Word: rossiaud
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...Rossiaud shows that prostitution was perceived as a necessary evil, which protected the society from potentially greater evils. With the use of countless Church documents and codices, Rossiaud shows that the Church gave support to the world's oldest profession, believing the women of the night to be responsbile for guarding the honor and chastity of the nuns, who prayed for the people...
City officials, according to Rossiaud, supported prostitution because they felt that by teaching young boys about the pleasures of the flesh, the prostitutes protected the honor of the unmarried girls in the towns. Furthermore, he argues, by providing services to all unmarried men, the prostitutes lessened violence and terror that might be propagated by unchanneled sexual energy...
...Rossiaud adds that by catering only to bachelors or widowers, prostitutes could inform the authorities of adulterers, who were not supposed to enter the bordellos. When travelling salesmen came through the towns, they were able to use the prostitutes instead of deflowering nice young maidens. But most of all, the brothels made money for the towns, and people protested vehemently to keep them as a source of revenue...
...Rossiaud's book doesn't present a cheery view of the role of women in the Middle Ages. Prostitutes were mere laborers for the common good, functioning without status, clout or social position. And he shows that they flourished only because taking them away would have made matters worse, as violence and unwed mothers plagued the countryside...
...spicy as a Danielle Steele novel on the same subject, but Rossiaud's study does provide several interesting anecdotes about the lives of medieval women of the night. While the topic may appeal more to the medieval historian than to the random reader, Rossiaud's writing style is light enough that the study is one many can enjoy...