Most of our knowledge of transwomen from the medieval period comes from either legal documents or literature. The methodology to study such historical evidence and understand the experiences of transwomen is challenged for that reason. Legal documents are usually related to what we perceived as criminal acts and thus present transwomen often in negative ways, designed to uphold their culpability. Literary works are fictional and thus we have to consider whether or not they reflect actual lived experiences. Nevertheless, it is importance to historicize the experiences of transwomen and highlight their presence in the past but also to do so from a lens that reflects on their gender identity and considers how it was understood in a medieval context.
To Watch (online students)
For today’s class, there are two videos to watch. The first is a brief lecture from me to frame out our topic. The second is a discussion from three historians–Roisin Cossar, Shannon McSheffrey, and Ruth Mazo Karras–about the Rolandina Ronchaia trial and how to approach it methodologically.
Video 2:
“The Case of Rolandina Ronchaia: A Medieval Transwoman?”
To Read
“Rykener Case”
“Ronchaia Case”
Both available here:
To Do
For today’s class, we are going to focus on two of the legal sources that we have from late medieval Europe which feature transwomen. One of these comes from England and the other is from Italy. The editors and translators of each document have highlighted some of the challenges we face in analyzing such material which discusses the sexual lives of these women and how they were viewed by the court before which they had come.
In person students
For those signed up to lead discussion for this class, you are in charge of developing discussion questions. You can also create activities for the class to engage in as a means of exploring the assigned readings.
Online students
Questions will be posted in your chatboard channels as a means of starting discussion about the assigned readings. Students who are signed up to lead the online discussion are responsible for monitoring your classmates’ comments and responding to them to keep discussion going. If there are questions that arise which I can help with, don’t forget to tag me @dwl.
Online posts are due Thursday June 9th at midnight.