"…Jewish men commonly kept Jewish and non-Jewish concubines in Moslem Spain and later in Christian Spain. The challenges that these relationships posed to the rabbinic leadership were complex. Prolonged affairs, even with Gentile women, were religiously and morally reprehensible. At the same time, the widespread nature of these relationships, and the presence of even more objectionable possibilities (i.e., relations with married Jewish women) also had to be considered…"
"Sexual promiscuity and even adultery were never absent from any region in the medieval Jewish world. The rabbinic reactions in Ashkenaz and Sefarad, however, reflected different patterns of abuse. Jewish men commonly kept Jewish and non-Jewish concubines in Moslem Spain and later in Christian Spain. The challenges that these relationships posed to the rabbinic leadership were complex. Prolonged affairs, even with Gentile women, were religiously and morally reprehensible. At the same time, the widespread nature of these relationships, and the presence of even more objectionable possibilities (i.e., relations with married Jewish women) also had to be considered…
"At no time in the High Middle Ages were there waves of sexual violations in Ashkenaz. Illicit sexual encounters were considered in Ashkenazic rabbinic literature as lapses on the part of individuals rather than as a larger societal problem… Only in the fifteenth century did German and Austrian rabbinic scholars (such as R. Israel Isserlein) begin to preach publicly against these sexual liaisons.
"On the other hand, the penitential literature of the German Pietista is replete with penances for those who had engaged in sexual relations with non-Jewish women, and for more severe indiscretions as well. To be sure, given the hypersensitivity of Hasidut Ashkenaz to transgression, the use of this literature as a historical source requires caution. In any event, the penances themselves were meant to be utilized by wayward individuals and represented, quite obviously, the antithesis of accommodation." ––Rabbi Ephraim Kanarfogel, “Rabbinic Attitudes Toward Nonobservance in the Medieval Period,” in Rabbi Jacob J. Schacter's Jewish Tradition and the Non-traditional Jew, pp. 12-13 and 24-26). [Via: Torah Musings.]