The Questioning of Eleanor Rykener
Talk
The Questioning of Eleanor Rykener (1395) is the oldest known document in The London Archives collection that speaks directly to LGBTQ+ history. It records Rykener’s questioning by the Mayor and Alderman of the City of London.
From this record it emerges Rykener had lived as both Eleanor and John. Eleanor was an embroideress and sex worker whose clients’ included members of the church and gentry. Hidden in plain sight, after being misleadingly described in the standard work on these records published in the 1920s it re-surfaced in 1995. Since then it has become a focus of renewed scholarship and creative endeavours.
Come along to hear the story of this fascinating document.