Women, Armies, and Warfare in Early Modern Europe

by John A. Lynn

Women, Armies, and Warfare in Early Modern Europe examines the important roles of women who campaigned with armies from 1500 to 1815. This included those notable female individuals who assumed male identities to serve in the ranks, but far more numerous and essential were the formidable women who, as women, marched in the train of armies. While some worked as full-time or part-time prostitutes, they more generally performed a variety of necessary gendered tasks, including laundering, sewing, cooking, and nursing. Early modern armies were always accompanied by women and regarded them as essential to the well-being of the troops. Lynn argues that, before 1650, women were also fundamental to armies because they were integral to the pillage economy that maintained troops in the field.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, School, War, Military Fiction

252 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

John Albert Lynn is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and a visiting professor at Northwestern University, Evanston. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles. Although he specializes in the military history of France from the early modern period through the revolution, he has taught classes spanning the entire range of military history, including classes on the military history of south Asia.

Reviews

[Bryn Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learnt plenty about the functioning of armies -- or rather 'campaign communities', since 'army' gives a wrong impression for the time period. It's an easy read, and as he says, he's a military historian, not a gender studies person. This is evident, but he's well-meaning, and, as advertised, jargon-free. I wasn't aware how large a part the noncombatant community had: essential not just for laundry but in pillage and plunder, which was commonly your only chance of getting paid. Women often handled the goods and cashed them in, which was not too different from civilian life. It's interesting to look at women as present, as participants, in the rough stuff as places were sacked. He tries to deduce their attitudes, for instance, to the rape of the enemy.

The modernisation of armies reduced the need for women's support services. Also, they began to get paid.

Early modern armies were more interesting places than I knew about. His focus is on the ordinary functioning of them, not the extraordinary stories of women who disguised themselves as men. Although, his coverage of the cultural fad that these were in the 17th century, was interesting too.

The women thought chic to dress in cast-off military coats, just like we used to shop at the army disposals store. In which, they did a lot of digging.

[Pablo García · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es buen libro que sirve de rompehielos en el tema. Sin embargo creo que tiene dos problemas. A nivel metodologico indaga poco en el genero y en factores economicos. Se agradecería un analisis marxista que llevaría a unas conclusiones y causas mas afinadas a mi parecer (que no quiero desarrollar, lo mismo me escribo un articulo). El propio autor es consciente de ello por lo que no se lo achaco.

En segundo lugar, creo que se apoya demasiado en fuentes de la cultura popular y grandes tratados, y pese a que tambien reconoce sus debilidades, hace que el estudio no tenga una base potente ahi de historia mas cuantitativa (que creo que al hablar de declive de presencia femenina en los ejercitos conforme avanza la modernidad, se requiere).

Pero bueno, quitando esas dos cosas, que ya digo el autor mismo lo reconoce en la introducción, y que fue escrito aproximadamente hace 20 años, es un buen libro introductorio a la tematica. 8,5/10

[Daniel Polansky]

A brief overview of the role of women between the contract army era, when they were a critical component of the wider military system, to the rise of the modern national military in which they were all but banished. I tend to enjoy works of 'New' military history, i.e. those which concentrate on the grander cultural and social implications of combat, rather than plot out specific lines of advance and so on. In general I have a fascination for the minutia of circumstance, books which highlight some particular fractal of the human experience. This was one of those.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable for an academic text, but the print quality of the images is lacking.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Accomplishes exactly what it says on the tin. Not groundbreaking, but it's a great source of ideas and synthesized literature for future use.

[C.P. Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting argument about the importance of women as supporting players in medieval and early modern warfare, with great illustrations and examples. The author is limited by sketchy source data, so he doesn't answer many of my questions. But that is something he cannot help.

On the whole, a good read that does its best with the material available and opens up a new field for analysis.

The basic argument is that before 1650 or so, when governments made a serious effort to professionalize their armies, soldiers traveled with an equal number of women and children whose activities were crucial to their survival. These women did violate some of society's traditional expectations, but for the most part they did not try to imitate men. On the contrary, the gender-determined division of labor made their skills as laundresses, providers of food and drink, seamstresses, and managers of the family budget just as important as their men's contributions to the war effort.

[Rama Vallury · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly accessible and ultimately essential for students of military-cultural history and gender studies.