Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, later Pope Pius II, visited northern England in 1435, and accepted the hospitality of villagers one night near the border with Scotland. When, after supper, the men and boys suddenly left for a nearby tower guardhouse in case the Scots mounted a raid, Aeneas asked why no one was staying behind to protect the women and was told … what?
Answer: The women had nothing to fear from the Scots ‘since they do not count rape as harm’.
Source: The War of the Roses by John Gillingham
