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Courtesan
power
Beautiful
arbiters of intelligence and sex, these women are historically
important but perhaps a dying breed. First of two parts. (Read
part 2)
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By Christina Valhouli
Nov. 15,
2000 | Courtesans have moved nations for centuries, using a
potent combination of sex and politics to influence powerful men
and advance their own places in society. Renaissance Venetian
Victoria Franco charmed her powerful men with poetry and sex.
Fast-forward 400 years or so, and courtesan spirit is embodied
in women like Pamela Harriman and Clare Boothe Luce, who
propelled themselves to power through their associations and
marriages with powerful men. The throne is still open for a true
courtesan of the 21st century.
Like a
hybrid of Dorothy Parker and Jennifer Lopez, a courtesan in
Renaissance Italy used her brains and her body to enjoy the
benefits of marriage -- companionship, property and financial
stability -- without the stifling social constraints. She also
replaced a man's wife on the social scene, since proper married
women were sequestered from the sins of the world and kept
prisoners in their own homes.
Courtesans
were companions for bankers, princes, prelates and merchants.
Known for their wit, charm and elegance, they palled around with
the most important and powerful men of their day. They wrote
novels, published poems and influenced politics, often
delivering political messages from pillow to pillow. They also
used sex, and they flaunted it in ways that married women could
not. As the French traveler and writer Pierre de Brantome
snidely commented in the 16th century, "Roman ladies copulate
like bitches but are silent as stones."
While the
heyday of courtesans was classical Greece, they've been in every
culture, most notably Renaissance Italy and 18th century Japan.
No one knows where the term comes from but it's closest to the
male "courtier" which means "of the court," says Margaret
Rosenthal, the author of "The Honest Courtesan: The Life of
Veronica Franco." Franco is perhaps the best known courtesan of
the Renaissance -- a hall-of-famer who greased relations between
Venice and France by bedding the King of France, and whose life
was depicted in the 1998 film "Dangerous Beauty."
So what
exactly would Italian courtesans do all day? They managed their
household (which was often paid for by their patrons),
overseeing the servants and shopping much like noblewomen.
Courtesans were masters of disguise, for sexual intrigue and to
throw off potential government officials. They would alternately
dress like virgins, widows or ultra-demure noblewomen. Or they
would go all out, clad lavishly and teetering on 10-inch clogs
(which conveniently required them to have an escort), or sailing
into church with an entourage of 10 panting men. (And all this
dress-up meant that courtesans were among the biggest supporters
of the cosmetics industry, dyeing their hair blond and even
putting makeup on their breasts.)
Sometimes
they would gleefully evoke the courtesans of ancient Greece,
dressing up in togas and telling their lovers they were
goddesses. And one of the favorite Venetian bedroom games was
acting out the story of Leda and the swan.
But there
was little companionship with other women. Friendships with
other courtesans were strained since they were all competing for
the choicest patrons. Noblewomen didn't like to hang out with
them because, well, they were sleeping with their husbands.
Nighttime
was when courtesans kicked into high gear. According to Mateo
Bandello's 16th century book "Novelle," high-level courtesans
would have six or seven lovers, each assigned to a different
night of the week and each giving her a monthly "salary." This,
of course, necessitated intricate scheduling and lover-shuffling
in the days before cellphones and organizers.
To reward
their patrons, courtesans would celebrate them in poetry and
dedicate books to them, so "a volume of their poetry read like a
who's who list of Venice," says Rosenthal. Literary and business
skills were often passed from courtesan to courtesan in a kind
of mentor relationship. "Franco was very interested in helping
other women," says Rosenthal.
Being a
courtesan allowed women to hold on to their sexuality while
cultivating their minds. The only other women who were allowed
to study were those in convents. "Being a courtesan let these
women have more erudite lives than they normally would," says
Rosenthal. And, "because a courtesan wasn't just arm candy,"
according to Rosenthal, she had to be learned. She was expected
to attend her patrons' salons to entertain visiting politicians,
and be a witty participant.
Unlike the
courtesans of Italy and Greece, their Japanese counterparts --
whose heyday was the 18th century -- were only arm candy. "The
whole point was for them to be amusing and decorative," says
Elizabeth Sabato Swinton, curator of Asian art at Worcester Art
Museum in Massachusetts. "They had absolutely no role in
politics, and they were not respectable by any means. No one
wanted their daughter to be a courtesan."
According to
Swinton, the courting process was very ritualistic. Men would
pay huge amounts of money just for an introduction, and they
would have to follow an elaborate process of eating and drinking
before they could even think about having sex. "You had to know
the rules in order to play the game. It was all very stiff and
formal," explains Swinton. And having a fat wad of cash would
not guarantee sex. "If all you had was money, you would be
considered a bore."
As well as
influencing men using sex, courtesans also had enormous
influence on fashion. In Japan from the 1600s to the late 1800s
(the Edo period), courtesans invaded the drag venues where there
was Kabuki theater. "The pleasure district was like Hollywood in
the '30s and '40s," explains Swinton. "Courtesans had an
entourage whenever they paraded in the streets, much like a
queen bee." Women dressed like courtesans, in layers of
embroidered silk robes, huge hair and extreme makeup that
emphasized their eyes and mouths.
