When you think of medieval Europe, you probably picture pious monks, towering cathedrals, and a strict code of chastity. Yet the continent was also a hotbed of lurid love affairs, secret trysts, and outright scandal. In this roundup we tally the 10 sex scandals that shocked medieval Europe, each more eyebrow‑raising than the last.
10 Abelard And Heloise
Why This Is One Of The 10 Sex Scandals That Shocked Medieval Europe
In the early 1100s, Peter Abelard rose to fame as the most celebrated philosopher and teacher across the continent. Crowds thronged his lectures, and wealthy students paid handsomely for his tutoring. The scandal erupted when Abelard began a clandestine liaison with one of his brightest pupils, the stunning and intellectually formidable Heloise.
Heloise happened to be the niece of Fulbert, a canon of Notre‑Dame and Abelard’s landlord. When Fulbert uncovered the affair, he demanded that the couple wed. Neither party was enthusiastic, but they consented on the condition that the marriage remain hidden. After Heloise gave birth to a son they named Astrolabe, Fulbert publicly disclosed the union, only for Heloise to deny it outright, inflaming Fulbert’s fury.
Abelard fled with Heloise to a remote convent for safety, an act that only deepened Fulbert’s wrath. In 1117 a band of men burst into Abelard’s chambers and viciously castrated him. Remarkably, Abelard survived, entered monastic life, and maintained a lifelong correspondence with Heloise.
9 Katherina Hetzeldorfer
During the late 1400s, a young, unmarried individual arrived in the German city of Speyer and quickly earned a reputation as a libertine, assaulting women and indulging in numerous affairs throughout the carnival season. The town paid little heed—until 1477, when the perpetrator’s true identity was revealed: a woman named Katherina Hetzeldorfer.
Trial records disclose that Katherina fashioned a prosthetic phallus “half as big as an arm…with a red piece of leather, at the front filled with cotton, and a wooden stick stuck into it.” She used this contraption to engage in intercourse with several women, all of whom testified that they were unaware of the deception. One of Katherina’s lovers, Else Muter, even swore that the device apparently produced “semen…beyond measure.”
Katherina met a grim fate when she was drowned in a local river. The court, recognizing that her partners had been duped, sentenced them to exile rather than death, sparing them the ultimate penalty.
8 The Swedish King And His Sister‑In‑Law
Princess Jutta, daughter of King Eric IV of Denmark, was originally consigned to a cloister, expected to live out her days as a nun. Defying expectations, she escaped to Sweden, where her sister Sophia welcomed her. Sophia’s husband, King Valdemar of Sweden, soon embarked on a passionate affair with the newly arrived Jutta, even fathering a child with her.
The scandal erupted across Sweden as rumors swirled that the king had been unfaithful to his queen with her own sister. In an attempt to atone, Valdemar embarked on a pilgrimage to Rome, seeking papal forgiveness. The Pope, however, levied a hefty fine, turning the pilgrimage into a financial burden for the Swedish populace.
The public outrage over the extra taxation, combined with the scandalous affair, led to Valdemar’s swift overthrow by his brothers, ending his turbulent reign.
7 The Naughty Nuns Of Littlemore
In 1517, a bishop inspected Littlemore Priory in Oxfordshire, England, and uncovered a series of scandalous behaviors among its inhabitants. The nuns were reported to “romp and play with boys in the cloister,” a conduct that shocked ecclesiastical authorities.
Even the prioress was implicated, having borne an illegitimate daughter with a priest from Kent. To provide for her offspring, the prioress allegedly pilfered valuable items from the convent—selling candlesticks, basins, shetts, pelouses, and even feather‑filled beds to fund a dowry.
The nuns showed little remorse. When one sister was placed in the stocks as punishment, three other nuns broke down the door, liberated their companion, set fire to the stocks, and escaped through a window, demonstrating bold defiance.
Ultimately, the scandal could not be ignored. Cardinal Wolsey ordered the dissolution of Littlemore Priory, bringing an end to its notorious reputation.
6 The Pervy Pope
John XII ascended to the papacy at the tender age of eighteen, thanks to the influence of his powerful family. He quickly demonstrated a preference for sensual pursuits over spiritual duties, transforming the papal palace into something resembling a brothel. Monks in the vicinity reportedly stopped praying for his health, instead begging him to die.
