Spanish Inquisition - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Homosexuality, known at the time as sodomy, was punished by death by civil authorities. It fell under the jurisdiction of the Inquisition only in the territories of Aragon, when, in 1524, Clement VII, in a papal brief, granted jurisdiction over sodomy to the Inquisition of Aragon, whether or not it was related to heresy. In Castile, cases of sodomy were not adjudicated, unless related to heresy. The tribunal of Zaragoza distinguished itself for its severity in judging these offences: between 1571 and 1579 more than 100 men accused of sodomy were processed and at least 36 were executed; in total, between 1570 and 1630 there were 534 trials and 102 executions.[20]
The obvious answer would be to blame Christianity, but the Bible wasn't popularly read until later, there doesn't appear to have been any major theological shift until later, and I suspect the Church harboured and protected many gays at the time as is evidenced by the rites of gay marriage described in the diary. Was homophobia brought in by the Huns and invading tribes from the east who also destroyed Roman civilization (with which the Church was heavily identified). Was it popular/class resentment against the wealth and power of the (aristocrat) Church within feudal societies? Was it the need to rebuild populations post multiple wars, disease and famine?
I suspect it was a loss of nerve and leadership by the Church in giving way to popular sentiment or political/economic pressures and who sold out on gays as sacrificial lambs to the slaughter to save their own hide. The theological justification may have been a later post hoc rationalisation. "It's a mystery to me - the game commences, For the usual fee - plus expenses, Confidential information - it's in my diary..."
With the decline of the Roman Empire, and its replacement by various barbarian kingdoms, a general tolerance (with the sole exception of Visigothic Spain) of homosexual acts prevailed. As one prominent scholar puts it, "European secular law contained few measures against homosexuality until the middle of the thirteenth century." (Greenberg, 1988, 260) Even while some Christian theologians continued to denounce nonprocreative sexuality, including same-sex acts, a genre of homophilic literature, especially among the clergy, developed in the eleventh and twelfth centuries (Boswell, 1980, chapters 8 and 9). The latter part of the twelfth through the fourteenth centuries, however, saw a sharp rise in intolerance towards homosexual sex, alongside persecution of Jews, Muslims, heretics, and others. While the causes of this are somewhat unclear, it is likely that increased class conflict alongside the Gregorian reform movement in the Catholic Church were two important factors. The Church itself started to appeal to a conception of "nature" as the standard of morality, and drew it in such a way so as to forbid homosexual sex (as well as extramarital sex, nonprocreative sex within marriage, and often masturbation). For example, the first ecumenical council to condemn homosexual sex, Lateran III of 1179, stated that "Whoever shall be found to have committed that incontinence which is against nature" shall be punished, the severity of which depended upon whether the transgressor was a cleric or layperson (quoted in Boswell, 1980, 277). This appeal to natural law (discussed below) became very influential in the Western tradition.
The latter part of the twelfth through the fourteenth centuries, however, saw a sharp rise in intolerance towards homosexual sex, alongside persecution of Jews, Muslims, heretics, and others. While the causes of this are somewhat unclear, it is likely that increased class conflict alongside the Gregorian reform movement in the Catholic Church were two important factors. The Church itself started to appeal to a conception of "nature" as the standard of morality, and drew it in such a way so as to forbid homosexual sex (as well as extramarital sex, nonprocreative sex within marriage, and often masturbation). For example, the first ecumenical council to condemn homosexual sex, Lateran III of 1179, stated that "Whoever shall be found to have committed that incontinence which is against nature" shall be punished, the severity of which depended upon whether the transgressor was a cleric or layperson (quoted in Boswell, 1980, 277). This appeal to natural law (discussed below) became very influential in the Western tradition.
I suspect it was a loss of nerve and leadership by the Church in giving way to popular sentiment or political/economic pressures and who sold out on gays as sacrificial lambs to the slaughter to save their own hide. The theological justification may have been a later post hoc rationalisation.
It appears to me that you are looking for a single-step explanation. However, what I see is a process, one that can easily gain its own momentum: first opportunist rhetoric against opponents executed for the sin of hereticism aimed at cutting their popular support, then making homosexuality one of the sins of the heretics, then making homosexuality a marker enough to identify heretics, then homosexuality as a mortal sin on its own. It was a very similar escalation that took the Spanish Inquisition from the hunt for open heretics to hunt for Jews, then converted Jews, then grandsons of converted Jews. So I see your original either-or question as corresponding to different stages of an escalation.
Now, the above was my original view, but considering my own quote on the Spanish Inquisition, some nuance is in place: e.g. apparently, homosexuality used to be judged by 'worldy' courts in most places, thus the anti-gay escalation wasn't even under the full and direct control of the Church.
I suspect it was a loss of nerve and leadership by the Church
Why so lenient? Selling out was nothing unusual in the Dark Ages. Review the history of monastic orders on the verge of being declared heretic, the battles for political control with the Holy Roman Emperors, the Avignon Papacy, the backstabbing of the Temple Knights and so on. Also, publicly sentencing a few hundred homosexuals doesn't mean that their own homosexual priests weren't sheltered on - without publicity. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
