European women in the late Middle Ages did not hold considerable power. They were usually passed from the control of their fathers to the control of their husbands. Certain women, however, did not follow this path, which led to their marginalization in society and often to their turn to prostitution. Since prostitution is widely believed to be the oldest profession in history, one might imagine that it was considered an acceptable profession in society. However, prostitution was an area of great debate during the Middle Ages, as it was a practice which was considered morally repugnant, but its value in society could also be seen. Considering the large influence that Christianity had on medieval European society, the church’s opinion of prostitution was adopted by society at large. Since Christianity valued virginity in women so highly, it would seem natural that the church would be against prostitution and would try to eliminate it as a profession in society. However, in practice, the medieval church did not go to great lengths to punish prostitutes. Considering this fact, what was Christianity’s and more generally society’s attitude toward prostitution? In what ways did the church and the legal authorities face the morally unacceptable practice of prostitution? Based on the laws of the late Medieval period and evidence of the abundance of prostitutes in Europe, it is clear that society had an ambiguous standpoint towards prostitution, denouncing it as immoral while simultaneously accepting it as a necessary evil.
The understanding of the definition of a prostitute has not always been the same. Usually, a prostitute is understood as a person who engages in sexual activity in exchange for money or other material compensation. However, the church historically defined women who were simply promiscuous as prostitutes, even when no payment had been made. From the church’s viewpoint, whether a person engaged in sexual activity for compensation or for enjoyment was irrelevant; either motivation showed weakness for bodily temptations.
Christianity blamed prostitutes not only for their own actions but also for the actions of men towards them. Prostitutes were blamed for tempting and seducing men, leaving men no choice but to engage in sexual activity with them. Prostitutes were treated so harshly because sexual austerity was expected from women in medieval European society.
Whereas the actions of a man becoming a thief out of economic necessity could be understood, a woman becoming a prostitute for the same reason was not seen with as much compassion. However, many women in the late Middle Ages did turn to prostitution out of necessity, due to difficult living conditions created by the structure of society. Some women were unable to find a husband due to lack of dowries, or even due to a shortage of men in a position to be married. Marriage was strongly favoured in society during this time as it was the best way to prevent young girls from slipping into temptation. Single women could not easily find opportunities for employment, since marriage was the norm in their society. Of course, there were occupations other than prostitution available to women, including brewing and spinning, but there were still very few alternatives to marriage. Women were often recruited into brothels by brothel-keepers or even by other prostitutes as men’s agents. Not all women’s entry into prostitution was voluntary; there were also cases of trafficking of young women for sexual services. In these cases the women were seen as victims of the situation. Therefore, in many cases, women were either forced into prostitution against their will, or were forced into it because their marginal position in society offered them no other option for survival.
After the late Middle Ages into the Renaissance, these same economic difficulties existed for single women and widows. With the discovery of the New World, there was often a shortage of eligible men for marriage; in addition, many wives were abandoned by their husbands who left for the Americas. While a dowry was necessary for a marriage, a smaller dowry was also required to join a convent. Therefore, women who could not afford to get married often could not afford to join a convent either. In Seville, for example, single women were unemployed or underemployed, and usually had wages that were too low to sustain themselves. Consequently, many women had no choice but to turn to prostitution, even if only part-time to supplement their income. The economy was difficult not only for single women, but for whole families as well, leading many men to sell their daughters, sisters, and wives to brothels for a sum of money.
Another reason why prostitution was encouraged in cities, despite its immorality, was that it created a vast network of entrepreneurs. The prostitute was not the only one making a living through her actions; pimps, innkeepers, renters of little rooms also made their living off the work of prostitutes.
Canon law of the Middle Ages is the best indicator of the Church’s position on prostitution. The canonists were the lawyers of the medieval church, in charge of creating jurisprudence covering all human activity that was impacted by the moral interests of the Church. The laws created by these lawyers represented the views of the authority figures of the church and consequently played a large role in influencing the social attitudes of people at every level of society.
When writing the laws of medieval society regarding prostitution, canonists defined a prostitute in terms of both her promiscuity and her gain of money or other remuneration. Interestingly, while canonists could find proof in the Scriptures of the moral repugnance of prostitution, they still tolerated its existence in Christian society. The common view was that prostitution acted as a safety valve that allowed men to engage in sexual relations in preparation for marriage or simply for married men to engage in extramarital relations. It was believed that prostitution prevented cases of rape, homosexuality, and general violence and social chaos. Therefore, prostitution did serve its purpose in society and was consequently tolerated and justified by canonists and the laws created by them. The canonists borrowed the viewpoint of necessary evil from Saint Augustine, who saw the necessity of prostitution for social order.
When brothels were institutionalized by canonists in the late medieval period, several laws were created with regards to prostitution. Canonists ruled that the acceptance of money by the prostitute in exchange for the sexual act was not a crime. The prostitute was required to pay the tithe from her earnings, since her money had been lawfully received. However, not all canonists agreed with this question, as the money had been obtained through sin. The power of prostitutes was limited in the sense that they could not appeal to a court for wrongs done to her by criminals. Specific laws varied from region to region, but many focused on limiting the space that a prostitute could occupy. For example, in Venice, rooms or apartments could not be rented to prostitutes. If laws such as this one were not obeyed, several punishments were possible, including fines, public whippings, torture, being paraded across town while partially nude, or even banishment from the city. Therefore, the actual act of prostitution was not in itself illegal, but the rights and freedoms of prostitutes were severely restricted because of it.
Many prostitutes were part of brothels, which were controlled and taxed by the canonists starting in the late medieval period. Since prostitution was seen as a necessary evil, it was controlled within brothels in order to keep prostitution as unobtrusive to society at large as possible. Brothels diminished the amount of prostitutes walking on the streets, coming into contact with the more respectable members of society. These brothels in addition to official red-light districts were licensed throughout Europe in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and were considered legitimate businesses, though under close supervision. The canonists justified the legitimization of these establishments through the high male demand and the belief that they were preventing violence and rape from disrupting the social order.
