Poxed and Ravished: Venereal Disease in Early Modern Rape Trials

Abstract

Inspections of the body’s most intimate surfaces were crucial to rape cases in early modern England. Female medical experts evaluated bruises, lacerations, and stretched skin for evidence of a violation. Yet numerous courtroom investigations seemed to centre around the marks of venereal disease rather than sexual abuse. These cases reframed the focus of inquiry from rape to disease at nearly every step, from witnesses’ accounts of the discovery of rape to courtroom inspections of bodies and clothing. This article examines fifty-nine such cases and argues that placing the poxed body, as opposed to the ravished body, center stage made rape easier to communicate, convict, and condemn. More than a simple proxy for penetrative sex, venereal disease provided a detailed and morally loaded language for talking about otherwise unspeakable acts. And perhaps most importantly, the disease offered tangible, if contested, evidence of rape that could be touched, viewed, and evaluated by male – rather than female – medical experts. Venereal disease effectively refocused rape cases away from the kinds of words and bodily inspections that were viewed with suspicion and onto those that were deemed reliable.