:Women in post-classical warfare

{{Short description|Aspect of women's history}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}

{{Women in warfare}}

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A variety of roles were played by women in post-classical warfare. Only women active in direct warfare, such as warriors, spies, and women who actively led armies are included in this list.

James Illston says,

:"the field of medieval gender studies is a growing one, and nowhere is this expansion more evident than the recent increase in studies which address the roles of medieval women in times of war....this change in research has been invaluable".

Illston provided an exhaustive bibliography of recent scholarly books and articles, most of them connected to the crusades.James Michael Illston, "'An Entirely Masculine Activity'? Women and War in the High and Late Middle Ages Reconsidered," (Thesis, Department of History, University of Canterbury, 2009) p. 1

Timeline

=6th century=

  • 6th century: A Saxon woman is buried with a knife and a shield in Lincolnshire, England.{{cite web |url=http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/T/timeteam/2004_south.html |title=South Carlton Lincolnshire, 25 January 2004: Saxon Burials on the Ridge from channel.4.com |access-date=May 7, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100420090857/http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/T/timeteam/2004_south.html |archive-date=20 April 2010 |url-status=live }}
  • 6th century: Lady Xian personally leads her army in China.{{cite web|url=http://www.newsgd.com/specials/ladyxian/history/content/2016-06/24/content_150107084.htm|title=Militarist Lady Xian: the guardian of Lingnan people_History_www.newsgd.com|first=Monica|last=Liu|website=www.newsgd.com}}
  • 6th century: Halima, a Ghassanid princess, assisted the warriors of her tribe in the battle of Yawm Halima.{{cite book|last=Shahîd|first=Irfan|author-link=Irfan Shahîd|title=Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century, Volume II, Part 2: Economic, Social and Cultural History|location=Washington, DC|publisher=Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection|year=2009|isbn=978-0884023470|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=js30HODt2aYC}}
  • 6th century: Amalafrida leads a revolt.Hodgkin, Thomas. Italy and Her Invaders: The Ostrogothic invasion, 476–535. pp. 587–590
  • 589:People, Personal Expression, and Social Relations in Late Antiquity, Volume 1, Ralph W. Mathisen

University of Michigan Press, 2003 – Foreign Language Study. p. 234 The royal nuns Basina, daughter of Chilperic I, and Clotilda rebel and take power in the city of Poitiers by the use of an army of criminals.{{cite book|last=Gregory of Tours|title=Historia Francorum|volume=Book X|chapter=Chapter 15|chapter-url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/gregory-hist.html}}

=7th century=

  • 7th century (before 637): Life of Mo Chua of Balla. The account of his life describe him as converting two violent "Amazons" named Bee and Lithben.{{DNB|wstitle=Mochua|first=Thomas|last=Olden|volume=38}}
  • 617–618: Princess Pingyang of China helps overthrow the Sui dynasty by organizing an "Army of the Lady".{{cite book|editor-last=Peterson|editor-first=Barbara Bennett|author1=He Hong Fei |author2=Wang Jiu |author3=Han Tie |author4=Zhang Guangyu |others=Associate editors |title=Notable Women of China: Shang Dynasty to the Early Twentieth Century|publisher=M.E. Sharpe Inc., New York|year= 2000|isbn=978-0765605047 |page=177}}
  • 624–625: Battle of Badr. Qurayshi Arab priestess Hind bint Utba leads her people against Muhammad in the fight. Her father, uncle, and brother are killed.{{cite book|title=Chronology of women's history|author=Olsen, Kirstin|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=1994|isbn=978-0313288036|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780313288036/page/31 31]|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780313288036/page/31}}{{cite web|last=Al-Hassani|first=Salin TS|title=Women's Contribution to Classical Islamic Civilisation: Science, Medicine, and Politics|url=http://muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=1204|publisher=Muslim Heritage|access-date=24 November 2013|archive-date=10 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110225759/http://muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=1204|url-status=dead}} She was 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 jewelry from his skin and nails.Olsen, p. 31
  • 625: Nusaybah bint Ka'ab fights in the Battle of Uhud on behalf of Muhammad after converting to Islam.[http://www.realnews247.com/girl_power.htm Girl Power]. ABC News. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101127072608/http://realnews247.com/girl_power.htm |date=27 November 2010 }} Hammanah bint Jahsh also participated in the Battle of Uhud and provided water to the needy, and treated the wounded and injured.Role of Muslim woman in society, Afzal-ur-Rahman. Seerah Foundation, 1986, p. 74 Umm Sulaym bint Milhan entered the battle carrying a dagger in the folds of her dress, and tended to the wounded. She also made attempts to defend Muhammad when the tide of the battle turned against him.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ASH7WKFZnIwC&q=Rumaysa+bint+Milhan+battle&pg=PA277 |title=Prophet Muhammad And His Companions |access-date=2013-05-15 |isbn=978-8187746461 |last1=Singh |first1=N.K |date=August 2003 |publisher=Global Vision Publishing House }}
  • 627: Umm Sulaym bint Milhan participates in the Battle of the Trench carrying a dagger in her robes. When Muhammad asked her what she was doing with it, she informed him that she planned to use it to fight deserters.
  • 630s:For God's Sake by Jane Caro, Antony Loewenstein, Simon Smart, & Rachel Woodlock Ghazala leads troops in battle.Leila Ahmed, Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate (Yale University Press, 1992) p. 71
  • 630s: Khawla bint al-Azwar participate actively in combat during the Battle of Adnajin dressed as a man along with several other women, takes command of the Rashidun army at the Battle of Yarmouk against the Roman Byzantine Empire. She was nearly beaten by a Byzantine Greek when one of her female companions, Wafayra, beheaded her opponent with one blow. This act rallied the Arabs and they defeated the Greeks.{{cite book | title=Woman's Record: Or, Sketches of All Distinguished Women, from "The Beginning Till A.D. 1850, Arranged in Four Eras, with Selections from Female Writers of Every Age| author=Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell |publisher=Harper Brothers|year=1853|page=120}}
  • 632: Prophetess Sajah, a contemporary of Muhammad, led an army of 4,000 against Medina after his death, but called off the attack when she learned of the defeat of Tulayha.Historical Dictionary of Women in the Middle East and North Africa by Ghada Talhami, p. 287
  • 634: Umm Hakim bint al-Harith ibn Hisham single-handedly disposed of seven Byzantine soldiers with a tent pole during the Battle of Marj al-Saffar.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U0Grq2BzaUgC&q=Umm+Hakim+battle&pg=PA70 |title=Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate |access-date=2013-07-16|isbn=978-0300055832 |last1=Ahmed |first1=Leila |year=1992 |publisher=Yale University Press }}
  • 640s–741: Wak Chanil Ajaw rules the Mayans. She led military campaigns to conquer neighboring cities.{{Cite web|url=https://gothamtogo.com/the-mets-great-hall-to-display-ancient-maya-stone-monuments-from-republic-of-guatemala/?fbclid=IwAR2GXf-fZaNUkZw-u7I8GApvvmckefH3DPn6eO0JJQcW3vD2bfDt4jeLFpk|title = The Met's Great Hall to Display Ancient Maya Stone Monuments from Republic of Guatemala|date = 30 August 2021}}
  • 651: Female Sasanian generals like Apranik, Negan and Azedeh fight against the Muslim conquest of Persia.{{cite book|last1=Harrel|first1=John|title=The Nisibis War: The Defence of the Roman East AD 337–363|date=2016|publisher=Pen and Sword|isbn=978-1473848337|page=69|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FYozDAAAQBAJ|access-date=14 April 2018|language=en}}
  • 653: Chen Shuozhen leads a peasant rebellion in China, declaring herself empress regnant of China.Lily Xiao Hong Lee, Sue Wiles: Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women, Volume II: Tang Through Ming 618–1644
  • 656: Aisha, widow of Muhammad, leads troops at the Battle of the Camel. She is defeated.{{cite book|last=Black|first=Edwin|title=Banking on Baghdad: Inside Iraq's 7,000 Year History of War, Profit, and Conflict|url=https://archive.org/details/bankingonbaghdad00edwi|url-access=registration|publisher=John Wiley and Sons|year= 2004|isbn=978-0471708957|page=[https://archive.org/details/bankingonbaghdad00edwi/page/34 34]}}
  • 690s: Kahina leads Berber resistance against the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb.{{cite book | title= Post-Colonial Memories: The Legend of the Kahina, a North African Heroine (Studies in African Literature)| author=Hannoum, Abdelmajid| year=2001| publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|isbn=978-0325002538}}

