In Women and the Crusades, Helen J. Nicholson queries one of the central contradictions of medieval society. Given clerical associations of women with sin, prohibitions against their participation in military endeavors, and general limitations on female agency, how does one explain the myriad ways women participated in the crusades? Through careful navigation of sources spanning nearly six centuries and the application of an expansive definition of the movement, she deftly weaves a narrative that not only acknowledges the presence of women in all facets of crusading but demonstrates the extent to which the very existence of the movement depended on their commitment and active contributions. By extending the chronology into the sixteenth century and expanding her purview to include all areas in Europe impacted by the crusades, Nicholson is able to draw on her mastery of the historiography and capture the full range of women’s experiences. Nicholson acknowledges that women would not have experienced the crusades in the exact same way as men, which in part explains their omission from certain sources or the tendency, when they do appear, to treat them as exceptional. This recognition of the gendered nature of medieval society and the complications historians must navigate further strengthens her argument.
Chapter 1 provides a brief overview of the crusades and how Nicholson defines them here. She, rightfully given her intended audience, avoids the numerous disputes and disagreements about what constituted a crusade that animate this contentious historiography. As is the case with any history of the Middle Ages, Nicholson’s investigation into the many manifestations of holy war is constrained by the lack of sources that speak specifically of women. This is compounded by the ideological bent of contemporary “histories” of the crusades and the polemic so deeply embedded in clerical treatises that address holy war. In navigating these challenges, she acknowledges the slippery nature of contemporary terminology, or lack thereof, used to categorize actions of individuals associated with crusading. In conflating terms such as pilgrimage and crusade, she is able to overcome many of the modern assumptions about medieval limitations on women's actions that continue to distort current historiography (8). This chapter provides sufficient context for non-specialist readers, effectively positioning them to engage with the themes that animate the remainder of the book.
Chapter 2, “Initializing Crusades,” begins by challenging the all-too-common literary trope of women as obstacles to crusading, primarily motivated by fear for the safety of the men in their immediate orbit drawn by the lure of crusading. After investigating the extent to which that characterization of women is reflected in reality, Nicholson pivots to the variety of ways women expressed and enacted their own enthusiasm for holy war. While many of the individual examples she cites will be familiar to crusade historians, others are entirely new, especially those drawn from places outside of Western Europe or periods not typically addressed in crusade histories (48-9). Nicholson's discussion is strengthened by the inclusion of examples of women actively involved in religiously inspired campaigns that typically fall outside of the parameters of the traditional crusades, such as the role of Matilda of Canossa in Pope Gregory VII’s war against the Seljuk Turks or the contributions of Birgitta of Sweden and Queen Isabel of Castile in their respective battles to bolster the Catholic Church. Such examples demonstrate the potential of altering the approach of crusade histories by de-centering Urban II and Clermont from the narrative. Not only does this approach produce new avenues of inquiry but it further reinforces the extent to which the ideas and ideology of holy war impacted nearly every area of medieval society between 1050 and 1500.
Chapter 3, “Crusade Campaigns,” engages themes more familiar to students of the crusades by focusing on the individual campaigns that tend to fall under the crusade rubric. It provides an overview of the various roles played by women, ranging from those typically associated with the female sex, such as caring for the sick and accompanying husbands on crusade, to activities often assumed to be reserved for men only, including military actions. In addition to identifying instances when women purported to play an active leadership role in battle, it also discusses the potential of female participants to act in a diplomatic capacity that would have prevented violence between opposing parties. Nicholson acknowledges that while the nature of their engagement may have differed due to medieval gender norms, women who participated in crusading, regardless of their motive, faced the same challenging circumstances, uncertain outcomes, and potential violence as their male counterparts. In fact, in certain theaters of war, participation in the crusades may have posed even greater risks for women, who faced enslavement and the possibility of sexual assault if captured (87).
The participation of women removed from the centers of conflict is the subject of Chapter 4, “The Home Front.” Although such women were not directly engaged in military activity, their contributions to holy war were invaluable. This chapter draws in particular on recent scholarly attention to the social implications of crusading, noting the development of familial traditions centered on crusading as well as the political implications of personal association with holy war. Male crusaders would have encountered far more resistance to participation if their mothers and wives were not able to manage their estates in their extended absence. Women also played a key role in providing the material resources essential to the ability to wage a sustained holy war, particularly in the form of patronage of the military orders who proved key to maintaining control of contested lands in the Latin East and Baltic north. As the movement evolved over the centuries, monastic and religious institutions became central to the business of holy war. Women in particular were actively involved in the veneration of crusader cults, the foundation of religious houses, and ensuring that monetary bequests left by deceased crusaders reached their intended recipients.
In a similar vein, Chapter 5, “After the Crusade,” draws on more recent areas of historical investigation that have attracted the attention of scholars. As the purview of historians interested in the cultural implications of holy war has expanded, so has our knowledge of the ways women participated. One facet of crusading activity that has garnered attention is the visual and physical memorialization of individual crusaders and the crusade movement generally. As Nicholson demonstrates, women not only participated in such endeavors but were prominent actors as patrons of art, literature, and architecture infused with the themes of holy war. While their prominence in religious patronage generally has long been noted by scholars, Nicholson discusses the extent to which their actions were central to the commemoration of individual crusaders as well as the perpetuation of family traditions centered around holy war. In this respect, the actions of women transformed individual actions into social conventions that ultimately pervaded medieval society and reflect the extent to which the practice of holy war impacted western Europe for nearly six centuries.
In Women and the Crusades, Helen Nicholson provides an extremely accessible discussion of the variety of ways women engaged with holy war over the course of six centuries from nearly every corner of Europe. In balancing the general with the particular, she includes sufficient individual examples to personalize their experiences without overwhelming the reader with excessive detail. While relying primarily on secondary sources, the narrative is peppered with excerpts from contemporary accounts, providing a clear sense of the extant sources as well as their limitations. The use of endnotes enhances the readability of the text, offering sources for the more advanced reader without distracting from the flow of the narrative. The thematic approach is one of the strengths of the book, as it opens new avenues of inquiry not always found in traditional crusade histories, and demonstrates the pervasiveness of holy war in medieval society. As Nicholson acknowledges, the experience of elite women dominates her discussion because they dominate the contemporary sources, which undeniably privilege the actions of nobles in medieval society. On occasion, the sources do refer to non-noble women, but seldom go so far as to name them or ascribe motive to their actions. Such sources were typically used by contemporary authors to further an ideological agenda rather than illuminate individual experience, hence omitting names as marker of individual identity. The experience of Western Christian women dominates the discussion. Given her focus on participation in holy war, this focus, albeit perhaps missing an opportunity to produce a more inclusive history, is logical. In making visible the various ways women initiated, supported, funded, participated in, and commemorated the crusades, Nicholson succeeds not only in demonstrating the prevalence of women in holy war, but also their prominence in nearly every facet of medieval society more generally.