The Middle Ages is a period most often viewed by modern cinematography as an era when love stories prevailed - but what happens when women end up on the wrong side of the common law in respect to relationships with the opposed sex?
To what extent were men seen as faulty? What can be called rape and where does adultery begin? The present subject brings into discussion a charter issued in by the judiciary of Cincu in Transylvania. A trial intended to redeem a certain Zabina, daughter of Lucas Tryster, for sinning with another man before her marriage, and thus threatening the lineage of the family, came to an unexpected turn.
The father tried to prove that a man — Benedictus, son of Georgius Faber — had assaulted his precious daughter, and forced her to copulate with him, but witnesses show a different perspective, emphasising the willingness of both parties to engage in intimacy.
The purpose of the present research is to analyse this particular charter with respect to medieval customs and views of women. Moreover, I will try to open a discussion on the lack of historical research concerning the so-called deviant behaviour in medieval Translyvania. The municipal authorities officially established urban brothels in Austria as a necessary evil to control the lust of unmarried men in order to protect women from sexual abuse.
During the course of the 15th century, brothels began to flourish in cities all over Austria until their abolition during the period of reformation and counter-reformation in the 16th century. For our workshop, I would like to focus on the everyday life in the brothels. Some sources give a closer look into the lives of the prostitutes and brothel keepers. Court cases sometimes inform about names and daily business. Furthermore, the brothels provided the possibility of controlling extramarital sexuality.
