Margaretha (born in Groningen, died after 1611) was a soldier in the Dutch States Army. She fought disguised as a man in the Dutch Revolt against Spain. This made her one of the first female soldiers in Dutch history.
Biography
Margaretha is described by historian Emanuel van Meteren, who writes that she had served as a soldier, dressed as a man, for seven years. She fought first as a pikeman, later using a musket. Her fellow soldiers praised her heroism in taking many entrenchments near Steenwijk and Groningen. Van Meteren describes her as "a stout and dauntless warrior, yea among the officers reckoned".
Margaretha married a drummer she met in the army. Together they went to live in Groningen sometime between 1599 and 1611, where they ran a shop in "fatty goods". Margaretha is said to have written a song where she called on other women to also defend the fatherland as soldiers, "exhorting the young daughters to the love of war to protect the fatherland by her example".
References
- ^ Rudolf Dekker; Lotte van de Pol (1989). Vrouwen in mannenkleren. De geschiedenis van een tegendraadse traditie. Europa 1500-1800 [Women in men's clothes. The history of a defiant tradition. Europe 1500-1800]. Amsterdam. pp. 49, 108, 151.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Emanuel van Meteren (1663). Historien der Nederlanden en haar naburen tot het jaar 1612 [History of the Netherlands and its neighbours up to the year 1612]. Amsterdam. pp. 445–446.
- Tom Meijers. "Mysterieuze Margaretha: een vrouwsoldaat in manskleren" [Mysterious Margaretha: a female soldier in man's clothes]. De Verhalen van Groningen.
- "Margaretha". Digital Women's Lexicon of the Netherlands.