John/Eleanor Rykener

Uncommon card · No. 122924

John Rykener, also known as Eleanor, was a 14th-century gender-nonconforming male prostitute arrested in December 1394 for performing a sex act with John Britby, in London's Cheapside, while wearing female attire. Although historians tentatively link Rykener to a prisoner of the same name, the only known facts of Rykener's life come from an interrogation made by the mayor of London. Rykener was questioned on two offences: prostitution and sodomy. Prostitutes were not usually arrested in London during this period, while sodomy was an offence against morality rather than common law and so pursued in ecclesiastical courts. There is no evidence that Rykener was prosecuted for either crime. Rykener spoke of being introduced to sexual contact with men by Elizabeth Brouderer, a London embroideress who dressed Rykener as a woman and may have acted as procurer. According to the court transcription of this account, Rykener had sex with both men and women, including priests and nuns. Rykener spent...

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