Qualls 1

Christye Qualls
His 480
November 19, 2014
Medieval Women and the Violence Against Them
Imagine being beaten until bones were broken or raped then killed. This was one reality
of life for Medieval women of England and France. Women have been targets of such physical
and sexual abuses throughout history. Women have been targets of abuse due to ideologies and
religious teachings that accuse women of failing humanity. From 430 to 1500 Medieval England
and northwestern continental Europe was a violent period for everyone due to wars being fought
for land and religion. As horrific as wars are, what is truly horrific was the lack of justice for the
women who suffered from abuse. Depending on which period of the Middle Ages and which
country a woman lived in she would have a better chance of protection or justice through societal
measures rather than a court system. Despite laws making abuse against women illegal in the
countries of England and France, women were still abused due to the perception of women
influenced by the Church.
The countries of what are now England, France, and Germany during the Central and
Late Medieval periods, 1000 to the early 1500s, had justice systems where laws that were
intended to dissuade the acts of physical abuse and sexual abuse of rape, but the laws only
mattered when the attacker was not of social merit or did not served in a military capacity. This
practice of injustice is gleaned from research of court records, monographs, anthologies, and
literature published in the later Middle Ages.
Historians have evaluated court records and analyzed medieval literature to try to
understand what merited abuse during the Middle Ages, and what, if any, justice was provided
for the women who were abused. Abuses take various forms. Abuse occurred in marriages as
well as outside of them. Sarah M. Butlers analyzed the different types of abuse in later Medieval

Qualls 2
England towards pregnant women. Some of the most common abuses were where a father of an
illegitimate child would beat a woman and her stomach until she had a miscarriage. Other
occurrences were accidents rather than intended abuse as Butler states, At times, a woman was
simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, which often enough was a womans own home in
the middle of the night.1 Women who went through a home invasion faced brutal acts.
However, a woman did not have to be married and pregnant to be acted. Single pregnant women
attack as well, and in different ways.
Martyn Whittock addresses the issue of single pregnant women. To be a single woman
and to be pregnant most likely meant that they were a prostitute. Verbal abuses were also a part
of pregnant womens lives if they were single. Some of the slurs Whittock found were intended
to attack the womans biological ability to reproduce. Men and women would take part in using
abuses like feminine, which does not sound appalling, yet meant that the woman was someone
who was promiscuous.2 Butler and Whittock are clear to use accounts of both men and women
who assaulted pregnant women. These people may have thought it was their moral duty to help
cleanse a single woman of her sins, especially if she was a prostitute. Each of these accounts
asks whether there was a punishment for the crime and if so what it was and was it fitting. The
answers to these questions are rarely satisfying.
Jessica Munns and Penny Richards explain the variations in justice or lack thereof
exercised in the Low Countries of Europe in the Late Medieval Period. What they found most
striking was the inconsistency in the sentencing.3 There were a few select cases of rape in a

Sara M. Butler, Abortion Medieval Style? Assaults on Pregnant Women in Later Medieval England,
Womens Studies 40, (2011): 785.
2
Martyn Whittock, Life in the Middle Ages: Scenes from the Town and Countryside of Medieval England,
(London: Constable and Robinson, 2009), 127.
3
Jessica Munns and Penny Richards, Gender, Power, and Privilege In Early Modern Europe, (London:
Pearson, 2003), 27.

Qualls 3
certain area where one person was charged with the death penalty and another would be
pardoned. For both the Franks and English the law concerning rape varies on who the victim
was, however, the consequence of rape would result in a fine of sixty three shillings for the
Franks and a fine of sixty for the English.4 The sentences would be passed by the lord of the
land, a government official such as a lawyer, or a church depending on where, who, and the
atrocity of the assault. Munns and Richards believe the influx in sentences depended on the
persons place in society.5 If an attacker was of a prominent family then they were almost always
pardoned to keep the social peace despite what had happened.6 As it were society influenced
whether or not there was a surge or decrease in violence. Societys decision to enforce their laws
would decide the quality of protection of their citizens and travelers to the town, who bring in
money.
The phrase, perception is everything could be used to describe the ideology of larger
late Medieval cities in regard to financial stability. If a city or town was known for violence,
outside funds would not venture into the city or town.7 Bronach Kane explores the connection
between societys representations and church minutes of the day to day along with other studies
done by psychologists and medievalists. Kane used court records to indicate how women were
perceived during the Later Medieval Period in England. She came to the conclusion that women
were seen to be useful in helping with childbirth, but men were so concerned and frightened that
women held secrets and conspired against them that having complete control over women was

