Guibert of Nogent was a classically educated, highly self-consciousness monk born at Clermont in northern France, probably about 1055. He studied and lived at the eminent abbey of Saint-Germer de Fly before being appointed abbot of the small, poor abbey of Nogent in 1104. Like most men, Guibert had a difficult life and received little public notice for his efforts. Guibert’s Monodiae {Songs of myself} is an autobiographical and historical work that provides vital insight into the personal thoughts of an ambitious but largely undistinguished learned medieval man.
Women protesting sumptuary laws have been much more effective than protests against infant male circumcision. Men should be allowed to wear their foreskins. … Read the post sumptuary laws & circumcision: gender in protest effectiveness
Long predating Dr. Faustus, a 12th-century monk made a deal with the devil. It involved a sperm libation metamorphosis of the mass and lover turned dog. … Read the post sacredness of sex highlighted in Guibert’s medieval metamorphoses
Unlike Augustine, Guibert of Nogent wrote of his divided self within the specifics of his everyday relationship with his ideological pure Christian mother. … Read the post self-divided, Guibert of Nogent lacked his mother’s ideological purity
Guibert’s Monodiae of 1115 responded to De rerum natura. Guibert supported Lucretius debunking gyno-idolatry, but parodied atomism with child incineration. … Read the post gyno-idolatry and atomism in medieval reception of De rerum natura
Inmate-partner violence hurts men, old, young, fat & thin. It has compelled men to accept being cuckolded and castrated. Those are terrible sacrifices. … Read the post men forced to offer sacrifices amid intimate-partner violence
As Guibert of Nogent understood, the classical idea of beauty was closely associated with desire. Guibert noted that desire requires from men sexual labor. … Read the post women’s beauty and men’s under-appreciated work of desire
Heloise of the Paraclete was famed within her lifetime for learning. Guibert of Nogent, no less learned but scarcely known, disparaged himself for his sins. … Read the post Guibert of Nogent in Heloise’s light: dark nights of internalized misandry
In Guibert of Nogent’s Monodiae, hanging by the pundenda was torturing the penis. Modern philology has generally failed to represent accurately the penis. … Read the post torturing the penis: enlightened philology’s failure to represent
Violence against men predominates among violent acts, targeting men based on their sexual difference. Men’s safety needs more attention than women’s safety. … Read the post understanding violence against men: testicles & penis often targeted
Guibert of Nogent tells of a sinful pilgrim to St. James of Compostela. The devil, disguised as St. James, instructs the man to castrate and kill himself. … Read the post the devil’s misandry: “cut off your penis and kill yourself”