SATAN IN THE GROIN

Male exhibitionist carvings
on mediæval churches

part III

The earliest male exhibitionist in a Christian context occurs in an Anglo-Saxon manuscript
from the 8th century.

Vatican MS Barberini, Lat.570, detail

A monk points to his genitals which are being bitten by snakes which represent both the temptation and the hellish punishment for yielding to it. Snakes also attack his hair and his moustaches while he pulls his beard - his secondary sexual characteristics. The motif of a human being threatened or punished by beasts or monsters, frequent in Romanesque art, also occurs on Irish sculptured crosses .

Four centuries later, a Spanish carving depicts a bicorporeal man each of whose bodies tugs at his beard. This is close to the motif of mutual beard-pullers, symbolising perhaps 'unnatural' affection .

Sant Joan de les Abadesses (Girona), Spain

Slightly earlier than the Anglo-Saxon manuscript, the Book of Kells shows a warrior with spear displaying his virility - but as a vignette, without any evident censure.

detail of folio 200r

Also from Ireland, though carved in the 12th century is a remarkable grotesque from a Round Tower, showing a contorted figure with huge and very Norse-Irish head displaying buttocks and what can be interpreted either as dangling labia or scrotum - most likely the latter.
Two monsters bite its outstretched arms.

Berrymount (Cavan), Ireland

There is no end to the variety and variations of the male exhibitionist motif. As we have seen in two of the four Romanesque churches in Poitiers, they are not necessarily grotesque. This Czech figure would almost qualify for inclusion in a gay magazine.

Capital in Chapel-Palatine, Cheb (Bohemia), Czech Republic.

Devils, of course, are often depicted with huge genitals - propaganda which might well have been counter-productive.

Two views of a high frieze at Villers-Saint-Paul (Oise), France:
the devil at the bottom is carrying a phallic money-bag.

A more positive meaning is attached to male exhibitionism on a remarkable corbel which shows a clothed couple embracing, each with a halo, and the woman's left hand feeling for size or hardness the man's penis which pokes out from underneath his tunic.

Maillezais (Deux-Sèvres), France

If it is not a depiction of the early Christian 'sacred marriage' of two holy males in Brotherly Love, this could refer to St Augustine's only justification for the sexual union and marriage of Christians: in order for two saved souls to create another soul that is likely to be saved. Compare this with the usual depiction of pairs or couples (and note that the male has been smashed, probably by post-mediæval re-roofers: during modern re-roofing the corbel-table was cleaned):

Manéglise (Seine-Maritime), France

The meaning of the rare motif of the column-swallower
can only be guessed at,

Capital of nave, Cunault (Maine-et-Loire), France

but it is possibly connected with our theme. Its earliest appearance is also in an Anglo-Saxon manuscript.

Door-capital, Puente la Reina (Navarra), Spain

Exhibitionists rarely appear on capitals, and column-swallowers (for obvious reasons) never appear on corbels. One fine example extends a hand into its pig-like ear.

Door-capital, Saint-Romans-lès-Melle (Deux-Sèvres), France

Capital in Cormac's Chapel, Cashel, (Tipperary), Ireland

Magnificent triple capital, Lucheux (Somme), France

The unequivocal sin of Sodomy is also a rare subject: I know of only two examples. One is on the celebrated Last Judgement tympanum of the Pilgrimage church of Conques, where a devil with a club sodomises a sodomite into the beastly jaws of Hell.

Conques (Aveyron), France

On the other, the sodomy is portrayed as occurring in the daily lives of travelling entertainers, anathematised by the mediæval Church.

La Chaize-le-Vicomte (Vendée), France

Slightly less rare is the motif of disembodied male organs, indicating a warning against rather than celebration of sexuality.

Corbel, Sainte-Colombe (Charente), France

A little less rare is the variant of the very common 'tonguesticker' whose tongue is long enough to reach his genitals; this motif is not quite the same as the genital-licker or -sucker illustrated on the previous page. The example at Mere in England combines several sinful motifs: the acrobat, the anal exhibitionist, the monster - and possibly even the vagina dentata, a feature of some Irish female exhibitionists.

Interior corbel at Mere (Wiltshire)
photo by John Harding

Less rare again is the ithyphallic spinarius or thornpuller, attempting to extract St Paul's "thorn in the flesh" generally thought to be sexual desire. These are inspired by (but bear little resemblance to) a Roman statue of a naked athlete notorious in mediæval times.

Saint-Léger-en-Pons (Charente), France