Melusine: The Myth, the Woman, the Legend

I recently gave a guest lecture during Dr. Megan Hall’s fall 2024 course entitled “Witches, Warriors, and Wonder Women: Women, Power, and Writing in History.” To prepare for my visit, students read excerpts from Jean d’Arras’s Melusine; Or, the Noble History of Lusignan as translated and edited by Donald Maddox and Sara Sturm-Maddox (Penn State UP, 2012). The story of Melusine, for those not in the know, is steeped in folklore. Various accounts of the tale involve a fairy woman named Melusine who takes on a half-serpent form from the waist down during part of the week and must hide this from her lover lest they suffer the consequences! Jean’s version of the tale, which dates to 1393, offers an account of the founding of the Lusignan dynasty and how Melusine, a half-fairy woman cursed to assume a half-serpent form on Saturdays, played a major role in its establishment and prestige. The House of Lusignan in its heyday counted Crusader kings among their ranks. My goals were to get Dr. Hall’s students thinking about the representation of non-humanness, the ways in which Melusine wields and exercises power, the significance of relating a historical family’s lineage to a fairy founder, and the truth claims that Jean makes. Certainly a tall order for our hour and fifteen minutes together, but trust me: the students rose to the occasion!

Tour Mélusine was built at the end of the 12th century/beginning of the 13th century to support the fortified town of Vouvant in western France. It is a vestige from when members of the House of Lusignan built a castle in the area.
Legend has it that Melusine herself built the tower in a single night. (Right, close up) Note the weather vane at the top! It’s shaped like Melusine’s half-serpent form.

The text’s prologue immediately draws you into Jean’s narrative web. I find it striking how he claims to weave together various sources and reconciles them with his Latin Christian faith so that he can then go on and discuss Melusine. He references Aristotle and Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Romans in his discussion of marvels. Yet, he writes that “even those well versed in science can hear or see things they cannot believe but which are nonetheless true. I mention these matters because of the marvels that occur in the story I am about to tell you, as it pleased God my Creator and at the behest” of his patron, John, Duke of Berry (20). The marvels that Jean references, of course, are the ones associated with fairy magic and power. Fairies—and Jean references Gervase of Tilbury’s account of fairies for this portion of the prologue—can take on the form of beautiful human women. They can marry human men and even bear children with them, but these men must make promises to their fairy wives and uphold them. These promises can range from a prohibition from seeing the fairy wife nude to never seeing her in childbed.

According to Jean’s summary of Gervase, “[a]s long as these men kept their promises, they increased in rank and prosperity, but at the moment they broke them, they lost the women, and their fortunes slowly declined” (21). In a few short paragraphs, Jean not only tries to bolster the authority of his tale with these references to notable predecessors, but he also builds the world of fairies for his audience. Melusine then is but one example of how the marvel of fairies can operate, leading to some major consequences. As a class, we tried to make sense of Jean’s claims and how he reconciles fanciful fairy tales with what seemed like major authoritative sources. Surely, there must be something special about fairies—why else would Jean spend so much time insisting on their existence and the truth of the tale he is about to share? Furthermore, why would a powerful family like the Lusignans want to connect their family line to a fairy? After discussing the prologue, we were ready to tackle the rest of the text.

Raymond walks in on his wife, Melusine, in her bath and discovers she has the lower body of a serpent. Illustration from the Jean d’Arras work, Le livre de Mélusine (The Book of Melusine), 1478.

The tale unfolds as Jean recounts Melusine’s first encounter with her soon-to-be husband, Raymondin. Melusine’s enchanting beauty causes Raymondin to fall in love at first sight. The two marry under one important condition: that he never attempt to see her on Saturdays. Ever! Unbeknownst to Raymondin, on Saturdays Melusine keeps away from him and hides the fact that her lower half takes on a serpentine form. For years, they enjoy a prosperous marriage. They have numerous sons together, and the majority of them, according to Jean, go on to be rulers of Cyprus, Armenia, and more. Melusine takes on the role of master planner and architect. She builds fortresses and advises her husband on how to increase his wealth and prestige. This marital bliss, however, comes to an end when Raymondin spies on Melusine and discovers her Saturday secret. Though he keeps it to himself for some time, in a moment of anger he reveals knowledge of her weekly transformation and weaponizes it against her in an argument. Since he breaks his promise to her, Melusine takes leave of him. When his death nears, she returns in the form of a dragon.

