Rape

Rape (Assault)

Rape is a forced act of sexual intercourse: a serious crime and social aberration.

Although rape (along with pillaging and burning) was a feature of medieval 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.