Patrick J. Geary, Readings in Medieval History, (Peterborough, Ontario: Boardview Press, 1995) 148,

252.
5

Jessica Munns and Penny Richards, Gender, Power, and Privilege In Early Modern Europe, (London:
Pearson, 2003), 27.
6
Ibid. 31.
7
Paul Halsal,The Law of the Salian Franks, Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies, Last
modified November 4, 2011, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/salic-law.asp.

Qualls 4
the only way to have a peace of mind and a sense security.8 These obscure beliefs can be seen in
the Churchs teachings how women, which would have had a great influence on the population.9
If the Church says it is true then it must be.
One attitude becomes overwhelmingly clear through these medievalists research of the
Middle Ages, and that is women were only seen as objects. The medieval legal definition,
outlined in 1180, was that every married woman is a sort of infant.10 Violent crimes and sins
should not go unpunished, but it was not because of the attacks were against women, but it was
because the attackers soul or good name was more important than the woman who was abused.
Historians discovered that the basis behind the aforementioned attitude came from an authority
that influenced every thought a society had, so men and women had their own places within
society. If women in any way were thought as breaking out of their place then society had
implemented the thought that men primarily should put them back. Canon Law permitted a man
to beat his wife if he considered her lazy or disobedient. This was not a license for unrestrained
violence since manorial courts contain plenty of evidence that if violence was thought excessive
neighbors might intervene, but this fact does not reduce the significance of this power over
women.11 This ideology is perhaps why abuse had to result in death or be against a woman of
high standing to be brought to justice.
In examining the physical abuse of battery and the sexual abuse of rape aimed towards
women during northern continental Europe and Englands Medieval Period both types of abuse
can be seen as a result of the Churchs change of perspective on women during the Central
8

Bronach Kane, Social Representations of Memory and Gender in Later Medieval England, Integrative
Psychological and Behavioral Science 46, (2012): 544-558.
9
Judith M. Bennett and Warren Hollister, Medieval Europe: A Short History, (New York: McGraw Hill,
2006), 200.
10
Martyn Whittock, Life in the Middle Ages: Scenes from the Town and Countryside of Medieval England,
(London: Constable and Robinson, 2009), 127.
11
Whittock, 127.

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Middle Ages where women were believed to be the reason behind all of humanitys
shortcomings. Due to the Churchs stance on women one is left to decide if the repercussions for
abusers were fitting of the crime committed and if there was truly any justice for abused.
After the fall of Rome, medieval societies were divided with different ideologies on how
people and places should be governed. The eventual unifying force was Christianity. By the late
700s and early 800s, Charlemagne had used the force of war to unify the majority of Europe
under Christianity. As Christianity spread across Europe, laws and thoughts began to be similar
throughout varying towns and cities. Kings and nobles vied for power against the Church.
However, the Church was the greatest power that reached from the papacy in Rome, reaching
throughout Europe, and had the Church was able to have such power because going to church,
being devoted, and giving monetarily was the only way for ones soul to get into heaven after
they past away. With such power came money and corruption. Though the main concerns were a
loss of piety within the Church and everyday life, and how the Church was complacent with that
fact. The great shortcoming of the central medieval Church was not gross corruption but rather
a creeping complacency that sometimes resulted in a shallow, mechanical attitude toward the
Christian religious life and an obsession with ecclesiastical property.12 The property the Church
had the power and influence they had. By 1000s the Churchs this corruption had become
overwhelming for the truly devoted. There was a monastic order that tried to combat the
corruption in the Church by harking back to a Benedictine way of life.13 This order was the
Cluniac who were founded in 910, though what they had originally wanted to stop was their
downfall during the 1100s as other monastic order reforms occurred.14 A reform took shape

12

Judith M. Bennett and Warren Hollister, Medieval Europe: A Short History, (New York: McGraw Hill,

2006) 188.
13
14

Judith M. Bennett and Warren Hollister, 195.

Ibid, 195.

