Traité Des Eunuques

Written in 1707 by the French jurist Charles Ancillon, this treatise tackles one of the most peculiar legal and theological questions of the early modern period: should eunuchs be permitted to marry? What begins as a taxonomic exercise classifying the various types of eunuchs historical and contemporary transforms into a searching inquiry into the boundaries of personhood, consent, and sexual identity under law. Ancillon methodically assembles theological objections, civil law precedents, and philosophical arguments from both secular and ecclesiastical traditions, creating a remarkable snapshot of how Enlightenment-era scholars grappled with bodies that confounded categorical certainty. The treatise reveals a world where castration served multiple social functions from palace intrigue to religious devotion, and where the question of marital rights exposed deep anxieties about masculinity, legitimacy, and what it meant to be fully human in the eyes of the law. For readers interested in the history of gender, the evolution of legal thought on bodily autonomy, or simply the strange corners of early modern intellectual life, Ancillon's work offers an unexpectedly compelling window into an era that could examine such questions with scholarly rigor while remaining utterly detached from our own sensibilities.