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Marbod of Rennes
(1035 - September 11, 1123) France

Marbod of Rennes

Writer, poet, bishop

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Born in Angers, Marbod (Marbodius, or Marbodus, Merboldus) was master of the cathedral school in Angers, then bishop of Rennes. Several of his poems speak of handsome boys and homosexual desire but seem to reject physical relations. A poem speaking of "the remarkable boy whose beauty sets me on fire" (translated by Thomas Stehling) is nevertheless titled An Argument Against Sexual Love; and another is An Argument Against Copulation Between People of Only One Sex.

John Boswell says that it is "clear that the bishop did have a lover, to whom he sent an urgent demand to return from a distant city where he was on business if he wished Marbod to remain faithful to him, since strenuous efforts were being made to woo him away".

Marbod's verse, like those of Baudri of Bourgueil (one of his students) and Hildebert of Lavardin (to whom Marbod dedicated a work), exemplify a tradition of medieval poetry which celebrated same-sex friendship while generally denouncing the wickedness of sexual reations.

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If there is something you love in the city you inhabit, something you do not wish to lose,
And if you love it truly, stop worrying about the court.
End all delays. Your fault increases by the hour.
And this fault, being irreparable, is grave.
Put aside everything which keeps you in Colonne [Köln?] -
You are losing more in this city than you are gaining in that one.
What can there be of as much value as a boy faithful to his lover?
Any more delay, and he who is now loyal may become unfaithful,
Since he is being tempted even now with much flattery -
And when someone is tempted, there is reason to fear he may fall.
Hurry back if you want to keep what you love.
Abandon the castle if you want to hold on to the city [citellum].

Poem by Marbod, Bishop of Rennes
translated by J. Boswell

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Source: Aldrich R. & Wotherspoon G., Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History, from Antiquity to WWII, Routledge, London, 2001

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