Dr. Hall’s students truly impressed me with their thoughtful engagement with the text. We had conversations about female agency and power. I asked them to think about narratives parallels in the text and the role of curses and magic across similar events. I pointed out how when fairies and humans reproduce, their progeny bear remarkable physical features ranging from gigantism to having an unusual number of eyes. We pondered what a prestigious family like the Lusignans would gain from claiming a half-fairy woman as a major progenitor and have her powers be a major explanation for their wealth and prestige. I had so much fun diving in the text with them. It was clear to me that they had plenty to say about the ways in which the text represents various interpersonal dynamics. Melusine’s fairy qualities add to her allure and ability to influence those around her, for better or worse.

As our short time together came to an end, I asked them to think about Melusine’s legacy and afterlives. The legend of Melusine has endured and continued to captivate over the centuries. The major coffee chain Starbucks, for instance, has a rendition of Melusine as its logo (though the company’s own lore obscures this link!). For the jazz fans reading, please know that there is an incredible musician by the name of Cécile McLorin Salvant, whose seventh solo album, Mélusine, was released in March 2023. In the description for the album on the website Bandcamp[1] , Salvant unpacks the significance of the Melusine story and how it resonates with her.

Album art for Cécile McLorin Salvant’s Mélusine (2023).

What I find striking about Salvant’s reflections on the Melusine story is her reading of how significant gazes are. She shares that the tale is “also the story of the destructive power of the gaze. Raymondin’s sword pierces a hole into [Mélusine’s] iron door. His gaze does too. The gaze is transformative and combustible. She sees that he is secretly seeing her. Her secret is revealed. This double gaze turns her into a dragon.” Dr. Hall’s students definitely picked up on the power of the gaze but also recalled that it is a power that had to be weaponized before it could transform. In other words, when Raymondin first sees Melusine’s true form, he keeps his transgression to himself. His gaze is a breach of trust, and Melusine knows that her husband spied on her but decides to forgive him because he maintains her secret. However, when he becomes enraged, his anger causes him to lose all discretion. Raymondin angrily reveals that he knows about Melusine’s weekly transformations and resents her. The students recognized that it was precisely this resentment that made the revelation of the secret so powerful.

Another powerful way that Salvant relates to the Melusine story is through the idea of hybridity. Salvant was born in the United States to a French mother and a Haitian father. She spent ample time studying music in Aix-en-Provence, France. She is intimately familiar with negotiating various languages and cultures. When discussing the album Mélusine, she says it is “partly about that feeling of being a hybrid, a mixture of different cultures.” Though we did not get ample time to discuss Salvant’s feeling of hybridity, I do love how she draws a connection between her experiences and that of the legendary Melusine, who also had to navigate different cultures and human/non-human experiences. I find it beautiful that the tale of Melusine endures after all this time and can inspire people to explore the intersections of their own identity and reflect on how they experience the world.

While students were packing up their bags and heading out the door, one student lingered behind and wanted to keep the conversation going. This student wanted to talk about how Melusine’s representation of fairies as having conflict with God struck them; in their culture, fairies and even gnomes are guardians and protectors. The enthusiasm that the student exuded was infectious! And reflecting on this moment now, this just speaks even more to the allure not just of Melusine but of the magical realm at large: a space of play and imagination, sure, but also of power relations, of fidelity, of exploring identity, and so much more.

Anne Le, Ph.D.
Public Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow
Medieval Institute
University of Notre Dame


https://cecilemclorinsalvant.bandcamp.com/album/m-lusine

The Wyndonshire Wedding: Theatrical and Community Medievalism

In my recent blog discussing a new form of theatrical medievalism in which I have become immersed—allowing me both a creative and intellectual outlet—I centered my discussion on my creative direction and process and how my studies in medieval literature informed my directive style at two local Renaissance Faires in North Central Massachusetts which I was involved with managing, organizing and directing, Wyndonshire Renaissance Faire at the Community Park in Winchendon, MA and Enchanted Orchard Renaissance Faire at Red Apple Farm in Phillipston, MA. Wyndonshire, the first of these faires, will be the center of my discussion today as I explore the way this project engaged local performers, vendors and community members who came together to cocreate an event that revitalized the town and region. It was also a lot of fun, especially when it all came together on the final weekend in April last year.

