Episode 6 Inside Versailles

Bonjour. Bienvenue a Inside Versailles.

Yes, we have seen some pretty steamy orgies in this episode,

and you might think that's just scandalous sexing-up of the past!

But, actually, the 17th century

is a time where sex and pornography are widely available.

It's amazing when you look at economic,

political tracts of the time, and they use language

of seduction as opposed to a more appropriate language.

-And, of course, that is why it's so important at Versailles.

-Absolutely.

And there are handbooks being sold.

L'Ecole Des Filles is the great tract of the 17th century

that is full of smut,

but it's also a handbook on how to seduce a man, how to enjoy sex.

This is, in some ways, a feminist tract that allows women

to enjoy the pleasure of sex with a man.

I think, certainly,

there was no way in which you could succeed at Versailles unless you

were a woman who was experienced in the sexual wiles, such as Montespan.

Well, I think, on that note,

we should probably find out more about aphrodisiacs and

some of the things that are helping this sex happen at court.

And we are joined by a historian who knows all about that -

Dr Jennifer Evans.

-Hi, Jennifer.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Thank you for joining us.

And the first thing, really,

we should talk about here is love potions.

The difficulty is, we don't necessarily know what was in

a lot of love potions.

I mean, the word potion can cover any liquid,

whether it's medicinal, a poison or anything with occult properties,

so it's something hidden or slightly magical.

But you would probably go to your local cunning person,

wisewoman, and they would have their own concoction that you could buy.

And there's some suggestion that women might put menstrual blood

in a love potion and create that kind of physical connection.

Did these really work, do you think?

There's a whole range of different kinds of things,

and they work under the medical model of the time,

so the humeral model of the body,

which favours heat for sexual activity and for conception as well,

so anything that's kind of heating.

Mustard seed, rocket,

pepper - they would all be considered kind of aphrodisiacs.

For men and women, or are we talking just dosing the bloke?

Those that work for men and women and, of course,

we need to remember this is an era in which the majority of

people still believe that both a man and a woman need to reach

orgasm in order for a conception to happen and for sex to be successful.

There are some aphrodisiacs that are much more specific.

Men's bodies are thought not just to need some help for stimulation,

but also for maintenance.

Beans and peas are described as windy meats,

and before they've really picked apart the anatomy of the penis,

they think that it's kind of a gut and you can just fill it up

with wind and then that will help things along.

-So it fills up like a windsock?

-Yes, a little bit like a windsock.

-OK.

And then, towards the end of the 17th century,

they start to really understand the anatomy of the male body

a little bit more, and those things go by the wayside.

Um, but there are some very, very famous aphrodisiacs that are

available at this time, and we have one on the table, just here.

What have we got?

So this is a Spanish fly, also known as Cantharides, and it's a very,

very well-known infamous, one might say, aphrodisiac in the era.

We've heard about him in the drama - people are using him.

What do you do with it?

You would powder it up and then either strew it on top of

your food or maybe take it in a drink of some sort.

And the French surgeon Ambroise Pare actually lists it in

his tract on poisons rather than medicines.

And what does it do to me?

The way it works is by blistering and heating the skin,

and people take it internally and, of course,

the burning and blistering stimulates blood flow to

the reproductive organs and genitals,

but it also causes corrosion and ulceration and, eventually, death.

A midwife writing in the 17th century says that one of

the problems with this Spanish fly is that it will cause priapism,

which is a continual erection that can't go down, and she says

that's more problematic than if a man never has an erection at all.

So, in this painting, we've got what looks like a wife and

a husband consulting someone who's dealing in some interesting goods.

Does that suggest that it's almost family planning?

It's always very interesting - there's lots of discussions

amongst historians about who's doing kind of family planning.

That tends to be seen as something more a woman would do.

And this is the 17th century and it is very patriarchal so, often,

if there's a problem conceiving or a problem with sexual ability,

the first port of call is to blame the woman.

So the woman has to put herself through all these cures,

all these potions, all these efforts to try and create a child.

I think we need to think a bit more about, as you say,

women's roles in all of these things.

Divorce is particularly difficult in early modern Europe,

but separation can happen if your husband is impotent and,

again, it's women we see making complaints about

their husbands' sexual abilities.

And then we have a whole kind of system in place for

establishing whether or not these women are telling the truth.

And so, women themselves might be put through what's called

a trial by matron,

where they'll be assessed to see if they're still a virgin.

If their virginity's intact, then it suggests that their husband

has not been able to consummate the marriage.

And if that doesn't work, there's something called trial by congress,

where the couple are literally placed in

a room with spectators, and the couple are expected to

-consummate their marriage in order to prove...

-That they can do it.

..the man's virility and that their marriage is a legitimate one.

If he can't perform,

does that marriage then legally get pulled apart?

Yeah, so that can dissolve a marriage.

If you enter into marriage knowingly as an impotent man,

then it's almost akin to committing fraud because the main aim of

-marriage is to produce children.

-Thank you so much for joining us.

-It's been really interesting.

-Thank you.

-And thank you for joining us on Inside Versailles. Bonsoir.

-Bonsoir.