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Elizabeth Eva Leach Medieval Sex Lives: The Sounds of Courtly Intimacy on the Francophone Borders. Ithaca, NY, and London: Cornell University Press, 2023, 299 pp.

by Hilbrand Adema (Author)
2 Pages
Open Access
Journal: Mediaevistik Volume 39 Issue 1 Publication Year 2026 pp. 470 - 471

Summary

Elizabeth Eva Leach’s Medieval Sex Lives offers a bold rethinking of Bodleian Library MS Douce 308 (D 308, probably 15th century), a chansonnier without musical notation but rich in lyric repertory. Leach argues that the manuscript circulated “sexual scripts” – patterns of words, gestures, and scenarios through which aristocratic audiences could learn, rehearse, and embody erotic roles (Chapter 2). Even without notation, she demonstrates that the manuscript preserves traces of a “sounding culture” in which song, memory, and bodily performance were inseparable from intimacy. Her method blends close reading, codicology, and performance theory with selective use of psychoanalysis and queer theory.

Details

Pages
2
DOI
10.3726/med.2026.01.132
Open Access
CC-BY
Publication date
2026 (August)
Product Safety
Peter Lang Group AG

Biographical notes

Hilbrand Adema (Author)

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Title: Elizabeth Eva Leach Medieval Sex Lives: The Sounds of Courtly Intimacy on the Francophone Borders. Ithaca, NY, and London: Cornell University Press, 2023, 299 pp.