Crimson Countess (Dawn Higgins), Wizard of Wyndonshire (Richard Fahey), and Sir Joan (Kellie Carter); Image by Richard Carter (April 28, 2024).

Wyndonshire began with an idea proposed by Parks and Recreation Member Dawn Higgins, who championed the initiative and served as RenFaire Coordinator this past year, helping coordinate costume clinics for character actors with Costume Coordinator, Ashley Rust, and vendors with then Park and Recreation Coordinator, Tiffany Newton. My wife, Rajuli Fahey, and I joined on as community members and part of the Planning Group for Winchendon’s RenFaire initiative, but came to wear many hats and serve in numerous roles, including as Creative, Theatrical and Entertainment Directors. Well before directing and academic consulting, I began with world-building a fantasy kingdom, drawing inspiration from town history, and applying my knowledge of medieval culture and lore to imbue the scripts I created as Wyndonshire Playwright. I drew also from my studies and love of medievalism in considering the audience and to both appeal to and surprise patrons. And, as mentioned in my previous blog, I modeled my approach in part on the aesthetic of wonder operative in many of my favorite works of medieval literature.

Green Queen of Wyndonshire (Tammy Dykstra); Image by Kit Catlett (April 27, 2024).

Creating the characters was a blast. I conceived of three main houses, and three primary nobles vying for power: the Blue King (James Higgins), the Green Queen (Tammy Dykstra), and the Red Baron (Dave Fournier). Rajuli created the graphic art for Wyndonshire, and she suggested noble family’s crest included a local animal as a sigil, so we chose the stag for the king, the otter for the queen and the fox for the baron. I also created a host of characters to populate the kingdom: townsfolk, rogues, pirates, vikings, knights, ministers, and additional nobility. There are also wondrous creatures from literature, myth and legend: fairies, merfolk, witches and sirens. Of course, this conglomerate of fictitious characters borrows from medieval and modern traditions, and reaches into the realm of the imaginary. Wyndonshire can only be described as a historical and literary anachronism and amalgamation. In this way, this faire is full fantasy, designed to appeal broadly to audiences interested in premodern and early modern times or their perception of those earlier historical periods. In other words, designed to meet the expectations of those who would typically attend a modern Renaissance Faire.

Wyndonshire cast: Pirate Queen (Katharine Taylor), Robber Baroness (Micayla Sullivan), Blue King (James Higgins), Crimson Countess (Dawn Higgins), Masked Bandit (Mitch Lang), Hooded Rogue (Mandalina Blake), Captain of the Kingsguard (Richard Carter), Fay Rogue (Noodle Doodle), Pirate Quartermaster (Jarod Tavares), Blue Champion (David Geary), Blue Duke (Bill Evans), Blue Duchess (Lori Evans), Kingsguard (Kellie Carter), Herald (Alex Deschenes), Red Champion (Cameron Hardy), Wizard (Richard Fahey), Enchantress (Rajuli Fahey), Sheriff of Shirewood (Jennifer MacLean), Queensguard (Nikolaus Brauer-Chagnon), Jester (Chelsey Patriss), Kingsguard (Ayden Mel), Blue Princess (Melanie “Melegie” Lemony), Baronsguard (Dan Towle), Baron’s Hand (Devon Barker), Fairy Prince (Sasha Khetarpal-Vasser), Red Baron (Dave Fournier), Red Duke (Michael Bearce), Siren (Jessa Funa); Image by Keith Fisher (April 28, 2024).

It was at this point that magic truly began happening, and it came from the local community. At our auditions, the synergy was palpable—dozens of folks came out to try and embody one of my characters or contribute their creative touch to this growing community project. There were people from different backgrounds coming together to cocreate immersive theater—some folks were part of community theater productions, others were veteran “Rennies” and even Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying groups got involved. Everyone rose up and became a creative team. One example of many was the work of Tammy Dykstra, who was cast as the Green Queen, and later stepped into the role of Music Director, taking on a group of singers, with a spectrum of training and experience. Assisted by Planning Group member, Jacque Ellis, Tammy and the Wyndonshire Singers produced a masterful “pub sing” that was engaging for both spectators and participants, and provided some ribaldry, entertainment and comic relief against a plot that was otherwise often grim and tragic.

