Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 46198
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Vihervalli , Ulriika,
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Wartime Rape in Late Antiquity: Consecrated Virgins and Victim Bias in the Fifth-Century West
  • Source: Early Medieval Europe 30, 1 ( 2022): Pages 3 - 19. Free to read online from Wiley Online Library: https://doi.org/10.1111/emed.12520
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Journal Article
  • Subject (See Also): Civilians Rape Sexual Violence Virginity Warfare and Warriors Women in Religion
  • Award Note: Feminae Article of the Month June 2023
  • Geographic Area: General
  • Century: 5
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations:
  • Table:
  • Abstract: Late antique clerics rarely discussed wartime rape but singled out consecrated women as victims when they did. This emphasis testifies to the prominence of consecrated women by the fifth century, while inadvertently creating a victim bias. This paper examines this bias and puts forth a wider consideration of victims, including laywomen, children, and men. However, studies on wartime rape have shown that the rape of virgins is often treated differently from the violation of others. These findings are extended to holy virgins in late antiquity to offer new considerations of the grim success of rape as a weapon of war. [Reproduced from the Wiley Online Library website: https://doi.org/10.1111/emed.12520]
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: University of Liverpool
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2022.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 20405960 (print); 20405979 (online)