Skip to content
  • Home Home Home, current page.
  • Moments Moments Moments, current page.

Saved searches

  • Remove
  • In this conversation
    Verified accountProtected Tweets @
Suggested users
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @
  • Language: English
    • Bahasa Indonesia
    • Bahasa Melayu
    • Català
    • Čeština
    • Dansk
    • Deutsch
    • English UK
    • Español
    • Filipino
    • Français
    • Hrvatski
    • Italiano
    • Magyar
    • Nederlands
    • Norsk
    • Polski
    • Português
    • Română
    • Slovenčina
    • Suomi
    • Svenska
    • Tiếng Việt
    • Türkçe
    • Ελληνικά
    • Български език
    • Русский
    • Српски
    • Українська мова
    • עִבְרִית
    • العربية
    • فارسی
    • मराठी
    • हिन्दी
    • বাংলা
    • ગુજરાતી
    • தமிழ்
    • ಕನ್ನಡ
    • ภาษาไทย
    • 한국어
    • 日本語
    • 简体中文
    • 繁體中文
  • Have an account? Log in
    Have an account?
    · Forgot password?

    New to Twitter?
    Sign up
erik_kaars's profile
Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade
Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade
Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade
@erik_kaars

Tweets

Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade

@erik_kaars

queer medievalist researching the global origins of ideas about sex/race in medieval English lit. helicopter parent to a kitty. phd. (he/him). views my own.

Germany
Joined November 2015

Tweets

  • © 2021 Twitter
  • About
  • Help Center
  • Terms
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies
  • Ads info
Dismiss
Previous
Next

Go to a person's profile

Saved searches

  • Remove
  • In this conversation
    Verified accountProtected Tweets @
Suggested users
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @

Promote this Tweet

Block

  • Tweet with a location

    You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more

    Your lists

    Create a new list


    Under 100 characters, optional

    Privacy

    Copy link to Tweet

    Embed this Tweet

    Embed this Video

    Add this Tweet to your website by copying the code below. Learn more

    Add this video to your website by copying the code below. Learn more

    Hmm, there was a problem reaching the server.

    By embedding Twitter content in your website or app, you are agreeing to the Twitter Developer Agreement and Developer Policy.

    Preview

    Why you're seeing this ad

    Log in to Twitter

    · Forgot password?
    Don't have an account? Sign up »

    Sign up for Twitter

    Not on Twitter? Sign up, tune into the things you care about, and get updates as they happen.

    Sign up
    Have an account? Log in »

    Two-way (sending and receiving) short codes:

    Country Code For customers of
    United States 40404 (any)
    Canada 21212 (any)
    United Kingdom 86444 Vodafone, Orange, 3, O2
    Brazil 40404 Nextel, TIM
    Haiti 40404 Digicel, Voila
    Ireland 51210 Vodafone, O2
    India 53000 Bharti Airtel, Videocon, Reliance
    Indonesia 89887 AXIS, 3, Telkomsel, Indosat, XL Axiata
    Italy 4880804 Wind
    3424486444 Vodafone
    » See SMS short codes for other countries

    Confirmation

     

    Welcome home!

    This timeline is where you’ll spend most of your time, getting instant updates about what matters to you.

    Tweets not working for you?

    Hover over the profile pic and click the Following button to unfollow any account.

    Say a lot with a little

    When you see a Tweet you love, tap the heart — it lets the person who wrote it know you shared the love.

    Spread the word

    The fastest way to share someone else’s Tweet with your followers is with a Retweet. Tap the icon to send it instantly.

    Join the conversation

    Add your thoughts about any Tweet with a Reply. Find a topic you’re passionate about, and jump right in.

    Learn the latest

    Get instant insight into what people are talking about now.

    Get more of what you love

    Follow more accounts to get instant updates about topics you care about.

    Find what's happening

    See the latest conversations about any topic instantly.

    Never miss a Moment

    Catch up instantly on the best stories happening as they unfold.

    Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade‏ @erik_kaars 22 Aug 2020

    Here's a AMAZING 12th-century Middle Irish story about lesbians accidentally having a baby. A woman asked the king to determine her baby's father, bc she hadn't sex with a man in a long time. The king asked if she'd had sex with a woman. The woman said yes. #MedievalTwitterpic.twitter.com/YbUK314AnR

    Screenshot of translated text reads: "While they were there, a woman came to the king carrying a boy-child, and put him in the king's arms. 'For your kingship and your soverignty,'said she, 'find out for me through your ruler's truth who the carnal father of this boy is, for I do not know myself. For I swear by your ruler's truth, and by the King who governs every created thing that I have not known guilt with a man for many years now.'

