Sex Work in the Middle Ages

Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

History Hit

Society, Sex, Scandal, Education, History

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 16 February 2024

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Medieval England was not subtle.

Take sex work, for example. You knew exactly where to go, because the streets were labelled accordingly. Cokkes Lane, anyone?

Not only that, but the areas were sanctioned by a Bishop. Yes, you read that correctly. Ever wondered how sex work was viewed in Medieval times? Were attitudes more progressive then than they are now, even?

Kate is joined by friend of the show and co-host of our sister podcast, Gone Medieval, Eleanor Janega, to take us through this world of sex work in the middle ages.

This episode was edited by Tom Delargy and was produced by Stuart Beckwith, Joseph Knight and Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

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Transcript

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0:30.0	Welcome to Betwixt the Sheats, the History of Sex Scandal and Society, from History Hit.
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0:50.0	ad-free episodes within the app.
0:58.0	Hello my lovely betwixters, how are you doing? I'm doing fine. Thank you for asking, but I am concerned that you will be doing fine and will continue to be doing
1:05.9	fine and in order for all of us to be fine, I have to give you your fair dues warning.
1:11.3	And here it is. This is an adult podcast spoken by adults to
1:14.5	other adults about adulty things in an adulty way covering a range of adult
1:17.8	subjects and you should be an adult too who and if anyone thinks that they can't handle that little lot, well this is your opportunity
1:25.0	to get out right now. Go, go, you're holding the rest of us back. For the rest of you.
1:30.4	Let's get on with the show. Good day betwixters, thank you for joining me in late 14th century medieval London.
1:42.0	We're inside the city walls on a bustling street and people
1:46.4	are going about their daily business. Let me check which road we're on.
1:51.3	Interesting, we happen to be standing on Cock Lane, huh? The name of the street is relevant though, dear, but Twixters, and no, we're not in the poultry farming area of the town. We are in fact in one of the few areas of the
2:05.1	capital where sex work is tolerated. The other area, Suthak, is a district just outside
2:11.7	the city walls and sex workers been sanctioned there by none other than the Bishop of Winchester himself.
2:18.0	But what are the rules around sex work at this time?
	...

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