The myth of the iron belt as a method of chastity in the Middle Ages
The myth of the iron belt as a method of chastity emerged several centuries after the Middle Ages, in the period known as the Enlightenment (also called the Age of Enlightenment), in which from 1700 several intellectual currents emerged that wanted to blur many of the things that had taken place during the Middle Ages creating around that time countless urban legends that tried to demonstrate the dark and dark times that had been lived.
Many of the illustrations, treatises and references that we currently have about chastity belts are dated from the eighteenth century, as well as the vast majority of those gadgets that are displayed in some exhibitions and museums.
Was the ‘chastity belt’ really a medieval invention to prevent wives’ infidelity?
I must point out that some of them are true, but they are not the ones referred to chastity issues but not as an instrument of torture.
It should also be noted that nowadays modern versions of chastity belts are used during sadomasochistic practices.
