Headline Of The Week Weak
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"Gay Unions Sanctioned in Medieval Europe"
Amen to that! CLICK HERE to read the interesting article accompanying this headline.
[Image via Celebrity Babylon.]
Gay Unions Sanctioned in Medieval Europe
Civil unions between male couples existed around 600 years ago in medieval Europe, a historian now says.
Historical evidence, including legal documents and gravesites, can be interpreted as supporting the prevalence of homosexual relationships hundreds of years ago, said Allan Tulchin of Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania.
If accurate, the results indicate socially sanctioned same-sex unions are nothing new, nor were they taboo in the past.
“Western family structures have been much more varied than many people today seem to realize," Tulchin writes in the September issue of the Journal of Modern History. "And Western legal systems have in the past made provisions for a variety of household structures.”
For example, he found legal contracts from late medieval France that referred to the term "affrèrement," roughly translated as brotherment. Similar contracts existed elsewhere in Mediterranean Europe, Tulchin said.
In the contract, the "brothers" pledged to live together sharing "un pain, un vin, et une bourse," (that's French for one bread, one wine and one purse). The "one purse" referred to the idea that all of the couple's goods became joint property. Like marriage contracts, the "brotherments" had to be sworn before a notary and witnesses, Tulchin explained.
The same type of legal contract of the time also could provide the foundation for a variety of non-nuclear households, including arrangements in which two or more biological brothers inherited the family home from their parents and would continue to live together, Tulchin said.
But non-relatives also used the contracts. In cases that involved single, unrelated men, Tulchin argues, these contracts provide “considerable evidence that the affrèrés were using affrèrements to formalize same-sex loving relationships."
The ins-and-outs of the medieval relationships are tricky at best to figure out.
"I suspect that some of these relationships were sexual, while others may not have been," Tulchin said. "It is impossible to prove either way and probably also somewhat irrelevant to understanding their way of thinking. They loved each other, and the community accepted that.”
what's w/ the pic of him under it??
so mean…lol
owwww
fiiiiiiiirst or third
fiiiiiiiirst or third
First
First
ha ha, i've always wanted to do that!
Somewhere, Larry Craig is breathing a sigh of relief.
Why does Sac Fluffron have a kaballah bracelet on? I'm sure he's REALLY spiritual. Tard.
1st:)
Very interesting…. :S
19th lamers!
He is so not gay!!
great
hahahha
#8
first
Honestly perez, this is what you do for a living. Get on with it! You're so damn slooooow
what is up with this kid? he's freakin' everywhere!!!!
you're a fuckin idiot if you really think he is gay. GET OVER IT!
helloooooooooooo
Haha, perfect picture to use with this. Love it.
interesting read
1st
……………..?
I wouldn't use this info to try and further advance the rights of gays. They also used to burn women at the stake, believing they were witches. I don't think medieval times were times of enlightenment.
no! i sure hope he is not gay!
Who is this chick…she's so pretty. Is that Mary Kate?? Ashley???
haa haa nicee !!
i really enjoyed the picture of zac in the morning !! it makes me soo hott !! lol
>_
I find it interesting that so many people have issues with the fact that some people are gay, when it has been around since the beginning of man. There is alot of historic and past fine art that includes obvious homosexuality. Not only that but most of the nation's leaders partake in homosexual activities as a luxury resort at Bohemian Grove each year. Sound new to you? Get a clue…
educate-yourself.org
that's all cool but… what does that have to do with ZAC???
Wow, Zac is sooooooooo hot!
I wish he was gay so I could pound his ass!
Zac Efron is not gay. You just are making yourself look bad by calling him that.
HE MUST HAVE QUITE A GOOD PUBLICIST AS I CANT FIGURE OUT ANY OTHER REASON THAT THIS GUY IS SO PIMPED OUT LATELY- HEY, TEENY BOPPERS-GET OVER IT, HES A QUEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why the pic of Zac? But this really is an interesting article.
how nice!!
woot for gay rights
didnt get it at all but that's hot!
what does zac have to do with anything?
