Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini, commonly known as Poggio, was a medieval church official, a classical scholar, and a learned Latin writer. Poggio was born in Tuscany in 1380. He received a scholarly education and went into the service of the Roman Curia. Poggio had 14 children with a mistress. Then, at age 56, he married a seventeen-year old girl with whom he had a happy and fruitful marriage. Poggio sought out and collected ancient Latin manuscripts and helped to transmit classical Latin texts to future generations. Moving against millennia of Greek and Latin literature disparaging men’s genitals, Poggio affirmed men’s genitals and men’s sexuality through humane, insightful stories. He exemplified the broad-mindedness of medieval Latin writers, their interest in the classical Latin tradition, and their willingness to transgress the gynocentric norms to express men’s distinctive interests. Poggio’s work offers twenty-first-century intellectual life a swerve toward enlightenment that is urgently needed. Poggio died in 1459.
Greek & Roman classics enriched thinking of ordinary persons in medieval Italy. New appropriations of classics are needed to make classics matter again. … Read the post ancient Greek & Roman classics deeply influential in medieval Italy
In ancient Greek and Latin literature, penises figured much worse than vaginas as sword compared to rose. The penis has a comparative gender image problem. … Read the post the penis’s image problem in comparative gender perspective
Medieval literature tells of wives and husbands lying to each other about sex. Enlightened person should question sexual claims and remaining silent. … Read the post medieval literature’s intricate sexual lies show engaged minds
A gluttonous medieval man got into sexual sin with a widow, who raped him by modern standards. He, a hypocrite, blamed her. … Read the post pious man’s hypocrisy exposed him to being raped by woman
Poor young women marrying rich old men helps to reduce wealth inequality, but requires extra attention to supporting and nurturing husbands’ sexuality. … Read the post marriages between rich old men and poor young women
The HeForShe campaign ignores she for him, yet medieval doctors understood that sexually potent, not-overworked husbands are vital for wives’ health. … Read the post she for him: healthy, potent husbands vital to wives’ health
Medieval Latin literature taught men not to listen and believe, but to question even women to find the truth and to avoid being cuckolded. … Read the post cuckolds don’t question; they just listen, believe and are duped
In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, transsexual Tiresias affirmed Jove against Juno in finding that women receive more sexual pleasure in heterosexual intercourse. … Read the post Tiresias’s prophetic knowledge started with Juno and Jove’s dispute
A medieval sailor much simpler than Odysseus didn’t understand that not all women are like Penelope. He desperately needed God’s help. … Read the post not Penelope: sailor’s wife claims God provided him with a son
The medieval poem Le Tumbeor Nostre Dame turned into Anatole France’s story Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame: honoring men’s sexuality became demeaning it. … Read the post sardonic literature necessary complement to romantic medievalism