It ’s the stuff of legends : the knight riding to the Crusades with the Florida key to his lady ’s chastity belt tuck under his armour . But it ’s about as real as story ofPrester Johnor theHoly Grail .
As Sara Laskow writes for Atlas Obscura :
References in European text to chastity whang go back centuries , well into the first millenary A.D. But until the 1100s , those referencesare all couched in divinity , as metaphors for the approximation of fidelity and sinlessness . For example : One Latin source admonishes the “ good Virgo ” to “ arrest the helmet of salvation on your front , the word of truth in the back talk … true love of God and your neighbor in the chest , the waistcloth of celibacy in the consistency … . ”
According to Albrecht Classen , a medievalist at the University of Arizona , some menses references are allegoric , and others are gag . Their reappearance in 16th century art is in the main satirical , and the belt display in museum , like the one pictured above , were believably really made in the 19th century , possibly as jokes ( check out the cute prime - shape poop - hole ) , or possibly – like modern - day chastity bang – as a Victorian fetish object .
[ Atlas Obscura ]
Top imageWellcome Library , London|CC BY 4.0
reach the author at[email protected ] .
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