=8th century=

  • 8th to 11th century (Viking Age): Sagas and historical records tell of Viking Shield-maiden like Lagertha participating in battles and raids,{{cite book|title=Scandinavian History|url=https://archive.org/details/scandinavianhis01ottgoog|author= Otté, Elise C.| author-link = Elise Otté |year=1874|publisher=Macmillan & co.|page=[https://archive.org/details/scandinavianhis01ottgoog/page/n47 28]}} such as Veborg in the Battle of Brávellir in 750.{{cite book|title=The Celtic and Scandinavian Religions|author=Macculloch, J.A.|isbn=978-1596054165|year=2005|publisher=Cosimo, Inc.|page=125}}{{cite book|title=Historien om Sverige ("History of Sweden"), Book (In Swedish)|author=Lindquist, Herman}} In addition, remains of a Birka Viking warrior were confirmed in 2017 by DNA analysis to be female.{{Cite news|url=http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/09/2017/viking-warrior-from-birka-grave-confirmed-as-female|title=Viking warrior from Birka grave confirmed as female|date=8 September 2017|work=Archaeology News from Past Horizons|access-date=16 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908191627/http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/09/2017/viking-warrior-from-birka-grave-confirmed-as-female|archive-date=8 September 2017|url-status=live}}
  • 722: Queen Æthelburg of Wessex destroys the town of Taunton.

{{cite book|last=Ashley|first=Mike|title=The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens|publisher=Robinson Publishing|location=London|year=1998|page=309}}

  • 730: A Khazar noblewoman named Parsbit commands an army against Armenia.{{cite book |title= Khazar Studies: An Historio-Philological Inquiry into the Origins of the Khazars| author=Golden, Peter| publisher=Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó| year=1980}}
  • 738: According to legendary Czech history, Valasca seized power and created a state ruled by women.Rothery, Guy Cadogan, The Amazons, Francis Griffiths, London 1910, p. 102 She decreed that only women were to receive military training and that boys were to be maimed to render them unable to fight by removal of the right eye and thumb. She supposedly distributed a potion to the women of Bohemia which protected them from men.Watanabe-O’Kelly, Helen, Beauty or Beast: the woman warrior in the German imagination from the Renaissance to the present, Oxford university Press 2010; {{ISBN|978-0199558230}}, p. 79
  • 769: Gülnar Hatun, a semi-legendary Turkish heroine, is killed fighting the Abbasids.{{cite web|url=http://gulnarhem.meb.k12.tr/meb_iys_dosyalar/33/06/157260/icerikler/ilcemiz-tarihi_158050.html|title=T.C. MİLLÎ EĞİTİM BAKANLIĞI MERSİN / GÜLNAR / Halk Eğitim Merkezi|first=T.C. MİLLÎ EĞİTİM BAKANLIĞI MERSİN / GÜLNAR / Halk Eğitim|last=Merkezi|website=gulnarhem.meb.k12.tr|access-date=2016-07-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304132806/http://gulnarhem.meb.k12.tr/meb_iys_dosyalar/33/06/157260/icerikler/ilcemiz-tarihi_158050.html|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.gulnar.bel.tr/Gulnar.aspx?id=2|title=Gülnar Belediyesi|website=gulnar.bel.tr|access-date=11 July 2016|archive-date=17 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117022840/http://www.gulnar.bel.tr/Gulnar.aspx?id=2|url-status=dead}}

=9th century=

  • 811: After suffering great losses, Khan Krum mobilizes the women of the Bulgars, who then take part in the Battle of Pliska.{{cite book| title=The Brassey's book of military blunders| author=Regan, Geoffrey| publisher=Brassey's Inc, Dulles, Virginia| year=2000| isbn=978-1574882520| pages=[https://archive.org/details/brasseysbookofmi00geof/page/68 68]| url=https://archive.org/details/brasseysbookofmi00geof/page/68}}
  • 816–837: Banu, wife of Babak Khorramdin, resists against the Islamic Abbasid Caliphate.Kaveh Farrokh, [https://kavehfarrokh.com/iranica/the-women-of-persia/the-persian-lioness-iranian-women-in-history/ The Persian Lioness: Iranian Women in History]
  • 880: Ermengard of Italy conducts the defense of Vienne until forced to surrender in September 882.{{cite book|title=Cambridge Medieval History|url=https://archive.org/details/CambridgeMedievalHistoryV3|author=Bury, J.B.|publisher=Macmillan|year=1922}} Vol. III, p. 58; {{cite book|title=Blair's Chronological Tables, Revised and Enlarged: Comprehending the Chronology and History of the World from the Earliest Times to the Russian Treaty of Peace, April 1856 |url=https://archive.org/details/blairschronolog00blai | author=Blair, John|author2=J. Willoughby Rosse |publisher=H.G. Bohn, York Street, Convent Garden, London|year=1856 |page=[https://archive.org/details/blairschronolog00blai/page/n319 300]}}

