Women have played a leading role in active warfare. The following is a list of prominent women in war and their exploits from about 1500 up to about 1699.
Only women active in direct warfare, such as warriors, spies, and women who actively led armies are included in this list.
For women in warfare in what is now the United States during this time period, see Timeline of women in war in the United States, pre-1945.
Timeline of women in warfare from 1500 to 1699
1500–1550 Early 16th century: Christopher Columbus reports being fired upon by female archers. Militarists accompanying Francisco de Orellana, Francisco Pizarro and Rodrigo de Bastidas report women fighting alongside men in South America. Various Spanish women fight as conquistadors along the men under Cortés's expedition; among them are María Estrada and Beatriz Bermúdez de Velasco. 1521: Cortés' advisor La Malinche and Tlaxcalan wives of Spanish conquistadors act as military leaders during the siege of Tenochtitlan. Early 16th century: Reign of Amina, ruler of the Hausa empire in Nigeria. She personally led armies on successful campaigns.Introduction to the History of African Civilization: Precolonial Africa By C. Magbaily Fyle, p. 74 16th century: Abbakka, a ruler of Tulu Nadu in India fights the Portuguese army.Lonely Planet India By Lonely Planet, Abigail Blasi, Michael Benanav, Lindsay Brown, Mark Elliott, Paul Harding, Anna Kaminski, Anirban Mahapatra, Bradley Mayhew, John Noble 16th century: Maeda Matsu saves the Maeda clan from Tokugawa Ieyasu in Battle of Sekigahara and Siege of Osaka. 16th century: Mah Chuchak Begum leads her army in person and defeats Munim Khan at Jalalabad. 16th century: Portuguese explorers report that a group of female warriors existed in the Congo, and that their king assigned regions where only female children were raised. Angola resists the Portuguese under Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba. 16th century: Jeanne d'Albret is involved in the French Wars of Religion. She often accompanied Admiral de Coligny to the battlefield where the fighting was at its most intense; together they inspected the defences and rallied the Huguenot forces.Roelker, Nancy Lyman (1968). Queen of Navarre, Jeanne d'Albret: 1528–1572. Cambridge Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. . pp. 301–312 16th century: Sikhism founded. One of its tenets is equality for women which extends to allowing them into participate in combat and warfare. See :Category:Female Sikh warriors for more information. 16th-century: Fujishiro Gozen dies fighting in battle. 16th century: Louise Labé dressed in male clothing and fought as a knight on horseback in the ranks of the Dauphin (afterwards Henry II) at the siege of Perpignan. 16th century: Orompoto of the Oyo Empire fights at the Battle of Illayi. Early 1500s: Idia, mother of Esigie, the Oba of Benin, is described as a great warrior, and receives much credit for her son's conquest of the Igala.Historical Dictionary of Nigeria By Toyin Falola, Ann Genova, p. 160 1501: Christina of Saxony holds the city of Stockholm for the Danish during a Swedish rebellion against the Danish.Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon 1502: Anne Rud defends the Bohus Fortress in the absence of her spouse, commander Henrich Krummedige, during his war with Alv Knutsson. 1503: Costanza d'Avalos, Duchess of Francavilla leads the defence of the island fortress of Ischia against the French. 1505: Ingeborg Tott defends her fief Häme Castle in Finland against the attack from another noble fiefholder.Hockman: Ingeborg Aakentytär Tott, Hämeen linnan valtijatar. Linnassa ja sen liepeillä, Elämää Hämeen linnassa [Ingeborg Aakentytär Tott, Mistress of Häme Castle. Castle and its surroundings. Life in Häme Castle] Hämeenlinna 1990, pp. 27–48. 