With the legitimization of the actions of prostitutes, there was concern over the exposure of prostitutes to the respectable women, even though prostitution was usually restricted to specific parts of a town. The solution was to require that prostitutes wear some sort of distinctive dress in order to distinguish themselves from the more respectable citizens of society. In addition, prostitutes were forbidden from attending church when other women were in attendance.
While no efforts were made to eliminate prostitution in late medieval European society, as it was in fact promoted, the leaders of cities nonetheless made efforts to maintain social order by promoting the ideals of female sexuality. These ideals were modeled on the Virgin Mary, who, contrary to prostitutes, was the image of morality. City leaders promoted her perfection through her immaculate conception, as a model of chastity and modesty, which all girls should strive for. Even married women, who were no longer virgins, could follow Virgin Mary’s image by remaining modest and submitting to authority, or in other words, submitting to their husbands. The Virgin Mary stood in stark contrast to prostitutes, and was the perfect symbol for city fathers to use to maintain social hierarchy and order, as well as to define good and evil. However, even when it came to sex in marriage, there was ambiguity and disagreement among canonists and leaders. Marriage was promoted as the ideal, but certain canonists believed that only virginity was the ideal and that sexual relations between spouses was as suspect as sexual relations between unmarried individuals.
Evidently, prostitution’s perceived utility in society outweighed its immorality, but there were still efforts made by the church and canonists to save women who had turned to prostitution. Christianity was based on the notion that sinners could be forgiven if they repented for their actions. In terms of prostitutes, the ultimate example of a sinner who had repented for her actions and had become a saint was Mary Magdalene. Other prostitute saints from Antiquity, such as Mary of Egypt, Thaïs, Pelagia, and Mary the niece of Abraham, were also prevalent in medieval hagiographical literature. Amid the institutionalized brothels, religious orders were established for prostitutes who wished to repent for their sins. These convents usually used Mary Magdalene as the example to follow for these prostitutes, showing that forgiveness was possible in Christianity for the repentant prostitute.
In Avignon, Repenties were established as convents for repentant prostitutes. The goal was to create reintegration into society for these prostitutes by salvaging their sinful souls. These women led simple lives similar to those of nuns, with emphasis on frugality, chastity, and obedience. Unlike other nuns, the women in these convents had already lost their virginity; therefore, convent life was hoped to aid in reclaiming the spiritual virginity of these women through penitence, prayers, and study of Scripture. The Repenties were taught to strive to overcome what society believed to be their natural female weakness for temptation in order to regain the spiritual purity which had been lost by their previous way of life.
The effort to reform prostitutes began as early as 1227, when Pope Gregory IX sanctioned the Order of Saint Mary Magdalene, which established convents in cities across Europe. There were also other convents which were not associated with the Magdalene order, which received support from monarchs such as Louis IX of France. This practice was consistent with Medieval Europe’s understanding of prostitution as morally wrong. Christianity was built around confession, repentance and forgiveness, which inspired city leaders to encourage prostitutes to change their ways and lead a more spiritual life.
The prostitutes who turned to convents made a commitment to lead a religious life as a nun would. For some women who wished to reform, this option was not as appealing as the alternative of marriage. However, there were some conditions which needed to be met in order for a prostitute to be eligible to marry. First, the prostitute needed to have done public penitence for her sins. In addition, a special allowance needed to be obtained to allow the marriage. Finally, a marriage in which a man married a prostitute who continued her trade was not allowed, whereas a marriage in which a man married a prostitute in order to reform her was permitted. In this case, the man’s actions were seen by the church as saving the woman from her sinful acts, as well as achieving the atonement of his own sins. In fact, Pope Innocent III declared in 1198 that these acts were virtuous and would count toward remitting the man’s own sins. Therefore, marrying a former prostitute was seen as a highly noble action, where a husband led his wife to the path of salvation.
Similarly, there was an abundance of charity in the late Middle Ages, where dowries were given to prostitutes who no longer wished to continue their trade but wished to marry. These donations were an acknowledgement that poverty was one of the main reasons leading to women turning to prostitution. It was not only confraternities who provided aid; there were also wealthy individuals who were determined to help these women leave behind their sinful past. It was not uncommon for money to be left for the dowries of reformed prostitutes in the testaments of wealthy individuals.
Prostitution in the late Middle Ages was therefore extremely prevalent, partly because economic conditions left many women with no other choice, and partly because the state and church supported and promoted the trade. While condemning prostitution as immoral, the European authorities nonetheless legitimized prostitution in the late Middle Ages by institutionalizing brothels and creating red-light districts. In their view, they were maintaining social order by preventing men from acting violently in order to relieve their sexual needs. However, by the sixteenth century, the church and monarchs changed their view on prostitution, and started to prohibit brothels and prostitution. Their prohibition of prostitution in the sixteenth century was more in line with the moral values of society, which had been in stark contrast to their actions in the previous centuries.
It seems that the canonists and leaders of European society were unsure how to approach prostitution in the Late Middle Ages. Every member of society was aware that prostitution, and even promiscuity, was morally wrong; however, no efforts were made to eliminate prostitution as a trade in society until the sixteenth century. At least European society found ways to make up for their ambiguity toward prostitution by finding ways to help women leave their life as a prostitute and find a more righteous life. However, based on medieval society’s view of prostitution, it is clear that women were judged on much higher sexual standards than men. It was believed to be natural for men to seek sexual relations outside of marriage, but completely sinful if a woman did so. The prostitute’s life epitomized the carnal weakness of women as understood in the Middle Ages.

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