And just
like Cher and her love affair with drag impersonators today,
Swinton says, "Kabuki actors would frequently depict courtesans,
and courtesans would model themselves after the male Kabukis. It
was all this very weird role reversal."
Which was
half of the fun. Part of a courtesan's mystery and intrigue was
that the boundary between her and a noblewoman was murky. This
was also done on purpose to avoid taxation. The Renaissance
Italian government kept lists of courtesans in order to tax
them, and, in some cities, they had to wear a yellow veil to
identify themselves. But that didn't last very long. "Sometimes
they would dress more demurely to throw men off," says
Rosenthal. "They would also wear breeches under their skirts,
because the whole idea of separating the legs was very risqué.
They would also do it to attract men who had uh, tendencies for
boys."
Courtesans'
skills at cross-dressing did not go unnoticed by the Venetian
government. Homosexuality was seen as a huge threat and
punishable by death (men would be beheaded and their bodies
burned), so Venetian officials often paid courtesans to "cure"
homosexuals. Courtesans were encouraged to stand topless on the
Ponte Della Tette, or Bridge of Tits, as it's still known today,
to entice and convert suspected gays.
The
homosexual angle was present in classical Greece (479-323 B.C.)
as well. According to James Davidson, author of "Fishcakes and
Courtesans," Greek courtesans (called hetaeras) enjoyed playing
slippery games of identity, like their Italian counterparts did.
They didn't want to be pinned down and subjected to taxation.
(And since women couldn't own property in Greece, they lived "in
the uncertain economy of the gift; jewels became an important
part of a courtesan's 'portfolio.'") But it was also fun.
"Somewhere
between a wife and a common prostitute was the courtesan," says
Davidson. "That was also part of the attraction -- you didn't
know who was a courtesan and who wasn't." Or as he puts it so
deliciously in his book, "There was only one division that
really mattered: the division between Wives and the Rest."
Davidson
talks about ancient Greek sex scandals with the ease and
facility with which we discuss the latest dirt on Ben and
Gwyneth. And his book probes an overlooked aspect of ancient
Greek life -- heterosexual sex -- with a delightfully naughty
relish. For example, when discussing how Pericles' famous
funeral speech about democracy was rumored to be written by his
courtesan, Aspasia, he explains it as being "a really bitchy dig
at Pericles." Courtesans were everywhere in ancient Greece, says
Davidson, which is "shocking because even to speak the name of a
good woman was scandalous."
What we know
about them comes from records of symposia, because "if you had a
great party, you'd always stock the place with courtesans,"
Davidson writes. Hetaeras loved parody and satire, and for
laughs at parties they would take "high falutin' things and make
them obscene and funny." Their witticisms were collected and put
into verse, and they were also the inspiration for countless
plays, speeches and works of art.
Davidson
also chronicles how courtesans helped inspire ancient sex
manuals, which included positions like "Lion on the Cheese
Grater" which, as he says, "leaves us none the wiser."
The most
distinguished courtesan and the "cleverest manipulator" of
ancient Greece was Phryne, rumored to be the model for the
sculpture of Venus. She, like many courtesans, was constantly
popping up in court for causing trouble. One of the most famous
trials of ancient Greece -- and the inspiration for dozens of
paintings -- was Phryne's trial for introducing false gods. Her
boyfriend Hyperides defended her, and when he saw he wasn't
making headway with the jurors, he "reached over and exposed her
breasts, filling the jurors with religious awe." She was
acquitted.
Phryne also
became incredibly wealthy because of her associations with men.
When the city of Thebes was razed by the Macedons, she offered
to pay for the city wall to be rebuilt as long as the citizens
provided this inscription: "Alexander may have knocked it down,
but Phryne the hetaera got it back up again."
But the life
of the courtesan wasn't always so glamorous. Their powerful
lovers gave them protection they could otherwise never have, but
when romances soured, the revenge could be horrific. Spurned
lovers sometimes mutilated or scarred their courtesans, or
trashed them in literature. Franco was charged by the
Inquisition for casting spells over her lovers, and Maffio
Venier, an ex-lover and a bishop, constantly berated her in
print. He wrote that her breasts hung so low she could paddle a
gondola with them, and he dubbed her Ver Unica Putana (true
unique whore).
A courtesan
could also fall into disgrace if she contracted syphilis. One
Renaissance book is titled "Lament of the Ferrarese Courtesan
for Having Been Thrown Into the Cart Because of Having
Contracted Syphilis." But the most devastating punishment was
called the "31," where a courtesan was led to a secluded spot
and raped by 31 lower-class men. A "Royal 31" meant rape by 81
men.
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About the
writer
Christina Valhouli is an assistant editor at George magazine
Read part 2
Original Link: http://archive.salon.com/sex/feature/2000/11/15/courtesan_1/index.html |
