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E-book
Author Dunn, Caroline, 1975- author.

Title Stolen women in medieval England : rape, abduction and adultery, 1100-1500 / Caroline Dunn
Published Cambridge, UK : Cambridge University Press, 2013, ©2013

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 261 pages)
Series Cambridge studies in medieval life and thought, Fourth series
Cambridge studies in medieval life and thought.
Contents Introduction -- 1. Laws and legal definitions -- 2. Rape -- 3. Abduction and forced marriage -- 4. Elopement abductions -- 5. Adultery -- 6. Retaliatory abductions and malicious legal proceedings -- Conclusion -- Appendix I: ravishment legislation -- Appendix II: sources of ravishment cases
Summary "This study of illicit sexuality in medieval England explores links between marriage and sex, law and disorder, and property and power. Some medieval Englishwomen endured rape or were kidnapped for forced marriages, yet most ravished women were married and many 'wife-thefts' were not forced kidnappings but cases of adultery fictitiously framed as abduction by abandoned husbands. In pursuing the themes of illicit sexuality and non-normative marital practices, this work analyses the nuances of the key Latin term raptus and the three overlapping offences that it could denote: rape, abduction and adultery. This investigation broadens our understanding of the role of women in the legal system; provides a means for analysing male control over female bodies, sexuality and access to the courts; and reveals ways in which female agency could, on occasion, manoeuvre around such controls"-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-253) and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Abduction -- England -- History
Rape -- England -- History
Adultery -- England -- History
Women -- Sexual behavior -- England -- History
HISTORY -- Europe -- Great Britain.
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Public Policy -- Social Security.
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Public Policy -- Social Services & Welfare.
Abduction
Adultery
Rape
Women -- Sexual behavior
Frau
Entführung
Vergewaltigung
Zwangsheirat
Ehebruch
England
England
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781139776530
1139776533
1139061917
9781139061919
9781283714631
1283714639
9781139779579
1139779575
9781139782562
1139782568