1511: According to popular legend, Gertruid Bolwater defends Venlo.Jac Geurts, en, in: Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland 1511–1513: Gunilla Bese, widow of the governor of Vyborg Castle, defends it against the Russians.Suomen kansallisbiografia (National Biography of Finland) 1513: Catherine of Aragon acts as Regent for Henry VIII and attends the field at the Battle of Flodden Field dressed in armor.Letters & Papers vol. 1 (1920), no. 2299: Catherine was issued with banners at Richmond on 8 September, Letters & Papers, vol.1 (1920), no.2243 1513–1515: Quilago, queen of the Cochasquí in Ecuador, defense her area against the expansion of the Inca Empire.Becker, Marc; Tutillo, Silvia (2009). Historia agraria y social de Cayambe. Quito: FLACSO / Ediciones Abya-Yala. p. 22. . Consultado el 8 de junio de 2015. 1520: Christina Gyllenstierna becomes the leader and commander of the defence of Sweden and Stockholm during the war between Denmark and Sweden.Kristina Nilsdotter Gyllenstierna, urn:sbl:13412, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av Hans Gillingstam), hämtad 2014-12-28. 1520: Swedish noble Anna Eriksdotter (Bielke) commands the city of Kalmar in place of her dead spouse during the war between Denmark and Sweden.Erik Turesson (Bielke), urn:sbl:18162, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av G. Carlsson.), hämtad 2014-07-14 1520: Women participate actively in the defense of the Swedish city of Kalmar against the Danes. In his famous chronicle from 1555, Olaus Magnus briefly note that during the defense of Kalmar, the female inhabitants of the city participated in the defense as bravely as did the men.Sjöberg, Maria (Swedish): Kvinnor i fält 1550–1850 (Women in the field 1550–1850) (2008) Gidlunds Förlag. Anna Bielke also defends Kalmar. 1520: Barbro Stigsdotter helps the Swedish rebel and future King Gustav Vasa to escape capture by the Danes and are therefore hailed as a war heroine in Sweden.Barbro Stigsdotter, urn:sbl:19056, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av S. Samuelsson.), hämtad 2014-12-28. 1521: Maria Pacheco Padilla defends the city of Toledo, Spain for six months after her husband falls in battle.Martínez Gil, Fernando (2005). María Pacheco: la mujer valerosa, historia de doña María Pacheco, comunera de Castilla (1497–1531). Volumen 3 de Biografías Castilla-La Mancha. Almud / Centro de Estudios de Castilla-La Mancha, D.L. (Ciudad Real). . 1521–1523: Abbess Anna Leuhusen participates in the secret traffic in and out of the city of Stockholm during the Swedish War of Liberation.Lisbet Scheutz (2001 (2003) nuytgåva). Berömda och glömda stockholmskvinnor: sju stadsvandringar: 155 kvinnoporträtt. (Famous and forgotten women of Stockholm: seven tours: 155 female profiles) Stockholm: MBM. Libris 8392583 1522–1524: Sati Sadhani was the queen of the Chutia kingdom. Born in the capital of Shadia, Sadhani's father Dharmadhwajapal married her to Nitipal or Nitai and handed over the rule to his son-in-law. The Ahoms invaded Shadia and demanded the beautiful queen Sadhani to be made their king. After this, the archer king Nita fought against the Ahoms and lost his life. After this, Queen Sadhani took over the rule and fought against the Ahoms. She formed an army of women and fought herself. Ultimately the Ahom army adopted various tactics to disperse the Chutia army and the Ahom king proposed to accept Sadhani as his queen again. But she refused to accept slavery and sacrificed herself by jumping from the mountain. Chutia-Ahom conflicts (1512–1522) in Ancient Assam of North East India. 1527: Euphemia Leslie conquers Elcho Castle.Euphemia Leslie, undiscoveredscotland, retrieved 22 April 2014 1534: Hille Feicken and the women of the Anabaptist regime of Münster participate in the defense of the city.Feicken, Hille, in: Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland. URL: http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/Feicken [09/02/2016] 1538: Veronica Gambara organizes a successful defense of Correggio against a siege.Stortoni, Laura (1997). Women Poets of the Italian Renaissance: Courtly Ladies and Courtesans. New York: Italica Press. 