Hilary the Englishman
(12th century) U.K.
Poet
He is one of the most remarkable medieval singers of male homoerotic desire, he flourished around 1125. Based on the evidence of his literary corpus, there is strong reason to believe that Hilary was born in England; however, the major part of his life was spent in France where he had gone to study under Abelard at Paris. Following his training in Paris, Hilary went to Angers, eventually becoming a canon at Ronceray.
Hilary's importnce to gay history rests with his poetry, all of which is written in Latin. Fourteen of Hilary's poems survive in a single manuscript at the Bibliothèque Natinale in Paris. Five are amorous poems, four of which are addressed to boys, one other to a woman.
In the first of two poems called "To an English Boy", he asserts:
"You are completely handsome; there is no flaw in you
Except this worthless decision to devote yourself to chastity".
in the second poem of the same name we read:
'I'll be the loot, you the robber-
To such a robber I surrender'.
Excerpts from: Aldrich R. & Wotherspoon G., Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History, from Antiquity to WWII, Routledge, London, 2001 - et alii
Read here Hilary's unblushing plea to his boyfriend, an archetypal formosus puer:
Hair of gold and face all beauty, neck of slender white,
Speech to ear and mind delightful - why, though, praise for these?
For in every part's perfection, not a fault hast thou,
Save - protesting chastity jars with forms so fair!
Ah, believe me, were the Golden Age to come again,
Ganymede should be no longer slave to highest Jove;
Thou, to heaven ravished, shouldst by day his cup refill,
Thou by night shouldst give him kisses, nectar far more sweet.
(trans. Ernest R. Curtius)
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