prostitution 6011989); Abraham Joshua Heschel, Prophetic Inspiration
after the Prophets: Maimonides and Other Medieval Authori-
ties,ed. Morris M. Faierstein (Hoboken, N.J.: Ktav, 1996);
Theodore L. Steinberg, Piers Plowman and Prophecy: An
Approach to the C-Text(New York: Garland, 1991).
prostitution(zina) Medieval prostitution was the sell-
ing of one’s body for the pleasure of others in exchange
for financial or other forms of profit. There were several
levels or kinds of prostitution in the Middle Ages and
RENAISSANCE. Some prostitutes worked in rural commu-
nities and some in cities at a variety of social levels,
accessibility, and exploitation. Some of the medieval pub-
lic considered them to be a social necessity and guarantee
of matrimonial order.
Prostitution was justified as a necessary sexual out-
let for the young until they could marry and for the relief
it afforded to the tense and restrictive systems of mar-
riage. Prostitutes could turn people away from more sin-
ful unions that led to concubinage and grave adultery,
thus threatening social organization and elite status or
succession. They could function out of regular houses
well known for this activity or else find their work on
streets at certain locations, sometimes even approved by
the government. Those who sold their body were usually
driven to this by poverty and a lack of alternatives for
survival. For women this could include being victims of
rape, which, if known, severely limited their prospects
for marriage. Sometimes they wore distinctive clothing
to demonstrate their status. Selling one’s body might
have felt empowering to some, given the alternatives of
complete poverty. Prostitution was considered reflective
of the fallen state of humankind. There was little con-
cern for the people forced to work as prostitutes. On the
other hand, there were examples of municipal govern-
ments, or even ecclesiastical authorities, who actually
profited from prostitutes’ activities. In Islam, prostitution,
or zina,was any unlawful intercourse and was punishable
by stoning, whipping, or exile.
See alsoCHARITY AND POVERTY; CONTRACEPTION AND
ABORTION; MARRIAGE; SEXUALITY AND SEXUAL ATTITUDES.
Further reading: Ruth Mazo Karras, Common
Women: Prostitution and Sexuality in Medieval England
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1996); Leah Lydia
Otis, Prostitution in Medieval Society: The History of an
Urban Institution in Languedoc(1980; reprint, Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1985); Jacques Rossiaud,
Medieval Prostitution,trans. Lydia G. Cochrane (1984;
reprint, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1988).Bathhouse romance from the story of the dissolute young man. Fresco, ca. 1303–05, attributed to Memmo di Filippuccio
(fl. 1294–1326), Museo Civico, San Gimignano, Italy (Scala / Art Resource)