A history of English sexual morals / by Ivan Bloch ; translated by William H. Forstern.

  • Iwan Bloch
Date:
1936
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A history of English sexual morals / by Ivan Bloch ; translated by William H. Forstern. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    chings on this subject, which give a very good idea of the ■e of London's street vendors in his time. One of the principal pastimes of mediaeval England was anting. Everyone, both high and low, had to be a dancer, ome kings of England wanted to be known as good ancers, and one of them, Henry VIII, was famous for his anting. On St. Valentine's day young people in carefree aiety danced in the streets, in the meadows and woods, lid Stow (sixteenth century) regarded the dancing of young iris out of doors, which had been customary in London in tie twelfth century, and was practised until about 1530, as a reventive of ' worse things indoors '. Country girls danced fa their ' rustic measures, rounds and jigs ', including the ance of the milkmaids round the Maypole, in the open, j According to Wright (A History of English Culture), luring certain periods in the Middle Ages the passion for Lancing was so widespread that it necessarily produced [ome serious evils and became the cause of moral corruption. Chaucer frequently mentions the ' love dances ', which were )erformed by two very scantily clad girls, who struck various orotic poses, exhibiting their physical charms and making bertain significant movements towards each other. There were two different types of dances in the Middle Ages, one of which may be described as ' homely ', while the ither included the professional dances of the conjurers and minstrels. After the first Crusades the conjurers of Western Europe had acquired many of the tricks of their Eastern brethren and had also brought to Europe the ' Almehs' or Eastern dancing girls. These dances formed part of the programme of the conjurers, and were nearly always coarse and indecent. The 'homely' dances, in which men and women held hands, were comparatively harmless. These ' folk dances' nourished until the middle of the [617]