Surviving Life as a Woman of the Medieval Crusades...

going on a medieval Crusade was a male Mission a military Enterprise in which only men could fight obviously the women stayed at home and did womanly things such as knitting and being oppressed once their dashing nightly husbands rode off and defended the Holy Land right wrong actually many women also took up the cross and went off on Crusade and they weren't just the important Warrior Noble women like Queen elanar of aquatine described as being essential yet despised there were also the servants who looked after the animals and the company of the army the washer women

the camp following prostitutes and not forgetting the lice Pickers as well women a can't Crusade with him can't Crusade without him welcome to Medieval Madness an insufferable necessity the Crusades were a series of Holy Wars that began in the late 11th century with the First Crusade as commercial and economic growth spread across Christian Europe the objective of the Catholic Church which initiated and supported the religious wars was to reconquer Jerusalem and the surrounding area from Muslim Ru during the Middle Ages the Christian Kingdoms in the north of the Iberian Peninsula like Aragon and leyon began

to expand South into the Muslim area of Al andalus while the developing Merchant cities of Genoa and Pisa hassled the cities along the North African Coast in the Middle East during the First Crusade the Christian forces captured Jerusalem in 1099 the term Crusader is a modern one the medievals would have simply seen themselves as pilgrims defending a holy site there were dozens of church sanctioned military campaigns in the Middle Ages not just against the Muslims but against any people thought to be heretical such as the cathars in the south of France or the hites of

bohemia there were also Expeditions into Spain and the Baltic regions some women did go on crusade to fight from historical evidence we know that at least 91 women did just that between the years of 1095 and 1291 in the traditional Middle Eastern Crusades the Muslims use the fact that these aggressive Christian women were on Crusade as propaganda to demonstrate just how evil and depraved their enemy could be some women traveled out to the Latin East with their Crusader husbands and were often seen as a burden slowing down the journey time and using up precious supplies

but these women also completed important tasks those women who stayed at home may have had to find ways to financially support their crusading spouses or take a more traditional male role of managing Affairs in their husband's absence during the First Crusade being a waser woman was the only role approved by the Catholic church with a stipulation though the woman needed to be unattractive it wouldn't do to have the troops in any sexual leoon whilst they were off crusading the soldiers were taking part in a holy war and needed to remain pure in both thought and

deed it was this sort of misogynistic medieval attitude towards women that meant the that they took the blame when things didn't go well in battle and consequently women were expelled from several campaigns but prostitution did inevitably take place although heavily condemned other female activities included acting as settlers who sold Provisions such as fish and vegetables to the Army others were employed to pick the lice from the soldiers heads Albert vakin a historian of the First Crusade wrote about The Siege of Jerusalem in 1099 he noted that skilled women helped to carry the materials needed to

weave the panels of a Siege engine by The Fourth Crusade which lasted for 2 years at the beginning of the 13th century women were recognized for their contribution to the war effort and were given a share of the booty several nuns joined the Crusades accompanying priests and Bishops other women carried water to the soldiers as they marched by and they would weep and wail praying for the Army's safe return it's possible that some women tended to the wounded one woman from Paris named maistra hen appears in the records as accompanying King Louis VI 9th of

France on the seventh crusade in 1249 as a physician she medically attended to the King Queen Margaret and the camp followers she was given a life pension of 12 p a day for her work and loyalty let's go on now to meet some of the Medieval women who during the Crusades took on the roles of men by looking after Affairs at home or going off on their own [Music] quests Margaret of Beverly known as Margaret of Jerusalem she was born in the Holy Land sometimes time in the mid 12th century while her parents were there

on pilgrimage unlike many noble women who were wealthy enough to go on Crusade Margaret was born to English commoners after returning to England with their daughter Margaret's family lived in Beverly Yorkshire where her younger brother Thomas was born when she was 11 Margaret was left to look after Thomas when both her parents died when he was old enough Thomas went to work in the household of Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury and became a monk at a cian monastery in France Thomas later wrote an account of his sister's life with her younger brother now a cleric

