incest within families, opportuning, tavern brawling, rent boys, as well as "prostitution" and political discontent. Something similar seems to have been the case at the Parliament of Paris: sodomy was an incredibly difficult offence for secular authorities to prosecute.
Nevertheless there was one particular form of sex that received official censure in Florence. Any male admitting to (or accused of) being passive during anal sex, earned severe condemnation and punishment -if proven. But even this censure of popular morality was capable of being treated ironically and even comically by the accused when they came to court. Linking sodomy with passive anal penetration, had the unforeseen consequence of allowing courts to exercise leniency in relation to all other indictments of sodomy. Compared to receiving anal penetration, everything else became less serious and less threatening to the well being of the populace. Such were the confusions surrounding sodomy, that heterosexual couplings practicing buggery could be forced to appear in court. It is not surprising therefore, that the bye laws governing the activities of the "Night Officers" were constantly changing, calls for stricter punishments and policing for ever forthcoming, and spurious allegations or confessions traded for acquittal or conviction of some minor offence. Nevertheless morality policing in Florence achieved several thousand convictions during the seventy years of existence. Involvement with them could be disastrous. Amongst German-speaking peoples the word Florenzer became a euphemism for sodomite.
Of course a certain amount of forbearance and ignorance was feigned by religious or state authorities. They took cases one by one. Protection might be afforded to gifted court artists for instance; yet this was arbitrary but patrons could not be relied upon indefinitely. The artists featuring in this piece -those creating images of a sodomising or feminizing nature- may well have been at the cutting edge of risqué art. But they were nevertheless situated precariously as far as law and punishment were concerned. This needs to be remembered in any discussion involving Leonardo, himself denounced to court officials as a sodomite in 1476, albeit anonymously. It is only for that reason he escaped conviction.
Monna Vanna by Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno (Salaí) c. public domain
This image above is of a painting known as Lady Vanna -or Monna Vanna. For a considerable period of time it was called "the nude Monna Lisa". Personally I find little resemblance to the features of Mona Lisa in this painting. To me it seems a rather camped-up version of the world-famous painting in the Louvre. A feminized male no less; though admittedly executed with some sensitivity and homage. Nevertheless the hands and fingers of the image seem awkward and wooden. There is something outstandingly odd about the breasts as well. They seem like add-ons or "after-thoughts": as if painted onto an originally male torso. Without breasts, this image might just work as male. There is still speculation that beneath the Vanna lies a cartoon sketch by the hand of Leonardo himself.
There is a belief that the facial image of this Monna Vanna resembles closely a favourite model of Leonardo's who featured in his portrait of John the Baptist
The name of this man was Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno called for short "Salai"; a loyal pupil of Leonardo's for some twenty five years. He entered the master's household at ten years of age eventually becoming muse, model, and pupil. The old man bequeathed art to his former "little devil", as well as farming land in Italy.
At this juncture it is necessary to state the obvious. Many female portraits by Leonardo are definitely not ambiguous or androgynous. His subjects often are shown to be womanly, sexual, young. They are depicted desirable, desired, and desiring in a new style that was seemingly classical, but at once more subtle, more real and ..... more feminine. There is no need to labour this.
A third sex?
During the Renaissance another human variant, this time androgyny, was becoming increasingly fashionable for another class of beings, namely "angels". These were the traditional messengers of God, bird-beings, at once human and non human, were challenges to contemporary sciences and enquiring minds. Leonardo was fascinated by them: especially their abilities of flight and locomotion. In renaissance Italy it was entirely expected that contemporary human beings would soon fly with the aid of wings, machines, or both. Similarly in twentieth century in America it was possible to celebrate enormous technological advancements, yet at the same time to believe people were regularly abducted by aliens. Renaissance scholars knew well how some angelic beings had gendered forenames, like the famous St Michael, others seemed quite ambiguous. Angelic beings fascinated Leonardo artistically, scientifically, and anatomically. Because they neither married nor reproduced, did they have genitals? Were they perhaps eternally confined an everlasting adolescence? If they did not eat either, what would their internal anatomic and physiological features be? How do their remarkable pinions work?
One of the great moral traits of angels was their obedience: invariably and unquestioningly did they obey G/god's orders, delivering all divine messages without demur. Another angelic attribute was this: adoration. They hymned god's praises ceaselessly with immense artistry and skill using all sorts of musical instruments and not just harps. On the other hand they could be as devastating as any nuclear arsenal with destruction, punishing, or rescuing being their chief activities when the end of a universe was commanded. War and its instruments were a pressing technological concerns for Leonardo too; his income often depended upon his abilities to design weapons of attack and means for defence. Flying machines might be a great asset in any war. So interest in angels was a practical military concern; and not purely aesthetic. Thinking about angels could be likened to contemporary weapons technology. Indeed the bloodiest characters in the final mass destruction of the Apocalypse are angels:
Jede Engel ist schrecklich
R M Rilke
One of Dr Who's weeping angels (from BBC America)
completed 18/3/2023
Angels to follow
Some Readings:
George Armstrong Forbidden Friendships: Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence. Review of Rocke's book. Los Angeles Times Nov 2 1997
Judith Brown Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy 1986 OUP
Fernando Cascai Scrutinizing Historiography: From Pederasty to Sodomy to Homosexuality to LGBT/Queer Sexualities. Published in `Fascination of Queer edited by Ramello. Interdisciplinary Press 2011
Marsillo Ficino Commentary on Plato's "Symposium" on Love Translated by Sears Jayne. Second Edition Paperback. Spring Publications 1983
Cathrine Fletcher: The Beauty and the Terror: An Alternative History of the Italian Renaissance 2020 Vantage
Jamie Gemmell Homosexuality in Renaissance Florence: The Ambiguities of Neoplatonic Thought. not dated ......
Meridith J Gill Angels and the Order of Heaven in Medieval and Renaissance Italy CUP 2021.
Hamilton, Tom (2020) 'Sodomy and criminal justice in the Parlement of Paris, c.1540-c.1700.', Journal of the history of sexuality., 29 (3). pp. 303-33
Hamilton, Tom (2021) 'A sodomy scandal on the eve of the French Wars of Religion.', Historical journal., 64 (4). pp. 844-864.
Hidden Florence https://hiddenflorence.org
Μary McCarthy: The Stones of Florence Mariner Books 2002
Alex Mills Leonardo An opera for the Victoria and Albert Museum 2019 http://www.alexmills.info/leonardo
Michael Rocke, Forbidden Friendships: Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence. Oxford University Press, 1996.
Jonas Roelens ‘Visible Women. Female Sodomy in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Southern Netherlands (1400-1550)’, BMGN/Low Countries Historical Review 130, no. 3 (2015):
3-24.
Jonas Roelens 'A Woman Like Any Other: Female Sodomy, Hermaphroditism, and Witchcraft in Seventeenth-Century Bruges', Journal of Women's History 29, no. 4 (2017): 11-34.
Jonas Roelens Gossip, defamation and sodomy in the early modern southern Netherlands (2018) RENAISSANCE STUDIES. 32(2). p.236-252
Men had to live closely with other men from all classes during battles which were often ferocious, bloody, and rapacious. Male rape was frequently alleged during the innumerable Italian Wars. Allegations were sometimes high-jacked by military interests, which were quite capable of manufacturing them as well. Catherine Fletcher is a reliable guide here.