The King was silent then. 'Have you had playful mating with another woman?' said he, 'and do not conceal it if you have.' 'I will not,'she said."
    5:08 AM - 22 Aug 2020
    • 3,986 Retweets
    • 9,364 Likes
    • Egle Nathan Waddell he/him 🇨🇦 Hannah Elspeth 😷🦄📚 Azmo-stan Account 💖💜💙 ○♡○ SILLY the damn things overlap SilverUtahraptor Victor Peachy
    63 replies 3,986 retweets 9,364 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade‏ @erik_kaars 22 Aug 2020

        The king basically says, "Oh, then she must have had sex with her husband beforehand, and the semen fell into your womb during your 'tumbling.'"pic.twitter.com/XipkHqN2I8

        Screenshot of translated text reads: "Said she, 'I have. 'It is true,' said the king.  'That woman had mated with a man just before, and the semen which he left with her, she put it into your womb in the tumbling, so that it was begotten in you womb. That man is the father of your child, and let it be found out who he is.'"
        5 replies 122 retweets 1,595 likes
        Show this thread
      3. Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade‏ @erik_kaars 22 Aug 2020

        Immediately, a MAN FALLS OUT OF THE SKY. He introduces himself as a priest who made a deal with a demon. The demons had been carrying him through the air for 7 years, but they were overhead when the king was speaking, & the truth made the demons scatter, freeing the priest.pic.twitter.com/Bw40RIsG2Z

        Screenshot of translated text reads: "When they were there they heard a noise coming towards them out of the sky, and they saw a strange malignant spectre falling to the floor of the assembly, putting men and horses to flight. Nobody stay in the assembly but the king and a few people around him. 'Who are you?' said the king. 'A human being,' said he.  'What put you in that plight?' said the king. 'I will tell you,' said he. 'I am in fact the priest of Inis Bo Finne, and I had built a house and there was not craftsman in the world that I thought good enough to make the woodwork. And a demon came to me in the shape of a man, and he made the woodwork in the house, and he would take no payment except that I should bow down to him. And I bowed down to him then, and I was seized by swelling pride."

Remainder of the text too long to write out but, in summary, the demons seized the priest and lifted him into flight and he remained in flight for seven years until the judgment saved him.
        25 replies 92 retweets 1,515 likes
        Show this thread
      4. Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade‏ @erik_kaars 22 Aug 2020

        The story's relative lack of criticism of two women having sex is noteworthy, and *once again* suggests that the history of queerness is a lot more complicated than "the Middle Ages were oppressive/homophobic." The king assumes correctly that women often had sex together.pic.twitter.com/6JSBojTLMO

        6 replies 254 retweets 2,817 likes
        Show this thread
      5. Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade‏ @erik_kaars 22 Aug 2020

        This story appears in several versions after this. It appears in a 15th-century manuscript, in an apologue to a 16th-century bardic poem (written for a famous judge!) and in another 16th-century version. Some of these versions were less explicit, but none condemn the women.

        1 reply 76 retweets 1,436 likes
        Show this thread
      6. Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade‏ @erik_kaars 22 Aug 2020

        In the 16th-century poem, the woman claims she's never had sex with a man and the King asks if she's ever "play[ed]" with another woman, laying beside her or letting her "lie between [her] thighs." The woman says yes, and the king says that woman's husband is the father.pic.twitter.com/zWdjQCTIW6

        Screenshot of a section of the poem reads: " in no doubt regarding anything that I say to
you; even if it were not considered [possible], o
king, no man has ever sinned with me. 
Did you ever,' said Niall, 'please confirm this
for me, engage in [erotic fore-]play with another
woman; did she ever place her body side by side
with your fair body, or did she ever lie between
your thighs?'
28. The lady admitted to the king in a soft regal voice:
'it happens that such [a woman] did indeed lie in
my bed, if that be a sin.'
29. Then spoke the high-king of swift intellect: 'find
out who is the husband of that woman, and I
swear to you by God's great will that he is the
father of your only son"
        3 replies 50 retweets 1,225 likes
        Show this thread
      7. Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade‏ @erik_kaars 22 Aug 2020

