court for the return of Philip's property. Brouderer's motives in using of Rykener this way have been the subject of speculation among scholars. John Roxeth, considering Brouderer's treatment of Rector Philip, has suggested that she used Rykener to blackmail men, although he does not extrapolate on the mechanics of her doing so. Roxeth's theory is not universally accepted; Jeremy Goldberg, for instance, notes Roxeth's suggestion without commenting on its probability, while Ruth Karras considers Rykener to have merely been prostituted in the usual fashion. Oxford and return to London, mid-1394 By August 1394, Rykener had moved to Oxford, continuing with sex work but also obtaining work as an embroideress: Brouderer had clearly been successful at teaching her protégé both trades. Among Rykener's sexual clients were, Rykener said, "three unsuspecting scholars", or "scolares ignotos", whom Rykener named as three knights, Sir William Foxley, a Sir John and a Sir Walter. They may not have known Rykener's birth sex, and the recorder's phrasing is ambiguous. The three knights had used Rykener's services frequently. The historian Carolyn Dinshaw has questioned whether their ignorance of Rykener's sex could have lasted for the duration of the sojourn. More likely, she suggests, at some point they realised—and continued. Rykener encouraged a wealthy, often ecclesiastical clientele, in both professions. The upper classes employed embroiderers, especially the clergy with their ecclesiastical vestments. A seamstress, by contrast, was almost strictly proletarian. In September 1394, Rykener moved west to Burford and lived with the innkeeper John Clerk, working for him as a barmaid. Rykener's clients at this time included two Franciscan friars, Brother John and Brother Michael, the latter of whom paid with a gold ring. Other customers included a Carmelite friar and six foreigners. Three of the latter paid Rykener, respectively, twelve pence, twenty pence, and "as much as two shillings for a single encounter". Rykener's stay in Burford seems to have been brief, and it was not long before Rykener was in Beaconsfield. Rykener did not only sleep with men as a woman; while in Burford, Rykener had a sexual relationship as a man with a woman called Joan Matthew. For encounters with women, Rykener took no payment, or, at least, did not mention taking any. Rykener also continued sex work in Beaconsfield, this time with two more (foreign) Franciscans. Rykener returned to London later in the year and claimed to have, since doing so, had an encounter