JOURNAL ARTICLE

Women and War: Female Spies and Messengers in the Late-Medieval Low Countries.

Published In: Journal of Women's History, 2024, v. 36, n. 2. P. 10 1 of 3
Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3
Authored By: Haemers, Jelle 3 of 3

Abstract

This contribution shows that women played influential roles in medieval warfare not as soldiers on the battlefield but as key figures in communication networks. Two crucial aspects in times of military crisis are gathering information about the enemy and communication between allies. Existing historiography of medieval espionage usually attributes such tasks to men. This article demonstrates, however, that cities systematically used the services of women carrying letters around the front lines and gathering intelligence services about the enemy army. The case study of this article is the war the Flemish cities waged against Emperor Frederick III and his son Maximilian of Austria in 1488–1489, a conflict in which dozens of women as spies and messengers tried to influence the course of the war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

Source:Journal of Women's History. 2024/06, Vol. 36, Issue 2, p10
Document Type:Article
Subject Area:History
Publication Date:2024
ISSN:1042-7961
DOI:10.1353/jowh.2024.a929066
Accession Number:177648014
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