Disorderly Damsels? Women and Interpersonal Violence in Pre-Reformation Scotland
This study uses the court records of eight pre-Reformation Scottish towns to examine women's involvement as perpetrators of violent physical assaults in their communities. It examines the nature of the assaults, including whether women were more likely to act alone or with others, the role of family and household, the types of victims, and the weapons used. These matters are compared to patterns found in studies of women's violence elsewhere in contemporary Europe. The article also examines how the community and women themselves perceived their use of physical assault. For example, some could justify violence as an acceptable method of discipline. Many attacks were aimed not only at causing physical harm but were also assaults on the victim's honour; a study of assault thus helps shed light on the nature of male and female honour among ordinary townsfolk in late medieval Scotland.