The Bishop's Brothels


Book Description

Drawing on a wealth of contemporary source material, a fascinating social history of how commercial sex has been bought and sold in London for more than 1,000 years. The Bankside Brothels, or "stewes," were a celebrated feature of London life since Roman times. Located on the south side of the River Thames, in the Bishop of Winchester's "Liberty of the Clink," they were a highly lucrative source of revenue for the Church. In AD 1161 a royal decree ordered that these establishments be licensed and regulated. For many years they attracted the great and the not-so-good, helping to make Southwark the "pleasure-garden" of London. But who were the people of the Bankside Brothels? What living conditions did they have to endure? How did women cope with the constant threat of violence, unwanted pregnancy, and venereal disease? The streets of Southwark and those who walked them are vividly brought to life in this richly researched exploration of the history of this stretch of the Thames over the centuries. Through the stories of those who lived and worked in this fascinating part of London, we can begin to gain an understanding of a crucial but hitherto neglected aspect of the social history of England.




The Bishop's Brothels


Book Description

Situated on the Bishop of Winchester's land, and a source of some profit for the Church, the Bankside brothels attracted many and helped to make Southwark the pleasure-garden of London. student of English history, more importantly, however, the author delves into contemporary source material to produce a chronicle of a country's changing sexual climate.




Common Women : Prostitution and Sexuality in Medieval England


Book Description

"Common women" in medieval England were prostitutes, whose distinguishing feature was not that they took money for sex but that they belonged to all men in common. Common Women: Prostitution and Sexuality in Medieval England tells the stories of these women's lives: their entrance into the trade because of poor job and marriage prospects or because of seduction or rape; their experiences as streetwalkers, brothel workers or the medieval equivalent of call girls; their customers, from poor apprentices to priests to wealthy foreign merchants; and their relations with those among whom they lived. Common Women crosses the boundary from social to cultural history by asking not only about the experiences of prostitutes but also about the meaning of prostitution in medieval culture. The teachings of the church attributed both lust and greed, in generous measure, to women as a group. Stories of repentant whores were popular among medieval preachers and writers because prostitutes were the epitome of feminine sin. Through a sensitive use of a wide variety of imaginative and didactic texts, Ruth Karras shows that while prostitutes as individuals were marginalized within medieval culture, prostitution as an institution was central to the medieval understanding of what it meant to be a woman. This important work will be of interest to scholars and students of history, women's studies, and the history of sexuality.




The Sovereign Individual


Book Description

Two renowned investment advisors and authors of the bestseller The Great Reckoning bring to light both currents of disaster and the potential for prosperity and renewal in the face of radical changes in human history as we move into the next century. The Sovereign Individual details strategies necessary for adapting financially to the next phase of Western civilization. Few observers of the late twentieth century have their fingers so presciently on the pulse of the global political and economic realignment ushering in the new millennium as do James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg. Their bold prediction of disaster on Wall Street in Blood in the Streets was borne out by Black Tuesday. In their ensuing bestsellar, The Great Reckoning, published just weeks before the coup attempt against Gorbachev, they analyzed the pending collapse of the Soviet Union and foretold the civil war in Yugoslavia and other events that have proved to be among the most searing developments of the past few years. In The Sovereign Individual, Davidson and Rees-Mogg explore the greatest economic and political transition in centuries -- the shift from an industrial to an information-based society. This transition, which they have termed "the fourth stage of human society," will liberate individuals as never before, irrevocably altering the power of government. This outstanding book will replace false hopes and fictions with new understanding and clarified values.




Sex, the Illustrated History: Through Time, Religion, and Culture


Book Description

Sex, the Illustrated History: Volume III continues a courageous exploration of sexual customs and conflicts into the modern world. This work explores the fight for sexual freedom in a world of often-repressed sexuality. The conflict with the church and its control of sexuality and law has stood as a barrier against freedom of human sexuality. The focus of this work is primarily the European and American theater, as they strive to rise above the ancient precepts that have girdled sexuality. The fight was a long and hard-fought one; prejudice and prudery and claims of morality and law stood rigidly against a new rationalism beginning in the Reformation. The book explores in depth historical and contemporary worldwide slavery, forced marriage, child brides, abuses of the Catholic Church, and sexual trafficking. Also explored are the history of homosexual movements, bisexuality, and the larger LGBT+ movements.




Common Women


Book Description

Through a sensitive use of a wide variety of imaginative and didactic texts, Ruth Karras shows that while prostitutes as individuals were marginalized within medieval culture, prostitution as an institution was central to the medieval understanding of what it meant to be a woman. This important work will be of interest to scholars and students of history, women's studies, and the history of sexuality.




Night Market


Book Description

First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.




"The Sins of Madame Eglentyne", and Other Essays on Chaucer


Book Description

The essays in this single-author collection are principally concerned with Madame Eglentyne, the demure and elegant prioress depicted in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Richard Rex contends that how we think about Chaucer as a Christian depends largely on our interpretation of the Prioress's Tale, which in turn is linked to the brilliant portrait of Madame Eglentyne in the General Prologue.




Prostitution


Book Description




A State Iniquity


Book Description