Women’s secrets and Arabic manuscript traditions (Istanbul)
The aim of this project is to investigate a body of medieval Arabic texts carrying the title “women’s secrets”, providing practical advice to women related to issues such as hygiene, beauty and vaginal health. The authors of the texts are men, but similar advice was attributed to female experts in the oldest Arabic medical literature. They seem to be directed to women, but were included in sex and marriage guides with primarily male readers. The texts are mainly available in manuscripts, with considerable textual variants. Examination of bookstamps and annotations in the manuscripts might inform us about the readers of these books and how the content directed to women was received. We know very little about women in the premodern Arabic-Islamic world, as women are seldom mentioned in the sources. Hopefully, the project will contribute to our knowledge about the transmission and reshaping of women’s practical knowledge by the male learned community. It is also possible that the examination of the manuscripts discloses female readers. The research will be conducted in Istanbul, as the Süleymaniye library has the largest collection of Arabic manuscripts in the world. Moreover, some of the texts were popular in the Ottoman world and circulated in Arabic and translated to Ottoman Turkish. The project aims to gather researchers from different discipline in order to exchange knowledge about the transmission of women’s practical knowledge throughout history.
Final report
The project has investigated hitherto unexplored sources with the overarching goal of contributing to the history of women in Arabic-Islamic societies. The source material consists of manuscripts kept in Turkey, primarily the Süleymaniye library in Istanbul but also other libraries whose digitized collections are available in the reading room of Süleymaniye. The texts selected for this study all have the title “Women’s secrets”; they belong to the discipline of sexual medicine but also provide practical advice on cosmetics and hygiene. In the Arabic tradition, the title “Women’s secrets” were given to the second volume of some major works of which the first volume had the title “Men’s secrets”. The oldest treatise with this arrangement is Clarification of the Secrets of Marital Intercourse (al-Idah fi asrar al-nikah), written in Syria in the twelfth century and, judging by its manuscript tradition, popular well into the eighteenth century. This book, or at least the title “Women’s secrets”, has probably inspired Latin medical authors, as the same title was used for gynecological treatises from the thirteenth century onward. It occurred for the first time in Europe as the title of a book on women’s diseases in Hebrew that included a section on cosmetics. Hence, the project has the potential to contribute to our knowledge of the transmission of science in the medieval world, as we need to explore the Arabic tradition before assessing its influence.
Furthermore, the project builds on my examination of Arabic erotic manuscripts in the VR-financed project “Medieval Arabic Sex Manuals: Manuscript Tradition and Reception”, 2018–2020.
Execution of the project
I was granted a six months’ visiting fellowship at the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul (SRII) during the fall 2021 and spring 2022. Most of the research was conducted in the Süleymaniye library, which hosts the largest individual collection of Arabic manuscripts in the world, around 50 000 copies. In addition, digitized copies from other libraries in Turkey are available through the computers in the reading room. I examined manuscripts of two books, Clarification of the Secrets of Marital Intercourse (12th c.) and The Old Man’s Return to his Youth, which both have a section on “Women’s secrets”. The latter book, which was very popular in the Ottoman era not the least in its Turkish translation (it was also translated to English and French), is, as a matter of fact, to a great extent a paraphrase of the former, but more explicitly directed to male readers and noticeably eroticizing. In addition, I have examined texts that belong to the asrar-tradition (books on “secrets”) and often are attributed to Greek authors. A text with the title “Women’s secrets” available at the Süleymaniye library (cop. 1240) seems to be a humorous parody rather than a serious medical work.
At the Süleymaniye library, I found 15 manuscript copies (some of them parts of compilations) of the treatise Clarification of the Secrets of Marital Intercourse, which all contain a part dedicated to “women’s secrets”. Except for a manuscript copy produced in the early 1900s, the manuscripts are relatively old, with the oldest dated 1345 and the majority produced in the fifteenth century. I collated parts of the texts in these books with the digitized copies I have access to of the same work from European and American libraries (15 copies). Searching catalogues of manuscript collections, I have found in total 59 manuscripts of this work in Arabic, in addition to some translated to Persian and Turkish. In Süleymaniye, I also found 14 manuscripts copies of The Old Man, the oldest copied in 1475 and the majority produced in the 16th and 17th centuries. In addition to collating the manuscripts and identifying textual variants, I have examined owners’ marks and marginal notes in order to evaluate the reception of the books.
