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Wartime rape in late antiquity: consecrated virgins and victim bias in the fifth‐century west

Vihervalli, Ulriika

Early medieval Europe, 2022-02, Vol.30 (1), p.3-19 [Peer Reviewed Journal]

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Title:
Wartime rape in late antiquity: consecrated virgins and victim bias in the fifth‐century west
Author: Vihervalli, Ulriika
Subjects: Bias ; European history ; Medieval period ; Rape
Is Part Of: Early medieval Europe, 2022-02, Vol.30 (1), p.3-19
Notes: This article was drafted during a post‐doctoral fellowship at the Institutum Romanum Finlandiae. It further benefited from the suggestions and expertise of colleagues, and so my thanks go to Máirín MacCarron, Victoria Leonard, Chris Mowat and Julia Hillner for their critique and feedback.
Description: 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.
Publisher: Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Language: English

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