Ye Olde Queers: The Role of Homosexuality in the Middle Ages

In the middle age’s homosexuality was not understood in the same way it is today. That’s not to say that same-sex relationships didn’t occur, they did, but they weren’t understood to be same-sex couple, rather a deviant sexual act between two men. These relationships occurred so commonly in fact that we see signs of them in many literary works from the middle ages, one of these works being Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, specifically The Summoner's Tale. 

The Summoner’s Tale tells the story of a Friar John, a greedy friar who lies and scams his way into money. Friar John visits the house of a sick parishioner Thomas, upon entering he greats Thomas’s wife with a tight hug, a kiss, and a few flirtatious remarks. Speaking to Thomas, Friar John tells him that the clergy is praying nightly for his recovery, Thomas in responses tells the friar that he has a reward for him. In order to get the reward, the Friar needs to reach under Thomas’s butt and grab it, so the friar does. While the Friars hand is on Thomas’s butt Thomas farts in the friar’s hand and tells him to share it with the rest of the clergy.

The Summoner - The Canterbury Tales

While the tale is not explicitly about gay sex the allusions to it are quite clear. In an essay by Ruth Evans the role of homosexual acts in The Summoners Tale is explored. Evans makes it clear that gay sex, and gay relationships are two very different things, and only the former was understood to exist during Chaucer’s time. Gay sex was also seen as being condemnable for the sin of sodomy, hence why when Friar John attempts to grope the behind of another man he is rewarded with a fart in his hand and sent from the house. 

Chaucer’s inclusion of characters who partake in same-sex acts is very interesting. Not only does it allow for some insight into how queerness presented in the past, but it also allows for modern day queer readers to see themselves in a time period that has been taught as almost entirely straight. Richard E. Zeikowitz describes the effect that this can have for queer readers in his essay. Even if Chaucer’s queer characters do not act in ways that present same-sex relationships in a positive light, they still provide support for queer readers by disrupting the heteronormative space that the middle ages are presented in. 

By including queer characters in The Canterbury Tales Chaucer inadvertently had great impacts on normalizing queerness in media throughout the middle ages, and modern times. In an essay by Tison Pugh he analyzes the unique impact Chaucer had on queerness in the middle ages. Chaucer began the trope of writing “Homosocial” relationships, bonds between two men who were sworn to each other. These bonds of brotherhood Pugh claims can be read as early versions of same-sex marriages.

By writing about queer characters, whether in a negative or positive light, Chaucer created a space for queerness in the middle ages. Which allows modern queer readers to be validated and more comfortable in their sexuality.