From Propaganda to "Factual" History to Visual Representation to Myth Turned into Fact: The Arduous Way of the Medieval Chastity Belt into Modern Imagination

One of the most intriguing, though regularly snickered about, object from
the Middle Ages proves to be the so-called 'chastity belt.' Although many
well-meaning feminist scholars and anthropological historians have fully
embraced the concept of medieval wives suffering from the torturous chastity
belt imposed on them by jealous husbands, a careful examination of the
evidence available to us quickly reveals the mythical nature of this idea.
In order to offer insight into the convoluted way how the idea of the
chastity belt percolated down to the present, this paper will focus on
sixteenth-century illustrations in broadsheets and related imagery where the
chastity belt finally plays a significant role as an iconographic element.
In the Middle Ages there were no concrete references to that object; instead
it can be clearly identified as a satirical concept that emerged in the
Renaissance and was happily colported by artists and poets ever since.
Curiously, however, whereas normally historians tread very carefully when
allegedly factual reports are based on fictional texts and art work, the
opposite seems to have been the case with regard the chastity belt. This
paper hence will examine the amazing transformation of an object that was
invented by specific propagandists (primarily in Venice) for political
reasons into a never critically-questioned representational gadget of the
Middle Ages in its most sordid manifestation.