Sexual transgression and sin contra natura in Navarra (16th-19th centuries) by historian Javier Ruiz Astiz The institution of the Government of Navarra Prince of Viana has edited the book. The work reports sexual behaviors that broke the order established in the Navarra of the Modern Age.

The author has analyzed in detail the so-called “sin against nature” in his two expressions: sodomy and bestialism. These cases were resolved by the Royal Courts and are currently deposited in the Archivo Real y General de Navarra. The crime of “Sodomia” had homosexual men in the spotlight of the clashes.

The monograph is structured in two parts. On the one hand, the two sexual manifestations are described and concrete practices and forms are identified, describing the places in which the crimes occurred and those in which they were involved. On the other hand, the mechanisms used to control and punish these practices are detailed: legislation, moral doctrine, sin against nature in the literature, complaints and whistleblowers, courts, defence and witnesses, torture and finally the penalties imposed (death penalty, punishment, exile, losses, imprisonment or acquittal). The investigation shows the harshness with which the civil and religious authorities have repressed both behaviors. It also highlights the “disciplinary role” that the inhabitants of different peoples of the kingdom had between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.