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changing how Christianity was practiced in many monasteries and changing roles of women who
had devoted their lives to the Church. The Cluniac movement triggered a set of reforms, one of
which was the Cistercian movement around 1075. The Cistercians lived an austere life. No
excesses and hard work was their way of life.15 Their ideas about women follow and further set a
misogynous trend within the Church, Recognizing that the wickedness of women is greater than
all other wickedness of the world, and that there is no anger like that of women, and that poison
of aps and dragons is more curable and less dangerous to men than the familiarity of women, we
have unanimously decreed for the safety of our souls no less than that of our bodies and goods,
that we will on no account receive any more sisters, but will avoid them like poisonous
animals.16 Women were far too tempting for piteous men, but it was womens fault. This would
shape how women were perceived in and outside the church.
Womens roles in the Church changed during 1000s when priests claimed women were
the cause of all evil and failures of humanity, but for those outside of the Church and in the
peasantry life continued be a life of hard work running a household, raising children, a woman
was expect to marry and have children, and doing work that would bring in extra income, such as
spinning to make yarn.17 Medieval clergy helped instill the idea of women being the cause of
corruption among the masses by recounting the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden, with
priests emphasizing Eves lack of morals and her ability to be easily be corrupted and to
corrupt.18 Reforms of the Church continued throughout the Middle Ages and into the Modern

15

Judith M. Bennett and Warren Hollister, Medieval Europe: A Short History, (New York: McGraw Hill,
2006), 199.
16
Judith M. Bennett and Warren Hollister, 200.
17
Barbara A. Hanawalt, The Ties That Bound: Peasant Families in Medieval England, (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1986) 141.
18
Judith M. Bennett and Warren Hollister, Medieval Europe: A Short History, (New York: McGraw Hill,
2006), 200.

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Period, the 1600s, yet the idea of women being the reason behind humans failures did not
change along with the Church.
A contorted perception of women from the Church became a contributing factor to the
root of physical and sexual abuses towards women rather than misogyny alone during the Central
Middle Ages, 1000-1250, due to the Churchs changed perspective of women. The changed
perspective became that women were the cause of humanitys fall from grace; the biblical story
where Eve was easily tempted by the serpent to eat the Forbidden Fruit in turn Eve convinced
Adam to join her in eating the fruit, which cast them for Paradise and subsequently barring
humankind from returning until they have repented.19 Eves defiance and temptation was now
the behavior of all women, and one must had to be weary around them. This perspective of
women came into full force the Church reformed, and Europe entered the 1000s. Prior to the
changes within the Church were not seen in such a fashion. One change that is most notable was
that during the Early Medieval Period, 430 to 1000, was how women who chose the Church as
their life were able to become abbess, but due to new monastic orders that believed humanity
was straying from Christianity thoughts as the forementioned became an ideology and fewer
women were able to take the position of abbess.20 The story of Adam and Eve was the only
justification the Church needed to enforce such changes. Along with giving the say so into
heaven, the Church also tended to be the main judicial power in the majority of towns and cities
across Europe. Because of this power they were able to establish an ideology which looked upon
women as barely better than animals. Such an idea could led to people believing it was

19

The Bible: Genesis Three, Biblica, accessed November 18, 2014, http://www.biblica.com/enus/bible/online-bible/niv/genesis/3/, Genesis 3:1 3:24.
20
Judith M. Bennett and Warren Hollister, Medieval Europe: A Short History, (New York: McGraw-Hill,
2006,) 199-200.

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acceptable to be abusive, especially within marriage and when the laws were lax in crimes
against women.
During the Middle Ages marrying was intended for two purposes, the first was to lessen
the burden on ones parents and two to produce children. Marriages were not meant for romantic
purposes. While marriage was expected of both men and women, to become married quickly
weighed heavier on the women since she had no rights to inheritance. Most marriages were
arranged between families of similar socio-economic statuses. Even marriages where a couple
chose each other freely their marriage had to follow social constraints the Church enforced.21
Social constraints followed, in theory, the Church laws. The Church laws were based on the Ten
Commandments and the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that a righteous person
should lead their life by, and such a person would follow laws including no premarital sex or
activities that could lead to lewd behaviors. The punishments for breaking these laws tended to
be having to be married to please the Church and pay fines to the local court.22 With having to
marry for benefits and having laws that focused more on how to behave before marriage rather
than after it is clear how abuse within marriages was prolific. A persons spouse was more of a
business arrangement than anything emotional. If an animal disobeys one might hit the animal
until it does, a spouse did not vary from an animal in this area.
Abuse takes many forms. Physical and sexual abuses were the most commonly seen.
Physical abuse, such as battery is when a person is beaten or assaulted in a way that leaves
bruises, breaks bones, or was even fatal to person who was abused. Battery happened most
commonly to women who were either betrothed or married. The beatings that took place within

