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Forbidden Friendships: Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence
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Forbidden Friendships: Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence Paperback / softback - 1998

by Michael Rocke

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The men of Renaissance Florence were so renowned for sodomy that "Florenzer" in German meant "sodomite". In this richly documented book, scholar Michael Rocke vividly depicts this vibrant sexual culture in a world where these same-sex acts were not seen as the deviant transgressions of a small minority, but as an integral part of a normal masculine identity. Illustrations.

Description

Paperback / softback. New. In 1432, the Office of the Night was created specifically to police sodomy in Florence. Seventy years of denunciations, accusations and sentencings left an extraordinarily detailed record, which the author uses in this portrait, calling into question modern conceptions of sexuality and gender.
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Details

  • Title Forbidden Friendships: Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence
  • Author Michael Rocke
  • Binding Paperback / softback
  • Edition New Ed
  • Condition New
  • Pages 384
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Oxford University Press, USA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
  • Date 1998-03-05
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Illustrated
  • Bookseller's Inventory # B9780195122923
  • ISBN 9780195122923 / 0195122925
  • Weight 1.2 lbs (0.54 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.19 x 6.1 x 1 in (23.34 x 15.49 x 2.54 cm)
  • Reading level 1770
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 15th Century
    • Cultural Region: Italy
    • Cultural Region: Western Europe
    • Sex & Gender: Gay
    • Topical: Lgbt
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 95035068
  • Dewey Decimal Code 306.766

Summary

"This is a superb work of scholarship, impossible to overpraise.... It marks a milestone in the 20-year rise of gay and lesbian studies."--Martin Duberman, The AdvocateThe men of Renaissance Florence were so renowned for sodomy that "Florenzer" in German meant "sodomite." In the late fifteenth century, as many as one in two Florentine men had come to the attention of the authorities for sodomy by the time they were thirty. In 1432 The Office of the Night wascreated specifically to police sodomy in Florence. Indeed, nearly all Florentine males probably had some kind of same-sex experience as a part of their "normal" sexual life. Seventy years of denunciations, interrogations, and sentencings left an extraordinarily detailed record, which author Michael Rocke has used in his vivid depiction of this vibrant sexual culture in a world where these same-sex acts were not the deviant transgressions of a small minority, but anintegral part of a normal masculine identity...

First line

"In the whole world I believe there are no two sins more abominable than those that prevail among the Florentines," commented Pope Gregory XI in 1376.

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About the author

Michael Rocke is the Nicky Mariano Librarian of the Biblioteca Berenson at Villa I Tatti, the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, in Florence.