Sex and Sexuality in Stuart Britain
Andrea Zuvich is the author of The Stuarts in 100 Facts, which contains far more than 100 facts. She now gives us many more facts about the Stuart era on the theme of sex and sexuality, covering not just sexual acts but everything from childbirth to infanticide. The first part is a mini-encyclopaedia with 20 chapters each divided into up to 10 items such as ‘pubic hair’ or ‘witchcraft’, and the second part has a chapter on the sex life of each of the Stuart monarchs.
The second section gives a dynamic to the book, to some extent charting the change in attitudes over the century, but I don’t fully accept that the monarchs’ sex life set the tone for the country. Most people lived in villages controlled by strong community norms and even well-to-do, metropolitan Samuel Pepys kept his indiscretions in code in his diary, rather than flaunt them like the king.
This is an extremely informative reference book which tells the reader a great deal that is not in other books and would be difficult to find even on the internet.
