History of sex, erotica and pornography XIII. - Charles VIII. the sexual giant

Sex and marriage were nowhere easy for the kings. These were public affairs. The heir to the throne was a central issue at every royal house. And if a king ascended the throne as a child, he didn't know what to do on his wedding night. It was no different in France in the Middle Ages.

Charles VIII. of France

a flattering portrait

wikimedia.org

Charles VIII. of France, and his early years of and coronation

Pope Alexander VI. and Charles VIII. lived and ruled in the same period.  Charles VIII. lived and ruled in the XV century. He became ill a lot after his birth and spent most of his childhood in bed. He cried over romantic knight stories and loved to hear about the heroic deeds of Charles the Great. He was passionate about describing the Crusades. However, they didn't teach him, so he was almost analphabetic.

His appearance was also disadvantageous: he was a short and slightly distorted man, with a disproportionately large head, six toes, besides, he was speech impaired and often twitched convulsively.

He was thirteen when his father died, and he was crowned in Rheims. However, he ruled on his own only from the age of 21. After the coronation, everyone was shocked that the king showed signs of fabulous sex addiction. He was a sexual giant in terms of both the number of women and his performance. For a few years, he only chased the female staff of his palace, the maids and cooks. When he was 15, he threw himself at the court ladies and young countesses.

The marriage of Charles VIII. of France.

When the Bretons and French were at war for five years, during the wartime, the king was finally able to relive the stories he heard as a child. Beyond that, he was only interested in sex and fucked the peasant girls who were brought to him.  After five years, as requirements of peace was, that he Charles had to married with Anna from Brittany. Anna was 16 years old and did not want to be a wife of Charles VIII. It was not a miracle in terms of the king's appearance. The princess objected and cried on her wedding night. Soon, however, her opinion changed because the king impressed her with his sexual performance. The queen then insisted on daily sex. She fell in love with her husband on her wedding night. None of them knew about it, but behind the curtain, 6 people were hiding and took a note about what had happened on their wedding night. The detailed description can be found today in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. According to the document, the queen was entirely satisfied. Anna soon gave birth to the boy's heir, Orlando, but the king soon tired of her. He preferred to have fun with various princesses.

Anne of Brittany

wikiwand.com

A prostitute who stopped the king Charles VIII.

The main goal of Charles VIII.  was to win a war and occupy the Kingdom of Naples in order to be king of Jerusalem. He had a great desire to take action against the dangerous Ottoman Empire. In the war, first, he reached the city of Lyon, where he only discussed with his generals and had sex with local prostitutes. Soon, however, he fell in love. His attraction was a young Italian woman working as a prostitute. The girl's aunt was her fence. Two French officials even tried the girl and admired her ability. They agreed that this girl was the last chance to prevent war. They were thoroughly taught what they expected of her.

She chose the tactic of playing the virtuous and unattainable woman. The king was forced to visit the girl's house, which stood in the poor quarter, in his magnificent royal chariot and with a beautiful accompaniment. He wanted to impress her, and he succeeded.

From then on, they spent all their time having sex. The king even held cabinet meetings in her aunt's house, in the kitchen, while the king was with his lover. Unfortunately, the name of the girl is not known in history. However, her relationship with the king and the cabinet meetings held in her aunt's house were documented in a letter by Count Belgiojosó to Ludovico Sforza. These letters are still available to researchers to this day! This prostitute had a secret. She realized that the king remained a child all his life and therefore treated him that way. Finally, the king became under her control. It is not clear that did he know that the girl is a prostitute or not, or he knew it but didn’t care.  

Ludovico Sforza

pinterest.com

After a year, Count Belgiojoso took a stand against the king’s scandalous behaviour. Finally, Charles VIII. forced himself to move toward, but he reached just Vienne. The king and his court stopped and camped again. He brought his lover to the camp and resumed their lifestyle. Later, the plague broke out. The king considered the plague as a sign, and he launched his occupation. This war was the first French occupation in Italy, and it was one of the most grotesque wars in Europe.  

 Scandalous fashion

To say a few words about the era: at this time, that is, the XV century, both women's and men's fashion was scandalous and challenging. Mainly in Florence and Venice. The women's clothes were so deep that their breasts would then fall out of it. Therefore, the women painted their nipples red. The men's clothes were almost as fancy as the women's. The men put their genitals in stuffed bags with various ornaments and small bells. When the man saw a beautiful woman and demanded it, his penis immediately stiffed. And because of this, the decorations and bells rang. The loud bell signal meant intense emotions, the "bell ringing" an unstoppable desire. The women competed that if they walked the streets, who would be accompanied by the loudest music. They did everything they could to make them desirable. There were lust and sex in the air. Let us not forget that this was also the age of the courtesans of Venice!

The cheerful and erotic atmosphere was ended when Charles VIII. and the French army occupied Florence and Venice.

The last years of Charles VIII.

When his three-year-old son, Orlando, died, he tried to give birth to a new heir. They tried several times, but Queen Anna remained barren. By the age of twenty-seven, the king was already old and tired, balding, and not so interested in sex. His death was just as grotesque as his whole life. When he went to a knight tournament, he hit his head, lost consciousness, and died an hour later, in April 1489.

History of sex, erotica, and pornography XII. - Depraved Popes and Borgias

John XII.

Among the popes who lived in the Middle Ages, John XII was notoriously depraved. Pope John lived in the end of the 10th century. He did not at all correspond to the image that the Catholic Church wanted to show. However, his sexual insatiability did not offend priestly celibacy. Because it only came into force two centuries later. But at the sight of a series of incest, adultery, orgy, and murder, even his contemporaries accused him of making a considerable couplet of the Papal State.

