Author: Gabrielle Serena Schwarzmann, School of History, Queen Mary, University of London

Abstract: »The legal term raptus [ravishment] provided women the opportunity to bring appeals of sexual violence before the King’s justices. This thesis considers over six hundred cases of raptus that involved sexual violence in the period 1250-1500. Historians have hitherto explored the changing definition of raptus by Statutes in 1275, 1285 and 1382 or focused on the extraordinary acquittal rates in raptus cases. Others have considered these appeals to be an opportunity to ‘recover’ the voices of affected women from the past. Sexual violence has also captured the attention of literary scholars who note elements of a ‘rape culture’ and the presence of rape as a trope in the imagined worlds of medieval authors. This thesis argues that a great deal more can be learned about experiences of sexual violence if several scholarly fields are brought together to inform the study of relevant primary sources.
Legal evidence for sexual violence is limited, and what survives is coded in the formulaic nature of the appeal and often obscured by translation and transcription. This thesis develops a new methodology, the historical exploration of ‘emotional ecology’. By bringing legal evidence of sexual violence together with literature, pedagogy, and religion, this thesis probes the causes of rape, the responses to it, and the related experiences of both men and women.
This thesis notes that unless a victim brought an appeal, she had experienced only rape, not raptus. The social milieu expected women to cultivate honourable virginity, while men’s sexual predation was tolerated, even encouraged. In the aftermath of rape, through the lens of trauma, these appeals can be understood as part of a survival strategy motivated by a desire for publicity and healing alongside the slim possibility of punishment. These appeals were facilitated by a great degree of legal knowledge possessed by ordinary women, supported by invisible networks of solidarity.« (Source: Thesis)

Contents:

	Abstract (p. 3)
	Acknowledgements (p. 6)
	Introduction: The historical challenge of studying rape (p. 7)
		‘Emotional ecology’ (p. 11)
		Existing historiography (p. 22)
		Thesis overview (p. 26)
	Chapter One: An ‘emotional’ ecology of sexual violence (p. 29)
		Introduction (p. 29)
		The role of the history of emotions (p. 30)
		‘Emotional ecology’ (p. 35)
		A trauma-informed approach to historical rape (p. 39)
	Chapter Two: Masculinity in the ‘emotional ecology’ of sexual violence (p. 46)
		Introduction (p. 46)
		Masculinities (p. 48)
		Teaching rape (p. 52)
		The Inns of Court (p. 63)
		Taverns and brewhouses (p. 74)
		Multiple perpetration (p. 81)
		Condemnation of rape by men (p. 92)
	Chapter Three: Raptus in medieval law (p. 99)
		Introduction (p. 99)
		I. Raptus in law (p. 101)
			The legal framework for raptus (p. 101)
			Raptus in the records (p. 107)
		II. Raptus on trial (p. 118)
			Medieval legal institutions (p. 118)
			Jury trial (p. 120)
			Access to medieval courts (p. 129)
		III. Outcomes (p. 131)
			Hanging (p. 132)
			Hypothetical punishment (p. 136)
			Imprisonment (p. 141)
			Fining (p. 144)
			Benefit of clergy (p. 145)
			Acquittal (p. 154)
	Chapter Four: Femininity in the ‘emotional ecology’ of sexual violence (p. 158)
		Introduction (p. 158)
		Shame (p. 159)
		Virginity (p. 161)
		Literary representations of virgin saints’ lives (p. 165)
		Visual representations of virgin saints’ lives (p. 172)
		Virginity in the law (p. 179)
		Rape of underage girls (p. 188)
	Chapter Five: ‘Rape is the greatest possible sorrow’: female experiences of sexual violence (p. 205)
		Introduction (p. 205)
		Legal institutions and legal knowledge (p. 206)
		Why did women go to court? (p. 210)
		Obstacles to legal action (p. 219)
		Other evidence of medieval rape (p. 229)
	Bibliography (p. 246)
		Manuscript Primary Sources (p. 246)
		Printed Primary Sources (p. 253)
		Secondary Literature (p. 262)
		Unpublished Theses (p. 288)

Wikipedia: History of Europe: History of England / England in the Late Middle Ages | Law: Medieval English law | Sex and the law: Rape / Rape in England