Is there any chance a medieval princess can join the army? If so, how will she be treated amongst the men?
I know it is rather unusual, but I am toying with the idea of a king's daughter joining the army. This daughter is not the usual princessy princess, but she is serious, strong and often cold. If she can join the army out of her own will or by her father's orders, what would be the outcome? Will she refuse to wear dresses? Challenge her suitors into a fight?
And if she will join the army, what could be the possible reasons?
It's in German medieval setting. But I'm open to other ideas from other countries.
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I would take my cue from the (handful of) real women that joined armies. Most of them do it to save their countries, not for fun.
She wasn't exactly a "princess," but Joan of Arc was a medieval girl who joined the French army, and (for a time) became its leading general. In real life!
The reason this could happen was because she gained the ear of the king through her prophetic ability. A princess (by definition) would have her father as the king, and could gain the king's ear that way.
Queen Elizabeth I (formerly a princess) took personal command of her army at Tillsbury, when the Spanish Armada threatened an invasion of England.
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In general, no
In German medieval times, it sounds unlikely that a princess, i.e. the daughter of a living king, would be able to join the army in any credible manner. The main reason is that she would not have the authority to partake such a decision, nor she would be considered able in terms of fighting, or commanding. Remember that soldiers or aristocratic extractions in medieval times were far more trained than professionals: they trained their entire life. The other soldiers were akin to random fodder.
Maybe in some special situations
If the king were to die, and there were no other heirs, and the woman in question were old enough, then the situation would be different. Depending on the country, the princess may become ruler, hence she would have access, for instance, to a commanding role in the army.
Another special situation, as suggested in other answers, would be to follow the path of Jean D'Arc.
A real life example of a successful Margrave from the Dark Ages
Finally, for the very special "one-of-a-kind", I suggest giving a read to the life of Matilda of Tuscany, who not only lived during the time of German middle ages, but managed to crush the military dreams of the German King, Henry IV.
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Probably not, for the type of medieval 'Princess' most readers imagine.
Most Old Testament societies (Jews, Christians, Muslims) in medieval times considered women the property of a male, and princesses, while respected, had no real authority to order any man except, perhaps, some servants or slaves. (If her father was dead, her ownership went to a senior male relative; such as a grandfather, uncle, brother, cousin, whatever).
A "princess" would be the daughter of a king and thus the property of the king, and should her father die, his crown and property would belong to a male heir, including the princess.
The Old Testament of the Bible, for example, still gives specific instructions on the price a man should get for selling his daughter (not a 'dowry', an outright sale). It talks about Moses giving captured virgins to his soldiers as rewards, and tells men a few rules to follow when having sex with his slaves or servants (which was his right in the Lord's eyes).
A medieval princess was an asset to be married off to another king or prince, not because she was necessarily loved by her father, but because if she bore boys, her father would be a grandfather to the men they became. This kind of blood line connection was very important to people then. It is still important today and a strong component of inheritance law to this day, even illegitimate children of a parent are entitled to inherit a share of that parent's estate.
Back then, it was less general, and applied primarily to males. Women were subjugated and guarded primarily to control access to their vaginas, at the time it was the primary way for a male master to ensure HE was the father of any child she bore. Marriages could be annulled if a woman came to the marriage bed without an intact hymen (even though a hymen can be broken by strenuous sport without any sexual penetration, and even though sperm can travel past the hymen and induce pregnancy -- it is not an impenetrable barrier to fluids, as menstrual blood itself proves).
(Of course now a simple DNA paternity test would suffice to prove fatherhood.)
I don't know when Queens were allowed to inherit power directly, but I suspect it was after medieval times; back then men would battle for the crown, and if a relative of the princess did not win the crown, then she would be his property but no longer a princess. In any case, even if a Queen inherited the power of the crown, that does not inherently give the Princess any special authority or rights.
Other religions and societies (like Vikings and other Pagans) allowed women more autonomy. I am not sure what cultures existed in medieval times in most of the world: Asia, Polynesia, Africa or North or South America. Many had kings, with favored daughters we'd call princesses, but I consider that a technicality: Medieval Princess conjures in most people the pampered and expensively dressed daughter of a European King in a stone Castle. That girl was literally livestock in Old Testament law, groomed to be a healthy and sexually desirable gift that could bear children that would join families by common blood, thus making (in the culture of the time) a strong alliance.
Such girls would NOT have been allowed to join the military; they were far too valuable as political tools, and the nature of the military itself would be too much of a threat to their virginity, which was highly prized at the time by people with many superstitions and misconceptions [pun intended!] about intercourse and impregnation.
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