Queering medieval history is a complicated and expansive task. Medieval people valued homosocial interaction, but this could often cross into sexualized territory–– particularly in spaces of mass nudity. Conflicting identities and ideas around sexuality frequently played out in the forum of the public bathhouse, yet these physical monuments are often destroyed beyond repair and socially deactivated.
Traces of multifaceted and complex identity dynamics can be found in the pages of a late medieval copy of De Balneis Puteolanis at the Pierpont Morgan library (MS G. 74), providing valuable insight into the existence of a queer medieval gaze. Painted in this manuscript is a conflict between two patrons–– one who expressed desire for ambiguously sexed bodies and homoerotic iconography, and one who sought to erase those traces of exuberant lust. Through examining the pages of the Glazier manuscript, an image of a complex encounter between homosocial and homosexual desire emerges as a core element of the public bathhouse experience.