Women in warfare and the military in the medieval era

History of women in warfare

Ancient Medieval Early Modern 1750–1799 1800–1899 1900–1939 WWI WWII 1945–1999 2000–present

Warfare throughout history has mainly been a matter for men, but women have also played a role, often a leading one. The following list of prominent women in war and their exploits from about 500 C.E. up to about 1500 C.E.

1 Women in the Medieval era
2 See also
3 References

Women in the Medieval era

5th century

5th century: Saint Genevieve is credited with averting Attila from Paris by rallying the people in prayer.^[1]

6th century

6th century: A Saxon woman is buried with a knife and a shield in Lincolnshire, England.^[2]

7th century

624: Quraish Arab priestess Hind al-Hunnud leads her people against Muhammad in the Battle of Badr. Her father, uncle, and brother are killed.^[3]
625: Hind al-Hunnud is among fifteen women accompanying troops in a battle near Medina, singing songs to inspire warriors. She exults over the body of the man who killed her father, chews his liver, and makes jewellery from his skin and nails.^[4]
625: Nusaybah Bint k’ab Al Maziniyyah fights in the Battle of Uhud on behalf of Muhammad after converting to Islam.^[5]
628: Juwayriya bint al-Harith is taken captive when her father is defeated in battle by Muhammad. She marries Muhammad.^[6]
656: Aisha, widow of Muhammad, leads troops at the Battle of the Camel. She is defeated.^[7]
7th century: Poetess Al-Khansa composes elegies for her relatives who had been killed in battle.^[8]
7th century: Princess Pingyang of China helps overthrow the Sui Dynasty by organizing a "women's army".^[9]
7th century: Khaula, along with several other women, takes command of the Rashidun army at the Battle of Yarmuk against the Roman Byzantine Empire. She was nearly beaten by a Byzantine Greek when one of her female companions, Wafeira, beheaded her opponent with one blow. This act rallied the Arabs and they defeated the Greeks.^[10]
7th century: Kahina leads Berber resistance against Umayyad conquest of North Africa.^[11]

8th century

8th century:^[12] Shieldmaidens fight at the Battle of Bråvalla on the side of the Danes.^[13]
722: Queen Aethelburg of Wessex destroys the town of Taunton.^[14]
730: A Khazar noblewoman named Parsbit commands an army against Armenia.^[15]
750: Veborg, as well as many other Shieldmaidens, participate in the Battle of Bråvalla in Sweden.^[16]
783: Saxon women throw themselves barebreasted into battle against Charlemagne's forces. Among the participants is Fastrada, who eventually became Charlemagne's fourth wife.^[17]

9th century

Early 9th century: Cwenthryth fights Wulfred, Archbishop of Canterbury, for control of her abbey estates.^[18]
9th century: Euphrosyne warns Emperor Theophilos of a rebellion in Constantinople while he was fighting the Arabs, prompting his return.^[19]
811: After suffering great human losses, Khan Krum mobilizes the Bulgar women, who then take part in the Battle of Pliska.^[20]
880: Ermengarda defends Vienne.^[21]

10th century

912–922: Reign of Ethelfleda, ruler of Mercia. She commanded armies, fortified towns, and defeated the Danes. She also defeated the Welsh and forced them to pay tribute to her.^[22]
Mid 10th century: Queen Thyra of Denmark leads an army against the Germans.^[23]
971: The Scandinavian ruler of Kiev attacked the Byzantines in Bulgaria in 971. When the Norsemen had been defeated, the victors were stunned at discovering shieldmaidens among the fallen warriors.^[24]
Late 10th century: Judith rebels against the Axumite Dynasty in Ethiopia.^[25]

11th century

Early 11th century: Freydís Eiríksdóttir, a Viking woman, sails to Vinland with Thorfinn Karlsefni. When she faced hostile natives while pregnant, she exposed her breasts and beat her chest with a sword. This caused the natives to run away.^[26]
1040–1090: Sichelgaita of Salerno second wife of Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia, accompanies her husband on military campaigns, and regularly puts on full armor and rides into battle at his side.^[27]
1046–1115: Lifetime of Matilda of Tuscany, who conducted wars to defend the papacy.^[28]
1047: Akkadevi, an Indian princess, sieges the fort of Gokage.^[29]
1071: Richilde, Countess of Mons and Hainaut is captured fighting in the Battle of Cassel.^[30]
1072: Urraca of Zamora, Infanta of Castile, defends the city of Zamora against her brother, Sancho II of Castile.^[31]
1075: Emma de Guader, Countess of Norfolk defends Norwich castle while it is under siege.^[32]
1090: Norman woman Isabel of Conches rides armed as a knight.^[33]

