Bertolina Guercia

The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 44d with Heather Rose Jones

The story of a 13th century Italian woman who seems to have openly had sexual relationships with women.

In this episode we talk about:

Who was Bertolina Guercia and what was her life like?

How was Bertolina’s sexuality described by witnesses?

The surprising acceptance of Bertolina’s lesbianism

Sources mentioned

Lansing, Carol. 2005. “Donna con Donna? A 1295 Inquest into Female Sodomy” in Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History: Sexuality and Culture in Medieval and Renaissance Europe, Third Series vol. II: 109-122.

Puff, Helmut. 2000. "Female Sodomy: The Trial of Katherina Hetzeldorfer (1477)" in Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies: 30:1, 41-61.

Crompton, Louis. 1985. “The Myth of Lesbian Impunity: Capital Laws from 1270 to 1791” in Licata, Salvatore J. & Robert P. Petersen (eds). The Gay Past: A Collection of Historical Essays. Harrington Park Press, New York. ISBN 0-918393-11-6 (Also published as Journal of Homosexuality, Vol. 6, numbers 1/2, Fall/Winter 1980.)

This topic is discussed in one or more entries of the Lesbian Historic Motif Project here: Bertolina Guercia

A transcript of this podcast is available here.

Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online

Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp

Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog

RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/

Links to Heather Online

Website: http://alpennia.com

Email: Heather Rose Jones

Twitter: @heatherosejones

Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

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