In order to evaluate the influences and sources, I have also studied Arabic medical sources on gynecology, cosmetics and hygiene.
During the visit at SRII in the autumn of 2021, I planned a conference on the history of sexuality in the Islamic world. The original plan was to focus on women’s oral culture and practical knowledge, but as I did not have enough evidence and the project was still in its beginning phase, I decided to broaden the theme. I invited 21 participants from Asia, Middle East, Europe and North America, whose research involves different eras, areas, and disciplines of the Islamic world up to 1800. Thanks to a funding from RJ, the conference took place at SRII 28–30 October 2022.
Main results
Manuscript studies are time consuming, and the results of the projects are mainly empirical. Collation of manuscripts and documentation of marginalia could therefore be considered the main results of the project. The former makes up the first stage of a planned critical edition of the oldest work, Clarification of the Secrets of Marital Intercourse. The documentation of marginal notes is part of a larger study financed by VR on the reception of Arabic erotic manuals, which is planned to be part of a coming monograph.
An important observation in regard to the marginalia of Clarification is that they sometimes modify the androcentric focus of the book. The author admits that he relies on women’s oral knowledge, as when he transmits contraceptive remedies given to him by a midwife, but the text is explicitly directed to men. The intended readers are probably physicians and pharmacists, which is confirmed by owners’ notes, but a certain eroticization indicates a broader male readership. The first part, on men’s secrets, primarily treats male potency, pleasure, and dysfunction, but also provides remedies for fertility and against pregnancy intended for the use by women, as jurists’ and physicians argued that these remedies should be controlled by men. The main theme of the second part on women’s secrets is women’s pleasurability: how to make women pleasurable for men, and the pleasure men can attain from different kinds of women. It is important to notice, however, that women’s right to pleasure is taken for granted and that men are instructed to satisfy women. However, contrary to male sexual problems, women’s ailments are hardly mentioned in the text. This imbalance is somewhat made up for in the margins, where editors and readers have added medical and magical formulas to be used by women.
Dissemination of research
The research has been presented on several occasions, including three conferences:
9 December 2021: “Attitudes to Sexuality in the Medieval Islamic World: Arabic Erotic and Medical Manuscript Traditions”. Lecture at Aarhus universitet, Institut for Kultur og Samfund.
26 November 2021: ”Women’s secrets and Arabic medical and erotic manuscripts”. Presentation at SRIIs research seminar.
24 May 2022: “Voluntary and Involuntary Contraception: Gender, Slavery and Reproduction in Medieval Arabic-Islamic Law and Literature”. Presentation at the workshop Premodern Fertility: Global Perspectives, Exeter.
8 July 2022: “The secrets of nika?: Reading and practicing sexual medicine in the premodern Arabic-speaking world”. Presentation at the 30th Congress of the Union Europénne des Arabisants et Islamisants (UEAI), Utrecht, 7–9 July 2022.
29 October 2022: “Arabic Erotic Manuscripts and Their Readers”. Presentation at the conference Sexual knowledge in the Islamic world: Historical perspectives, Istanbul, 28–30 October 2022.
Furthermore, the project builds on my examination of Arabic erotic manuscripts in the VR-financed project “Medieval Arabic Sex Manuals: Manuscript Tradition and Reception”, 2018–2020.
Execution of the project
I was granted a six months’ visiting fellowship at the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul (SRII) during the fall 2021 and spring 2022. Most of the research was conducted in the Süleymaniye library, which hosts the largest individual collection of Arabic manuscripts in the world, around 50 000 copies. In addition, digitized copies from other libraries in Turkey are available through the computers in the reading room. I examined manuscripts of two books, Clarification of the Secrets of Marital Intercourse (12th c.) and The Old Man’s Return to his Youth, which both have a section on “Women’s secrets”. The latter book, which was very popular in the Ottoman era not the least in its Turkish translation (it was also translated to English and French), is, as a matter of fact, to a great extent a paraphrase of the former, but more explicitly directed to male readers and noticeably eroticizing. In addition, I have examined texts that belong to the asrar-tradition (books on “secrets”) and often are attributed to Greek authors. A text with the title “Women’s secrets” available at the Süleymaniye library (cop. 1240) seems to be a humorous parody rather than a serious medical work.
