Certainly there have been female knights! The most famous was Joan of Arc.
Joan of Arc famously led Charles VII to coronation at Reims in 1429. And she did so clad in armor and seated upon a male warhorse. But that isn’t the only example – women often dressed as men in order to participate in war back then, when they were banned from full participation on account of their sex. You can learn more about these ladies by reading Erika Rummel’s From Joan of Arc to Female Warriors.
Joan of Arc.
Joan was born the daughter to Jacques d’Arc and Isabelle Romee with an elder brother Jean circa 1412 in Domremy, France. No other children were mentioned by history but it is fairly certain that her parents had at least two other daughters–Marguerite, who became a nun at age 16, and Catherine.
At this point in time, Joan’s family owned land around their village where they worked as laborers for the local lord–Olivier de Vouthon. As a teenager she lost her father to illness and when she was about 18 years old (about 1429) she began to have revelations telling her that she would help make France strong again.
Yes, there were in fact medieval female knights. A few notable known female knights are Jeanne de Clisson, and the mysterious Lady of the Lake.
Yes. Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc, also known as Jeanne d’Arc, was one of the best documented female knights in history, and fought during the Hundred Years War between France and England. When she was just a girl she said she had visions from God that told her to retake French holy places including Rheims cathedral. She made several well-documented open-field battles, wore armor like a knight at war, and led soldiers into battle against an English army before being captured by them near Compiègne on May 23rd 1430. On July 14th less than 5 months after her capture she was burned at the stake for heresy alongside an additional 60 people accused of consorting with devils.
Female knights have had trials and tribulations throughout history. Bridgid of Kildare is one of the most famous. Stories of her grand military exploits even include knighting a man by cleaving his head in two with one swing of her sword. There’s also Anne de Bourgogne, who fought at the Siege on Jerusalem. She said that she was “born to make war.” Joan d’Arc was looked at as more than just a woman, but an example for all Christendom in fighting against “the foes both near and far wherever they might be found.” And Sylvie Rozenbaum became infamous for earning a place in certain sections of France’s criminal code which prohibited women from riding bicycles.
Yes, definitely.
There are a couple of examples that we know about, though not very many. Eleanor de Montfort led the defence of Lydford Castle in 1217 when it was attacked by King John. In medieval England, women of all classes were considered as bona fide property and could be traded like any other commodity or piece of chattel. As such if you owned land or herds they automatically passed to your daughter and she became part person in them on her marriage while if he son predeceased then his daughter could inherit them upon reaching adulthood under common law (though Scottish law preferred daughters). Women too during early feudalism inherited more land than they do today – so again women had some rights.
Yes. Joan of Arc was a female knight in the 15th century.
Joan d’Arc was 14 years old when she began commanding troops and 20 when she was burned to death for heresy because of her visions and commands from God. It is now believed by Catholics that Joan was unjustly executed–that, in reality, God had ordered her to lead armies to drive out occupying English forces; and that, moreover, her coinciding “visions” were actually epileptic seizures which could have been controlled through application of an olive oil soapsuds bath treatment (a remedy Joseph-Marie Duchesne published about around 1710).
Yes. There have been a few recorded female knights throughout history.
One was Joan of Arc, a French peasant girl and Catholic religious leader who claimed to receive visions from God telling her that she would liberate France from its English occupiers. Besieged by the armies of England and Burgundy, she led the French defense yet her armies were successful in liberating some territories such as Normandy after which it became more difficult for them to make any significant progress. The Siege of Orleans is seemingly her most important battle whereupon she convinced many French men-at-arms during the battle through words, example and deeds to join their gender opposite forces together until all alive were persuaded including Jacques d’Arc , her father
Yes, Dr. Ana Liza Soares, called the “frida” (Portuguese for “knight”) of Pé-de-Moleque., and she served to promote kindness as well as literacy for children between the ages of 8 and 18 from low socio economic backgrounds.
Liza entered a convent at age 16 due to lack of finances and because her parents had been disappointed by her achievements so far in life; it was after becoming a nun and meeting Nelson Mandela that she felt compelled to become engaged in work with disadvantaged youth. After securing funding, Liza founded an institute called Pe de Moleque where she began teaching basic literacy skills to children.
She later went on to create schools across Brazil.
