Medieval England's Secret Police of Sex & Sexuality

England had its own version of the KGB or the Gestapo for punishing sexual criminals

Joe Duncan; source photos: Parchemin entreposé à l’archevêché cathédral de Sion by Opsylac, licensed under Creative Commons 4.0 on Wikimedia Commons; Queen Elizabeth public domain

We’ve all heard the term “blacklist.”

You’ve probably used it a few times, yourself. But do you know where the term comes from and what it means? Turns out, it has a dark and ho…