At the Süleymaniye library, I found 15 manuscript copies (some of them parts of compilations) of the treatise Clarification of the Secrets of Marital Intercourse, which all contain a part dedicated to “women’s secrets”. Except for a manuscript copy produced in the early 1900s, the manuscripts are relatively old, with the oldest dated 1345 and the majority produced in the fifteenth century. I collated parts of the texts in these books with the digitized copies I have access to of the same work from European and American libraries (15 copies). Searching catalogues of manuscript collections, I have found in total 59 manuscripts of this work in Arabic, in addition to some translated to Persian and Turkish. In Süleymaniye, I also found 14 manuscripts copies of The Old Man, the oldest copied in 1475 and the majority produced in the 16th and 17th centuries. In addition to collating the manuscripts and identifying textual variants, I have examined owners’ marks and marginal notes in order to evaluate the reception of the books.
In order to evaluate the influences and sources, I have also studied Arabic medical sources on gynecology, cosmetics and hygiene.
During the visit at SRII in the autumn of 2021, I planned a conference on the history of sexuality in the Islamic world. The original plan was to focus on women’s oral culture and practical knowledge, but as I did not have enough evidence and the project was still in its beginning phase, I decided to broaden the theme. I invited 21 participants from Asia, Middle East, Europe and North America, whose research involves different eras, areas, and disciplines of the Islamic world up to 1800. Thanks to a funding from RJ, the conference took place at SRII 28–30 October 2022.
Main results
Manuscript studies are time consuming, and the results of the projects are mainly empirical. Collation of manuscripts and documentation of marginalia could therefore be considered the main results of the project. The former makes up the first stage of a planned critical edition of the oldest work, Clarification of the Secrets of Marital Intercourse. The documentation of marginal notes is part of a larger study financed by VR on the reception of Arabic erotic manuals, which is planned to be part of a coming monograph.
An important observation in regard to the marginalia of Clarification is that they sometimes modify the androcentric focus of the book. The author admits that he relies on women’s oral knowledge, as when he transmits contraceptive remedies given to him by a midwife, but the text is explicitly directed to men. The intended readers are probably physicians and pharmacists, which is confirmed by owners’ notes, but a certain eroticization indicates a broader male readership. The first part, on men’s secrets, primarily treats male potency, pleasure, and dysfunction, but also provides remedies for fertility and against pregnancy intended for the use by women, as jurists’ and physicians argued that these remedies should be controlled by men. The main theme of the second part on women’s secrets is women’s pleasurability: how to make women pleasurable for men, and the pleasure men can attain from different kinds of women. It is important to notice, however, that women’s right to pleasure is taken for granted and that men are instructed to satisfy women. However, contrary to male sexual problems, women’s ailments are hardly mentioned in the text. This imbalance is somewhat made up for in the margins, where editors and readers have added medical and magical formulas to be used by women.
Dissemination of research
The research has been presented on several occasions, including three conferences:
9 December 2021: “Attitudes to Sexuality in the Medieval Islamic World: Arabic Erotic and Medical Manuscript Traditions”. Lecture at Aarhus universitet, Institut for Kultur og Samfund.
26 November 2021: ”Women’s secrets and Arabic medical and erotic manuscripts”. Presentation at SRIIs research seminar.
24 May 2022: “Voluntary and Involuntary Contraception: Gender, Slavery and Reproduction in Medieval Arabic-Islamic Law and Literature”. Presentation at the workshop Premodern Fertility: Global Perspectives, Exeter.
8 July 2022: “The secrets of nika?: Reading and practicing sexual medicine in the premodern Arabic-speaking world”. Presentation at the 30th Congress of the Union Europénne des Arabisants et Islamisants (UEAI), Utrecht, 7–9 July 2022.
29 October 2022: “Arabic Erotic Manuscripts and Their Readers”. Presentation at the conference Sexual knowledge in the Islamic world: Historical perspectives, Istanbul, 28–30 October 2022.