A collaborative study conducted by the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) and the Max Planck Institute analyzed the remains of 25 individuals interred from the 12th to 15th centuries at the Zorita de los Canes castle in Guadalajara. The team exhumed these remains from the castle's graveyard, allowing them to determine the diet, lifestyle, and causes of death of the warrior monks who belonged to the Order of Calatrava.
The results, published in the journal Scientific Reports, have determined that 23 of the individuals died in battle and that the knights of the order followed a diet typical of medieval high society, with a considerable intake of animal protein and marine fish, in an area far from the coast. Unexpectedly, Carme Rissech, a researcher at the URV, identified the remains of a woman among the warrior monks.
[...] When Carme Rissech, a researcher at the URV's Department of Basic Medical Sciences, was told that they were sending her the remains of the Calatrava knights, she couldn't quite believe that they were actually knights. As part of the MONBONES project, which studies diet and lifestyle in monasteries during the Middle Ages, her project partners analyzed the presence of carbon isotopes 14 and nitrogen 15 in the bones of the 25 individuals. They also studied animal remains, found around the castle, which complemented the information provided by the isotopes and helped them to work out the habits of the people who lived in the castle between the 12th and 15th centuries. Once she got the remains in the laboratory, Rissech studied them to determine the age, sex, morphology, and health of the individuals and to determine their lifestyle and causes of death.
Of the 25 skeletons studied, 23 showed marks compatible with violent death. These were mainly penetrating puncture wounds and blunt force injuries and were found on the parts of the body that were most vulnerable to and unprotected from the weapons of the time. "We observed many lesions on the upper part of the skull, the cheeks, and the inner part of the pelvis, which is consistent with the hypothesis that we are dealing with warriors," explains Rissech. It was by studying the bone proportions that she realized that among the warriors there was a woman.
[...] On the one hand, the woman's injuries led the research team to believe that she participated and died in battle, as there was no sign of bone regrowth in her injuries. "She may have died in a manner very similar to that of male knights, and it is likely that she was wearing some kind of armor or chain mail," says Rissech.
On the other hand, she did not have the same dietary indicators as some of the individuals analyzed: "We observed a lower level of protein consumption in the case of this woman, which could indicate lower status in the social group," he says. Some researchers have hypothesized that she was a servant who would have been called upon to join the knights in defending the castle if the need arose, but the URV researcher does not think so: "Her work as a servant would have left signs on her bones, indicators of certain types of physical activity that we could now identify".
In contrast, her skeleton did show attributes similar to those of the other warrior monks, whose job required them to train in the use of the sword, an activity that leaves verifiable marks which were also observed on the woman's bones. "I believe that these remains belong to a female warrior, but further analysis is needed to determine to what extent this woman is contemporary with the other knights", says Rissech. According to the researcher, we should picture her as a warrior of about forty years of age, just under five feet tall, neither stocky nor slender, and skillful with a sword.
Journal Reference:
Pérez-Ramallo, Patxi, Rissech, Carme, Lloveras, Lluis, et al. Unravelling social status in the first medieval military order of the Iberian Peninsula using isotope analysis [open], Scientific Reports (DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-61792-y)
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Mykl on Wednesday June 19 2024, @04:36AM (13 children)
This is really interesting, but raises so many more questions. Given that 23/25 of the skeletons had evidence of violent death, I think it's not too far of a stretch to guess that the other 2 were also violent deaths, but simply not detectable through the skeleton (e.g. disemboweling). I think it can be reasonable to infer that all of the interred individuals died in battle.
It's not really possible to extrapolate from one female skeleton to the rest of the Knight order who didn't end up interred here. Perhaps the entire monastery was 4% female. Maybe this female was the only one ever there. We'll probably never know.
Mulan and Joan of Arc were both historical figures, notable by their rarity, so my totally uneducated guess is that this woman was highly unusual. Makes me wish we knew more though.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by mhajicek on Wednesday June 19 2024, @07:00AM (2 children)
There were also women who passed as men.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 3, Interesting) by HiThere on Wednesday June 19 2024, @01:33PM
Well, there are stories and songs about women passing as men in armies. Did that really happen, though? It's always seemed a bit implausible to me. Living in close contact with another person for an extended period...
Do you have any evidence beyond myths and stories?
