Is anybody aware of any legal documents which prescribe, or even
historical
records which describe castration as a suitable punishment for
sexual
crimes or indiscretions - especially on the part of the secular clergy?
Daron Burrows, Trinity College, Oxford.
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I don't know the legal aspects of the case, but certainly a splashy one
which could be imagined to have influenced public opinion comes
from early 14th-century France, when in 1314 King Philip the Fair
arrested his three daughters-in-law, Margaret, Jeanne and Blanche of
Burgundy, who were married to his three eldest sons, the future Louis
X, Philip V and Charles IV, respectively. Charges against Jeanne
were soon dropped, but the other two were accused (probably falsely)
of sexual misconduct with the brothers Philippe and Gautier d'Aunay,
who were castrated before being put to death. The seriousness of the
charges, of course, involved their relationship to the question of the
royal succession.
Jim Bugslag
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