John of Salisbury and the ‚hermaphrodite‘ courtier
Having posted on Kantorowicz‘ King’s two bodies (https://intersex.hypotheses.org/3702) reminds me of John of Salisbury and his Policraticus, an important medieval source for the ‚body politic‘...
View ArticleMedieval canon law on hermaphrodites
As some readers of this blog know, I’ve been a canon law historian long before I began to think about hermaphrodites or intersex in history. On the whole, (medieval) canon law is largely silent on...
View ArticleThe hermaphrodite Adam in the 12th century
The biblical book of Genesis famously includes two very different accounts of the creation of humanity. The first, which appears in Genesis 1:27, tells us that God created Adam and Eve simultaneously:...
View ArticleHermaphroditus putatus: Felix Platter über Anna Jakob Bürgin
Jede Übersetzung ist Interpretation, das gilt auch für die von Sarah-Maria Schober kürzlich hier im Blog (https://intersex.hypotheses.org/4653) zitierte Übersetzung von Felix Platters Bericht zur...
View ArticleIphis and Ianthe: changing sex and gender – but not the name
Montaigne in his famous essay „De la force de l’imagination“ without reference quotes the following line: Vota puer solvit, quæ foemina voverat Iphis. [As a boy Iphis fulfilled vows made as a girl.]...
View ArticleCaspar Bauhin on Anna Jakob Bürgin (1614)
Both Felix Platter and Caspar Bauhin were involved in the case of Anna Jakob Bürgin (see https://intersex.hypotheses.org/4653), and both published accounts of the case. Platter did so in his...
View ArticleIdeas on Yde and Ydé: (un)gendered names in classical and medieval literature
Thinking about sex and gender in past societies invariably makes you think how we could possible know the individual sex or gender or any person who lived centuries ago. In practice, we often rely on...
View ArticleA hermaphrodite in the Archives nationales: Paris, AN X1A 14
The endlessly rich but also endlessly daunting records of the Paris Parlement have become increasingly user-friendly with the arrival of some search aids and databases provided by the wonderful...
View ArticleThe Last Days of Taurus – When Hermaphrodites Are Born…
Many contributions to this blog convincingly show that the Middle Ages (or, more generally, the premodern period) were quite familiar with the figure of the «hermaphrodite» as well as with a range of...
View Article‘All humans are male, female, or hermaphrodite‘ (Rolandus Passagerii)
In the past decade or so, a number of countries have changed their laws and statutes concerning the legal status of intersex people. In Germany, the German Federal Constitutional Court ruled in autumn...
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