Wyndonshire Pub Sing: Pirate Boatswain (Merill Blake), Fairy (Jodi Schoolcraft), Weird Sister (Siobhan Doherty), Pirate Quartermaster (Jarod Tavares), Green Duchess (Jen Knight), Baron’s Hand (Devon Barker), Herald (Alex Deschenes), Jester (Chelsey Patriss), Enchantress (Rajuli Fahey), Town Crier (Leanne Blake) & Shieldmaiden (Sylvia Sandridge); Image by Richard Carter (April 28, 2024).

Wyndonshire Renaissance Faire also featured a Belly Dance showcase that paid homage to the evolution of American Belly Dance and American Renaissance Faires, organized through partnership between Rajuli, Rachel Moirae of Our Dance Space, and Cheryl Kalilia of PsyBEL. The showcase featured regional dancers with a variety of styles—some improvisational, some choreographed—all performing to music with live percussion accompaniment added by spectating dancers, performers and patrons, which highlighted the collaborative and community spirit of the faire. From there, Wyndonshire spiraled outward, as performers and vendors were reaching out looking to get involved in the expanding project.

Rajuli Fahey and Nagashri Dancers (including: Lauren Conrad, Kerri Plouffe, Destiny Young, Leah Cameron, and Erin Berndt), performing at Wyndonshire Renaissance Faire; Image by Chris Young (April 27, 2024).

Numerous performance, historical reenactment, theatrical and musical groups donated services, sometimes for free and more often at discounted rates, to help get this event off the ground since initial funding was limited and in large part came from Massachusetts Cultural Council grants. Everyone pitched in to make the event possible, including  The Knights of Lord TalbotMeraki CaravanThe Phoenix Swords, The Shank PaintersThe Harlot QueensThe Warlock WondershowThe Misfits of Avalon, Dead Gods are the New Gods, The Green Sash, The Mt. Wichusett Witches, and solo performers, such as stilts walker, LaLoopna Hoops, and fire dancer, Noodle Doodle.

Screenshot

Signage was of course an essential element of the faire as well, both because signs add to the atmosphere and create the physical space, and because they helpfully direct patrons where to go. Another community member, Micayla Sullivan, who also played the Robber Baroness, took the lead on this and other crucial aspect of stagecraft as our “Sign Smith” along with a handful of other character actors. All the raw wood for the signs was donated from a local lumber company, Killay Timber Company in Royalston, MA, which made the production of Wyndonshire signage possible even without a budget. Similarly, local company, French Family Foundation in Winchendon, MA, donated lumber from local hardware store, Belletetes, to create the Wyndonshire gate, which James Higgins (who played the Blue King) and Dawn Higgins constructed for the event. Furthermore, local recording studio Blu3Kat Records volunteered to support the event’s sound management, and members from the local artist collective, Eldwood Council (especially Jacob Bohlen and Tom Fahey), partnered with FaeGuild Wonders, in order to create and build second main stage, the Mirage Stage, at Wyndonshire Renaissance Faire.

Wyndonshire Gate, sign by Micayla Sullivan; Image by Richard Fahey (April 28, 2024).

As performers and vendors were signing up to be part of the Wyndonshire, characters deepened and developed alongside and in tandem with my scripting. The first act of this faire, which will run one more year (June 21-22, 2025), involves conflict between the Blue King and the Green Queen for sway over the realm of Wyndonshire, with the Red Baron biding his time and waiting for any opportunity to climb into greater power. To avoid open war, in an attempt at “peace-weaving” if you will, the Blue King offers his daughter’s hand in marriage to the Green Queen’s son, thereby uniting the realm and settling the question of authority. Of course, each noble is still plotting their opponent’s’ demise, as the game of thrones continues subversively, and breaks out at the wedding feast, resulting in usurpation and regicide.

