"Medieval" chastity belts never existed

 

According to BBC's h2g2 (and basically all historians of the period):

There are, in fact, no genuine chastity belts dating from medieval times: all known 'medieval' chastity belts have been produced in the first half of the 19th Century. These fake-medieval chastity belts are too heavy and the workmanship is too crude, even for medieval standards. The oldest design for a chastity belt that can be taken seriously dates from the 16th Century - but it's just a design, with no real working models believed to have ever been constructed. The concept of a chastity belt itself is a lot older, but it was usually used in poems in a metaphorical sense. According to Dr Eric John Dingwall, who wrote a deeper study on the subject in 1931, 'the chastity belt probably made its first appearance in ordinary use among the Italians of the period of the Renaissance or perhaps somewhat later.'

Most of the 'medieval' chastity belts on display in museums have been tested to confirm their actual age. As a result, the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg (Nürnberg), the  Musée Cluny (officially known as Musée National du Moyen Âge, or the Middle Age Museum) in Paris and The British Museum in London have all either removed the chastity belts from their medieval displays or corrected the date.

 

Comments

[Jake]

I read someplace that the original intent of Chastity belts was as a protective device against rape..

Similar story for the famed Iron Maiden torture device.. A common prop in medieval witch hunt movies but only one such device actually existed.. In Nuremburg I think.. Built in the 18th century... That was the only one until of course Uday Hussein had one constructed for use on his less than stellar Iraqi Olympic athletes..

[gail]

Chastity belts were mainly used in the nineteenth century to prevent masturbation.

[gail]

And you're right, most of the so-called "medieval" torture devices either didn't exist or they were invented in the Renaissance.

[Jake]

"...to prevent masturbation."

Hard to believe when the device looks suspisciously like a Joni's Butterfly stimulator (sans the pleasure bead tail of course)

[N'daya]

This is a very weird pictuers i would not recommend this for children under the age of 18. 18 and older ONLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!