Authors:
- Jane Bonsall, School of Modern Languages, University of St Andrews - Academia.edu, ORCID

- Hannah Piercy, Department of English, Universität Bern (University of Bern) - Academia.edu

Abstract: »While the majority of chapters in Section 1 — and the majority of scholarship on medieval consent and coercion — focuses on women being coerced and men perpetrating sexual violence (reflecting the greater prevalence of male violence against women), Section 2, ‘Reframing Gendered Coercion: Men’s Experiences of Vulnerability’, uncovers moments where men appear vulnerable to sexual coercion and pressure. Our co-authored chapter, ‘Comparative Approaches to Men’s Experiences of Sexual Coercion: Reading across Multi-Text Manuscripts’, examines how reading across a codex can bring to light men’s experiences of coercion and vulnerability, focusing on the Auchinleck manuscript (Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, Advocates’ MS 19.2.1). Setting up the focus of the section as a whole, we explore why men’s experiences of sexual violence were so marginalised and unnarratable in medieval European literature, drawing on the legal and historical background.63 We then propose that reading across the Auchinleck manuscript reveals a concern with the potential for men to be coerced or even raped, but does so in an oblique and disparate manner that can only be perceived within this broader context.« (Source: Bonsall, Jane, and Hannah Piercy. »Introduction: Why Reconsider Medieval Consent and Coercion? Why Now?« Reconsidering Consent and Coercion: Power, Vulnerability, and Sexual Violence in Medieval Literature. Edited by Jane Bonsall et al. Turnhout 2025: 30-31)

Contents:

	Law, Literature, and Multi-Text Manuscripts (p. 111)
	A Proposition He Can’t Refuse? Amis and Amiloun, The Seven Sages of Rome, and Sir Beues of Hamtoun (p. 116)
	Fairy Violence, Raptus, and Rape (p. 123)
	Conclusion: Coercion and Comparative Possibilities (p. 127)

Wikipedia: History of Europe: History of England / England in the Late Middle Ages | Literature: English literature / Amis and Amiloun, Seven Wise Masters, Beves of Hamtoun (poem) | Sex and the law: Rape / History of rape