21

Barbara A. Hanawalt, The Ties That Bound: Peasant Families in Medieval England, (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1986) 188, 198.
22
Paul Halsal,The Law of the Salian Franks, Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies, Last
modified November 4, 2011, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/salic-law.asp.

Qualls 9
marriages were done for various reasons. Abortion when the mother announced that she was
having an unwanted child, and having the child would either led to more money expenditures, or
if the child was illegitimate a marriage would be forced by the Church and the family. When it
came to having an unwanted child within a marriage, some parents or a mother would, instead of
finding alternative measures to rid a person of the child, strike the lower abdomen until a
miscarriage occurred.23 Abortions caused by abuse occurred even when a woman thought she
was safe in her house. When Elizabeth wife of John of Streatly was dragged from her
Buckinghamshire home in the midst of giving birth, it was also during a home robbery.24
Elizabeth Streatly was not endangered by her husband or a bitter lover, Elizabeth was in what
she believed to be the relative safety of her home when she was attacked by a stranger.25 Attacks,
like the one that happened to Elizabeth Streatly, were done in a way to show power over her,
despite the fact that she was unable to fight back. Streatly may have been a prize to go along with
the livestock the robbers were stealing.26 Also, in cases such as the Streatlys a husband was a
victim as well. John Streatly lost his family and his means of livelihood in one night. Either to
avoid an unwanted marriage or beating a pregnant woman because they wanted to, the people
who battered pregnant women targeted those who were vulnerable. This type of battery where a
pregnant woman is the target was only one reason for beating a woman. For those people who
wanted to beat women they found many more reasons.
Battery tended to be from a domestic partner. A person who women is close to in
relation, either married or blood related. The physical abuses documented in judicial records
from the early 1200s to the early 1400s were battery. Once married, women were expected to
23

Sara M. Butler, Abortion Medieval Style? Assaults on Pregnant Women in Later Medieval England,
Womens Studies 40, (2011): 785.
24
Ibid, 785.
25
Ibid,785.
26
Ibid. 785.

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obey their husbands just as they had their fathers. Some husbands who used abuse as a way to
ensure obedience. Geoffrey Chaucers The Wife of Baths Tale from The Canterbury Tales
tells of a woman speaking of her five past husbands, and the fifth one was abusive to her.27
While the Wife of Bath is recounting her story she addresses the fact that he would beat her on a
regular basis.28 She gives no explanation as to why, but one might assume her fifth husband
believed obedience came through discipline, however, the injuries left still caused physical
pain and aliments long after his death.29 Though The Canterbury Tales is a fictional compilation
The Wife of Baths Tale presents a perspective from the 1470s that is not often seen, a mans
perspective that is sympathetic with the plight of abused women. Chaucer did ask the question
why a woman would stay with a man who beat her, especially when the said woman has been
successful at finding four husbands prior, after they had passed away. Chaucer provides an
interesting answer that does not completely satisfy the question of why a woman stays with an
abusive spouse. His answer was love and longing for approval from the abuser. Though he had
beaten me in every bone, he still could wheedle me to love, I own. I think I loved him best, Ill
tell no lie. He was disdainful in his love, thats why.30 However, it does show that not every
man in the Medieval Period believed proving dominance through might was necessary, even if
they were in the mindset that men are superior to women. The men whom the Wife of Bath was
travelling with were appalled and disgusted at her fifth husbands treatment of her.31 Accounts
of abusive husbands help indicate that Chaucer had at least second-hand knowledge of abusive
marriages. One account of an abusive husband was taken to the church court of Droitwich

27

Geoffrey Chaucer, The Wife of Baths Tale, The Canterbury Tales, translated by Nevill Coghill,
Kindle E-book. Penguin Classics, 2012.
28
Chaucer, Kindle E-book.
29
Ibid.
30
Ibid.
31
Ibid.

