Lesbian Love Affair of 16th Century Scotland
Summary
Historian Ashley Douglas joins Kate Lister to discuss her new book on Marie Maitland, a 16th-century Scottish woman who wrote among Europe’s earliest known lesbian love poetry. Douglas details how Marie used her role as secretary to her blind father to avoid marriage, securing financial independence while secretly celebrating her sapphic desires in the Maitland Quarto manuscript. The episode explores the hostile post-Reformation context, the linguistic nuances of her erotic verses, and the archival evidence that reveals her life as a defiant, wealthy, and independent woman in a patriarchal …
Topics discussed
Sponsors and show introduction
Episode intro: Marie Maitland and 16th-century Scotland
Guest introduction and the significance of Marie's story
How the manuscript was discovered and identified
Evidence that Marie wrote the lesbian poems
Marie's family, father's blindness, and her role as secretary
Sponsor break
Marie's financial independence and public persona
Analyzing the poems and the identity of her lover
Research challenges and missing records
Sponsor break
Marie's forced marriage and tragic death
Marie's legacy and the existence of a lesbian community
Closing remarks and credits
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