=10th century=

  • 10th-century: A Birka female Viking warrior is buried in Birka, Sweden; she were confirmed in 2017 by DNA analysis to be female.
  • 10th-century: According to legend, Saint Theodora of Vasta, in Arcadia of Peloponnesus, joined the army of Byzantine Empire in her father's stead dressed as a man, to spare her father from conscription, and had no brother who could take his place: when refusing to marry a woman who claimed to have been made pregnant by her, she is executed, resulting in the discovery of the biological gender of her corpse, and her status as a saint for the sacrifice she made for her father.Hellēnikē Archaiometrikē Hetaireia. Symposium, Giór̄gos Fakoréllis̄, Nikos Zacharias, Kiki Polikreti: Proceedings of the 4th Symposium of the Hellenic Society for Archaeometry: National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens, 28–31 May 2003, Archaeopress, 2008
  • 900: A Viking woman is buried in Solør, Norway with weapons.{{Cite web|url=https://www.livescience.com/Viking-shield-maiden-facial-reconstruction.html|title=Battle-Scarred Viking Shield-Maiden Gets Facial Reconstruction for First Time|website=Live Science|date=8 November 2019}}
  • 912–922: Reign of Æthelflæd, queen of Mercia. She commanded armies, fortified towns, and defeated the Danes. She also defeated the Welsh and forced them to pay tribute to her.{{cite book|title=Woman; Her Position, Influence, and Achievement Throughout the Civilized World. Her Biography and History| author=King, William C.|publisher=The King-Richardson co., Springfield, Massachusetts|year=1902|page=177}}
  • 914: Queen Sugandha and her forces marched against the Tantrins. She was defeated and deposed.Culture and Political History of Kashmir, Volume 1 By P. N. K. Bamzai p. 140
  • 916: Xochitl (Toltec), a Toltec queen, fights in a civil war the erupted in the Toltec Empire. She created and led a battalion made up entirely of women soldiers.{{cite book|last=Salas|first=Elizabeth|title=Soldaderas in the Mexican Military: Myth and History|year=1990|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0292776388|pages=3}}
  • 960: Ethiopian queen Gudit laid waste to Axum and its countryside, destroyed churches and monuments, and attempted to exterminate the members of the ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of Aksum.[http://www.dacb.org/stories/ethiopia/gudit_.html Gudit]. The Dictionary of Ethiopian Biography, Vol. 1 'From Early Times to the End of the Zagwé Dynasty c. 1270 A.D.,' copyright © 1975[https://www.jstor.org/stable/1559587?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents The Queen of the Habasha in Ethiopian History, Tradition and Chronology]. School of Oriental and African Studies {{jstor|1559587}}
  • 971: Sviatoslav I attacked the Byzantine Empire in Bulgaria in 971. When the Varangians were defeated in the siege of Dorostolon, the victors were stunned to discover shieldmaidens among the fallen warriors.Harrison, D. & Svensson, K. (2007). Vikingaliv. Fälth & Hässler, Värnamo. {{ISBN|978-9127357259}}. p. 71
  • 975: Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou, acting for her sons Guy and Bertrand, led an army to aid Guy (a.k.a. Guido II), Count-Bishop of le Puy, in establishing the Peace and Truce of God in le Puy.Jerome Kroll, Bernard S. Bachrach, Medieval Dynastic Decisions: Evolutionary Biology and Historical Explanation, The Journal of Interdisciplinary History,, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Summer, 1990), p. 9
  • 986: The Khitan Dowager Regent Xiao Yanyan of the Khitan Liao state, regnal title Chengtian, assumes power at age 30 in 982. In 986, she personally led her own army against the Song dynasty and defeated them in battle.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KLNrqn4WLZYC&q=empress+xiao+986&pg=PA259|title=Notable Women of China|editor=Peterson, Barbara|date=2000|page= 259|publisher=M. E. Sharpe|access-date=6 October 2014|isbn=978-0765619297}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IXKkCXDvYFYC&q=empress+xiao+986&pg=PA199|title=Warfare in Chinese History|editor=Van Derven, H. J.|date=2000|page=199|publisher=Brill|access-date=6 October 2014|isbn=978-9004117747}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1u2oP2RihIgC&q=empress+xiao+986&pg=PA569|title=The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade|author=Bauer, Susan|date=2010|page= 569|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |access-date=6 October 2014|isbn=978-0393078176}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxVfTuKsaJQC&q=empress+xiao+986&pg=PT91|title=Harmony and War: Confucian Culture and Chinese Power Politics|author=Wang, Yuan-kang |date=2013|publisher=Columbia University Press |access-date=6 October 2014|isbn=978-0231522403}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fcy1N5GXs4wC&q=chengtian+986&pg=PT521|title=China: A History|author=Keay, John|publisher=HarperCollins|year=2010|isbn=978-0007372089|page=79}}

=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.{{cite book|last=Thrapp|first=Dan L.|title=Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography: In Three Volumes |publisher=University of Nebraska Press|year=1991 |isbn=978-0803294189 |page=521}}
  • 11th century: Great Saxon Revolt. Adelaide of Savoy, Duchess of Swabia, remains in Swabia to defend her husband's lands.[http://www.dmgh.de/de/fs1/object/goToPage/bsb00000694.html?pageNo=289&sortIndex=010%3A060%3A0014%3A010%3A00%3A00&zoom=0.75 Bernold, Chronicon, a. 1077, 289] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924070533/https://www.dmgh.de/de/fs1/object/goToPage/bsb00000694.html?pageNo=289&sortIndex=010%3A060%3A0014%3A010%3A00%3A00&zoom=0.75 |date=24 September 2018 }}; [https://archive.org/stream/jahrbcherdesde03meyeuoft#page/38/mode/2up Meyer von Knonau, Jahrbücher, III, pp. 38f.]
  • 11th century: Judith d'Évreux is left in the care of Roger I of Sicily's garrison while he campaigns.John Julius Norwich, The Normans in the South 1016–1130 (London: Solitaire Books, 1981), p. 151
  • 1016: Adela of Hamaland defend the fortress Uplade in the Netherlands in the absence of her spouse, and fills out the ranks of her defense force with women dressed as soldiers.Bronvermelding: Anton Kos, Adela van Hamaland, in: Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland. URL: http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/Adela{{dead link|date=May 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} van Hamaland [13/01/2014]
  • 11th century: Sikelgaita commands troops in her own right.Valerie Eads, "Sichelgaita of Salerno: Amazon or Trophy Wife?" Journal of Medieval Military History 3 (2005), pp. 72–87.
  • 1047: Akkadevi, an Indian princess, besieges the fort of Gokage.{{cite book|last=Campbell|first=James M.|author-link=James Macnabb Campbell|author2=R. E. Enthoven |title=Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Volume I, Part II, History of the Konkan Dahkan and Southern Maratha Country|publisher=Govt. Central Press, Bombay, India|year=1904|page=435}}
  • 1050: Norwegian noblewoman Bergljot Håkonsdatter raise an army to kill the king for murdering her spouse and son: she takes the king's estate, but by then the king had managed to escape her.Krag, Claus. (13 February 2009). Bergljot Håkonsdatter. I Norsk biografisk leksikon. Hentet 27. August 2016 fra https://nbl.snl.no/Bergljot_H%C3%A5konsdatter.
  • 1055: Defeat and execution of A Nong, Zhuang ruler, warrior, and shamaness. Alongside her son, father, and husband, she led the Zhuang and Nùng minorities of the Sino-Vietnamese frontier against Vietnamese and Chinese foes.{{citation

| title = Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia

| editor-given = Anne | editor-surname = Commire

| chapter = A Nong (c. 1005–1055)

| given = Jeffrey G. | surname = Barlow

| location = Waterford, Connecticut | publisher = Yorkin Publications

| chapter-url = https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/nong-c-1005-1055

| year = 2002 | isbn = 978-0787640743

| postscript = .

