Sodomy and the Sick Body of Women

The aim of this article is to analyse the literary, religious and medical discourses that converge in one of the leading works in medieval Catalan: the Espill (Mirror) (1460), by Jaume Roig. Firstly, it should be remembered that the author was one of the most prestigious doctors in 15th century Valencia, so it should be judged in the scientific context that nurtured it. Nor should we forget, in second place, the misogynist tradition behind this long narrative poem. On the other hand, I would like to emphasise a cultural crossroads that was quite unusual in its time, and is as yet little studied, which is linked to sodomy as a female “creation”; I will assess the significance of this construction, compared with leprosy in the same text.