Knight of Lord Talbot: Blue Champion (David Geary), Green Champion (Frank Walker), Master of Arms (Kieth Fisher) & Red Champion (Cameron Hardy); Image by Richard Fahey (April 28, 2024).

In order to achieve the action scene in a manner that was safe and professional, we called upon the expertise of Frank Walker (Green Champion) who embraced the role of Combat Coordinator and worked out the staged combat with his historical reenactment group, The Knights of Lord Talbot, and in particular David Geary (Blue Champion) and Cameron Hardy (Red Champion), who were also performing combat demonstrations and facilitating a tournament of champions with historical weaponry and armor earlier in the day. Needless to say, this dramatically enhanced the plot and overall theatrical delivery of the climactic scene, and highlights how it was not just the cast of character actors but also performing groups who were collaborating to produce the drama of the Wyndonshire Wedding.

Phoenix Swords perform their fire show at Wyndonshire Renaissance Faire; Image by Phoenix Swords, (April 27, 2024).

Some performing groups contained some scripted character actors that were part of the core cast. For example, the Mt. Wichusetts Witches came to Wyndonshire and set the stage for the carnage, and instrumental in twisting fate and turning the wheel of fortune. They contributed to the physical space by creating the Witches’ Den on the borders of the Faywood, where desperate Wyndonshire nobility come to make illicit pacts in service of their respective aims. The Mt. Wichusetts Witches, especially Wyndonshire’s Weird Sisters (Kate Saab, Chrissy Brady and Siobhan Doherty), who engaged in multiple immersive skits where they made magical bargains with representatives of the noble houses, culminating in a flash mob spell at the royal wedding that allowed the Green Prince (Drew Dias) to escape with the Fairy Prince (Sasha Khetarpal-Vasser) and the Blue Princess (Melanie “Melegie” Lemony) with the Siren (Jessa Funa), before smoke clears and the subsequent chaos erupts.

Weird Sisters of Wyndonshire: Trimmer (Kate Saab), Weaver (Chrissy Brady) & Spinner (Siobhan Doherty); Image by Richard Fahey (April 28, 2024).

But the regicide was not the end of the action. After the Green Queen seems to have consolidated power and claims unilateral victory, there is another surprise in store: a peasants revolt instigated by a rogue rebellion, overlooked by the Sheriff of Shirewood (Jennifer MacLean) and led by the Robber Baroness (Micayla Sullivan) with the Hooded Rogue (Mitch Lang), Masked Bandit (Mandaline Blake), the Pirate Queen (Katharine Taylor) with her Pirate Quartermaster [Jarod Tavares] and the Green Sash, led by Viking Jarl (Jason Sumrall) with his Berserker (Andrew Hamel), Shieldmaidens (Sylvia Sandridge, Sara Hulseberg, Ashley Sumrall & Gabrielle Emond) and Thanes (Gary Joiner, Daniel Berry, Jeffery Allen Evans, Matthew LeBlanc, Henry Peihong Tsai, Gavin Leo, Richard Sprusanky, Joshua Coffin, et al.).

Wizard of Wyndonshire (Richard Fahey) leads a Viking Raid on Wyndonshire Town: Shieldmaiden (Sylvia Sandridge), Green Sash Thanes (Henry Peihong Tsai, Gary Joiner & Richard Sprusanky followed by others); Image by Adam Blake (April 27, 2024).

Indeed, The Green Sash, a “live history” and historical reenactment group (organized by Jason Sumrall) built and became our Viking settlement at the RenFaire. This group not only helped build the world of Wyndonshire, but like The Knights of Lord Talbot and Mt. Wichusetts Witches, The Green Sash became an integral part of the plot and interwoven into the story, contributing numerous immersive theatrical skits throughout the event, including singing and raiding Wyndonshire Town with the Wizard, conspiring with rogues and pirates to overthrow the nobility, and ultimately aiding the people’s revolution at the conclusion of the faire.

Wyndonshire Peasant Revolt overthrowing the Green Queen (Tammy Dykstra); Image by Richard Fahey (April 27, 2024).