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2, Informative) by aafcac on Wednesday June 19 2024, @04:51PM
Presumably there were gender non-binary folks back then as well. She may well have identified as a he and the folks around may not have really cared about that.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by RamiK on Wednesday June 19 2024, @08:41AM (7 children)
It wasn't a rare occasion for women to fight in wars or at the time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_post-classical_warfare [wikipedia.org]
It's just that the cases related to the crusade are always involved caveats like "disguised as a man" or "high-born leading the army" type scenarios: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_Crusades#Warrior_women_of_the_Crusades [wikipedia.org]
The evidence here (her diet... how she was stabbed and cut where there's openings in the armor... where she was buried...) seem to suggest she was a full-time female combatant that was stationed at the order's fort. But they don't have the money to do carbon dating yet so it's hard to piece together the story properly.
compiling...
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday June 19 2024, @01:36PM (3 children)
The "high born woman leading..." is believable. The "disguised as a man" considerably less so. Crusades involved extended travel in close contact with minimal privacy.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 4, Informative) by RamiK on Wednesday June 19 2024, @03:33PM (2 children)
It happened in recent times: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktoria_Savs [wikipedia.org]
compiling...
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday June 19 2024, @05:11PM (1 child)
From the link: "she served with the knowledge of her superiors"
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RamiK on Wednesday June 19 2024, @08:27PM
I'm sure at least a few poor knight crusaders would have played along and pretended not to notice if an eager female volunteer in-disguised came under their command considering the environment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_Crusades#Warrior_women_of_the_Crusades [wikipedia.org] https://journals.openedition.org/cliowgh/454 [openedition.org]
My view is that seeing how women were officially part of the auxiliary in many orders and would have been required to take up arms during sieges and the likes, it's not such a stretch of the imagination that a poor crusader knight were approached by some zealot nun after a fight asking to join under his command and, being short of men and money, he would have accepted any help he could get and looked the other way.
compiling...
(Score: 3, Informative) by Thexalon on Thursday June 20 2024, @10:25AM (2 children)
A pretty typical scenario: The lord of the manor, and his retinue, were called away to fight for his liege somewhere. More opportunistic enemies think "Now is a great time to attack that manor, because their defenders are elsewhere." With the lord gone, odds were pretty good that the lady of the manor was in charge, and she would therefor be running the defense with her crew, the servants, and whoever else she could scrounge up to help her out. While she could give up, that would be a very costly choice both financially and also to her person, because she was extremely likely to be considered among the spoils of the capture and be violated. Plus the whole point of having a castle is that it gives the defenders a strong position to hold out when attacked, so she would probably at least try to put up a good fight.
The idea that medieval women were helpless damsels in distress was made up by the Victorians, who were projecting their ideas about women back 500 years or so in order to declare those ideas to be "natural". But that was never the reality, and it doesn't surprise me that women were trained warriors at all.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Thursday June 20 2024, @04:50PM (1 child)
The paper I linked earlier tells you it went all the way back the Church being established on Roman laws that forbade non-citizens, i.e. women, from waging war and holding property/authority and how it carried out through their power struggles with the feudal lords and the consequential reforms in the 10th century, canon laws in 11th through 13th centuries and their chronicling of war throughout the crusades: https://journals.openedition.org/cliowgh/454 [openedition.org]
compiling...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Friday June 21 2024, @02:45AM
Right. When the church bans something, that tells you that people are doing it. In large enough numbers that some guy decided that it was a real social problem that had to be addressed.
But also, the lady of the manor defending her home as I described was pretty much expected, and there are many well-documented incidents of them doing exactly that.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday June 19 2024, @02:49PM (1 child)
Hua Mulan herself is probably a myth, but there were a number of important generals* in Chinese history who were a basis for the myth. The closest direct analog with historical attestation is Han E, who indeed disguised herself as a man, and was promoted to a squad commander. But she was after the song of Hua Mulan had been around for 200 years.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday June 19 2024, @05:24PM
The "important generals" were probably high born women, who started off commanding the troops (I would guess they were holding a protected position), possibly on the grounds that "somebody's got to do it". In Europe the person commanding the defense of a castle was sometimes a high born woman. This may also describe how Han E came to power...though "daughter of an academic" is rather different than someone who has been put in charge of the forces defending a protected position. Still, she was definitely of a higher class than the troops she commanded. Also the wikipedia article implies, though it does not state, that her commanders were aware of her sex.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Wednesday June 19 2024, @09:22AM (9 children)
Any evidence they fought on a horse? A knight is specifically an armoured warrior on horseback. An armoured warrior on foot is a "man-at-arms". Or maybe a "woman-at-arms".
