In the winter of 1472, the city of Dijon, France, became the stage for a remarkable legal drama. On the mayor’s orders, an investigator named Jaques Borestel went door-to-door questioning his neighbors about an alleged sexual assault and about the victim’s history and place in the community. At the center of Jaques’s inquiry was a woman named Jehanne, who took the unusual step of making a criminal complaint in an age when victims of sexual violence did so at their own peril.
My guest is Sara McDougall, and her book Justice for Jehanne: The Tale of a Medieval Survivor follows Jaques’s investigation as he uncovers one woman’s story of resilience and survival.
More about the author here: https://www.gc.cuny.edu/people/sara-mcdougall
The author’s publisher page: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691268910/justice-for-jehanne
The author on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saramcdougall_medieval/