How was bestiality perceived in the Middle Ages? The answer is far from simple. Depending on the context, it might be a kingmaking ritual, a boys’ game, a pact with the devil, a peccadillo or a capital offense. As dangerous as it could be to be suspected by one’s own neighbors of committing bestiality, medieval literature and art are full of often exhilarating erotic interspecies encounters. In the end, this volume suggests that there is a zoophilic streak in all humans – the medievals as well as ourselves.
Contributors are Crystal Beamer, Bailey Flannery, Katherine Leach, Marian E. Polhill, Anna Russakoff, Joyce E. Salisbury, Andrea Schutz, Jacqueline A. Stuhmiller, Larissa Tracy, and Tess Wingard.