Another interwoven subplot at Wyndonshire involved the misadventures of the Fairy Court in the Faywood, which was primarily organized by Amy Boscho in partnership with Emilie Davis and many others. Amy is a local business owner and community member who was also part of the Planning Group for the faire, and she both directed the immersive theatrics surrounding the Fairy Court and coordinated the vendors at the Fay Marketplace in the Fairy Grove near Wyndonshire Gate. Moreover, to further develop the mythic elements near Faywood, professional mermaids, led by Tolkien scholar, Shae Rossi, adorned the shore of the nearby pond at the Winchendon Community Park.

Fairy Court in the Faywood of Wyndonshire: Amy Boscho, Jessica Mcmenamin, Sarai Sylvestri, Summer Skye, Emilie Davis, et al.; Image by Adam Blake (April 27, 2024).

By the end of the process, almost every character was cocreating at some level with the actor playing them, and in one case, one of the character actors, Jessa Funa, (who played the Siren character) even collaborated with me on an immersive subplot centered on fairy romance between herself and the Blue Princess. The sheer extent of community contributions to this event was truly incredible and has inspired me to interlace the storyline of Wyndonshire with its sister faire, so the two plots will interact and events at Wyndonshire will ultimately affect the fate of Enchanted Orchard. A project of this scope and magnitude takes a team—a village—and I am honored to be part of such a collaborative community, now FaeGuild Wonders, which was inspired to participate in a this exciting form of public medievalism.

Blue Princess (Melanie “Melegie” Lemony) & The Siren (Jessa); Image by Mitch Grosky (April 27, 2024).

Additionally, Park and Recreation Chair, Deb Bradley stepped up when the faire needed a liaison, and served as a stage manager during the event, a second representative from the Winchendon Park and Recreation Commission who played a critical role in the planning and operations of the faire. And, Red Apple Farm partnered in advertising the event and as one of the major food vendor, providing standard RenFaire snacks and specialty cider imported from the neighboring agrarian realm of Enchanted Orchard. In 2026, the plot for Wyndonshire progresses to Act 2, “The Reign of the Rogue Council” which picks up with the Green Queen in the Wyndonshire Dungeon, and the rogue leaders in power.  As we plan to run Act 1 “The Wyndonshire Wedding” again next year, if you missed out this spring, luckily there is still another chance to attend in 2025 (June 21-22nd).

Wyndonshire Crest depicting the sigils and colors of the three high nobles; Graphic Art by Rajuli Fahey (2024).

Richard Fahey
Ph.D. in English
Medieval Institute
University of Notre Dame

Creative, Entertainment & Theatrical Director
Playwright & Academic Consultant
Wyndonshire Renaissance Faire

Medieval Sexuality, Medical Misogyny, and the Makings of the Modern Witch

With Witch ranked the most popular costume nationwide, Frightgeist reports, “There’s a frighteningly high chance you will see a Witch costume on Halloween this year” – and these costumes will likely share some similarities. Asked to describe the physical features of a witch, we tend to list tropic characteristics like those returned through a Google search: she is old and ugly with a hooked nose and green or otherwise sallow skin. First and foremost, however, the witch is a woman.    

The iconic Wicked Witch of the West, played by Margaret Hamilton in The Wizard of Oz (1939).

The last known execution for witchcraft was recorded in 1782, at which time some 110,000 people had been tried and up to 60,000 had been executed – most of them women.[1] Not quite as well-known as the witch trials themselves, the Malleus maleficarum, or the Hammer of Witches, served not only as an extensive manual for the identification of witches but also advocated for their extermination.

But even before the publication of the Malleus in 1487, there was De secretis mulierum, or On the Secrets of Women, an immensely popular treatise composed in the late-thirteenth or early-fourteenth century that still survives in more than 80 manuscripts. Drawing from medieval medical philosophy, the Secrets branded women as evil based on their biological composition and helped lay the foundation for the figure of the witch, which resulted in the deaths of so many women.  

Specifically, the ideas about sexuality solidified through the intersections of medicine and religion situated women not merely as inferior to men but as polluted both physiologically and psychologically, via which they were eventually posited as predisposed to evil. The anatomical traits that distinguished women and men situated the sexes as binary opposites: they were a heterogenous, hierarchical pair. In conjunction with humoral theory, female softness and weakness were attributed to the body’s cool composition, while male strength and hardness were generated by their hot and dry climates.