        The part considered too risque to discuss is the semen, NOT the women having sex together. Later, in the 20th century, people refused to translate these texts because of the women having sex with each other. That was a *modern* anxiety, not a medieval one.pic.twitter.com/XnIYmf61gi

        3 replies 167 retweets 2,250 likes
        Show this thread
      8. Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade‏ @erik_kaars 22 Aug 2020

        The second 16th-century version (this one in prose) is my FAVORITE, because, in this version, the woman tells the king that her lover had sex with her bc her lover's husband couldn't satisfy her (unlike the woman, who def could).pic.twitter.com/PDincizAdA

        Screenshot of the translated text reads: "It was Niall Frasach son of Fergal son of M?el D?in, high king of
Ireland, who made the famous judgement for the woman regarding
her child at the fair of Tailtiu, when she said that she did not know who
the father of her child was, and she swore that she had no husband and
that he (the father?) had not been shown to her in a dream.1
Niall asked had another woman lain with her.
'Yes,' said she.
'What did she want with you?'
'Her husband had lain with her,' said she, 'and she was not satisfied by
him and she lay with me to quench her desire.'
'True,' said Niall; 'the semen which her husband left with her, she left
with you, so that that man is the father of your child.'
In that moment the people attending the fair were shadowed by a
dark cloud of demons above them in the air, and one of the demons
fell to the ground in Tailtiu in front of the men of Ireland, i.e. the priest
of Inisbofin. And he explained that Niall had been sanctified, and
that "
        5 replies 117 retweets 1,586 likes
        Show this thread
      9. Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade‏ @erik_kaars 22 Aug 2020

        There is a LOT happening in this story. The priest sells himself to the devil for nice woodwork, the devils just carry him around for years, etc. But the central claim is that a king's truthful judgment scatters demons. The truth of lesbians drives demons away. 🌈pic.twitter.com/m2oXg8eeKm

        5 replies 188 retweets 2,437 likes
        Show this thread
      10. Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade‏ @erik_kaars 22 Aug 2020

        Screenshots from the below. Translations from Damian Mcmanus's article "Niall Frosach's 'Act Of Truth': A Bardic Apologue In A Poem For Sir Nicholas Walsh" & David Greene's “The ‘Act of Truth’ in a Middle-Irish Story,” Saga och Sed (1976)pic.twitter.com/8kDjVbPoRY

        4 replies 41 retweets 850 likes
        Show this thread
      11. Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade‏ @erik_kaars 22 Aug 2020

        I will add, before people scream anachronism, that the term "lesbian" is attested referring to women who have sex with women in the Middle Ages, AND I use it as a deliberate choice of queer historiography, following Valerie Traub, Bernadette Brooten, Anne Lasykaya, etc.

        12 replies 43 retweets 1,367 likes
        Show this thread
      12. Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade‏ @erik_kaars 23 Aug 2020

        Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade Retweeted Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade

        If you liked the medieval Irish lesbians, you’ll probably also like these love letters between medieval women in Germany!https://twitter.com/erik_kaars/status/1070308027096539137 …

        Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade added,

        Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade @erik_kaars
        Love letter from one twelfth-century nun to another nun. We read it in class on Tuesday and 😭😍😭 "[I] sigh for you at every hour, at every moment, like a hungry little bird."💔 #medievaltwitter pic.twitter.com/LUv2bqoA6X
        Show this thread
        2 replies 92 retweets 456 likes
        Show this thread
      13. Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade‏ @erik_kaars 23 Aug 2020

        Awwww this got popular! While you’re here, check out my Soundcloud:https://translifeline.org/donate 

        4 replies 11 retweets 114 likes
        Show this thread
      14. Erik "Mr. Bloodaxe" Wade‏ @erik_kaars 31 Aug 2020

        I did an interview about this story with PinkNews. Check it out here:https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/08/30/medieval-tale-gay-lgbt-love-story-twelfth-century-ireland-lesbian-lover-baby-king/ …

        1 reply 3 retweets 22 likes
        Show this thread
      15. End of conversation

    Loading seems to be taking a while.

    Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.

      Promoted Tweet

      false

      • © 2021 Twitter
      • About
      • Help Center
      • Terms
      • Privacy policy
      • Cookies
      • Ads info