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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 1997-10 > 0876424374


From: Louis Epstein< >
Subject: Re: Edward II's Sexuality
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 1997 19:12:54 GMT


Patrick Cracroft-Brennan () wrote:
: In article <>, reed
: <> writes
: >I thought someone would have posted more detail about Edward's homosexuality
: >long
: >ago as this discussion has been continuing on for some time. Edward lost
his
: >mother at age six, and had no mother figure for another nine years. Of
course,
: >this has nothing to do with his homosexuality, but it does mean that he
probably
: >had no warmth and comfort to turn to during childhood and puberty. His
father
: >was of fighting much of the time and was a powerful figure, probably
difficult
: >for a young boy to bond with. The point is, there was no parental figure
around
: >to help him mature (though he was dragged along on a number of campaigns),
:
: Well, I really don't want to get into an off-topic argument about this
: BUT all this is very interesting and no doubt explains some of the
: obvious flaws in Edward's character.....but it in no way explains his
: homosexuality, which of course is NOT a character flaw any more than
: being left-handed or blue eyed, and indeed needs no more to be
: "explained" than, say, his father's heterosexuality. A person is BORN
: gay or lesbian not made one by problems of upbringing.

Some of us regard homosexuality as a functional deficiency,though had
Edward II been unable to function heterosexually there would have been
no Edward III,and as that monarch has been described as "the ancestor
of the English middle class",one can only guess at how totally different
the world would have been!

This thread: