‘A Bad Woman’. A Criminal Woman and a Women-victim in the Criminal Books of the City of Cracow in the Early Modern Era

Books of villains (crime books, libri maleficorum) began to be written down in Poland since the 15 century. They are an invaluable source for learning about past criminal law, both substantive and procedural. In this paper author will focus on the social history, specifically the history of women. As intended, focuses on ‘bad women’, who were shown in both optics – as criminals and victims of crime. Crime books create images of murderesses, child killers, thieves, adulteresses, but also women who were raped, beaten and murdered. The outlined picture is ambiguous, because the motives of their behavior are not always known. Nonetheless, a woman appearing before a court (in whatever capacity – a crime or a victim), sui generis was considered to be that one, who should be punished, legally or at least morally.