John Rykener
(around 1395) U.K.
Male cross-dressing prostitute
John Rykener, known also as Johannes Richer and Eleanor Rykener, was a transvestite prostitute working in London (near Cheapside), and in Oxford.
He "... was apprehended in women's clothing having sex with another man in a London street one night on December 11, 1395. Rykener claimed that he had worked as a prostitute in London, having been initiated by women who taught him to cross-dress. He then worked in Oxford as an embroideress, having sex with several students, and in Burford as a tapster, again also practising prostitution."
It is interesting to note that the offence for which he was arrested was his flaunting of social rules of gender presentation rather than his sexual activities.
During his interrogation, Rykener claimed to have had many clients including priests, monks and nuns; he said that he preferred priests because they paid better than others. He revealed that two Franciscan friars had given him a gold ring, while a Carmelite friar and six "foreigners" rewarded him with five shillings.
Source: Source: Karras, Ruth M., and David L. Boyd. "Ut Cum Muliere", Sexualities in History, pp. 90-91
See also: The Questioning of John Rykener, A Male Cross-Dressing Prostitute, 1395. at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1395rykener.html
A text from legal processes on same-sex activities in late medieval England. The document contains a facsimile of the Roll membrane, a Latin transcription, and a translation.
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