Frederik Pedersen has asked me to forward this message to the list while
we get some e-mail problems sorted. (I'm starting to sound like a member
of the cast of *Eastenders*; intermedia reference there...) -- George
> > ------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
> > From: "Frederik Pedersen" <[log in to unmask]>
> > Organization: Department of History and Economic History
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 12:11:39 0
> > Subject: Re: Impotence
> > Reply-to: [log in to unmask]
> > Priority: normal
> >
> > The Practice of using "Good and Honest women" to investigate the
> > potency (or usually the lack thereof) was relatively common in
> > medieval England. Such committees were convened "ad Hoc" and the
> > women who participated in them were not necessarily prostitutes,
> > though this is the logical conclusion to our modern sensibilities.
> > Jacqueline Murray has written about these women in two articles in
> > "The Lawyers Weekly" 6.4 (27 March 1987) and in "Journal of Medieval
> > History" 16.3 (1990) 235-49. Richard Helmholz also mentions the
> > practice in "Marrriage litigation in medieval England" (Cambridge
> > 1974). For a translated example (of a late medieval instance) see,
> > PJP Goldberg "Women in Medieval England" (Manchester 1995).
> >
> > The investigations were pretty detailed. I showed one case to a
> > professor of pedeatrics at Addenbrookes in Cambridge whose specality
> > is the kinds of disorders that come under the general heading of
> > "ambiguous gender" and he immediately suggested a diagnosis of John
> > Sanderson, the defendant in this case. I forget what the diagnosis
> > was, but it was a fairly common affliction which affects about one in
> > six thousand male infants.
> >
> > MICHAEL WRIGHT wrote:
> >
> > > On Sun, 26 May 1996, Frederik Pedersen wrote about
> > >
> > > >a fourteenth-century York impotence case. The defendant, John
> > > >Sanderson, is exposed to an investigation by "good and honest
> > > >women," who attempt to give him an erection.
> > >
> > > I'm only an ignorant literature person, but even as I realise
> > > the logicality of the procedure, the mind boggles. What
> > > tribunal was this? What is the Latin description of these 'good
> > > and honest women', and why such rather than professionals? Were
> > > they a standing body (sorry), the Examiners in Impotence, or an
> > > ad hoc task force?
> > >
> > > Sorry for an interest which is not entirely divorced (?
> > > annulled) from prurience, but the thing reads so much like a
> > > Monty Python script that the weirdness is genuinely
> > > illuminating about the otherness of the M.A.
> > >
> > > Baffled,
> > > Michael Wright
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|