Charlemagne made an effort to suppress the prevailing disorder, but his private life was licentious, and his capitularies, which ordained the scourging of prostitutes and panders, were not inspired by any regard for morality. A period of reform followed. The rise of chivalry, with its lofty idealization of women, and the wave of Christian fervour connected with the crusades, inspired a vigorous and high-minded campaign against an all-prevalent evil. The Church became exceedingly active in prevention and rescue work, and was assisted by a devout and zealous laity. Rescue missions were organized, convents were founded every where for the reception of penitents, and dowries were sub scribed to procure them husbands. Fulke de Neuilly was a con spicuous figure in this work. He held missions, preached, and collected large sums for marriage dowries. Pope Innocent III. ( I198-1 2 6 ) pronounced it a praiseworthy act to marry a prosti tute; and Gregory IX., a few years later, wrote to Germany that brothel-keepers were not to prevent prostitutes from attend ing missions, and that clergy and laity who drew profit from pros titution were banned. "Urge bachelors," he wrote, "to marry repentant girls, or induce the latter to enter the cloister." Regulated by Law.—In spite of such efforts, and of oc casional spasms of severity by individual rulers, prostitution flour ished everywhere throughout the middle ages. It was not merely tolerated, but licensed and regulated by law. In London there was a row of "bordells" (brothels) or "stews" in the Borough near London Bridge. They were originally licensed by the bishops of Winchester, according to John Noorthouck, and subse quently sanctioned by parliament. Stowe quotes the regulations enacted in the year 1161, during the reign of Henry II. These were rather protective than repressive, as they settled the rent which women had to pay for the rooms, and forbade their com pulsory detention. The act was afterwards confirmed in the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II. In 1383 the bordells be longed to William Walworth, lord mayor of London, who farmed them out, probably on behalf of the Corporation, according to analogy in other parts of Europe. They were closed in 1506, but reopened until 1546, when they were abolished by Henry VIII. In London we get the earliest known regulations directed against the spread of venereal disease. The act of 1161 forbade the bordell-keepers to have women suffering from the "perilous in firmity of burning"; and by an order of 1430 they were forbidden to admit men suffering from an infirmitas nefanda. Probably it was by virtue of this order that in 1439 two keepers were con demned to eleven days' imprisonment and banishment from the city. In 1473, again, it is recorded that bawds and strumpets were severely handled by Lord Mayor Hampton.
Elsewhere in Europe much the same state of things prevailed during the same period. Prostitution was both protected and regulated, and in many places it constituted a source of public revenue. In France prostitutes were distinguished by a badge, and forbidden to wear jewels and fine stuffs and to frequent cer tain parts of the town. Public brothels on a large scale were estab lished at Toulouse, Avignon and Montpellier. At Toulouse the profits were shared between the city and the university ; at Mont pellier and Avignon the trade was a municipal monopoly, and farmed out to individuals; at Avignon, where the establishment was kept up during the whole period of the popes' residence, the inmates were subjected to a weekly examination. In 1254 Louis IX. issued an edict exiling prostitutes and brothel-keepers ; but it was repealed two years later, though in this and the succeeding century procuration was punished with extreme severity. In some parts of France prostitutes paid a tax to the seigneur. In Ger many, according to Fiducin, the public protection of Lust-Dirnen was a regular thing in all the large towns during the middle ages.
"Frauenhauser," similar to those in London and in France, existed in many places. They are mentioned in Hamburg in 1292; and from later records it appears that they were built by the cor poration, which farmed them. So also in Ulm, where special regu lations were issued in 1430. We find them existing at Regensburg in 1306, at airich in 1314, at Basel in 1356 and Vienna in According to Henne-am-Rhyn, admission to these houses was forbidden to married men, clergy and Jews, and on Sundays and saints' days they were closed.
The laws of the emperor Frederick II. in the 13th century contain some curious provisions. Any one convicted of a crimi nal assault on a prostitute against her will was liable to be be headed; if she made a false accusation she was subject to the same penalty. Any one not going to the assistance of a woman calling for help was liable to a heavy fine. In these ordinances the influence of chivalry may be detected. At the same time prostitutes were forbidden to live among respectable women or go to the baths with them. Hospitality to important guest's in cluded placing the public Frauenhauser at their disposal. So King (afterwards Emperor) Sigismund was treated at Bern in 1414 and at Ulm in 1434, so much to his satisfaction that he publicly complimented his hosts on it. Besides the municipal Frauenhauser, there were "Winkelhauser," which were regarded as irregular competitors. In 1492 the licensed women of Nurem berg complained to the mayor of this unfair competition, and in 1508 they received his permission to storm the obnoxious Winkel haus, which they actually did. In Italy and Spain the system appears to have been very much the same. At Bologna prosti tutes had to wear a distinctive dress, in Venice they were for bidden to frequent the wine-shop, and in Ravenna they were compelled to leave a neighbourhood on the complaint of other residents. At Naples a court of prostitutes was established, hav ing jurisdiction over everything connected with prostitution. It led to great abuses, was reformed in 1589, and abolished about a century later.