Historical Warrior Women

Boadicea queen of the Iceni tribe in Britain who lead an army in war against Roman invaders. She was wife to a tribe king and after her husband died she took the lead. Unfortunately her army lost the battle and she was imprisoned. The historians don't agree whether she took poison as the legend says or died of an ilness in the prison. She is pictured by ancient historians as a tall and heavy built woman with reddish hair. There is a statue on her honour and Enya has named her one piece of music Boadicea. Boadicea has appeared also in Xena Warrior Princess TV series. More about Boadicea on these web sites and through their links: Boadicea's story - Photo of her statue - Boadicea on Enya's pages

Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc) national hero of France. There are many statues on her honour, I believe about in every French city. Her story is written down in the documents of her trial. She was a daughter of a rich peasant who claimed since childhood hearing saints telling her she must free Orleans and lead the French army against English. This was the time of the 100 years war which began in the 14th century. Jeanne d'Arc lived in the beginning of the 15th century. She really got to lead the army in the war and was victorious. She was dressed as a man. Jeanne, also called pucelle d'Orleans (virgin of Orleans), was later imprisoned, betrayed by her king and handed over to the English who accused her of witchcraft and wearing trousers. Of course one thinks it was more than obviously a political trial - the English were really afraid of her. She was burned as a witch at the age of 19. Later she has been canonised (made a saint) and there are many films made of her story. More about Jeanne d'Arc on this web site 

Check also Internet Medieval Sourcebook if you are interested in the era and the many links to other source books from it, for instance Women's History Sourcebook!

madame de Montfort a French noblewoman in the Middle Ages. There was a war and in her husband's absence she lead the defence of their castle and was very good at it. The castle was saved. Mentioned in the book Kauhea totuus keskiajasta. More about her on this page - And here you can find about brave women in the Middle Ages

Woman Chief leader of crow indians. There is a book written based on her life by Rose Sobol under the title Woman Chief. In Finnish the book is published under the title of the name Rose Sobol has made up for the time the brave leader wasn't yet a leader - Yksinäinen Tähti (Lonely Star). The life of Woman Chief is pictured in the diary of Edwin Thompson Denig, he had known her personally. John C Ewers edited the diary as a book that was published in 1968 named Five Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri. Woman Chief was a hunter and a warrior who did many heroic deeds and refused to take part in traditional children's and women's responsibilities. Rose Sobol says that "also other indian women have sometimes dressed as warriors and ridden into battle. For Woman Chief weapons and the riding skills were her whole life. She left to war as a leader of her troops and young warriors were eager to serve her." 

Japanese warrior women - reality and stories

Valiant Queens in Lead of Armies

Cleopatra queen of Egypt. A well known historical character, though perhaps better remembered for her love affairs (thanks to Shakespeare). She lead her army in war and was a powerful reign. More about her on this web site - Forum Romanum, info on ancient Rome

Teuta a pirate queen of Illyria in the times of ancient Rome, mentioned in the book Antiikin tarinoita (in Swedish Antikens historier) where there are stories of real persons (such as Roman empirors) as well as mythology.

Zenobia queen of Syria who lead her army in war against Romans, also mentioned in Antiikin tarinoita. More about her on this web site

Check also Women of History and learn more about those of whom you never heard at school.

Archeological Research

In Suontaka (village in Hattula) and Kalvola, Finland, the Häme region near Hämeenlinna, there have been found fabulous swords from graves of women (2). They are kind of swords owned by village leaders and the kind rich and noble warriors. The graves are from Iron Age, 11th century when times were very unstable in Häme. This information is from 9 000 vuotta Suomen esihistoriaa by Matti Huurre (9 000 years of Finnish prehistory, used also as study material at universities). Photos from Tenhola hill fortress near Suontaka

There is also new folkloristic research (by ? in her book , an article also published in Voima magazine) on gender roles in agricultural Finland in the 19th century. The research shows that if men wanted to do "women's job" they only needed to dress as a woman and were accepted. The same goes with women who wanted to do "men's job". Such female workers were also appreciated - it was important to get the job done, no matter who it was who did it as long as it was done well. One woman was only recognized as a woman when she gave birth to a baby. There was speculating though what kind sex organs these people had. On my opinion this should make us understand how those rich female chiefs and warriors were most probably taken as I don't think that kind of a cultural phenomenon was something new in the times when victorian bourgeois morales tried to rule the Europe. 

Near ancient Troy or where it's thought to have situated there has been found several graves of women warriors. The sword handles were even made to suit a smaller hand, though the swords were normal size otherwise. This news was in one Tiede 2000 magazine (Finnish science magazine).

In Pokrovka, Ukraine, there have been found about 50 graves where women had been buried. American and Russian researchers found that there had been weapons buried with the women - in fact more than had been buried with the men. There were iron swords or daggers, bronze spear heads and stuff to sharpen the weapons with found from 7 graves of women. Some researchers claimed the weapons were only for ritual purposes (by the way do they ever claim weapons buried with men were "only" for ritual purposes??), but the bones prove otherwise. One 13 year old girl's leg bones were tired in the way that it proves she probably spent most of her time on horseback. The same young woman has a leather pouch with a bronze arrow head inside on her neck. On her left side there's an iron dagger, on her right in a "holding for arrows" (sorry I don't know the name in English, but it's viini in Finnish) 40 arrows dipped in bronze.

An arrow head found from another woman's body shows that she probably died in battle. The researchers think that these women didn't necessarily fight all the time as in that case there would have been found more signs of wounds in battle. The Pokrovka women had more power, riches and appreciation than people usually have thought. Some of the women were of the elite of their tribe and they were taught to ride and to fight very young.

From some graves of the women there has been found colourful glass and ear rings. In some of their graves there were stony altars and bronze mirrors that were used for healing and other spiritual purposes. These women were possibly priestesses.

Tiede2000-magazine (Science2000) number 7/2000 has news about a female gladiator grave. The London museum archeologists believe they've found a grave of a woman gladiator in a graveyard from the time of ancient Rome in Britain, on the south bank of river Thames. The cremated body was recognized to be a woman's based on the hip bone. Her age has been estimated to be about 20 years. They say also that from the mural writings of Pompeiji we know in ancient Rome they trained also women as gladiators.

Interesting names

Some names of ancient origin still exist in today's calendars. There are several warlike names, including women's names! The first translation is in Finnish as these names are picked from a scientific article, "Kun urhona kaadut" - sota ja kuolema, by Eero Kuparinen (about war and death). These ones in question are of Germanic origin.

men's names: Ferdinand = sotaurho (heroic warrior), Gerhard = vahva keihäs (strong spear), Leopold = rohkea soturi (brave warrior), Werner = turvaava soturi (securing warrior)

women's names: Gertrud = sotaneito (warmaiden), Hedvig = sotamieli (warmind), Valborg = sotakentällä turvaava (securing on a field of war)