Johannes XII., source: wikipedia.org

His family was already infamous. No one knows, for example, that his father's lover or his legal wife (who was his own stepdaughter anyway!) delivered him?  But his father had an affair with several other women in addition to his wife, who was raised by his foster daughter.
Despite his young age, he threw himself with great enthusiasm into the exercise of papal power. After his father, he also inherited the management of secular state affairs. Unfortunately, he was not talented in either area. His campaigns ended unsuccessfully, so he had to look for an ally.
He thought it would be Otto I, King of Germany, but they were embroiled in a severe war conflict. At one point, the Pope, along with the treasury, dissolved a wheel from Rome.
It was then that stories of the Pope's evil and depravity appeared. We should not think of the usual corruption! But instead of the obscene sexual morals that prevailed in the Pope's court. Rodrigo Borgia organized regular orgies, had sex with his father's lover, his own niece, and countless other women!
He didn't really try to disguise his passion for worldly pleasures. The Pope spent most of his time hunting, gambling, and drinking. It was not advisable for the people around him to upset him in any way, because he had thoughtlessly killed anyone. For example his confessor and a priest, also named John. But he was even fired before.
When he returned to Rome, he tortured his enemies. XII. Pope John died unexpectedly while he was having an adulterous sexual relationship with a woman. According to a popular version, the cuckold husband got the party on him, and he was done with it!

The Borgias

Alfonso Borgia - III. Callixtus

Of the members of the Spanish-born Borgia family, the first pope excelled not in sexual scandals but rather in corruption. So much so that Roman nobles were ousted from crucial offices. Callixtus entrusted all important and lucrative offices to his family and followers. During his reign, two Cardinals of Borgia could also take a seat in the Holy College. He appointed his nephew Rodrigo Borgia cardinal, at the age of bare twenty-five. And with it began the heyday of the lives of the Borgias.

Alfonso Borgia, source: wikipedia.org

Rodrigo Borgia - VI. Alexander

Volumes have really been written about him then, but let's focus on his love and sex life. Rodrigo, who amassed a huge fortune, became Pope VI. Alexander, at the cost of serious bribes at the end of the century. He did not try to disguise his passion for the arts, as well as his sensual pleasures, as a true Renaissance man, living in his "attraction to Venus" all his life.
Rodrigo was known as a real handsome boy. He could get almost everyone in his environment, and he didn't want to give up sex just because of his cardinal title. Feasts were regular in Rodrigo's splendid palace. He also loved the card, excellent food, and drinks. Neither as a cardinal nor a pope did he lack the feminine charms and balls that seemed morally contagious.

Rodrigo Borgia, source: wikipedia.org

He openly planned to establish a papal dynasty that would govern the Ecclesiastical State. Even before he has ordained a priest, he had four children, including the later deservedly famous Cesare and Lucrezia. And he proudly took on all four children! His other children were also born from unknown concubines, with at least 8 descendants known in history.
His name was linked to countless sexual scandals. For example he and his daughter Lucrecia, were regular visitors to unbridled orgies. According to some opinions, he also had sex with her daughter. One of the orgies held in the Apostolic Palace. For chestnut banquets, not only VI. Alexander, but also Lucretia and Cesare, were official guests. At this event, about fifty prostitutes were ready to entertain the guests.

It is an interesting historical fact that the expansion and fertility of the Borgia family peaked just under a pope. As a pope, his political greatness was to place Rome on his side as soon as he ascended the throne. After that, also to strengthen the papal power, he also gave rank and dignity to his own children and side relatives, as well as to more distant acquaintances.

Cesare Borgia

His legal origins were declared by a papal bull as early as the age of five, and at the age of nine, he boasted dozens of ecclesiastical appointments. He was already an archbishop at the age of 15 and later studied law and theology. At the age of 18, his father appointed him a cardinal. He had a masculine and overwhelming appearance, and he could get any woman.

Cesare Borgia, source: wikipedia.org

He is also said to have murdered his brother, Giovanni, in 1497, but there is no tangible evidence of this. But it is characteristic of the Borgias that the brothers were lost at the mercy of their sister Lucretia. The bloodthirsty relationship, however, is more of an urban legend, but it may even be true! Consider that their father was the most scandalous Pope to this day and the orgies he has visited with his children.
When Cesare married a French princess, for the first time in history, he became the first cardinal who resigned. He died young at the age of 31 in a siege.

Lucretia Borgia

The history show her as the queen of poison mixers and the a fleshy woman. She received an outstanding upbringing in her young age. But when her fater's interests wished him to marry his daughter again and again. Three times.
Lucrezia Borgia remained in the memory of a bloodthirsty femme fatale who killed her bored lovers with a poison hidden in her ring. Victor Hugo's drama did a lot for this, but the Borgias series also took a long time to portray Cesare and Lucrezia's sibling. Yet this is not considered likely by researchers. Fact is that Alexander VI. based on a humiliating impotence test, separated her daughter from her first husband. The embarrassed husband retorted as Lucrezia slept with her father and brother.

Lucrezia Borgia, source: wikipedia.org

The image of her may also have been due to the fact that in this age, women were portrayed as dangerous, violent, rebellious, evil figures. Lucrezia's death was also typical at that age. She died ten days after the birth of her eighth child.

Although not all Borgia descendants were degraded, the era marked by their name was undoubtedly rich in murder, intrigue, corruption, and, last but not least, eroticism!

Read more about the eroticism in the Middle Ages!