Who has not heard of the so-called "chastity belts" that representatives of the medieval nobility allegedly put on their wives so that they could not cheat on them while the husband was away? However, there is a version that this is nothing more than a myth and no such devices were used in that era …
Lock and key
Sources describe the "belt of Venus" or "chastity belt" as a device of straps and chains, locked with a complex lock. In those distant times, men were often absent from home - they called for deeds, then military campaigns, and in order to be calm for the virtue of their wife, they seemed to put the said device on her hips, thus restricting access to the cherished hole … The lock was locked, and the key to it my husband took with him. True, sometimes a noble lady was looking for a master who made a belt, and acquired a second key from him, after which one could indulge in forbidden love without hindrance.
Indeed, today this kind of accessories are on display in museums. However, the modern Germanist professor Albrecht Klassen believes that their prevalence in the Middle Ages is nothing more than a historical myth.
If you conduct an examination of the "chastity belts" from museums, it turns out that they were all made in the period from the 18th to the 19th century. And this is far from the Middle Ages.
Why a belt?
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According to Klassen, in the Middle Ages, such devices were simply not needed. There are several reasons for this.
First, in that era, the wife was considered the property of the husband. Treason was equated with a crime and punished in the most terrible way: a woman could be dumped in pitch and feathers and carried around the city in this form, beaten with a whip or even stoned … Moreover, all this could be appointed by a judge as a legal punishment. If the sinning wife belonged to a noble family, she was sent to a monastery or sentenced to imprisonment, as described in the novels of the French writer Maurice Druon from the series "Cursed Kings". Sometimes a woman was even threatened with execution for treason.
It turns out that cheating on their husbands was more expensive. Adultery could turn into a rather serious risk not only for the honor of a woman, but also for health, freedom and life. Therefore, only the most desperate changed.
If a man put on a “chastity belt” on a woman, this would mean that he initially admits the possibility of betrayal. And you shouldn't have lived with a potential traitor at all - she should have been punished or even killed.
Secondly, if we assume that women nevertheless wore such belts, then it would be worth considering that this would hinder movement, would interfere with washing, going to the restroom, doing everyday activities … Besides, it would be inconvenient to sleep in such an accessory, not to mention the fact that it would rub the skin and could cause an allergic reaction. Upon returning, the spouse would find on the body of the faithful sores, rashes or bedsores, but what man would be pleased to contemplate?
Allegory and joke
It is curious that only literary, but not historical, sources mention the "chastity belts". Klassen believes that this is just an artistic allegory, which the authors resorted to, describing female infidelity and deceit. So, in fairy tales, various magic is often described, but we know that this is not the case in real life.
However, the idea was accepted, and during the Renaissance, joker masters began to make "chastity belts", which in fact were never used for their intended purpose: they were intended only for public displays, acting as a symbol of the "backwardness" of the people of the Middle Ages, the scientist claims.