She's hott, a little flatchested but I don't mind the Olive Oyl look.
just because he's HOTT doesn't mean he's gay.
i think perez is in love or something.
he should honestly consider dying his eyebrows.
Thank you for showing us the truth Perez. Um, did you know that YOU are now The leader in the gay rights movement? You are. Right on. Thank You.
Piss off Perez.
He's not gay.
Let it go.
Zac is cuter than Rob Lowe in the early 80's, or anyone else. I would love to do nasty things to him.
PS: The Hulk Hogan family is just WHITE TRASH… every one of them.
HE MUST NOT BE GAY BUT HE LOOKS BEYOND GAY
I GUESS HIS PROBLEM IS LOOKING SO BEAUTIFUL
.
Lipstick… Check.
Eyeliner… Check
Foundation… Check
Gloss… Check
Blush… Check
Tampon… Check
Sex Change… Check
Same Gay Hairstyle worn by all Gays… Check……..
Nice. I bet you he is gay. At least bi. But please, stop it w/ Zac. He's not talented nor attractive. AHH NO WAIT, give him more attention!! So then he'll go away faster than he came!!
i love these rare times when serious stories are posted. even though you take away from it by adding humor with this picture. and i don't think that's a kaballah bracelet; i think it's a scrunchie. she likes to get her hair out of her face every once in a while.
what does this have to do with zac?
lame.
Hey!
Just cause I love cock, doesn't mean you can post my picture with Gay Rights on it!!
Get on your knee's Perez and worship me like you should!!!
I love makeup.
guys, zac effron IS gay… c'mon.. he's as gay as clay aiken (don't you see the resemblence??)
God, he's cute. Not everyone who's cute is gay.
wtf? i dont get it. why is zac there? he's not gay…
Perez, really, I enjoy your page, but why is it that you accuse every attractive, well put together man gay??? You need to get over it for real and print truth worthy stories. Every woman that has strong features is gay too? I support homosexuals but just because you are 1 doesnt mean the world is!!! Its getting sooo annoying
hes just so friggin cute.
UGH!! I'm so sick of seeing this kid!!! What is it about him that the girls like exactly?? He looks like a fucking fag!
So wonderful of Perez to highlight this truly interesting story with the photo of our darling young Saffronista, also known as "The Subtle But Spicy One". And I notice that Spice Boi has acquired a different makeup artist, one who nows how to de-emphasize his Chipmunk Cheeks (and I'm talking about the cheeks on Saffron's face, not the other ones further below, you pervs).
Lipstick… Check
Eyeliner… Check
Foundation… Check
Blush… Check
Gloss… Check
Powder… Check
T@mpon… Check
S3X Change… Check
Same Gay Hairstyle worn by all the Gays… CHECK@!!@!!!
My Gaydar tells me that Zac is a lipstick lesbian. Am I right?
If not, he is taking androgeny to a way new level.
is that Drake Bell in the background??
ldjfkldjsljd - he got Jewish ancestry you moron!!!! how cant you dont even know bout that!
My gaydar tells me that Zac is a lipstick lesbian. Am I right? If not, he is taking androgeny to a way new level.
If he's really Jewish, the moyle must have had to use an electron microscope when he did the circumcision..
Actually, this is only one historian and his perspective on the evidence (probably tainted by his own bias). If you look at the socio-economic situation of that time, it made more sense for two guys to live together. Consider it a Chuck and Larry story of that time.
I like the final line "It is impossible to prove either way…". If it's impossible to prove, then why is Perez stating something as if it were fact?
Who cares about the picture? Did anyone actually read the article? This is somewhat important.
That vidal sasson haircut is pretty gay.
lookie at the hot guy in the background!!!
looks like hes checkin out zac. ahaha.
