A chastity belt is a special device that, when worn on a woman, is designed to prevent sexual intercourse. As the legends say, it was used by jealous husbands as a means of guaranteeing fidelity, going on the Crusades for a long time. It is believed that there were also male chastity belts that served as an obstacle to masturbation.
Truth or fiction?
According to a number of researchers, stories about knights who, going to Palestine to win the Holy Sepulcher from the infidels, locked up the charms of their faithful, are a real fiction. To date, there is no reliable evidence that female chastity belts were used in the Middle Ages.
In addition, they could not be worn for more than several days in a row. After all, the friction of the iron structure on the labia and skin, plus pollution in these places could well be the cause of injuries to the genitals andblood infection. This can be judged by reading the descriptions and looking at photos of chastity belts and their layouts.
Nevertheless, references to these objects and their illustrations are found in the literature. Based on this, we will consider chastity belts.
What is known from the literature?
For the first time, chastity and chastity belts are mentioned in poems and songs dating back to the 12th century. However, some scholars consider them only as poetic metaphors. The first more specific mention is found at the beginning of the 15th century in the book of the German military engineer who participated in the campaigns, Konrad Kaiser. It is called Bellifortis, which translates as "Strong in War".
It contains an illustration, accompanied by a comment that the picture depicts an iron belt worn by women in the city of Florence. And Kaiser also mentions Rome, Venice, Milan, Bergamo as places where chastity belts are made. No one knows what constitutes such information - reliable facts or author's fiction. There is an opinion that such belts could be used by Italian women who left the house unaccompanied as protection against rape.
In Antiquity
There is also evidence that ingenious devices that protect the female sex from annoying encroachments were used in ancient Greece and ancient Rome. There they were allegedly worn by slaves to protect them from unplanned pregnancy. After all, bearing a child as a slave could negativelyaffect labor productivity. According to the descriptions, the girls wore a belt made of leather and consisting of two strips. The first of them covered the waist, and the second was passed between the legs.
In the Middle Ages
As for the products described in the Middle Ages, they were rather bulky structures that had many locks and covered the entire lower part of the female torso. This belt provided only one very small hole, intended for going to the toilet. Such a “device” was closed with a key attached to it and kept by a caring spouse.
Judging by the descriptions, these were no longer made of leather, as in ancient times, but of iron, silver and even gold. In some cases, such “examples of medieval art” were decorated with inlay, scattering of precious stones, and patterns. Naturally, such copies had to be very expensive, and only very we althy segments of the population could afford them.
The coolest examples were made in Venice and Bergamo. There were even such expressions for their designation as “Venetian lattice” and “Bergamum castle”. Later, already in the Renaissance, in the literature there is an expression that wives or mistresses were “locked in a Bergamo way”. Was it a purely poetic metaphor or reflected the harsh truth of life, today no one can say for sure.
More information
The first samples of female chastity belts,that have come down to us and presented to the attention of the general public date back to the 16th century. There is evidence that in one of the graves of this period they found a skeleton belonging to a young woman, on which there was a similar device. From that time on, belts allegedly began to be mass-produced. At the same time, scientists discovered that many of the mechanisms demonstrated in museums turned out to be fakes made by craftsmen in the 19th century.
Also in the literature there are descriptions of the tradition of wearing chastity belts by young girls before marriage. Their mothers proudly declared this to the grooms, reporting that the brides wear this “amulet” in the form of a “Venetian lattice” almost from childhood. And therefore, they must be treated as a real treasure, since in those days a virgin who reached the age of 15 was a rarity. At the same time, the keys to the wonderful devices were kept by vigilant parents.
According to court order
As mentioned above, according to legend, chastity belts were in great demand among husbands who went on the Crusades and did not trust their other halves. And then the unfortunate women, who did not deserve marital trust, had to endure for years not only humiliation, but also immense torment.
In some cases, the harm to he alth was so global that it posed a threat to the woman's life. And here it was already about the immediate liberation from the "iron shackles of loy alty." The burning question arose: how to remove a chastity belt without the permission of her husband?
Exit fromsituation was the adoption of an appropriate judicial decision. At the same time, it had to be consecrated by representatives of the church. After a special verdict was passed, the mechanism was hacked, and the sufferer was released.
After the husband returned from the campaign, he was officially notified of a fait accompli caused by urgent need - in order to prevent possible lynching for impudent disobedience of the spouse.
Cherished key
And there is also a belief that many women, who did not wait for their faithful from distant wanderings, remained widows until the end of their lives and died with an iron belt that was locked.
But there are also stories of the opposite direction, according to which the solution to the issue of "early release" from the "trap" lay right on the surface.
At the same time, the interested party only needed to acquire a duplicate of the cherished master key. In this, the unfaithful wives were assisted by the manufacturers of belts, who derived a double benefit. They sold the “unit” and the key to jealous husbands, and the second copy of the key to windy ladies, ripping off a lot of money from both.
No wonder that the possibility of such an ambiguous tragicomic situation has given rise to a large number of anecdotes and jokes. So, in one of the museums of the French city of Grenoble there is an old tapestry depicting a knight in armor, who leaves the castle gates. From the window of the tower, a beautiful lady of the heart waves her handkerchief to him. A chain with a key gleams around the knight's neck. Whereinnot far away in the bushes you can find a cavalier looking out from behind them in a “civilian” attire, but with exactly the same key on a chain.
Secret lock
The answer to the female deceit and unreliability of the locking mechanism of the chastity belt, unlocked with an ordinary key or hacking, was the use of locks with a secret. Skillful craftsmen have found the next way out.
If an attempt was made to “open” the lock with the help of an alien master key in the form of a nail or the tip of a dagger, the spring clip was activated. It pinched the rod inserted into it, and a piece of metal was bitten off.
And then, if the windy lady tried to commit adultery, her husband became aware of this after the fact. Moreover, he could count the number of daring attempts based on the number of pieces left in the mechanism.
For the stronger sex
But as for the chastity belt for men, they really existed. True, their purpose was different from that of women. The fact is that no later than at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century there was a strong idea that masturbation is very harmful for young men. It was believed that it could lead to the most terrible consequences, such as insanity, blindness, and even sudden death.
In this regard, unfortunate doctors tried to prevent the appearance of a nocturnal erection with the help of a mechanism that was worn on the penis before going to bed and fixed on the pubic hair. As soon as an erection began, the tweezers pulledby the hair, the person woke up from severe pain, and the excitement subsided.
Somewhat later, a device was invented for "treatment" in hospitals. These were leather shorts with a belt that had a metal ring and braces with a lock. It was impossible to remove them on my own.
There was also a third, steel version in the form of a clamp, worn simultaneously on the penis and testicles. It was rigidly fixed and prevented blood flow to the male organ.
