Throughout history, it's mostly been queer men who were persecuted under the historical sodomy laws, but the Tudor period saw a spike in women being tried under it.
Why was this? And why was it mostly happening in what is modern day Belgium and Netherlands?
Joining Kate today is historian Jonas Roelens, who specialises in sexuality in the early modern period, to explore the unique things that were happening in Europe during this time that gave rise to such persecutions.
His book, Citizens and Sodomites: Persecution and Perception of Sodomy in the Southern Low Countries (1400–1700), can be found here.
This episode was edited by Tom Delargy. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.
Voting is open for the Listener's Choice Award at the British Podcast Awards, so if you enjoy what we're doing, we'd love it if you took a quick follow this link and click on Betwixt the Sheets: https://www.britishpodcastawards.com/voting
Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for £1 per month for 3 months with code BETWIXT sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscription/
You can take part in our listener survey here.
Voting is now open for the Listener's Choice Award at this year's Podcast Awards! UK & Ireland listeners please place your vote on the Spotify mobile app here: https://open.spotify.com/s/xhg6PJa
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.