This is not a new concept for social historians. Read Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice or Twelfth Night for these same sex unions sharing a "purse" and even a bed (c.f. Othello w/ Iago and Cassio). Homosocial unions were not only "allowed" in early modern England but encouraged. I am happy this has entered pop culture but it isn't a groundbreaking concept for scholars. Maybe contemporary culture can finally come to grips with the fact that we are not the enlightened and progressive society we tend to perpetuate in our own self-aggrandizing narratives. In fact, we have given up many of the rights afforded people in the past.
LOL
YOU ARE FUNNY PUTTING ZAC'S PIC ON THIS ITEM , CAREFUL P , 12 YEAR OLD GIRLS ARE GONNA START SENDING YOU DEATH THREATS .
WHA THE FUCK is up with today's teens and 1) the STUPID hairdo 2) the fucking perfect eyebrows? Christly Christness….it's enough to make you want to jab your eyes out with a tweezer.
i really do hate his nose..
they didn't burn witches in medieval times, #26, witch burning took place in THIS COUNTRY during colonial puritan times. things like alchemy and witchery were actually praised in medieval times despite the stronly religious feudal system. Furthermore, homosexuality has been completely acceptable in many other cultures since their beginnings- more specifically in some South Pacific cultures, people of the same sex get married all the time.
HE IS SO GAY HE WILL COME OUT SOON
I'm not sure I understand? What's this story got to do with Zac Efron?
Yeah Ok whatever. I find that very difficult to believe. People were routinely executed for sodomy and "witchcraft" was often a cover for lesbianism.
Why does he brush his hair up at the top of his head ?
wait i dont get it..is zac efron gay ? im pretty sure hes not…
the late yale historian john boswell wrote about similar findings in early modern europe back in the mid-90s.
it's a fascinating read that truly shows that such prejudices are a modern phenomena.
he fkn better be gay, hes to pretty for girls!!!!!
um wtf, zac efron isn't gay. his my sexual lover obviously..
Zac is a ViXen
"Historical evidence [sounds official, doesn't it?!?], including legal documents and gravesites, CAN BE INTERPRETED [if, that is, you assume everyone was trying to jump everyone else's bones…] as supporting the prevalence of homosexual relationships hundreds of years ago, said Allan Tulchin of Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania.
If accurate [that's a big IF, that one…], the results indicate socially sanctioned same-sex unions are nothing new, nor were they taboo in the past [as long as you didn't hump your frer, that is. In that case, you're out of luck. Heresy gets you arrested, but sodomy is given carte blance? I doubt it, Perez.]."
HE IS NOT GAY!!!
i love him so much stop saing things about him,LEAVE HIM ALONE!!!
Don't know if Zac is gay, but he sure is a FAG!
Does he practice kabbalah too?
first
Zach is weird looking. His hair is disgusting too. I am so over this fashionable gay face mod hair look.
How interesting!
Didn't they also believe the earth was flat back then? Medieval times - not a good point of reference, but an okay restaurant.
julio — I think you're overstating your case when you say that the discouragement of homosexual behavior is a "modern phenomenon". Take the following, for example:
"Homosexuality," Plato wrote, "is regarded as shameful by barbarians and by those who live under despotic governments just as philosophy is regarded as shameful by them, because it is apparently not in the interest of such rulers to have great ideas engendered in their subjects, or powerful friendships or passionate love-all of which homosexuality is particularly apt to produce."
Must be because Plato was a Christian Fundamentalist, right? Oh, yeah, this was well before Christ. Maybe Plato was a Jew?
He is sooo gay! I'm waiting to see when and how it will be revealed.
mmm, who's that hottie in the background?
Yeah!!! Shippensburg University, my alma mater. Not that anyone else has ever heard of it.
he cant help it to come out of the closet LOL..HES GAY..LOL
is that drake bell in the background?
ha ha ha que bueno que se chinguen a los jotos puñales
ok someone needs to invent a time machine already i want to see this!
princesse
I am so GAY
oh! i forgot to ask who's the guy in the background,he look cute and def HOT. I like him.