The scandal quickly spread throughout Europe. The Holy Roman Emperor dispatched a warning, accusing the Pope of homicide, perjury, sacrilege, and incest with several female relatives, including two sisters.
John XII met his end in 964 while allegedly making love with a woman named Stefanetta. Some accounts claim he suffered a stroke from the exertion; others suggest Stefanetta’s jealous husband burst into the chamber and hurled the Pope out a window, ending his notorious reign.
5 William The Conqueror
Today, William I of England is best remembered as William the Conqueror. In his own lifetime, however, he was often derisively called “William the Bastard” or “William the Tanner,” a reference to his birth from a teenage liaison between Duke Robert of Normandy and a tanner’s daughter from Falaise.
Although Robert had no other sons and William was later legitimized, the stigma of his origins haunted him. When he besieged Alençon, townsfolk dangled animal skins from the walls, chanting, “Hides, hides for the tanner! Plenty of work for the tanner!” In fury, William retaliated by catapulting severed hands at the crowd.
William’s descendants seemed to take the joke in stride. Henry II, while stitching a torn glove, recalled a bishop’s remark that he resembled his Falaise relatives, prompting Henry to burst into uncontrollable laughter.
4 The Demon‑Kings Of England
Henry II’s lineage carried a darker reputation. While his mother was William the Conqueror’s granddaughter, his father, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, hailed from a family rumored to be descended from demons. Legend tells of an early count who wed the enchanting Melusine, only to discover she slipped out of church before the Eucharist.
One day, the count stood on her cloak to prevent her escape. As the priest raised the Host, Melusine screamed, sprouted wings, and flew out the window, leaving behind two demonic offspring. Though modern scholars dismiss the tale, the Plantagenets embraced it, often joking about being half‑demon.
Both Henry II and his son Richard the Lionheart were known to jest about their infernal ancestry. Bernard of Clairvaux famously summed up popular opinion: “From the Devil they came and to the Devil they will return.”
3 The King, His Son, His Wife, And Her Brother
In a particularly tangled scandal, King Henry II, his son Richard the Lionheart, and Princess Alys of France became entangled in a web of broken betrothals and rumored affairs. Alys had been betrothed to Richard in childhood and was sent to live with Henry at age nine. Despite Alys reaching marriageable age, Henry refused to sanction the union.
Rumors soon swirled that Henry had taken Alys as his own mistress. The Pope threatened to excommunicate the entire kingdom unless Richard and Alys were wed. King Louis of France demanded either a marriage or the return of his daughter. Henry grudgingly consented but delayed setting a date for years.
Complicating matters further, some historians suggest Richard may have been involved with Alys’s brother, Philip. After Henry’s death, Richard declined to marry Alys, claiming she had already given birth to his half‑brother, thereby ending the scandal in a dramatic fashion.
2 Heretical Spooning
In the later medieval period, the Church grew increasingly anxious about heretical sects, urging them to confess not only doctrinal crimes but also lurid sexual deeds. One notorious case involved a German heretic named Lepzet, who admitted that his sect convened in a cavern where their bishop would insert the handle of a silver spoon into his anus to hold an offering.
According to Lepzet’s confession, the congregation then kissed the bishop’s buttocks and even a cat’s rectum before engaging in an orgy described as “men with men and women with women.” Though some modern scholars suspect Lepzet fabricated the tale, the confession caused considerable shock.
1 Machiavelli, Da Vinci, And The Holes Of Truth
In the 1400s, Florence installed a series of public boxes known as “holes of truth,” where citizens could anonymously submit accusations for official investigation. This system proved fertile ground for rumor‑mongering and scandal.
Even Niccolò Machiavelli found himself forced to deny accusations that he had sodomized a local courtesan named La Riccia. He likely told a falsehood; in a letter he noted that La Riccia jokingly called him her “house pest” because he visited her frequently.
The most explosive allegation emerged in 1476, when several notes accused Leonardo da Vinci and three other Florentine notables of regularly having sex with a 17‑year‑old named Jacopo Saltarelli. The city buzzed with gossip, and Leonardo was summoned by the Officers of the Night for questioning. Ultimately, the charges were dropped, allowing the master artist to continue his illustrious career.