Margaret was free to return to Jerusalem in the land of her birth according to Thomas she took the cross the crusading vow to follow Christ there was no Crusade being organized at the time of her departure so it's possible that she went as a pilgrim however while she was in Jerusalem in 1187 the city was besieged by Saladin the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria Margaret took an active role alongside the Crusaders it said that she was carrying water to the soldiers when she accidentally became swept up in the fighting her brother Thomas reported that

she tried to Fashion a helmet from a cooking pot threw weapons at the enemy and said quote like Fierce Virgo I tried to play the role of a man and a woman pretending to be a man I was terrified but I pretended to not be afraid Margaret was wounded in the leg and scarred by shrapnel when a millstone was thrown onto the walls it's possible that the cooking pot story and what followed were invented women warriors were not acceptable women were culturally seen as helpless and virtuous so Margaret was given the supporting role of an

auxiliary for the medieval Christian Author especially those working for the church writing about women fighting distracted from male Crusaders even if the woman was your sister it seems Jerusalem surrendered to the Muslim forces of Saladin who wanting to take the city with little violence agreed two Crusaders paying a ransom for their freedom after 100,000 Dinars were paid for the release of 20,000 Crusaders Margaret left the city with a group of refugees the party was captured by Muslims and Margaret spent 15 months as a slave and was frequently beaten ransomed by a Christian Berger she was

free again and made a pilgrimage to the tomb of St Margaret of Antioch but was once again captured and enslaved after her release she traveled back to Europe and visited more pilgrimage sites before returning to her brother in France Margaret became a nun and Thomas began to write her story she died 18 years later sometime in the 1210s the unknown nun one nun whose name has been lost to history traveled to the holy land during the First Crusade initially she left the monastery of Santa Maria and Korea in Tria Germany as part of the people's

Crusade this was the origin of the First Crusade when Christians were encouraged by Pope Urban II to take up an armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem Peter The Hermit who was in command of the pilgrims had returned to Constantinople for supplies when the Muslim forces has beat the disorganized Christians at the Battle of cot in 1096 the nun was taken prisoner and released a year later when she eloped with one of her Turkish captors warrior women many wives accompanied their husbands on the First Crusade God Hilda a Norman Noble woman was the wife of Baldwin the first

of Jerusalem she died in Turkey while Baldwin was marching to cissa in 1097 emiline who accompanied her French husband sir fult of booon was taken to hisz as the wife of a Turkish mercenary after her husband was beheaded at the siege of Antioch several women took up the cross and fought against the Muslims some with their husbands and others without many of them were descended from royalty including the most famous that were going to look at now Elena of aquatan she was involved in not just one but two Crusades married to the king of France

Elena accompanied Louis viith on the Second Crusade in the mid 12th century the pope had called for more fighting after the Crusader state of adessa had fallen to the great turkman ruler zeni Elena was a powerful woman in her own rights a huge landowner and The Duchess of aquatan the largest and richest province of France Elena took the cross with her husband and after she had recruited another 300 women in 1147 somewhere between 25 and 50,000 pilgrims and Crusaders set out for the Holy Land in Constantinople elen acted as a diplomat by exchanging letters with

the Byzantine empress and it's from Byzantine chroniclers that we hear stories of a woman warrior dressed in full armor on Horseback it is possible that they were referring to Elena the Second Crusade achieved little in the Holy Land the king and queen fell out and divorced a few years later her next marriage was to Henry II of England and produced a son Richard the lionheart while his mother ruled England as his Regent Richard was away fighting in the Third Crusade for the first 3 years of his Reign Margaret of Province older sister to Ellena Queen

to Louis the 9th of France Margaret gave birth to her son whilst on crusade in Egypt she had accompanied her husband on the seventh Crusade although it was the couple's first Margaret gave birth to their son John Tristan in Egypt and was responsible for negotiations after her husband was taken prisoner and his brother was killed in deita Louie was subsequently ransomed and released the French chronic je de joinville described Margaret's bravery as she became the only woman ever to lead a crusade she made sure that food continued to be supplied to the Christians in dtia

and persuaded Crusaders who were about to leave to stay and defend the Port City she even asked the Knight who guarded her bed chamber to kill both her and her newborn son if the besieged city fell to the Muslims Countess Ida of heot Ida was married to Baldwin thei count of heot Baldwin sold many of his possessions to take the cross and travel to the holy land on the First Crusade after the siege of Antioch in 1098 on the way to Jerusalem through Syria Baldwin was sent to Constantinople along with one of the leaders of

the Crusade Hugh of the mandir to request support from the Byzantine emperor Baldwin disappeared in Anatolia after an attack by the sujuk Turks and was presumed dead Ida went out to the Holy Land and arranged a search for her missing husband in Asia Minor but both she and her husband were never seen again her fate remains unknown although Legend has it that either survived was taken prisoner and held in the Haram of her abductor where she bore the Muslim leader zeni a child whatever their role Medieval women involved in the Crusades were making the same

statement as their men folk they felt the need to find Salvation by being holy Warriors and their presence was everywhere thank you so much for watching this episode of Medieval Madness please do subscribe if you're enjoying these videos and I'll see you next week for another one until then I hope you have a fantastic week cheers