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Rosalie Gilbert
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The Very Secret Sex Lives of Medieval Women Kindle Edition

by Rosalie Gilbert (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 301 ratings
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A “wickedly entertaining, informative and thought-provoking” look at romance, courtship, and other intimacies behind closed Medieval doors (Dr. Markus Kerr, PhD, MDR).

Were medieval women slaves to their husband’s desires, jealously secured in a chastity belt in his absence? Was sex a duty or could it be a pleasure? Did a woman have a say about her own female sexuality, body, and who did or didn’t get up close and personal with it? No. And yes. It’s complicated.

The intimate lives of medieval women were as complex as for modern women. They loved and lost, hoped and schemed, were lifted up and cast down. They were hopeful and lovelorn. Some had it forced upon them, others made aphrodisiacs and dressed for success. Some were chaste and some were lusty. Having sex was complicated. Not having sex, was even more so.

Inside The Very Secret Sex Lives of Medieval Women, a fascinating book about life during medieval times, you will discover tantalizing true stories about medieval women and a myriad of historical facts. Learn about:
  • The true experiences of women from all classes, including women who made history
  • The dos and don’ts in the bedroom
  • Sexy foods and how to have them
  • All you need to know for your wedding night, and well as insider medical advice
  • How to get pregnant (and how not to), and more


“Quite compelling and hilariously funny. I have been chuckling out loud and my husband says he thinks he ought to read it if it’s such a tonic. God forbid!” —Susanna Newstead, author of the Savernake Novels
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  1. Print length
    347 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Mango Media
  5. Publication date
    October 27, 2020
  6. File size
    8518 KB
  7. Page Flip
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  8. Word Wise
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Wickedly entertaining, informative and thought-provoking. An insightful, modern look at the lives of women as they were.” –– Dr. Markus Kerr, PhD, MDR.

About the Author

Rosalie Gilbert is passionate about living history, experimental archaeology and women in the Middle Ages, particularly England where her family origins are. She is a lifetime member of the Friends of the Abbey Museum of Art & Archaeology and a member of the Queensland Living History Federation.

Rosalie has been a guest speaker on Medieval Feminine Hygiene, The Very Secret Sex Lives Of Medieval Women and Medieval Women's Literacy at The Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology, the Queensland Museum's After Dark Program for the British Museum's Medieval Power: Symbols and Splendour Exhibition, the University of The Third Age's Winterschool Program, the University Pavilion at the Abbey Medieval Festival and various women's groups.

Her hobbies include lying about being at work so she can stay home, hang out with her rescue kitty and eat nachos.

Learn more about Rosalie at https://rosaliegilbert.com/

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B096GWBNGJ
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mango Media (October 27, 2020)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 27, 2020
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 8518 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 347 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 301 ratings

About the author

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Rosalie Gilbert

Rosalie Gilbert

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Rosalie Gilbert is passionate about living history, experimental archaeology, women in the Middle Ages and is a member of the Queensland Living History Federation.

She has been a guest speaker on Medieval Feminine Hygiene and The Very Secret Sex Lives Of Medieval Women at The Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology, the Queensland Museum's After Dark Program for the British Museum's Medieval Power:Symbols & Splendor Exhibition, the University of The Third Age's Winterschool Program, the University Pavilion at the Abbey Medieval Festival and various women's social groups.

Rosalie works in medical imaging in a busy city hospital in Australia.

Her hobbies include lying about being at work so she can stay home with her rescue kitty, spent time working on historical sewing, curating her collection of medieval artifacts and eating nachos. Not especially in that order.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
301 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Gabrielle Schmidt
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting read!
Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2023
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I enjoyed this book. It is the I always wondered, but didn't know what to look for history book. It was interesting to see how the Church dealt with women, and the importance of sex in the Medieval period. A very interesting read. I also enjoyed the side notes that Ms. Gilbert made in her book. I really enjoyed the comments too.
6 people found this helpful
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4.0 out of 5 stars Funny and informative
Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2023
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The author has a great sense of humor, and sees the ridiculous in much of the information she conveys. I laughed out loud many times. However, eventually the banter grows tiresome. Nonetheless, an interesting read. I thought it was worth getting through the eventually tedious humor.
7 people found this helpful
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Bayard B.
3.0 out of 5 stars Fun to read. Medieval views on marriage, pregnancy, contraception, birth, annulments, church, sin.
Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2024
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It’s a fun book to read. You will probably experience feelings of pity, humor, a little disgust, and maybe some satisfaction of curiosity. Author Rosalie Gilbert especially discusses the self-imposed role of the contemporary Christian Church in determining what was sinful and what was not. Quite a few priests tended to be a bunch of busy-bodies as well as being hypocrites. Priests of the era might engage in sexual relations with servant girls and prostitutes while simultaneously imposing penance on numerous harmless acts such as engaging in sex on saints’ holy days.

