Alles, was wir über diesen Fall Benedetta Carlini wissen, wissen wir durch Judith C. Brown. Sie hat die Originaldokumente gesichtet und sie in ihrem Buch
Immodest Acts paraphrasiert, im Anhang einige Stellen auch übersetzt.
Brown hat auch einen Aufsatz darüber geschrieben:
Lesbian Sexuality in Renaissance Italy: The Case of Sister Benedetta Carlini, by Judith C. Brown,
Signs, Vol. 9, No. 4, The Lesbian Issue (Summer, 1984), pp. 751-758 (8 pages)
Ich darf daraus zitieren:
What women did with each other is precisely the topic that the document appended below* illuminated for Benedetta's male superiors. Yet because they lacked an imaginative schema to incorporate the sexual behavior described, they had a rather difficult time assimilating the account. So disturbed was the scribe writing down what had been said that the heretofore neat and legible handwriting of the report totally breaks down in the section covering Benedetta's sexual relations with another nun. The words are illegible, crossed out, and rewritten.
(…)
When she made love to Bartolomea Crivelli, she imagined herself to be a male angel.
* For two continuous years, two or three times a week, in the evening after disrobing and going to bed and waiting for her companion, who serves her, to disrobe also, she would force her into the bed, and kissing her as if she were a man she would stir herself on top of her so much that both of them corrupted themselves because she held her by force sometimes for one, sometimes for two, sometimes for three hours. And [she did these things] during the most solemn hours, especially in the morning, at dawn. Pretending that she had some need, she would call her, and taking her by force she sinned with her as was said above. Benedetta, in order to have greater pleasure, put her face between the other's breast and kissed them, and wanted always to be thus on her. And six or eight times, when the other nun did not want to sleep with her in order to avoid sin, Benedetta went to find her in her bed and, climbing on top, sinned with her by force. Also at that time, during the day, pretending to be sick and showing that she had some need, she grabbed her companion's hand by force, and putting it under herself, she would have her put her finger in her genitals, and holding it there she stirred herself so much that she corrupted herself. And she would kiss her and also by force would put her own hand under her companion and her finger into her genitals and corrupted her. And when the latter would flee, she would do the same with her own hands. Many times she locked her companion in the study and making her sit down in front of her, by force she put her hands under her and corrupted her; she wanted her companion to do the same to her and while she was doing this she would kiss her. She always appeared to be in a trance while doing this. Her Angel, Splendidiello, did these things appearing as a boy of eight or nine years of age. This Angel Splendidiello, through the mouth and hands of Benedetta, taught her companion to read and write, making her be near her on her knees and kissing her and putting her hands on her breasts. ...
(…)
Aufgrund der Unleserlichkeit der entscheidenden Stelle wissen wir nicht, was die beiden wirklich miteinander trieben. Es war offenbar eine Sünde, die nicht genannt werden darf, so kann sich jeder was anderes darunter vorstellen. Ich bin hier Verhoeven gefolgt, aber wenn Brown das ausgeschlossen hat
"Aus Bartolomeas Aussage war klar ersichtlich, daß keine Werkzeuge Verwendung gefunden hatten.", dann war das ein Irrtum. Ich frage mich allerdings, wie sie das ausschließen kann, wenn die Stelle im Originaldokument unleserlich ist.**
Ob Bartolomea Crivelli gefoltert worden war, darüber wissen wir nicht, weil Brown dazu – zumindest in dem obigen Aufsatz – nichts sagt. Auf jeden Fall hat Bartolomea ausgesagt, Benedetta hätte sie zu Sexualakten gezwungen. Das glaube ich weniger, weil diese Dinge nach ihrer eigenen Aussage 2-3 mal die Woche 2 Jahre lang passiert sein sollen – das ist zu lange, um glaubwürdig zu sein. Ich vermute, das war eher eine Aussage, um die eigene Haut zu retten.
** Frage an
@Sepiola: Schreibt Brown in diesem Zusammenhang von Sodomie?
PS: Jetzt, nachdem der Film erschienen ist, gibt es eine aktualisierte Version der
Immodest Acts unter dem Titel
Benedetta. Wäre interessant, was die Autorin zu dem Film sagt.