}}

  • 1058–1086: Sikelgaita 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.{{cite book|title=Battle Cries and Lullabies: Women in War from Prehistory to the Present|last1=Grant DePauw |first1=Linda |author-link=Linda Grant DePauw |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0806132884|page=86}}
  • October 14, 1066: Edith the Fair, according to folklore, identifies Harold Godwinson's body after the Battle of Hastings.{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Kaye|title=1066: History in an Hour|year=2011|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3BHyO6eL3zUC&pg=PA33 |page=33|publisher=History In An Hour |isbn=978-1452392318}}
  • 1071: Richilde, Countess of Hainaut is captured fighting in the Battle of Cassel.{{cite book|last=Saunders|first=Corinne J.|author2=Françoise Hazel Marie Le Saux|author3= Neil Thomas|title=Writing War: Medieval Literary Responses to Warfare|url=https://archive.org/details/writingwarmediev00saun|url-access=limited|publisher=DS Brewer|year=2004|isbn=978-0859918435|page=[https://archive.org/details/writingwarmediev00saun/page/n200 190]}}
  • 1072: Urraca of Zamora, Infanta of the Kingdom of Castile, defends the city of Zamora against her brother, Sancho.{{cite book|author=Williams, Henry Smith|title=The Historians' History of the World|publisher=Hooper & Jackson|year=1908|page=611}}
  • 1087: Matilda of Tuscany personally leads a military expedition to Rome in an attempt to install Pope Victor, but the strength of the imperial counterattack soon convinced the pope to retire from the city.{{cite CE1913|wstitle= Matilda of Canossa |volume= 10 |last= Kirsch |first= Johann Peter |short=1}}
  • 1090: Norman woman Isabel of Conches rides on horseback, armed.{{cite book | title= Gendering the Crusades| author=Edgington, Susan|author2=Sarah Lambert |publisher=Columbia University Press| year=2002|isbn=978-0231125987|pages=53–54}}
  • 1097: Florine of Burgundy participates in the first crusade with her spouse, and fell participating in actual combat by his side while their army was attacked and destroyed in Anatolia.Histoire des l'Académie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles Letres, Paris, 1736, t.IX, p. 196.

=12th century=

  • 12th century: Moremi Ajasoro of the Yoruba is taken as a slave by the Igbo and married their ruler as his anointed queen. After familiarizing herself with the secrets of her new husband's army, she escaped to Ile-Ife and revealed this to the Yorubas, who were then able to subsequently defeat them in battle.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w3CR1m0SZnkC&pg=PA29|title=Women in the Yoruba Religious Sphere (McGill Studies in the History of Religions)|author= Oyeronke Olajubu|publisher= SUNY Press|year= 2003|isbn = 978-0791458853|page=29}}
  • 12th century: Yennenga of the Mossi people of Burkina Faso leads her own battalion.{{cite book

| last = Smith

| first = Cheryl A.

| title = Market Women: Black Women Entrepreneurs – Past, Present, and Future

| publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group

| year = 2005

| pages = 17

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pQ59WHse1pkC

| isbn =027598379X }}{{cite web

| title = The Legend of Yennenga Stallion

| work = What is Fespaco?

| publisher = BBC World Service

| year = 2001

| url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/fespaco/stallion.shtml

