‘More of a Burden Rather Than a Benefit’: Perceptions of Crusading Women and How They Developed From the Eleventh to Fourteenth Centuries

Robert of Rheims perception of crusading women in the First Crusade was that they were ‘more of a burden rather than a benefit’. This thesis questions Robert’s attitude towards crusading women and explores if this really was how medieval contemporaries perceived female crusaders. By expanding upon previous works by analysing crusading women in the Baltic crusading front, as well as the home front of Europe, this thesis catalogues opinions of crusading women through the crusading periods of the eleventh to fourteenth centuries. It then uses these opinions to argue that perceptions towards female crusaders did develop and change through the crusading periods. Finally, the thesis concludes with an examination into how crusading developed and opened up opportunities and roles for women in medieval society.