Posted on 04/22/2022 8:06:35 PM PDT by Trillian
When we think of people who lived in the Middle Ages, it is usually the crushing poverty and high infant mortality that stand out.
But now a historian of the medieval period has revealed something less well-known: the ploys that women used to get their other halves into bed.
Speaking on a new podcast, Dr Eleanor Janega said that one bizarre method involved wives kneading dough on their naked bodies before baking it to turn it into bread and then serving it to their husbands.
Some medieval women also believed that honey was an aphrodisiac and would smother it 'all over' their bodies before putting it 'in things' and then serving the foods to their other halves.
The historian also quoted from a bizarre 'penitential guide' - questions priests asked members of their congregation to get them to admit their sins - to highlight an even more obscure aphrodisiac.
Written by 10th century bishop Burchard of Worms, it described how 'some women' would put a 'live fish' in their vagina before 'waiting until it is dead' and then cooking it and serving it to their husband.
However, she said the bishop's claims that women actually used the method were 'probably made up'.
Dr Janega was speaking on new History Hit podcast Betwixt the Sheets.
The expert is the author of new book the Middle Ages: A Graphic History, which was published last year.
Speaking of the popular aphrodisiacs, she told host Kate Lister: 'There are a lot of options here, and interestingly a lot of them have to do with eating.
'A lot of the time what it will be is introducing ways of getting your husband to kind of eat something that has been in contact with your body.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Thanks for setting me straight.
It was the melted honey butter that made the difference.
Brings a new meaning to “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”
You need to warm up the oven before you shove in the meat.
When I get home from work I want it hot and on the table.
My gosh.
Mid evil women had to lure their men into sex?
What complete bs, unless the festering welts and smells coming from both of them grossed everyone out.
In my lifetime, whenever my wife is ready, I was already ready.
This just seems stupid.
And God said,
“Now I’ll never get that smell out of the fish!”
Slathering honey on yourself is also a bunch of nonsense.
Honey was valuable and treasured. Only a rich person, who would not be doing her own cooking, would have used it in anyway besides to eat.
I guess that nifty phrase “Universal Precautions” had no meaning back then.
“Eww, especially when bathing was an option in those days.”
Bathing was an occasional activity in many places until just a few decades ago. In Victorian England, the wealthy bathed only about 3 times a month. The poor bathed once a month with the whole family using the same water. In many parts of Europe, families STILL don’t have running hot water and must use water heaters which are above their tubs. Due to the cost of using these, many families are STILL bathing only once a week and washing themselves at the bathroom sink the other 6 days of the week.
it was probably important to have lots of kids, in those days.
They must have saved a lot of money on yeast.
So I should get married cause it might raise my fibre intake.
Seems pretty costly to me.
Is that a breadstick in your pocket or are you glad to see me?
No publicity, no fanfare.
Honey also contains arsenic which will kill what ails you.
“Honey, how come your p**** tastes like bread?”
Is this how pizza was invented?
They use bidets…we don’t.
.
Someone wanted a pizza ass.
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