| access-date =2008-05-03 }}

  • 1101: Ida of Formbach-Ratelnberg leads her own army in the Crusade of 1101.Steven Runciman: Geschichte der Kreuzzüge. München 1978 (Sonderausgabe), S. 341
  • January 1108 or 1109: Bertha of Rheinfelden "fought manfully" in the Battle of Jedesheim.Historia monasterii Marchtelanensis, MGH SS XXIX, III.5, 665; Berthold of Zwiefalten, Chronicon, ch. 41, p. 221.
  • 1119: Clementia of Burgundy raises an army.Everglades, Theodore, Aristocratic Women in Medieval France, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999, p. 113.
  • 1121: Urraca of León fights her half-sister, Theresa, Countess of Portugal when she refuses to surrender the city of Tui, Pontevedra.{{cite book | title=The Story of the Nations: Portugal| author=Stephens, H. Morse|publisher=New York, G.P Putnam's Sons, London, T. Fisher Unwin|year=1891|page=29}}
  • 1130: Female Chinese general Liang Hongyu, wife of general Han Shizhong of the Song dynasty, blocks the advance of the Jin army with her husband. Her drumming invigorated the Song army and rallied them to defeat the Jin.{{cite book|author=Jinhua Dai|author2=Jing Wang |author3=Tani E. Barlow |title=Cinema and Desire: Feminist Marxism and Cultural Politics in the Work of Dai Jinhua|publisher=Verso|year=2002|isbn=978-1859842645|page=147}}
  • 1136: Welsh princess Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd leads an army against the Normans but is defeated and killed.{{cite book | title= A History of Carmarthenshire| author=Lloyd, John E.| publisher=Pub. Caerdydd| year=1935|page=140}}
  • 1141: Matilda I, Countess 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.Marjorie Chibnall, "Matilda (1102–1167)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.
  • 1145: Eleanor of Aquitaine accompanies her husband on the Second Crusade.{{cite book|last=Weiss|first=Sonia|author2=Lorna Biddle Rinear |author3= Adriana Leshko |title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to Women's History |publisher=Alpha Books|year=2002 |isbn=978-0028642017|page=87}}
  • 1147: Fannu, an Almoravid princess, participate in the defense of the Almoravid dynasty capital's fortress in Marrakech dressed as a man during the conquest of the Almohad jihad.Emmanuel Kwaku Akyeampong & Henry Louis Gates: Dictionary of African Biography, Volym 6{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=39JMAgAAQBAJ|title=Dictionary of African Biography|last=Glacier|first=Osire|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0195382075|volume=6|pages=340|language=en|editor1-last=Akyeampong|editor1-first=Emmanuel Kwaku|editor2-last=Gates|editor2-first=Henry Louis}}
  • 1150: Swedish nobleman Jon Jarl are killed by Baltic pirates who attacks his estate Askenös after his return from the First Swedish Crusade, after which his widow, the Lady of Askanäs (her name is not preserved), flee to Hundhammar, gather an army and return to kill the murderers of her spouse.Eric's Chronicle{{secondary source needed|date=September 2024}}
  • 1170–1176: Aoife MacMurrough conducts battles in Ireland on behalf of her consort Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke and is sometimes known as "Red Eva".Igoe, Brian (2013). The Story of Ireland
  • 1180–1185: Female Japanese warrior Tomoe Gozen fights in the Genpei War alongside men.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i0ni1NmbYe0C&q=Handbook+to+Life+in+Medieval+and+Early+Modern+Japan |last=Deal |first=William E. |title=Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan |publisher=Oxford University Press, US|year=2007|isbn=978-0195331264|page=48}}
  • 1172: Aldruda, Countess of Bertinoro commanded the army that fought to lift an imperial siege of the town of Aucona in 1172.{{cite book|editor1-last=Commire|editor1-first=Anne|title=Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia|date=2002|publisher=Yorkin Publications|location=Waterford, Connecticut|isbn=0787640743|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2591300247.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301092538/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2591300247.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2017-03-01|chapter=Aldrude (fl. 1172)|url-access=subscription }}
  • 1182–1199: Hōjō Masako rides with her spouse Minamoto no Yoritomo on his campaigns and was never defeated in battle.{{harvnb|Jones|1997|pp=37–38}}
  • 1178 : Indian queen Naikidevi, ruling on behalf of Mulraja II fights Muhammad Ghori in Mount Abu
  • 1191–1217: Nicola de la Haye defended loyalist interests against rebel barons in Lincoln, England.Wilkinson, Linda (2007) [https://books.google.com/books?id=j5fKdA6BqNYC&dq=Women+in+Thirteenth-Century+Lincolnshire&pg=PA2 Women in Thirteenth-Century Lincolnshire], Woodbridge: Royal Historical Society, Boydell Press; chapter 1. {{ISBN|0861932854}}
  • 1198: Maud de Braose defends Plainscastle against Welsh attack.MHRA Tudor & Stuart Translations: Vol. 5: The Breviary of Britain By Humphrey Llwyd, p. 163
  • 1199: Joan of England, Queen of Sicily took arms against the lords of Saint-Felix, and laid siege to a castrum belonging to them known as Les Cassés.The Chronicle of Guillaume de Puylaurens
  • Late 12th-century: Umadevi, consort of King Veera Ballala II, commanded Mysore armies against the rival Chalukyas on at least two occasions,Shek Ali, Dr. B., ed., The Hoysala Dynasty, Mysore, 1977. allowing Bellala to concentrate on administrative matters and thus significantly contributing to the Hoysalas' conquestDerrett, J. D. M., The Hoysalas, London, 1957. of the Chalkyua at Kalyani (near present-day Bidar).

=13th century=

  • 1201: Japanese archer Hangaku Gozen defends a fort until she is wounded by an arrow.{{cite book|last=Friday|first=Karl F.|title=Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan: a military study |url=https://archive.org/details/samuraiwarfarest00frid|url-access=limited|publisher=Routledge|year=2003|isbn=978-0415329620|page=[https://archive.org/details/samuraiwarfarest00frid/page/n207 193]}}
  • 1220s: Yang Miaozhen acts as war leader in China.{{cite book|last1=Lee|first1=Lily Xiao Hong|last2=Wiles|first2=Sue|title=Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Tang Through Ming, 618–1644|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cw0pAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA545|access-date=8 November 2017|date=2014|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-0765643162|pages=545–547}}{{cite book|last=Lorge|first=Peter A.|title=Chinese Martial Arts: From Antiquity to the Twenty-First Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jPgfAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA153|date=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1139502559|pages=153–154}}
  • 1221: The ruler of Maragha, Sulafa Khatun, successfully commands the citadel of Ru'in Diz during the Mongol siege of Maragha.El-Azhari, Taef. Queens, Eunuchs and Concubines in Islamic History, 661–1257. Edinburgh University Press, 2019
  • 1226: Yesui, one of the wives of Genghis Khan accompanies her husband as he set out on a punitive expedition to the Tangut kingdom.The Rise and Fall of the Second Largest Empire in History: How Genghis Khan's Mongols Almost Conquered the World by Thomas J. Craughwell, pg. 159
  • 1236–1239: Reign of Razia Sultana.The Pearson Guide To The Central Police Forces Examination, 2/E By Thorpe, p. 3.8 (2010). She led her troops in battle.History of the Panjáb from the Remotest Antiquity to the Present Time By Muḥammad Laṭīf (Saiyid, khān bahādur.), p. 98 Written 1891.
  • January 1229: Blanche of Castile led her forces to attack Mauclerc.{{Cite web |url=http://epistolae.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/woman/77.html |title="Blanche of Castile, queen of France", Epistolae, Columbia University |access-date=6 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221012509/https://epistolae.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/woman/77.html |archive-date=21 December 2016 |url-status=dead }}
  • 1249: Magistra Hersend accompanied Louis IX of France on the Seventh Crusade.{{cite book|last=Blumenfeld-Kosinski|first=Renate|title=Not of woman born : representations of caesarean birth in medieval and Renaissance culture|date=1990|publisher=Cornell University Press|location=Ithaca|isbn=978-0801422928|page=[https://archive.org/details/notofwomanbornre0000blum/page/100 100]|edition=1. publ.|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/notofwomanbornre0000blum/page/100}}
  • 1258: Doquz Khatun accompanies her husband Hulagu on campaigns. At the Sack of Baghdad in 1258, the Mongols massacred tens of thousands of inhabitants, but by the order of Doquz, the Christians were spared."A history of the Crusades", Steven Runciman, {{ISBN|978-0140137057}}, p. 303
  • 1261–1289: Reign of Indian queen Rudrama Devi. She leads her troops in battle, and may have been killed in battle in 1289.{{cite book|author=Ramusack, Barbara N.|author2=Sharon L. Sievers |title=Women in Asia: Restoring Women to History|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=1999|isbn=978-0253212672}}
  • 1264: Eleanor of Provence raises troops in France for her husband during the Baron's War.{{cite book |author=Houghton Mifflin Company |author2=Justin Kaplan |title=The Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Biography |year=2003 |isbn=978-0618252107 |page=487|publisher=Houghton Mifflin }}
  • 1270: 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.{{cite book|last=Low|first=Sidney James|author2=Frederick Sanders Pulling |title=The Dictionary of English History |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofengl00lowsuoft|publisher=Cassell and Company Limited, London, New York, Toronto, and Melbourne|year=1910|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofengl00lowsuoft/page/421 421]}}
  • 1271: Isabella of Aragon, Queen of France dies at Cosenza on the way back from the Crusades.{{cite book|last=Williamson|first=Paul|title=Gothic Sculpture, 1140–1300 |publisher=Yale University Press|year=1998|isbn=978-0300074529|page=171}}
  • August 1282: Dina and Clarenza assist in repelling a siege of Messina.{{cite book|last1=Runciman|first1=Steven|author-link1=Steven Runciman|title=The Sicilian Vespers: A History of the Mediterranean World in the Later Thirteenth Century|date=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-1107604742|page=225|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PpjUIK8hru8C&pg=PA225}}
  • 1285: Mercadera, dressed as a man, wounds and captures a French knight during the French siege of the Catalan city of Peralada.«[http://dbd.cat/fitxa_biografies.php?id=457 Diccionari Biogràfic de Dones: Mercadera, na]»
  • 1290: Royal Armouries Ms. 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.{{cite web |url=http://freywild.ch/i33/i33en.html |title=I.33 |author=Bachmann, Dieter |year=2003 |access-date=2008-06-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513071605/http://freywild.ch/i33/i33en.html |archive-date=2011-05-13 |url-status=dead }}
  • 1296: Bertha van Heukelom defends Castle IJsselstein against Hubrecht van Vianen of Culemborg{{cite web|url=http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/DVN/lemmata/data/BerthaVanHeukelom|title=Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland|last=djr|date=20 March 2017|website=www.inghist.nl}}
  • 1297: Joan I of Navarre, Countess of Champagne, leads an army against the Count of Bar when he invaded her domain of Champagne.{{cite book|last=Woodacre|first=Elena|title=The Queens Regnant of Navarre: Succession, Politics, and Partnership, 1274–1512|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXQhAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA21|access-date=9 January 2015|date=2013|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-1137339157|page=21}}
  • Late 13th century: Khutulun, a relative of Kublai Khan, is described as a superb warrior and accompanies her father Khaidu on military campaigns.{{cite book|title=Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times|author=Rossabi, Morris|publisher=University of California Press|year=1989|isbn=978-0520067400|pages=[https://archive.org/details/khubilaikhanhisl00ross/page/104 104–105]|url=https://archive.org/details/khubilaikhanhisl00ross/page/104}}

