Discourse on Sexual Violence (Rape) in Late Medieval Short Prose Narratives: The Case of the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, Marguerite de Navarre’s Heptaméron, and Johannes Pauli’s Schimpf und Ernst

Abstract

The topic of rape or sexual violence is, unfortunately, ubiquitous in world literature. In our day and age, this crime is seriously identified as such and properly persecuted, at least in the Western world. Contrary to common assumptions, this was already the case in the pre-modern world, as much as patriarchy ruled and sexual transgressions were often addressed by poets. The issue dealt with here, however, pertains to the question of how cases of rape were discussed and evaluated in the late Middle Ages. As significant examples in the anonymous and highly popular Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles (late fifteenth century) indicate, poets commonly dealt with sexual transgression often leading to the woman's violation (occasionally also the man's). The critical reading of specific cases contained in this literary collection indicates that rape was recognized as such and clearly condemned as a terrible crime. However, various poets still did not hesitate to thematize sexual harassment and also rape as topics which allowed them to 'entertain' their audiences, especially when the man's attempts were defied by the female victim by means of wit, rhetorical skill, and fast thinking. Male poets such as Johannes Pauli also formulated explicit condemnation of rape.