What does the average person know about the Middle Ages? That there were knights with their ladies, they went on several crusades to fight the infidels, the noble English king Richard the Lionheart (who was actually quite a scoundrel), the Knights of the Round Table (not from here), dragons and a talking donkey (also not from here), the right of the first night, Robin Hood and his men in tights, Teutonic knights on ice, and chastity belts. Probably something else too, but I can’t recall off the top of my head.
In her book, Rosalie Gilbert set out to examine some of these so-called “facts” that we know thanks to movies and books, focusing on a particular adult theme—intimate matters. Were people really all that virtuous? Was there even a sex life at all? (Obviously, there was, since people had to reproduce somehow.) And how did they guard against spousal infidelity, or, conversely, try to ignite passion in their partners?
It took me just a few pages to decide I wanted to read the book because the author jumps right in, debunking myths and revealing just how difficult it was to remain a virgin in those times. After all, male virginity wasn’t much of a concern back then, and women, in general, were considered the embodiment of sin (we all remember Eve and the apple in Eden, right?), whom men simply had to tolerate for the sake of the survival of the family line.
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