=14th century=

  • 14th century: Urduja, a Filipino princess, takes part in several battles. Many historians believe that she was mythical, however.{{cite book|title=Women Warriors: Adventures from History's Greatest Female Fighters |author=Apeles, Teena|publisher=Seal Press|year=2004|isbn=978-1580051118|page=65}}
  • 14th century: Women of the Mississippian culture in the Central Illinois River Valley Region participated in warfare, defending their camp, if needed, while men were out hunting.{{Cite journal|last1=Bengtson|first1=J.|last2=O'Gorman|first2=J.|date=2016-06-06|title=Women's Participation in Prehistoric Warfare: A Central Illinois River Valley Case Study|journal=International Journal of Osteoarchaeology|volume=27|issue=2|pages=230–244|doi=10.1002/oa.2532|issn=1047-482X}}
  • 1326: Isabella of France invades England with Roger de Mortimer, and overthrows Edward II of England, replacing him with her son Edward III of England, with her and de Mortimer acting as regents.{{cite book|title=The Riverside Dictionary of Biography|author=American Heritage Dictionary|others= Editors|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Reference Books|year=2005|isbn=978-0618493371|page=[https://archive.org/details/riversidediction0000unse/page/410 410]|url=https://archive.org/details/riversidediction0000unse/page/410}}
  • 1335: During the Second War of Scottish Independence, Christina Bruce commanded the garrison of Kildrummy Castle and successfully held the castle against pro-Baliol forces led by David III Strathbogie.A History of the County of Renfrew from the Earliest Times by William Musham Metcalfe, pp. 69–70
  • 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 armor 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."{{cite book | title=The Second Scottish Wars of Independence. | author=Brown, Chris| publisher=Tempus Publishing.|year=2006|isbn=978-0752438122|page=60}}
  • 1338: Agnes, Countess of Dunbar successfully defends her castle against a siege by England's earl of Salisbury.Lawson, John Parker (1849). Historical Tales of the Wars of Scotland and of the Border Raids, Forays, and Conflicts. Edinburgh. p. 1:89
  • 1342–1343: Joanna of Flanders conquers the city of Redon and defends the city of Hennebont during the Breton war.Butler, Pierce, Women of Medieval France, Chapter IX, Barrie, London 1907.
  • 1341–1347: Empress Irene Asanina commands the garrison of Didymoteicho and defend the city during the Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347.Lynda Garland:[https://books.google.com/books?id=6gWGAgAAQBAJ&dq=Helena+Kantakouzene+regent&pg=PA227 Byzantine Empresses: Women and Power in Byzantium AD 527–1204]
  • 1347: Philippa of Hainault persuaded the King to spare the lives of the Burghers of Calais. This popularity helped maintain peace in England throughout their long reign.{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Philippa of Hainaut |volume= 21 | page= 390 }}
  • 1348: Empress Irene Asanina organize the defense of Constantinople against the Genoese.
  • 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.colorq.org/Articles/article.aspx?d=asianwomen&x=hane |title=Han E – the 'Hua Mulan' of Sichuan Province |publisher=Colorq.org |access-date=2008-06-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101224044215/http://colorq.org/Articles/article.aspx?d=asianwomen&x=hane |archive-date=2010-12-24 |url-status=live }}
  • 1351–1357: Cia Ordelaffi née Marzia degli Ubaldini an Italian noblewoman from Forlì came in help of Lodovico Ordelaffi during the battle of Dovadola (part of the Guelphs and Ghibellines war). In 1357, she took part in the defense of Cesena during the Forlivesi crusade induced by Pope Innocent VI.{{cite web|url=http://parita.regione.emilia-romagna.it/vie-en-rose/schede/forli-schede/degli-ubaldini-cia|title=Degli Ubaldini, Cia|language=it|access-date=2016-08-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821191034/http://parita.regione.emilia-romagna.it/vie-en-rose/schede/forli-schede/degli-ubaldini-cia|archive-date=2016-08-21|url-status=dead}}
  • 1353: Empress Irene Asanina organize the defense of Constantinople against the army of John V.
  • 1354: Ibn Battuta reports seeing female warriors in Southeast Asia.{{cite web |author=Svinth, Joseph R. |title=Women's Martial Arts: A Chronological History, 479 BCE–1896 CE. |publisher=Electronic Journals of Martial Arts and Sciences Guelph School of Japanese Sword Arts, July 2003 |url=http://ejmas.com/proceedings/GSJSA03svinth.htm |access-date=2008-06-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101215164608/http://ejmas.com/proceedings/GSJSA03svinth.htm |archive-date=2010-12-15 |url-status=live }}
  • 1358: Richardis of Schwerin, Duchess of Schleswig defends Sönderborg Castle on Als against Valdemar IV of Denmark.{{cite web|url=https://runeberg.org/dbl/14/0088.html|title=86 (Dansk biografisk Lexikon / XIV. Bind. Resen – Saxtrup)|website=runeberg.org}}
  • 1364–1405: Timur uses female archers to defend baggage trains.
  • 1387: Queen Jadwiga of Poland leads two military campaigns.Halecki, Oscar (1991). Jadwiga of Anjou and the Rise of East Central Europe. Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America. {{ISBN|0880332069}}
  • 1389: Frisian regent Foelke Kampana leads armies to assist her spouse Ocko Kenisna tom Brok, chief of Auricherland: after finding him dead on the battlefield, she returns to Aurich, and upon finding it taken by an enemy during her absence, she retakes it by military force.{{cite web|url=http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/DVN/lemmata/data/Foelke%20Kampana|title=Kampana, Foelke (ca. 1355–1417/1419)}}
  • 1395: Agnes Hotot takes part in a lance duel while dressed as a man, only revealing her gender once the fight is won.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aY9cAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA125|title=The English Baronetage, Containing a Genealogical and Historical Account of All the English Baronets Now Existing|last=Collins|first=Arthur|date=1741|publisher=Printed for Thomas Wotton, London|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/historicalanecdo00dobs|title=Historical anecdotes of heraldry and chivalry: tending to shew the origin of many English and foreign coats of arms, circumstances and customs|last=Dobson|first=Susanna Dawson|date=1795|publisher=Printed by Hall and Brandish|page=[https://archive.org/details/historicalanecdo00dobs/page/229 229]|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HkdXAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA44|title=Women in Game of Thrones: Power, Conformity and Resistance|last=Frankel|first=Valerie Estelle|date=2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1476615547|pages=44–45|language=en}}