Diagram illustrating the relationship of the four humors, depicted as radiating diagonally from the center, to the temperaments, planets, and seasons (c. 1450-1475), The Morgan Library & Museum MS B.27.

Menstrual blood and semen, according to medieval physicians, were the defining essences of woman and man and were starkly contrasted in terms of their character. Menstrual blood was seen as an excess and, therefore, as physical evidence of the defectiveness of the female body because “it marked the inability of the body to become warm enough to refine blood.”[2] The blood itself was considered toxic because it was comprised of “unrefined impurities.”[3]

Schematic diagram of a uterus, one of the earliest surviving anatomical drawings from Western Europe (c. 1250-1310), Bodleian MS Ashmole 399, f. 13v.

Although semen was thought to be a form of blood, it was blood that had been transformed into a precious substance within the testicles after traveling down the spinal cord from the brain.[4] Through its direct connection with the brain, male sexuality was associated with cognitive activity and rational, measured behavior. Women’s sexuality was posited as opposite: their bodies were considered passive, but women themselves were considered “profoundly sexual.”[5] The womb was central to the understanding of female anatomy and determined women’s passivity in contrast to men’s activity, as well as her association with the physical body. Moreover, women were characterized as open in relation to their genitalia, which subsequently indicated their openness to sexual activity and informed the idea that women were inherently lustful.[6]

In an image accompanying the first of the seduction scenes in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (c. 1400), the Lady stands over Gawain while he lies asleep, apparently naked, British Library MS Cotton Nero A.x., f. 125/129r.

Attitudes toward women’s sexuality were also influenced by Christian beliefs, which associated sex with original sin. As the descendants of Eve, women were deeply connected with desire and consistently constructed as temptresses. In effect, they disproportionately bore responsibility where temptations of the flesh were concerned. Church fathers considered men “strong, rational, and spiritual by nature,” while women were “not only soft, but carnal,” in short, they “embodied sexuality” and continuously reproduced Eve’s initial temptation of Adam.[7]

Illuminated image of The Fall of Man, depicting Adam and Eve holding fruit from the Tree of Knowledge to their mouths and a female-headed serpent entwined around the trunk between them, Ramsey Psalter leaves (c. 1300-1310), The Morgan Library & Museum MS M.302, f. 1r.

Drawing upon both biology and theology, medieval medicine synthesized the phallocentric understandings of women’s bodies and their perceived proclivity for sex and sin. While intercourse was believed to negatively alter men’s bodily composition, it was considered necessary for women, who were more likely to suffer from a lack of sexual activity. Menstrual blood was considered superfluous and conflated with pollution: its retention harmed the woman whose body failed to purge its humoral excess, and its expulsion threatened to poison others, causing illness and even death. Because their bodies were viewed as toxic, women were considered largely responsible for the transmission of diseases, especially those associated with sexual activity.

Marginal image of a leprous beggar ringing a bell from The Evesham Pontifical (c. 1400), British Library MS Lansdowne 451, f. 127r.

The Secrets then transmuted medical philosophy into overt misogyny and deemed women dangerous explicitly in relation to their sexuality. A particularly poignant passage describes the process by which women, essentially, drained and absorbed men’s life force through sex:

“The more women have sexual intercourse, the stronger they become, because they are made hot from the motion that the man makes during coitus. Further, male sperm is hot because it is of the same nature as air and when it is received by the woman it warms her entire body, so women are strengthened by this heat.”[8]

Describing menstruation as a time during which “many evils” arise, the Secrets cautions against intercourse, warning men that women are prone and prepared to deliberately cause them harm: “For when men have intercourse with these women it sometimes happens that they suffer a large wound and a serious infection of the penis because of iron that has been placed in the vagina.”[9] According to a commentary that often circulated with the manuscript, the man may not even notice that he has been wounded by the iron vindictively concealed within the vagina “because of the exceeding pleasure and sweetness of the vulva,”[10] an ominous addendum that vividly draws together desire, danger, and disease at the site of the female body.

Desire and danger similarly coalesce in Sarah Stephens’ role in The VVitch (2015). Set in Puritan New England in 1630, the film portrays the destruction of a pious family whose fear of witchcraft spreads among them like a disease.

