Rape and Ravishment in the Literature of Medieval England (review)

296 Short Notices Saunders, Corinne, Rape and Ravishment in the Literature ofMedieval England, Cambridge, D. S. Brewer, 2001; cloth; pp. 343; R R P £50.00; ISBN ' 0859916103. This is an impressive book. Corrine Saunders offers both a comprehensive overview of English medieval writings about rape and ravishment, and also detailed and sophisticated analyses of particular texts. The first two chapters outline the relevant secular and canon laws, impressively detailing the nature of these legal traditions, and highlighting the confusion in medieval law between rape and ravishment. Saunders is particularly to be commended for her use of evidence from case law as well as statute law, since this adds complexity to her sketch of the legal process. The bulk of the book consists of chapters exploring the depiction of rape and ravishment in saints' lives, tales of legendary women, romances, the works of Chaucer, and Malory's Le Morte Darthur. These are arranged in roughly chronological order, and provide an excellent overview ofthe subject. The amount oftextual analysis varies from chapter to chapter, with chapters differing in length. This stems, of course, from the divergent state of research in various areas. The chapter on Chaucer is complex and engages with the current critical debates arising from feminist Chaucerian research. Much less critical work exists for King Horn, Sir Gowther or Sir Degarre, and the chapters on these romances are correspondingly thinner. Saunders' work thus functions on two levels: she offers her own reading of the representations of rape and ravishment in medieval stories, and she also provides a review ofcurrent research which will doubtless benefit future generations ofscholars. In this sense, her bibliography alone is a valuable compilation, bringin together an impressively comprehensive list of primary and secondary sources. The only possible scope for further extending Rape and Ravishment would be by including detailed studies of particular manuscripts. Saunders understandably relies on printed editions of the texts, and so she does not address potential links between the stories and the images chosen to exemplify them. Her book can, then, be profitably read in conjunction with Diane WoflfhaTs Images ofRape: The Heroic' Tradition and Its Alternative (1999) which focuse on the images used to illustrate the subject in medieval Europe. Emma Hawkes History The University of Western Australia ...