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England 1300, Thomas Louchard ill-treated his wife with a rod.32 Louchard was punished in a
similar manner, his punishment was that he was to be beaten with a rod as well, and then allowed
to return to everyday life.33 Joan White of York, England January 13, 1396 claimed her husband
beat her with club repeatedly causing wounds and broken bones. White was forced to return to
her husband because a friend of her husbands claimed he saw no abuse take place.34 Joan
Whites experience indicates how men were valued over women. Another woman in the early
1300s went to court only to say she gained the injuries from an accident when it was obvious that
that was not what had happened.35 It is suggested that the court was skeptical, but nothing else
mentioned about this case. The common treads between these women who were abused by
different men in different years and in different counties sought out help from their church, and
only one received any justice. The other thread was that their situations were no different from
the women who suffered from physical abuse in present day. Unfortunately, there were women
who had to suffer not only intense beatings but rape as well.
Rape was one of the most prominently denied accusations by the men who were accused.
To be accused of raping a woman had various repercussions depending on if the woman was
with child, married, single, elderly, or killed. In several cases of England and northern France,
service men who had been accused were given pardons by the king of the Late Middle Ages,
such as John the II of France and Edward the III of England, or a lord of the area. One
astounding petition for a pardon in the year 1350 had three men accused of the rape of the same
woman, Eleanor de Merton.36 The men were John de Lavenham, John de Waltham, and Nicholas
32

P. J.P. Goldburg, Women in England, c. 1275-1525: Documentary Sources, (Manchester: Manchester

University Press,1995) 140.
33
Goldburg, 140.
34
Ibid, 141.
35
Ibid, 140. Fasciculus Morum
36
Petitioners, The National Archives, accessed November 6, 2014,
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9294794.

Qualls 12
de Bolton. None of these men denied raping Eleanor de Merton; they thought that they should be
pardoned for their crime because of they had fought in Calais and Scotland. John de Waltham
and Nicholas de Bolton were pardoned. The only one who it is not known whether they were
pardoned or not for such a horrible crime was John de Lavenham.37 Lavenham stated he should
be pardoned on good service, slightly differing from the other mens statements.38 Nothing
else is stated on his account. Considering the other two men, Waltham and Bolton, were pardon
because of their service, Lavenham most likely was as well. Nothing further is mentioned about
Eleanor de Merton. Eleanor de Merton was able to have these three men convicted, but by the
court granting the mens request for pardon Eleanor did not see justice served in her defense.
Though occurrences such as Mertons plight were not uncommon, some women were able to
find justice, however, it did depended on social status and how severe the offense was. Offenses
such as raping a pregnant woman were more harshly punished. Sara M. Butler expounds upon on
how men would lay in wait to attack, and the attack would so violent the woman would be not be
able to escape it.39 Butler recounts the rape of Elizabeth de Aldebarowe where the rapist, John
Moundsoun de Garthorpe, wanted the unborn child to die; Butler does not state what his motive
might have been.40 With attacks so violent and with such malice intent behind them, it would
cause the Church to see the rape of a pregnant woman as breaking several laws.41 Due to the fact
that there had been laws taking a form of action against men who had raped a pregnant woman
since around the 600s, this offense was considered one of worst crimes that could be committed.
Though the compensation was a heavy fine, that most likely could not be paid by the offender or
37

Petitioners, The National Archives, accessed November 6, 2014,

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9295339#imageViewerLink.
38
Ibid, http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9295339#imageViewerLink.
39
Sara M. Butler, Abortion Medieval Style? Assaults on Pregnant Women in Later Medieval England,
Womens Studies 40, (2011): 786.
40
Butler, 786.
41
Paul, Halsal. The Law of the Salian Frank,. Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies, Last
modified November 4, 2011. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/salic-law.asp.