Even body parts not in direct contact with menstrual blood could become infected during menstruation. The Secrets describes the process by which a serpent is generated following the planting of hairs from a menstruating woman,[11] a proposition that viscerally evokes women’s connection with Eve and, more pointedly, with the devil. 

A witch attempts to entice the young protagonist with a snake she removes from her handbag in The Witches (1990), based on the novel by Roald Dahl. Moments later, she places its body around her neck and then begins whispering to the creature. The 2020 remake emphasizes the connection between witches and snakes at several points in its revised plot, including the snake-like resemblance of the witches themselves.

Older women were considered especially dangerous when their periods became intermittent, even more so following menopause when they failed to discharge superfluous fluid from their bodies and became increasingly noxious as a result. A passage from the Secrets explains as follows:

“If old women who still have their periods, and certain others who do not have them regularly, look at children lying in the cradle, they transmit to them venom through their glance … One may wonder why old women, who no longer have periods, infect children in this way. It is because the retention of the menses engenders many evil humours, and these women, being old, have almost no natural heat left to consume and control this matter, especially poor women, who live off nothing but coarse meat, which greatly contributes to this phenomenon. These women are more venomous than the others.”[12]

As the passage indicates, women who ceased to menstruate and subsisted on meager means were additionally threatening, a claim that further ostracized those already existing at outer margins of class society.

Located deep in the woods but eschewing its candy coating for far scarier fare, the witch’s house in Gretel and Hansel (2020) distances her from society, a feature that pervades both folkloric and popular culture representations of the witch.  

The innate malice of women’s bodies, illustrated so poignantly in the Secrets, was a disparaging ideological assemblage disseminated throughout the late Middle Ages, which became ingrained and interpreted in a way that unequivocally connected women’s sexuality with evil. The treatise emphasizes the wickedness of women’s physiological composition and psychological character and elevates their social stigma to its medieval pinnacle, perfectly epitomized in the text’s avowal that “woman has a greater desire for coitus than a man, for something foul is drawn to the good.”[13] And of course, men were not the only ones at risk; the innocent victims often included children.

The Sanderson sisters, from Disney’s ‘Hocus Pocus’ (1993), who despite their humorous depiction draw their strength by sapping the life from children.

It is these misogynistic ideas about women’s sexuality that seeded their demonization in the years that followed, as the Secrets served as a direct source for the Malleus maleficarum. Indeed, the most famous statement from the Malleus explicitly connects witchery with ideas about women’s sexuality rooted in the medieval period: “All witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which is in women insatiable.”[14]

Women giving wax dolls to the devil, The History of Witches and Wizards, 1720, Wellcome Collection, London, U.K.

Emily McLemore
PhD Candidate in English
University of Notre Dame


[1] Britannica.com, “Salem witch trials,” 25 Oct. 2020.

[2] Joyce Salisbury, “Gendered Sexuality,” Handbook of Medieval Sexuality, edited by Vern L. Bullough and James A. Brundage, New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc. (1996): 81-102, at 89.

[3] Salisbury, “Gendered Sexuality,” at 89.

[4] Danielle Jacquart and Claude Thomasset, Sexuality and Medicine in the Middle Ages, translated by Matthew Adamson, Cambridge: Polity Press (1988), at 13.

[5] Salisbury, “Gendered Sexuality,” at 84.

[6] Salisbury, “Gendered Sexuality,” at 87.

[7] Salisbury, “Gendered Sexuality,” at 86.

[8] Helen Rodnite Lemay, Women’s Secrets: A Translation of Pseudo-Albertus Magnus’ De Secretis Mulierum with Commentaries, Albany: State University of New York Press (1992), at 127.

[9] Lemay, Women’s Secrets, at 88.

[10] Lemay, Women’s Secrets, at 88.

[11] Lemay, Women’s Secrets, at 96.

[12] Les Admirables secrets de magie du Grand Albert et du petit Albert, MS Paris, Bibliothéque nationale, Latin 7148, fol. 2 r. 9 v., translated by Jacquart and Thomasset, Sexuality and Medicine in the Middle Ages, at 75.

[13] Lemay, Women’s Secrets, at 51.

[14] Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, Malleus maleficarum, translated by Montague Summers, New York: Dover (1971), at 47.