Women in Warfare: Spanish Christian Soldiers as Rapists in Early Modern \u3cem\u3eRomances\u3c/em\u3e

The omnipresence of military conflict brings many hardships and dangers for women in Early Modern Europe. In the socio-historical reality of military skirmishes since time immemorial, the rape of the female (and male) occupants of conquered territory was as ubiquitous and as opportunistic an act as one could imagine by which to brutalize and demean the populace. I will analyze two romances—“Romance cuarto. De cómo don Rodrigo de Vivar mató á dos moros que forzaban una dama mora y la rescató” and “Soldados forzadores”—both of which describe the rape of women by Spanish Christian soldiers. While Spanish Christian soldiers might rape women from opposing factions as a way to demonstrate their dominance over that particular group, they might just as likely rape women from their own group if given the opportunity to do so