Homosexuality in medieval Europe

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In medieval Europe, attitudes toward homosexuality varied from region to region, determined by religious culture. The Catholic Church, which dominated the religious landscape, considered any non-procreative sex to be sodomy, which they viewed as a mortal sin and "unnatural". However, the actual sexual behaviors of ordinary people outside of recorded marriages is harder to track archivally, since the historical record includes few details about their lives. Male homosexuality, labeled "sodomy," was widely criminalized in medieval Europe and therefore can be traced to a degree via interactions with the legal system. The emergence of heretical groups, such as the Cathars and Waldensians, was met with a rise in allegations of unnatural sexual conduct against these groups' members as part of the war against heresy in Christendom. Accusations of sodomy and "unnatural acts" were leveled against the Order of the Knights Templar in 1307 as part of Philip IV of France's attempt to suppress the order...

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