Qualls 13
their relatives and could possibly result in execution, for being beaten, rape, or killed would
never enough for what had truly been taken away from these women.42
Repercussions would be decided upon depending on what kind of abuse had taken place,
how severe the abuse was, and the abusers social status. This inefficient form of justice can be
seen as early as the 600s in France. A way of understanding how inefficient and unequal the laws
were the laws of Salian Franks, seventh century French, and what can be concluded is that the
need and want for money exceeded human rights. In Gearys anthology, the Salic Franks had
eight laws which detailed the varying occurrences of rape and abductions. As each offense listed
became worse the fine became higher, and unpayable for most. If one could not pay after several
chances to attain the money the offender will then be executed. Clearly, rape and other abuses
were not uncommon if eight different laws were needed. In such cases as of rape, assault,
murder, or insult the accused was sentenced a fine that was seen to fit the crime. The higher fines
would vary with the severity of the crime, and increased when the crime included a pregnant
woman. If any one shall have killed a free Frank, or a barbarian living under the Salic law, and
it have been proved on him, he shall be sentenced to 8000 denars. But if he have put him in the
water or a well, and covered him with anything to conceal him, he shall be sentenced to 72000
denars, which make 1800 shillings.43 Murdering someone and lying about it was the worse
possible crime to commit. Fines do not seem a great reprimand in todays society, however, the
fines charged especially in the cases of killing a pregnant woman was almost always an
unpayable due to the fact that the fine was 28,000 denars and this was more than most made in a
year.44 If the fines could not be paid by the culprit or someone else then the person would be

42

Patrick J. Geary, Readings in Medieval History, (Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview, 1995), 152.
Patrick J. Geary, 151.
44
Paul Halsal,The Law of the Salian Franks, Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies, Last
modified November 4, 2011, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/salic-law.asp.
43

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sentenced to death.45 Early Frankish law introduced how the later medieval societies might have
gained their thought processes when it came to justice about abuse. However, the time was a
violent time and Europe was at war, so fueling the war effort was more important than keeping a
social peace than it was in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Though, a way of keeping the
peace would be to send out the men who caused disruptions to war.46 Looking through the
Salian Franks laws of the seventh century alongside English laws of the late 800s, they parallel
due to the fact that the laws are based on early medieval Germanic perspectives. When it comes
to women and justice, women only mattered when they were killed or there was a child involved.
The English early laws also state that if a woman is pregnant and killed then the killer is not
executed unless they have exhausted all means of paying the English 120 shillings, very similar
to the earlier Frankish law.47 Men may have had priority in law because of man power for wars
and other reasons, but rape was still considered a heinous crime, which had a scale based on the
severity and social status of the woman and the offender. Rape alone was charged with less of a
penalty than the other crimes mentioned. Because of this there seemed to be a slim chance of
women obtaining justice, especially even when men who were convicted were later pardoned.
As the Middle Ages continued, the chance did not become greater since these laws only
differed slightly. However, this did not mean all women did not find justice. Isabel Boteler, a
widow of a knight John Boteler, requested a petition in 1437 to Englands Commons in
Parliament against William Pulle on the account that, Pulle, in the company of others, broke
into her house by force and arms, raped her, and took her almost naked into Wales, for which
rape he is indicted before the king's justices at Lancaster, and that Pulle had escaped from being

45

Halsal, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/salic-law.asp.
Ibid, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/salic-law.asp.
47
Patrick J. Geary, Readings in Medieval History, (Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview, 1995) 150, 251.
46

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arrested.48 Isabel Boteler was put into protection in Chester, England, and William Pulle was
outlawed for felony meaning he did not come to his trail and was no longer allowed in
England.49 While Isabel Boteler was able to obtain some justice for what happened to her, most
likely only achieved this because of her late husbands status as a knight. That was the sad reality
for women during the Medieval Period, from 430 and into the 1500s, women had to endure
abuses from spouses, strangers, and the judicial system because women were believed to be
second rate citizens. This sentiment still stands true in many present day societies despite
changes in policies and the diversity of religious.
Life was dangerous for everyone in the Middle Ages due to war, diseases, and everyday
living factors. Women probably did not live in fear of abuse or rape with their day to day worries
along with the ever pressing concern of preparing ones soul for heaven by following the
Churchs doctrine. However, abuses were still prevalent enough in society for there to be laws
made against such acts. The Church instilled an idea that kept women from gaining any sense of
equality, which made it easier for those who would take advantage of being considered dominate
to take advantage of young women, pregnant women, and any other woman they could find. The
greatest harm to medieval women was the lack of justice provided when it was needed most. The
women who were able to survive being beaten, raped, or both deserved more than a few hundred
shillings, granted that was a significant amount at the time, or worse the attacker being pardoned.

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48

Petitioners, The National Archives, accessed November 6, 2014,

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9061482.
49
Ibid, http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9061482.

Qualls 16
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