Sex lives of the Anglo-Saxons

We know more than you might imagine about how people in early medieval England thought about, and had, sex – Dr Christopher Monk explains what we can say about the sex lives of the Anglo-Saxons

Published: April 25, 2025 at 7:30 AM

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The Anglo-Saxons clearly had sex. But how did they think about sex? And what were their sex lives actually like? Dr Christopher Monk is an expert in the subject, and in this bonus episode – only for HistoryExtra Plus subscribers – he explains to David Musgrove what the historical sources reveal about Anglo-Saxon attitudes to sex, and how the church tried to control sexual activity.

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Read more on this subject in our new feature, “I counted the penises in the Bayeux Tapestry and I have no regrets”: what one Oxford professor found when he studied the rudest bits of the embroidery

Authors

Dr David Musgrove, FSAContent director

David Musgrove is the content director at HistoryExtra

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