=15th century=

  • 15th century: Qutlugh Nigar Khanum accompanies her son on military expeditions.{{cite book|last=Beveridge|first=Annette Susannah|title=Babur Nama : Journal of Emperor Babur|year=2006|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0144001491|pages=13, 25|edition=1.publ.}}
  • 1419: Margaret of Bavaria defends French Burgundy against John IV, Count of Armagnac.{{cite web|url=http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/DVN/lemmata/data/MargarethaVanBeieren|title=Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland|last=djr|date=20 March 2017|website=inghist.nl}}
  • 1420: Tang Sai'er starts a rebellion against the emperor of China and take two cities with her rebel army before she is defeated.
  • 1428: Cecília Rozgonyi commanded her own ship in battle toward the Ottoman Empire under Sigismund of Hungary at Golubac fortress.Zollner, Anton (1991). "Die Burgen "Sankt Ladislaus" und "Golubatsch"". Mittelalterliche Burgen auf dem Gebiet des rumänischen Banats (in German).
  • 1428: Philippa of England, Queen of Denmark, successfully organized the defence of Copenhagen against the Hanseatic League, a heroic feat later recounted by Hans Christian Andersen in Godfather's Picture Book (1868).{{cite web|url=http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/GodfathersPictureBook_e.html|title=Hans Christian Andersen : Godfather's Picture Book|website=andersen.sdu.dk}}
  • 1429: Joan of Arc asserts that God has sent her to drive the English out of France, and is given a position in the French Royal army.{{cite book|title=Joan of Arc By Herself And Her Witnesses|author=Pernoud, Regine|publisher=Scarborough House|year=1982}} She is supported by Yolande of Aragon, mother of Queen Marie d'Anjou (wife of King Charles VII).Berents, p. 32
  • 1430s: Jeanne des Armoises was a soldier in Italy.{{cite book|title=Quest for the past|publisher=Pleasantville: Reader's Digest Association|year=1984|page=[https://archive.org/details/questforpast00read/page/298 298]|isbn=978-0895771704|url=https://archive.org/details/questforpast00read/page/298}}
  • 1430: Aldonça de Bellera defends her barony of Rialp in Catalonia against Count Arnau Roger of IV Pallars.«[http://dbd.cat/fitxa_biografies.php?id=440 Diccionari Biogràfic de Dones: Aldonça, de Bellera]»
  • 1433: Ida Königsmarck legendary defense her fief Kastelholm Castle on Åland in Swedish Finland during the Engelbrekt rebellion.Engelbrecht Engelbrechtssons historia, Eric Tundeld, 1784
  • 1450s: Zaydi Yemeni chieftain Sharifa Fatima conquers San'a'.{{cite book | title=The Forgotten Queens of Islam |author=Mernissi, Fatima| translator= Mary Jo Lakeland|publisher=University of Minnesota Press| year=1997|isbn=978-0816624393|page=20}}
  • 1451–1452 : Brita Tott serves as a spy in the war between Sweden and DenmarkWilhelmina Stålberg: Anteqningar om Svenska kvinnor (Notes on Swedish women) (Swedish)
  • 1455: Elise Eskilsdotter leads a war against the German merchant class of Bergen in Norway as revenge for the murder of her spouse, by means of her pirate fleet.Svensk uppslagsbok. Malmö 1931.
  • 1461: Alice Knyvet defends Buckingham Castle at Norfolk against Sir Gilbert of Debenhem.{{cite news|title=The Secret History of Women|publisher=Sunday Mirror|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_20000102/ai_n9706473|date=January 2, 2000|access-date=2008-06-20}}
  • 1466: Pomellina Fregoso stages and supports a rebellion against Lambert in the provinces of Menton and Roquebrunem.{{cite book|last1=Saige|first1=Gustave|title=Monaco: Ses Origines et Son Histoire|date=1897|publisher=Imprimerie de Monaco|url=https://archive.org/details/monaco00saiggoog|access-date=8 April 2019}}
  • 1467: Ólöf Loftsdóttir personally leads a war against British traders working in Iceland.„Ólöf ríka á Skarði. Sunnudagsblað Tímans, 28. júní 1964."
  • 1471: Queen Margaret of Anjou personally leads her troops in the Battle of Tewkesbury.The British Monarchy For Dummies

