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Early, Erotic and Alien: Women Dressed as Men in Late Medieval London

In the century after 1450, thirteen women incurred the ire of London’s governors by cross-dressing as men. This is a small number of women, spread over many years, from a long time ago, and their experiences are a far cry from female cross-dressers today, whether drag kings, stone butches, trans men-in-the-making, or opera singers in trouser roles. Yet these thirteen women challenge us to rethink female cross-dressing, both in the middle ages and today. We can easily recognize what these women did so long ago: they cut their hair short; they wore men’s hats; they donned men’s clothing. But why they did these things is a different matter, and so, too, is how their behaviour was understood by those who saw them.