View source for Rape

==Rape (Assault)==
'''Rape''' is a forced act of sexual intercourse: a serious crime and social aberration.

Although rape (along with [[pillage|pillaging]] and [[fire|burning]]) was a feature of [[medieval]] [[war|warfare]], it is not recreated in the [[SCA]] for obvious reasons.

''Rape'' is also an ancient word for "carrying off", although it is not commonly used in the modern period.

==Rape (County Division)==
A '''rape''' is a traditional [[Anglo-Saxon]] sub-division of a Saxon kingdom, particularly in [[Middlesex]] and [[Sussex]].  A rape was centred on a [[castle]] or fortified [[manor]] and its surrounding [[demense]], and was therefore roughly equivalent to a [[Barony]].

The origin of the term is likely from the Saxon word ''rap'', for [[rope]], as these were used in surveying land, and it predates the [[Norman Conquest]].  The use of this term to denote geographic areas in Sussex lasted well past the time of [[William the Conqueror]].

[[category:crime]]