Scientific or true medical knowledge of gynecology was almost totally lacking and resulted in many mythological beliefs, nonsense, and plain ignorance regarding coitus, contraception or the lack of it, pregnancy, childbirth, and infant care. Most of the book focuses on England and France with some digressions to Germany. Gilbert cites many 12th - 15th century law courts and decisions regarding issues such as marital infidelity, widowhood, annulments, and subjects today that are regarded as trivial and personal. The civil and religious courts tended to be stacked against the women; probably no surprise there. By the way — all the judges and clerics were men. Women could serve as trial witnesses, though.

The book also officially defines the era of the “Medieval Age” as extending from 1066 (Battle of Hastings / King William I) to 1485 (Battle of Bosworth Field / King Henry VII). I had never thought of it that way. It’s as good as anything, I suppose.
One person found this helpful
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Debora Carr
5.0 out of 5 stars Equally enlightening AND entertaining!
Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2022
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Absolute gem of a book! Not only informative and incredibly well researched, but peppered with humorous asides and wry commentary that made me laugh out loud. Wonderful writing style that is a pleasure to read….unfortunately the light print quality of text made it rather strenuous on the eyes. Certainly NOT the fault of the author, but the publisher needs to improve their quality control. I assume the book was digitally printed….in other words, run on a glorified overgrown commercial copy machine “press” rather than a traditional ink offset press. Hopefully not all the books are of such poor print quality, because a book written this well truly deserves better quality.
18 people found this helpful
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Kecia Olney
4.0 out of 5 stars genuinely amusing and informative!
Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2023
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This book got several laughs out of me. I really enjoyed the author’s witty and humorous style.
My only complaint is the amount of spelling errors, or more precisely, just the wrong word here and there. I suspect it’s a conversion to ebook that might be the culprit, but who knows.
9 people found this helpful
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Star Wand
5.0 out of 5 stars A Wickedly Scandalous Dive into the Lives of Medieval Women
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2021
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Sometimes a topic like the Middle Ages can be dry and addressed by old white men from dusty libraries. What a wonderful read this book was! It was certainly not dusty by any means. This was juicy, scandalous, and entertaining! I almost wish Sex in the City took place in the Middle Ages now. The author brings the world of women during this age marvelously to life, using well done research and entertaining snippets of imagined conversations between women and men of the time! There were several times in this book that I laughed out loud at the humour and bawdiness! A must read for anyone who loves history and the women who populated it!
14 people found this helpful
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Daniel J. Wilson
5.0 out of 5 stars very informative
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2023
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Fascinating read into the Lifes of medieval women, and what they had to experience and suffer through at the hands of religious and a patriarchal society.
2 people found this helpful
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Mimi C.
4.0 out of 5 stars Medieval woman
Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2023
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The author uses the study of sexual practices to show very clearly the second class role of Medieval women. The book is an interesting study of the lack of rights women had at the time, as well as the number of abuses to which they were subjected. It is a bit repetitive.
10 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Tad Williams
5.0 out of 5 stars Laughing my ... off!
Reviewed in Germany on March 26, 2023
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This is one of those books that you just can't put down. I love her funny take on actual historical events!
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Raphaëlle J.
5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and Hilarious !
Reviewed in France on August 16, 2022
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I heard of this book while watching the Shadiversity YouTube video with Rosalie Gilbert at a medieval fair. Rosalie seemed both knowledgeable and funny so i decided to purchase the book while i was not particularly interested by the subject per se.

As expected, the book is informative and hilarious. It is written in a style very different from academic works, which can be really boring.

I see candles and curtains in a very different light, now that i have read this book.

Thanks Rosalie for the laughs, and i hope to see future Shadiversity / Rosalie Gilbert videos on other subjects.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 23, 2022
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I've read many books about the medieval age and a few stand out. This is one of them. It's easy to read and keeps you engaged. The author seems to have a way with keeping you hooked. I couldn't put it down. I learned many a thing about life for medieval woman.
2 people found this helpful
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Amanda
5.0 out of 5 stars Not So Secret Now
Reviewed in Australia on March 13, 2023
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I really enjoyed this book. I saw Rosalie ( I feel I can call her by her first name as we have talked about such intimate things) on a YouTube interview. She was in full mediaeval garb discussing clothing and social lives. She was so entertaining and excited about her topics I could not wait to read her book. I was not disappointed.
It reads like a chat with a friend. I suspect there is a great deal of academic research in here, Rose quotes from a myriad of primary sources. I studied History and it was great to hear the Montaillou voices again. She goes from housewives to nuns, from childbirth to sex toys. All done with candour and delightful little reproductions from psalters and illuminated books.
She should be proud, this is one of those books which brings history to life. It’s so easy to read, a bit spicy, a bit gossipy, well edited and full of examples of ordinary lives.
You won’t be disappointed.
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Gabriel Stein
4.0 out of 5 stars Well written and enjoyable
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 7, 2023
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This is a well written and enjoyable book. The topic is perhaps slightly unusual. But, on the other hand, of course, mediaeval women had sex lives. And, in many ways, they did not differ from modern women. however, societies view of what was and what was not acceptable, was of course different and that forced certain behaviour on women. Recommended
One person found this helpful
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