Making the Sodomite Speak: Voices of the Accused in English Sodomy Trials, <i>c.</i>1800–98<sup>1</sup>

Cocks, Harry

doi:10.1111/j.1468-0424.2006.00416.x

Cited by 8 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…As to the legal prosecution of punishable homosexual behavior, they were more vulnerable than the more privileged, all the more where class injustice was the rule rather than the exception. 61 While particular enlightened notions of human nature provided room for new and liberating opportunities, nineteenth-century biomedical science defined nature in more determinist and limiting terms: individuals were relegated exclusively to the human group or class to which they would belong on the basis of their innate traits. In the course of the nineteenth century, arguments derived from biomedical science on the supposedly inborn qualities of individuals and groups of human beings were increasingly deployed to present social inequality and selective attribution of liberal freedoms and civil rights as inevitable and unchangeable.…”

Section: Sodomites and Tribades On The Barricadesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sodomy, Possessive Individualism, and Godless Nature: Eighteenth-Century Traces of Homosexual Assertiveness

Oosterhuis

2023

Journal of the History of Sexuality

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I n 1 8 0 9 t h I r t ye I g h ty e a ro l d ship's surgeon James Nehemiah Taylor was caught in the act of sodomy with his helper on a naval vessel at sea. After being court-martialed in the port of Portsmouth, the doctor was sentenced to death. During the two weeks before the execution, the marine chaplain tried to sway him to repentance by, for instance, organizing a church service, attended by the crew and the convicted man, which centered the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah. This did not keep Taylor from presenting to the chaplain an image of God that differed slightly from the wrathful supreme being who set these cities ablaze. Taylor, a well-read man who was familiar with Voltaire and other "infidel authors," did not consider himself a sinner. He believed in God as creator, but in his view, God did not run the world in inscrutable and punishing ways. God was merciful and understanding of human frailties, especially when these "were implanted in our nature and constitution." 1 That Taylor frequently had given way to his irresistible urges did not, he stressed, detract from his moral righteousness-and this, after all, served as the base for community spirit and responsible handling of civil rights and freedom of religion. Taylor trusted that God, in the last judgment, would take into A shorter version of this article has been published in Dutch. See H. Oosterhuis, "Sodemieterij, eigendomsindividualisme en goddeloze natuur: Achttiende-eeuwse kiemen van homoemancipatie,"

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Section: Sodomites and Tribades On The Barricadesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sodomy, Possessive Individualism, and Godless Nature: Eighteenth-Century Traces of Homosexual Assertiveness

Oosterhuis

2023

Journal of the History of Sexuality

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“…‘Moral crimes’ receive attention in two articles by Cocks, who, in Past & Present , offers an examination of the passing of the death sentence in early nineteenth‐century cases involving sodomy, suggesting that such brutal punishments formed part of wider attempts at ‘moral reform’ and efforts to reinforce masculinity. In a further study in Gender and History , Cocks seeks to restore the voice of those accused in sodomy trials using evidence drawn from biographies, press reports, speeches, and petitions for mercy, demonstrating the extent to which the evidence of those accused of homosexual offences was marginalized in nineteenth‐century criminal courts, thereby preventing rational debate on the subject.…”

Section: (Iv) 1700–1850 Peter Kirby University Of Manchestermentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of periodical literature published in 2006

Pratt¹,

Schofield²,

French

et al. 2008

The Economic History Review

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Early Anglo-Saxon settlement sites have been revealed by several excavations. Dickens et al. report a substantial village and associated cemetery at Bloodmoor Hill, Suffolk. Finds included evidence for textile manufacture, but not specialist commodity production; occupation appears to have ceased in the late seventh or early eighth century. The settlement at Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire, published by Murray and McDonald, yielded an enclosed farmstead and cemetery, both in use until c.800. Evidence for textile production and the presence of Ipswich ware suggests the site's participation in an active trading network. Wright, on Orton Waterville, Peterborough, reports a long-lived settlement generating relatively modest material remains. The site at Shepperton, Middlesex, described by Poulton, appears to have been regularly laid out in the later Anglo-Saxon period, replacing a flourishing earlier settlement. Parallel ditches point to the 'toft and croft' arrangement of medieval villages.Debate continues over early population movement. Casting doubt on the historicity of Irish migration to western Britain in the fourth or fifth centuries, Dark postulates the pre-existing presence there of spoken Irish. This would contrast with the evidence for Anglo-Saxon migration, particularly to 'Anglian' areas, considered more secure. Bartholemew offers grounds for identifying 'Angulus', Continental homeland of the Angli described by Bede, as modern Frisia. Possible connections with Procopius's account, usually treated with scepticism, might suggest Frisia as the starting-point for a substantial part of the Anglo-Saxon migration into Britain. Addressing the subject of river-names, generally considered a good indicator of Anglo-Saxon displacement in lowland areas, Yeates offers evidence from the Cotswolds area showing the loss of Brittonic river-names occurring over a far longer period.Though not necessarily incompatible with the orthodox view, this may suggest a greater survival of Brittonic nomenclature originally in the west.In funerary archaeology, Hamerow explores the 'special' deposition of human and animal remains within areas of occupation. The relatively high percentage of dogs and horses, together with cattle, strengthens the impression of ritualistic activity, possibly directed towards fertility, while an association with sunken-featured buildings would make sense if such structures had been used for storage. Reconstructing the ritual of human cremation, Williams places the deceased body at the centre of an elaborate visual spectacle. Rather than a mourner-centred approach to interpretation, the body itself may have had some agency in a complex interrelationship between the living and the dead. Chester-Kadwell, evaluating metal-detector finds in Norfolk, suggests that if used carefully these can supplement the existing corpus of known early cemeteries. Lee's study of textile evidence in funerary contexts shows its value not only in relation to gender but also as an indicator of social status. The model of a 'final phase' o...

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Wilde and the law

Cocks¹

2013

Oscar Wilde in Context

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Making the Sodomite Speak: Voices of the Accused in English Sodomy Trials, c.1800–98¹

Cited by 8 publications

References 5 publications

Sodomy, Possessive Individualism, and Godless Nature: Eighteenth-Century Traces of Homosexual Assertiveness

Sodomy, Possessive Individualism, and Godless Nature: Eighteenth-Century Traces of Homosexual Assertiveness

Review of periodical literature published in 2006

Wilde and the law

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Making the Sodomite Speak: Voices of the Accused in English Sodomy Trials, c.1800–981

Cited by 8 publications

References 5 publications

Sodomy, Possessive Individualism, and Godless Nature: Eighteenth-Century Traces of Homosexual Assertiveness

Sodomy, Possessive Individualism, and Godless Nature: Eighteenth-Century Traces of Homosexual Assertiveness

Review of periodical literature published in 2006

Wilde and the law

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Product

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Making the Sodomite Speak: Voices of the Accused in English Sodomy Trials, c.1800–98¹