SpeechWhy do different medieval genres tend to represent certain types of crime? Adultery and prostitution commonly appear in the Fabliau; theft and fraud drive the narrative of the confession; the knight-protagonists of romance are accused of rape. The record of some legal practices is informed by fictional and popular constructions of criminal types - particularly the rebel, the witch, and the prostitute.   The accounts of crimes in civic records are written to type and law is transformed in partial reaction to popular fictions of criminality.   In the some medieval literary traditions, genre is transformed over time in reaction to changing laws and different legal systems - for example the custom of justice airs of medieval Scotland appeared to have created a wholly individual tradition of beast literature, centering on mistrials and unfair punishments. Some genres grow up in reaction against laws perceived to be unfair:   gestes and ballads, for example, become legends of outlaw heroes.   In the mythology of some countries, the primary figure is the law enforcer - Beowulf, King Arthur - whilst other areas and times give birth to mythical figures who are essentially criminal - Robin Hood, Fin MacCumhail -   practicing retributive theft and murder. These pages will trace the criminal, variously figured as the monster, pick-pocket, thief, and murderer, through a number of literary genres (romance, fabliau, dream vision). Throughout, I will be concentrating on the cultural and literary history of the criminal. I will also look at dark fictions, reading the pick-purse, the smiler with the knife under the cloak, and the treason of the murdering in the bed, as Chaucer describes them in The Knight's Tale .