Sexual Violence in Medieval Iberia: Crime and Justice
In the courts of medieval Iberia, sexual violence was not simply a matter of personal trauma—it was a deeply public concern tied to honour, gender, and power. This article explores how rape and sexual assault were interpreted through the lens of legal codes and cultural expectations, revealing that justice often prioritized the reputation of families and communities over the suffering of victims. Drawing from the 13th-century legal text Siete Partidas, the piece demonstrates how female chastity was linked to a family’s social standing and how trials frequently turned into debates about the victim's virtue rather than the perpetrator’s crime.
The analysis also reflects on the shifting attitudes toward justice, punishment, and victimhood during a period marked by religious plurality and legal transformation. It reveals the unsettling fact that male honour and societal cohesion often outweighed the rights of assaulted women and how the Christian, Muslim, and Jewish legal traditions each brought distinct but overlapping approaches to sexual crimes. As modern readers, we are left to reflect on how echoes of these medieval judgments still linger in contemporary legal and social systems.
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Read More: https://historymedieval.com/sexual-violence-in-medieval-iberia-crime-and-justice/