1539–1540: Gaitana of the Paez leads the indigenous people of Colombia in armed resistance against the Spanish.Acosta, Joaquín 1901: Compendio histórico del descubrimiento y colonización de la Nueva Granada. Librería Colombiana, Bogotá. Biblioteca Virtual del Banco de la República, 2004. ~1540: The Codice Casanatense describes the residents of Patna as "very warlike", with the women of the city accompanying the men to fight, followed by an illustration of two Patnan women shooting arrows from horseback. 1540: Gaspar de Carvajal, a Dominican friar, reports being attacked by a band of armed women while travelling in Brazil.South America By Risa Brown p. 21 1541: Ōhōri Tsuruhime leads an army into battle. 1543: According to legend, Catherine Ségurane defends the city of Nice, France.Journey into Europe: Islam, Immigration, and Identity By Akbar Ahmed p. 502 1545, February 12: Scottish women fight in the Battle of Ancrum Moor. Among them is Lilliard, after whom Lilliard Edge is named. 1546: Isabel Madeira, Isabel Fernandes, Catarina Lopes, Isabel Dias and others women serve in the defense of the city walls during the siege of Diu in Portuguese India.(1842) "Heroínas Portuguesas". O Recreio (jornal das famílias) 8. Imprensa Nacional. 1547: Scotland, Mariotta Haliburton defends and negotiates the surrender of Hume Castle.Elizabeth Ewan, Sue Innes & Sian Reynolds: The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women: From the Earliest Times to 2004 1548: Thai queen Suriyothai, along with princess Tepastri, went into battle on war elephants with King Maha Chakkraphat against Burmese invaders.War Elephants By John M. Kistler, p. 208 Mid 1500s: Inés de Suárez, fought alongside Pedro de Valdivia during the conquest of Chile.Women's Roles in Latin America and the Caribbean By Kathryn A. Sloan, p. 171 She led the Spanish forces that repulsed the attack of Michimalonco on the newly founded Santiago in 1541. 1548–1580: Likely time period for the reign of legendary Malaysian queen Siti Wan Kembang. According to legend, she rode into battle with a sword, leading women horse riders.Legendary Princesses of Malaysia By Raman Krishnan
1550–1599 1546: Second Siege of Diu. Isabel Madeira (captain), Catarina Lopes, Garcia Rodrigues, Isabel Fernandes, and Isabel Dias, formed a group of female combatants who fought in front of the battle against the Turks. 1550s: Siena, Italy falls under siege. Every able citizen was mobilized in the effort to build fortifications, and Laudomia Forteguerri leads a group of 1,000 noble and artisan women to aid in the construction.Robin, Diana, Anne R. Larsen, and Carole Levin. "Forteguerri, Laudomia (1515–1556?)." Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance: Italy, France, and England. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2007. 151–153. p. 158McClure, George W. "The Academy of the Intronati and Sienese Women (1525–1555)." Parlour Games and the Public Life of Women in Renaissance Italy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013. 35–51. p. 49Eisenbichler, Konrad. "Laudomia Forteguerri: Constructions of a Woman." The Sword and the Pen: Women, Politics, and Poetry in Sixteenth-century Siena. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2012. 101–164. p. 155 1555: Zhuang Chinese woman Wa Shi leads troops into battle on behalf of the Ming Dynasty.Lily Xiao Hong Lee and Sue Wiles, Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women, p. 433. 1557: Wa Shi leads over 6000 Zhuang infantry against pirates and successfully defeated them at Wangjiangjing (north of modern Jiaxing). She personally fought in combat, using a dao sword. 1558: Scotland, Janet Beaton marches at the head of an armed party consisting of two hundred members of her clan to the Kirk of St. Mary of the Lowes in Yarrow, where she knocked down the doors in an attempt to apprehend Sir Peter Cranstoun.Antonia Fraser, Mary, Queen of Scots, Dell Publishing Co., Inc., New York, March 1971, originally published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1969