Knight mated by a Knight.

May 11, 2012 10:40 AM

Christian tradition is often used as a justification for opposition to gay marriage. However, in the period up to roughly the thirteenth century, male bonding ceremonies were performed in churches all over the Mediterranean. These unions were sanctified by priests with many of the same prayers and rituals used to join men and women in marriage. The ceremonies stressed love and personal commitment over procreation, but surely not everyone was fooled. A letter from a respected monk–scholar in Charlemagne’s court named Alcuin (circa 735–804) to a beloved bishop shows how thick those relations sometimes became:

I think of your love and friendship with such sweet memories, reverend bishop, that I long for that lovely time when I may be able to clutch the neck of your sweetness with the fingers of my desires. Alas, if only it were granted to me, as it was to Habakkuk, to be transported to you, how would I sink into your embraces . . . how would I cover, with tightly pressed lips, not only your eyes, ears, and mouth but also your every finger and your toes, not once but many a time.

Via. Related from Amazon, Guardian, BoingBoing, HuffPo.
posted by unSane (3 comments total)

Different link, but we'v been here before.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:42 AM on May 11, 2012

Double. Pretty cool that an 18-year-old scholarly work on church history is suddenly going viral, though.
posted by theodolite at 10:44 AM on May 11, 2012

Slavery was going on back then too, but you don't condone that, DO YOU?!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:45 AM on May 11, 2012 [1 favorite]