12th century

1121:Urraca of Castile fights her half-sister, Theresa, Countess of Portugal when she refuses to surrender the city of Tuy.^[34]
1130: Female Chinese general Liang Hongyu, wife of general Han Shizhong of the Song army, blocks the advance of the Jin army with her husband. Her drumming invigorated the Song army and rallied them to defeat the Jin.^[35]
1131–1160: Melisende of Jerusalem ruler of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem is one of the rulers involved in the Second Crusade.^[36]
1136: Welsh princess Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd leads an army against the Normans. She is defeated and killed.^[37]
1141: Matilda of Boulogne raises an army to continue the fight for the crown of England, after her husband, King Stephen is captured by the Empress Matilda.
1145: Eleanor of Aquitaine accompanies her husband on the Second Crusade.^[38]
1172: Alrude Countess of Bertinoro ends a siege of Aucona by leading an army into battle and crushing imperial troops.^[39]
1180–1185: Female Japanese warrior Tomoe Gozen fights in the Genpei War alongside men.^[40]
Late 12th century: Eva MacMurrough conducts battles on behalf of her husband, the Earl of Pembroke.^[41]
1184–1212: Reign of queen Tamar of Georgia. Georgia achieved military superiority in the Middle East under her rule.^[42]

13th century

1201: Japanese woman Hangaku Gozen defends a fort as an archer until she is killed by an arrow fired by the enemy.^[43]
1221: A daughter of Genghis Khan, Khagan of the Mongol Empire, massacred the residents of Nishapur to avenge the death of her husband who was killed in action.
Mid 13th century: Eleanor of Castile accompanies her husband on his crusade. According to legend, she saved his life by sucking poison from his wound when he was injured.^[44]
1236-1294: The Mongol female warriors attended Mongol campaigns.
1261–1289: Reign of Indian queen Rani Rudrama Devi. She leads her troops in battle, and may have been killed in battle in 1289.^[45]
1264: Eleanor of Provence raises troops in France for her husband during the Baron's War.^[46]
1271: Isabella of Aragon dies at Consenza on the way back from the Crusades.^[47]
1290: Manuscript I.33 is written. It depicts fighters. An illustration of a woman named Walpurgis training in sword and buckler techniques is in the manuscript among others.^[48]
Late 13th century: Khutulun, a relative of Kublai Khan, is described as a superb warrior and accompanies her father Khaidu on military campaigns.^[49]

14th century

14th century: Urduja, a Filipino princess, takes part in several battles. Many historians believe that she was mythical, however.^[50]
14th century: Jane, Countess of Montfort leads troops into battle.^[51] Countess Jeanne de Penthièvre was among her antagonists.^[52]
1319: The Mongol Imperial princess, Bulugan, supported her husband, Irenjin of the Keraits, against Chupan and Abu Sa'id (Ilkhanid dynasty).
1326: Isabella of France invades England with Roger de Mortimer, and overthrows Edward II, replacing him with her son Edward III, with her and de Mortimer acting as regents.^[53]
1334: Agnes Dunbar successfully defends her castle against a siege by England's earl of Salisbury.^[54]
1335: The Scots defeat a company led by the Count of Namur. Amongst the Count's casualties was a female lancer who had killed her opponent, Richard Shaw, at the same moment that he had killed her. Her gender was only discovered when the bodies were being stripped of their armour at the end of the engagement. "The chronicler Bower seems to have been at least as impressed by the rarity of two mounted soldiers simultaneously transfixing one another with their lances as with the fact that one of them was a woman."^[55]
1347: Philippa of Hainault persuades her husband not to execute The Burghers of Calais, whom he had defeated.^[56]
1354: Ibn Battuta reports seeing female warriors in Southeast Asia.^[57]
1351–1363: Han E serves as a soldier in the Chinese army as a man under the name Han Guanbao, and is promoted to lieutenant.^[58]
1358: Richardis of Schwerin defends Sönderborg Castle on Als against Valdemar IV of Denmark^[59].
1364–1405: Tamerlane uses female archers to defend baggage trains.^[57]
1383: Eleanor of Arborea, ruler of Sardinia, conducts a defensive war against Aragon.^[60]

15th century

15th century: Maire o Ciaragain leads Irish clans in rebellion.^[61]
15th century: Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine, leads an army to rescue her husband from the Duke of Burgundy.^[62]
15th century: Mandukhai Khatun takes command of the Mongol army and defeats the Oirats.^[63]
1429: Joan of Arc leads the French army.^[64] Yolande of Aragon supports her.^[65] Pierronne, a contemporary of hers, also hears voices and fights for the king of France.^[66]
Mid 15th century: Zaydi Yemeni chieftain Sharifa Fatima conquers San‘a’.^[67]
15th century: Claude des Armoises was a soldier in Italy.^[68]
1451–1452 : Brita Tott serves as a spy in the war between Sweden and Denmark^[69]
1461: Queen Margaret of Anjou defeats the Earl of Warwick in the Wars of the Roses.^[70]
1461: Lady Knyvet defends Buckingham Castle at Norfolk against Sir Gilbert of Debenhem.^[71]
1471: Queen Margaret of Anjou is defeated in battle at Tewksbury. She and her son escaped to Flanders. The Yorkists eventually captured her and ransomed her to Louis XI, after she had sworn an oath not to go to war anymore.^[72]
1472: Onorata Rodiana from Cremona, Italy is mortally wounded in battle. She had disguised herself as a man to become a soldier.^[73]
June 27, 1472: Jeanne Hachette rips down the flag of the invading Burgundians at Beauvais, inspiring the garrison to win the fight.^[74]
1481: Dutch noblewoman Swob Sjaarda defends her castle during a siege in the ^[75]
1494: Ats Bonninga defends her fort in Friesland.^[76]
1496: Bauck Poppema defends her fort in Friesland.^[77]

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^ http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/DVN/lemmata/data/Poppema