The history of prostitution in France has similarities with the history of prostitution in other countries in Europe , namely a succession of periods of tolerance and repression, but with certain distinct features such as a relatively long period of tolerance of brothels. After the period of Roman rule , the Visigoth monarch Theodoric I ruled β persecuted pimps, violence was often used against them, [ 1 ] the maximum penalty being death.
A public flogging was the proscribed penalty. Charlemagne β AD further attempted to suppress prostitution, declaring flogging lashes as a punishment in his capitularies.
This was primarily aimed at the common man, since harems and concubines were common amongst the ruling classes. Some idea of the seriousness with which the state regarded the offense is provided by the fact that lashes was the severest sentence prescribed by the Code Alaric Breviary of Alaric.
Offenders also had their hair cut off, and in the case of recidivism , could be sold as slaves. There is no evidence that any of this was effective. In the Middle Ages , the authorities, whether the municipalities , lords or kings, organised or supervised prostitution within institutions. Buildings run by the bourgeois or the church, particularly abbesses [ 6 ] in the 14th and 15th centuries paid a lease to the authorities.
These public brothels were indicated by a red lantern lit by the keeper of the house during opening hours. In general, prostitutes were not marginalised but integrated into a society where they have a role to play. In the fabliaux of the Middle Ages, the prostitutes were accomplices of other women and helped them to avenge the so-called seducers. The cathedral of Chartres has a stained glass window of the Parable of the Prodigal Son which was given by prostitutes, in the same way that other windows were given by other trade guilds.