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 19 2024, @10:10AM (4 children)
Don't ruin their female warrior fantasies with fact.
(Score: 2) by DadaDoofy on Wednesday June 19 2024, @01:28PM (3 children)
I get the feeling Hollywood could milk this for a "blockbuster". It's ready made, complete with the obligatory shero warrior.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday June 20 2024, @06:08AM
Admit it: You Are Not Immune to Hot Lady Knight. It's nothing to be ashamed of :)
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 20 2024, @06:54PM (1 child)
of course, the European Grrrl Boss knight would have to be a fun-loving Negress (historically marginalized indigenous Briton) with non-threatening hair, because ((( Holywood ))). She would spend most of the movie science-ing and lecturing evil White men about their moral inferiority. There would probably be some GoodWhites who helped the Negress kill some BadWhites.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 25 2024, @03:16PM
so close, if you had just left out the dash of antisemitism
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday June 19 2024, @01:39PM
One thing I find interesting is that apparently she was a warrior-monk. In the stories monks are always men, and being a monk is supposed to require approval from the religious authorities.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 4, Informative) by ikanreed on Wednesday June 19 2024, @02:57PM (2 children)
No, that's not the definition of a knight. That's "Heavy Cavalary" of which the French, and to a lesser extent, English knights were particularly famous for being in the late middle ages.
To be a knight was simply a matter of rank, at least within the parts of Europe most associated with "knights in shining armor" pseudohistory. Horsemanship was considered an essential skill of that rank, but the direct etymology for the word "Knight" is just a kind of servant, which eventually became "Servant of the king" which eventually became a petty noble title.
To quote wikipedia
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Wednesday June 19 2024, @08:09PM
OK, there are two meanings, the honorary ceremonial one, and the military one. Examples of the ceremonial knighthood are Bill Gates and Elton John, and I bet they have never ridden a horse wearing armour. The military meaning is an armoured warrior on a horse, and that is the context of TFA.
As for "knights in shining armor" "pseudohistory"", those military knights in later medieval times really did shine their plate armour or had their squires do it. Whether or not they were nobility in civilian life, and whether or not they were nice guys (probably not), they were the elite of the medieval army and wanted to show it. Mounted archers and scouts were not knights, even though they may have worn quilted leather jackets for some protection, and even an iron breastplate they might have scavenged.
(Score: 2) by Username on Wednesday June 19 2024, @11:52PM
All knights in the Knights Templar (who are the subject of this article) were mounted cavalry. Joining the Knights Templars did not make you a knight, you needed the knighthood beforehand.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by DadaDoofy on Wednesday June 19 2024, @01:22PM (3 children)
"I believe that these remains belong to a female warrior, but further analysis is needed to determine to what extent this woman is contemporary with the other knights"
No confirmation bias to be seen here. Move along.
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Wednesday June 19 2024, @08:59PM (2 children)
I'd say that you're the one with confirmation bias.
The scientist is looking at the evidence, and making a hypothesis. They are female remains with tell-tale signs of having experience with fighting with a sword and having died in combat. Why then is it so hard for you to accept that this scientist might be right? Because women can't be warriors?
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 19 2024, @09:05PM (1 child)
Lot of revisionist history going around. In a vacuum it wouldn't be hard to accept at all, but juxtaposed against the modern world it has to be taken with a grain of salt. Academia is full of activists and spreading the gospel leads to grant money.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Mykl on Wednesday June 19 2024, @10:57PM
I agree that there is a lot of revisionism going on these days and I admit that I approached this article with skepticism. However, the evidence presented (if true) seems to pretty solidly point to an experienced warrior who died of wounds while armored (presumably in battle). The fact that they are interred with these other knights as well is significant - this isn't just a folk tale passed down, or an unusually small helmet or set of greaves in a collection of armor. It's a demonstrably female skeleton, showing signs of being a warrior and having died by violent wounding, included with a bunch of notable male warriors and buried deliberately with them.
This woman, whoever she was, didn't feature in the latest Star Wars or Marvel film and there's no need to project the problems of today's cinema onto the skeleton of someone who died over 800 years ago.