Did It Happen: Chastity Belts

The Plantagenets were no stranger to extra-marital sex and its resultant scandals.  While men could get away with a Rosamund Clifford or Jane Shore on the side, or hope to marry their Katherine Swynford or Eleanor Cobham, women weren't so lucky.  The punishment for adultery, especially for a noble or royal woman where dynasties and bloodlines were at stake, was technically a form of petty treason punishable by death.  Usually, this mean divorce and life imprisonment, sometimes in a convent.  Still, the rumors swirled about Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of France, Margaret of Anjou, Katherine of Valois and Elizabeth of York.  What were they up to, and with whom? 

Because women's morals were policed so heavily in the Medieval era, a popular myth has sprung up to symbolize just how much the men  in their lives had control over how these women lived.  According to the myth, when a man/knight had to be away for war/crusades, he would make his wife wear a lockable belt that prevented anyone, including her, from accessing her private parts.  These belts became known as chastity belts.  They survive today in BDSM and other circles, as does the myth.

So, did it happen?  No.

First off, there's no mention of chastity belts as a specific device during the time of the Crusades, 11-14th century.  Writers such as Gregory the Great, Alcuin of York and other made reference to belts of chastity, but it's unclear now if they were speaking metaphorically or in real terms.  Second, no matter what these churchmen thought, there are no physical specimens of such a device dating from the time of the Crusades.  If there were such a thing as a chastity belt, surely some enterprising Plantagenet king would have invented it, but nada.  And it wasn't as if there wasn't a need.  Richard III's DNA as retrieved via his many-times collateral descendants showed some breaks in the genetic code, indicating there may have been some unknown putative fathers for some royal babies.  A few royal women were fooling around and would've paid a heavy price had they been found out.  The blood royal was the most precious asset a royal dynasty owned.  If there was a way to keep it secure, they would've done so.  However, there's no mention of such a device anywhere and no specimen dating from that time period has come down to us. 

The first mentions of what we understand as a chastity belt were in 1405, in a book on then-existing military technology, describing iron breeches worn by women in Florence, with drawings.  Once again, though, no specimen from the period has survived and there are no other mentions that the women in Florence or anywhere else were wearing such belts for any reason.  Venetian references from the 16th and 17th century are also lacking in evidence that wealthy men actually made their wives wear these belts.  Supposedly, one was found in the grave of a young woman in Austria and dated to the 1560's, but her skeleton, the belt, and any records regarding her no longer exist.  There are specimens in various museums claiming to be from the Medieval era, but some of these are more likely 19th century sex toys, not a real Medieval chastity belt.  For example, the Musee de Cluny in Paris claimed for several years to have belts belonging to Catherine de Medici, wife of Henri II, and Anne of Austria, mother of Louis XIV.  However, these items dates to the 19th century, not to the 16th or 17th century when those women lived.  Thus busteth the myth!