By Philip Wilkinson, p. 358

  • 1472: Onorata Rodiani from Cremona, Italy, is mortally wounded in battle. She had disguised herself as a man to become a soldier.{{cite book|author=Waters, Clara Erskine Clement|title=Stories of Art and Artists|publisher=Ticknor and company|year=1886|pages=86–87}}
  • 1472: Jeanne Hachette rips down the flag of the invading Burgundians at Beauvais, inspiring the garrison to win the fight.{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Hachette, Jeanne |volume= 12 | page= 793}}
  • 1474: Caterina d'Ortafà participate in the defense of Canet-en-Roussillon during the French invasion of Roussilon following the Catalan Civil War.«[http://dbd.cat/fitxa_biografies.php?id=2049 Diccionari Biogràfic de Dones: Caterina, d'Ortafà]»
  • 1480: Margareta of Celje defends the city of Glogow against the forces of the duke of Sagan, who lay siege to the town.
  • 1480s: Mandukhai takes command of the Mongol army and defeats the Oirats.{{cite book| title=Warrior Women, An Archaeologist's Search for History's Hidden Heroines| last=Davis-Kimball| first=Jeannine| author-link=Jeannine Davis-Kimball| publisher=Warner Books Inc.| year=2002| pages=[https://archive.org/details/warriorwomenarch00mona/page/226 226–228]| isbn=978-0446525466| url=https://archive.org/details/warriorwomenarch00mona/page/226}}
  • 1481: Dutch noblewoman Swob Sjaarda defends her castle during a siege in the Netherlands.{{cite web|url=http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/DVN/lemmata/data/Sjaarda|title=Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland|last=djr|date=20 March 2017|website=inghist.nl}}
  • 1487: Katarina Nipertz defends Raseborg Castle in Finland, the fief of her late spouse, against the troops of the new vassal appointed by the regent, for several weeks.Suomen kansallisbiografia (National Biography of Finland)
  • 1494: Ats Bonninga defends her fort in Friesland.{{cite web|url=http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/DVN/lemmata/data/AtsBonninga|title=Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland|last=djr|date=20 March 2017|website=inghist.nl}}
  • 1495: Beatrice d'Este supervised and animated the troops to move against the Duke of Orléans in place of her husband, thus managing to avoid the French conquest of the Duchy of Milan.{{cite book |title=Histoire de Louis XII: ptie. Louis d'Orléans.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yzteAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA53|author=René Maulde-La-Clavière| year=1891 |volume=3|pages=221–224|ref=Maulde}}
  • 1496: Bauck Poppema defends her fort in Friesland.{{cite web|url=http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/DVN/lemmata/data/Poppema|title=Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland|last=djr|date=20 March 2017|website=inghist.nl}}
  • 1499: Caterina Sforza successfully defends Forli against a Venetian attack and become famous and nicknamed "The Tiger".Brogi, Cecilia (1996). Caterina Sforza (in Italian). Arezzo: Alberti & C. Editori.

See also

References

{{reflist}}

Further reading

=Surveys=

  • De Pauw, Linda Grant. Battle Cries and Lullabies: Women in War from Prehistory to the Present (University of Oklahoma Press, 1998), popular history by a leading scholar
  • Fraser, Antonia. The Warrior Queens (Vintage Books, 1990)

=Medieval=

  • {{cite book |last=Bauer |first=Susan Wise |title=The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1u2oP2RihIgCformat|year= 2010 |edition=illustrated|publisher=W. W. Norton|isbn=978-0393078176 }}
  • Blythe, James M. "Women in the Military: Scholastic Arguments and Medieval Images of Female Warriors," History of Political Thought (2001), v. 22 pp. 242–269.
  • Edgington, Susan B. and Sarah Lambert, eds. Gendering the Crusades (2002), 13 scholarly articles
  • Hacker, Barton C. "Women and Military Institutions in Early Modern Europe: A Reconnaissance," Signs (1981), v. 6 pp. 643–671.
  • Hay, David. "Canon Laws Regarding Female Military Commanders up to the Time of Gratian: Some Texts and their Historical Contexts", in A Great Effusion of Blood'? Interpreting Medieval Violence, eds. Mark D. Meyerson, et al. (University of Toronto Press, 2004), pp. 287–313.
  • Hay, David. The Military Leadership of Matilda of Canossa, 1046–1115 (Manchester University Press, 2008).
  • Hingley, Richard, and Unwin, Christina. Boudica: Iron Age Warrior Queen (2006).
  • Illston, James Michael. {{'}}An Entirely Masculine Activity'? Women and War in the High and Late Middle Ages Reconsidered (MA thesis, University of Canterbury, 2009) [http://hdl.handle.net/10092/2915 full text online], with detailed review of the literature
  • Lourie, E. "Black women warriors in the Muslim army besieging Valencia and the Cid's victory: A problem of interpretation", Traditio 55 (2000), pp. 181–209
  • McLaughlin, Megan. "The Woman Warrior: Gender, Warfare and Society in Medieval Europe", Women's Studies 17 (1990), pp. 193–209.
  • Maier, C.T. "The roles of women in the crusade movement: a survey" Journal of medieval history (2004). 30#1 pp 61–82
  • McLaughlin, Megan. "The woman warrior: gender, warfare and society in medieval Europe" Women's Studies – an Interdisciplinary Journal 17 (1990), pp. 193–209.
  • Nicholson, Helen. "Women on the Third Crusade", Journal of Medieval History 23 (1997), pp. 335–449.
  • Solterer, Helen. "Figures of Female Militancy in Medieval France," Signs 16 (1991), pp. 522–549.
  • Tuotuo. Liaoshi [History of Liao]. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1974 (or Tuotuo, Liaoshi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1974))
  • Verbruggen, J.F. "Women in Medieval Armies," Journal of Medieval Military History 4 (2006), pp. 119–136.

=China=

  • {{cite book|first=David E.|last=Jones|title=Women Warriors: a History|publisher=Brassey's|location=Garden City, New York|year=1997 |isbn=978-1574881066}}
  • {{cite book |last=Keay |first=John |title=China: A History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fcy1N5GXs4wC|year= 2010 |publisher=HarperCollins UK|isbn=978-0007372089 }}
  • {{cite book |last=McMahon |first=Keith |title=Women Shall Not Rule: Imperial Wives and Concubines in China from Han to Liao |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gc_3IXkwG3QC|year= 2013 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |isbn=978-1442222908 }}
  • {{cite book |editor1-last=Peterson |editor1-first=Barbara Bennett |title=Notable Women of China: Shang Dynasty to the Early Twentieth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KLNrqn4WLZYC|year= 2000 |edition=illustrated |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=978-0765619297 }}
  • {{cite book |last1=Toqto'a |title=Liao Shi (宋史) |trans-title=History of Liao |year=1344|language=zh|display-authors=etal|author1-link=Toqto'a (Yuan dynasty) }}
  • {{cite book |editor1-last= Van Derven |editor1-first= H. J. |title=Warfare in Chinese History |volume=47 |series= Sinica Leidensia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IXKkCXDvYFYC |year= 2000 |edition=illustrated |publisher=Brill|isbn=978-9004117747 }}
  • {{cite book |last=Wang |first=Yuan-Kang |title=Harmony and War: Confucian Culture and Chinese Power Politics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxVfTuKsaJQC|year= 2013 |edition=illustrated|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0231522403 }}