Saint Columban's Penitential: Regulating Sexuality
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Themes
Saint Columban, penitential, medieval sexuality, ecclesiastical legislation, lust, chastity, reproductive sexuality, non-reproductive sexuality, clerics, monks, laypeople, medieval punishment, canon law
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Abstract
This document examines Saint Columban's penitential, a 6th-century penal code regulating ecclesiastical life and sexuality in Western societies during the High Middle Ages.
Extract
[...] From then on, Columban's penitential raises questions about his image of woman in Western societies of the Early Middle Ages. Does he not confer a double qualification on woman in a struggle between chastity and lust, between reproductive and non-reproductive sexuality, between purity and defilement? In this perspective, the first part will focus on understanding the functioning of Saint Columban's penal system. Next, the second part will concern the possible punitive techniques. Before concluding, we will see how the choice of the sanction was made. [...]
[...] - Taking into account the civil status of the offender and the victim, the function of the offender, - Example to show the classification according to the gravity of the fault committed. Conclusion In conclusion, after reading these documents, the penitential of Colomban reveals a double image of woman in Western societies of the High Middle Ages. Indeed, we witness a permanent struggle between chastity and lust. It is a rather surprising penitential given its level of severity going beyond traditional ecclesiastical rules while maintaining a spiritual aspect. [...]
[...] To fight the sin of lust, debauchery. - Exigence of not transgressing ways of doing things. - Similarity to the application of a penal code. - Clear distinction between reproductive and non-reproductive sexuality. (Examples) 2. A wider public concerned. - Large list of punishable sexual acts (Cite examples). Application to a wider public: clerics, monks but also laypeople. - Until they intrude into intimacy, into the bedroom. (Examples) - Concerns especially the clerics, the monks and the laypeople. (Cite examples related to various statuses) B. [...]
[...] - Examples. 2. The symbolic punishment. - The quarantine with suppression of the right to participate in group activities. - Danger on a psychological level: humiliation and vexation, provocation of a state of psychological insecurity. A great number of pressures during quarantine on the excommunicated person. - Effective techniques as possibility of doing penance. - Examples. C. The choice of the sanction 1. Depending on the nature of the offense. - Precise and prophetic designation of the targeted sexual sins. [...]
