This is the Tudor's Dynasty podcast.

And now, Ask the Expert with Steph.

Hello, and welcome back to Ask the Expert on the Tudors Dynasty podcast.

I'm your host, Steph Storer, and today's topic proves that we will cover almost anything from the Tudor era and beyond.

Nothing is off limits here.

And that topic is, of course, sex.

You heard me, we are joined by the fabulous Catherine Harvey today.

And to talk about sex in the Middle Ages, Catherine, thank you so much for coming.

Hello, thank you for having me.

Now, I've got to ask you right off the bat, what made you become an expert in this topic?

It was sort of a mistake, actually. I did a PhD on medieval bishops, and yeah, there's not

an obvious link there, is there? Because obviously, they're supposed to be celibate. But then I started

writing about their health and their bodies, And I came across all these stories of

bishops who were supposed to have died of celibacy. And obviously my first reaction was, well,

that doesn't happen. So I wanted to know more about the sort of the medical theory on why they

thought that was possible. And it got a bit out of control. It turned into another book.

What do you know? That's exciting.

So, okay, well, I think that it is really a riveting topic, and I'm excited to get to the questions.

But I just want to make sure that our listeners know if you're offended easily.

You might want to pass on this one, although we would love for you to stay in chat for sure.

But for everyone else, buckle up and send the kids out of the room and let's get to it, right? The first thing that I want to ask you about

today is was sex for pleasure of practice back then? Or was it all about making babies?

...