ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that existing perceptions of women's violation in medieval England are distorted because of a failure to approach the legal records on their own terms and examine properly and thoroughly the whole legal context. It discusses the weaknesses upon which some of these studies are predicated and suggest some ways in which an appreciation of the full legal context can modify the existing picture as outlined above. The chapter focuses on attitudes to rape using examples from cases tried at gaol delivery and cases coming before the keepers/justices of the peace and ad hoc commissions to hear and determine offences. Jurisdictional claims over rape, in particular, were often disputed between the church and secular courts, though canonical authorities were adamant that punishment should not involve bloodshed. The royal courts, like their church counterparts, should not be regarded as monolithic entities, as one-dimensional, or as operating on a single level.
