Queer History 132: The Visigothic Code's Brutal Legacy - 654 CE

654 CE

So in 654 CE, the Visigothic Code - that blood-soaked legal manuscript known formally as the Liber Iudiciorum - was codified in Spain under King Recceswinth, mandating castration and death for anyone daring to love someone of the same sex. This barbaric legal framework didn't just criminalize love; it weaponized the law into a torture device, demanding that gay men be literally mutilated before being executed. This wasn't justice - this was state-sanctioned sadism disguised as Christian morality.

The Code's language was deliberately graphic, specifying that the castration must be performed publicly before the execution, ensuring maximum humiliation and terror. These weren't quick deaths - they were elaborate performances of state power designed to break the spirits of entire communities. The law created a hierarchy of sexual violence where the state claimed ownership over every citizen's genitals, deciding who deserved to keep them and who would be surgically destroyed, as docume…