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hrj(I explain the LHMP here and provide a cumulative index.)
You may have noticed a (temporary) change in the blog heading. One of my secret hopes for the LHMP is that it will entice interesting people to engage with the material and--as a personal side benefit--give me a chance to meet them or get to know them better. I’d been following Rose Fox on Twitter (@rosefox) for quite some time simply because they had fascinating things to say. And when Rose started live-tweeting a summary of In the Company of Men as part of their research for a novel with a trans male protagonist and a lesbian supporting character in ~1810 London, I gathered up my courage and asked if I could use the material as a guest contribution to the Project.
Rose’s angle is slightly different from the summary I might have made (for one thing, it’s far more detailed!) as they’re examining it through the lens of what a transmasculine person reading the novels that Krimmer analyzes might have thought and felt. One reason I’m delighted to be able include Rose’s work is as a reminder that the material in the Project--though organized around my own personal interests--is intended to be of interest and use to people with a much broader range of purposes than my own.
So for the next two weeks, to respect this broader and more inclusive examination of Krimmer’s work, the blog series will be re-titled as above. Rose covered chapters 2-5, while today's entry covering the introduction and chapter 1 is by me.
* * *
Krimmer, Elisabeth. 2004. In the Company of Men: Cross-Dressed Women Around 1800. Wayne State University Press, Detroit. ISBN 0-8143-3145-9
Introduction
(blogged by Heather Rose Jones)
Krimmer’s primary focus is on the motif of cross-dressing women in 18th century German literature (novels, plays, etc.), but as part of the background, she reviews a great many historic cases. The issues of theory that are covered in these opening parts of Krimmer’s work, with the complexities of gender theory and clothing as signifiers of all manner of social classifications, are thoroughly covered in the analysis of chapters 2-5. The present summary is simply a rough catalog of the examples she cites.
1721 in Halberstadt, Germany – Catharina Lincken charged for wearing men’s clothing. Three different male aliases are listed, under which she served as a soldier at various times. Her transgressions also included switching back and forth between Catholicism and Lutheranism. She married a woman named Catharina Mühlhahn.
Court theatrics and masquerades in which women dressed as men (and sometimes vice versa) were held under Empress Elisabeth I of Russia (1741-62) and Princess Amalie of Hessen-Homburg (1774-1846).
Examples are cataloged under several headings:
Criminals
(no date) The wife of the bandit Schinderhannes participated in his robberies in male dress.
(no date) Trijin Jurriaens of Hamburg (see Dekker & van de Pol 1989 for details)
(no date) Isabe Bunkens (see Dekker & van de Pol 1989 for details)
1643, Germany - Isabella Geelvinck worked as a cook for a military regiment for 10 years
Mary Frith aka Moll Cutpurse (1584-1659) gained fame when her life was put on stage in The Roaring Girl
1720 – The cross-dressing pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read were captured and tried.
Religious Figures
Legends of cross-dressing saints: Thecla, Pelagia, Marina, Hildegund, Athanasia of Antiochia, Margaretha
Joan of Arc
Pope Joan
Travel and Leisure
Lady Mary Montague wore men’s clothing while traveling abroad
Queen Christina of Sweden traveled in men’s clothing using the name “Count Dohna” after abdicating in 1654.
The poet Sidonia Hedwig Zäunemann wore men’s clothing while traveling.
The German courtesan Maria Anna Steinhaus wore men’s clothing while traveling and hunting.
Countess Amalie of Bavaria wore trousers for hunting.
Military
Hannah Snell served in the British army as a man.
Angélique Brulon was a soldier in Napoleon’s army and continued to serve after discovery, as did Thérèse Figueur (1774-1861).
German women who had military careers in the Low Countries in male guise included Maria van Antwerpen (aka Jan van Ant) (1719-1781) and Catharin Rosenbrock of Hamburg.
1799 – A German woman, Antoinette Berg, joined an English regiment fighting the French in the Netherlands, after which she joined the navy and traveled to the Caribbean.
Theater
After women began to take up theatrical roles, it became a fashion for certain types of male roles to be habitually played by female actors, such as Shakespeare’s Romeo and Hamlet. A long list of actresses became known for playing trouser roles in the 18th century and later.
* * *
Chapter 1: The Female Soldier and the French Revolution
(blogged by Heather Rose Jones)
This chapter focuses primarily on the history of women participating in military contexts in male dress, whether actual disguise was the intent or not.
Starts off with Joan of Arc, as usual.
Cross-dressed noblewomen involved in the Fronde insurrection in 1652-3: the Princess of Condé marched to Bordeaux in military uniform to gain support; the Duchess of Longueville disguised herself as a man to escape imprisonment after leading the Spanish army in Paris . Also participating in male disguise: the Duchess of Chevreuse and Madame Montpensier.
The upheavals of the French Revolution inspired some women to cross-dress openly as a symbol of their right to public participation, including Théroigne de Méricourt (1762-1817). Many women served openly in the French National Guard as early as 1789, even as officers. Known names include the sisters Félicité and Théophile Fernigh, Thérèse Figueur, Madame Poncet, Angélique Marie Josèphe Brulon.
In this same era, cross-dressing for better employment was documented for Catherine Louise Vignot (a coal carrier), Anne Grandjean (a carpenter), an unnamed female cobbler.
Even after attempts were made to discourage women’s military participation, we find Renée Bordereau, Francoise Després, and the Vicomtesse Turpin de Crissé.
The Napoleonic wars also provided a more relaxed context on the other side for German women participating in the military in male guise (though perhaps sometimes openly). Known individuals include Eleonore Prochaska (whose gender was only discovered after a heroic death that inspired poems and plays), Rosalie von Bonin (who commanded a cavalry unit), Anna Lühring (who was unmasked only due to a letter from her father).
The remainder of Chapter 1 discusses novels with cross-dressing female protagonists, set in the context of the French Revolution.
You may have noticed a (temporary) change in the blog heading. One of my secret hopes for the LHMP is that it will entice interesting people to engage with the material and--as a personal side benefit--give me a chance to meet them or get to know them better. I’d been following Rose Fox on Twitter (@rosefox) for quite some time simply because they had fascinating things to say. And when Rose started live-tweeting a summary of In the Company of Men as part of their research for a novel with a trans male protagonist and a lesbian supporting character in ~1810 London, I gathered up my courage and asked if I could use the material as a guest contribution to the Project.
Rose’s angle is slightly different from the summary I might have made (for one thing, it’s far more detailed!) as they’re examining it through the lens of what a transmasculine person reading the novels that Krimmer analyzes might have thought and felt. One reason I’m delighted to be able include Rose’s work is as a reminder that the material in the Project--though organized around my own personal interests--is intended to be of interest and use to people with a much broader range of purposes than my own.
So for the next two weeks, to respect this broader and more inclusive examination of Krimmer’s work, the blog series will be re-titled as above. Rose covered chapters 2-5, while today's entry covering the introduction and chapter 1 is by me.
* * *
Krimmer, Elisabeth. 2004. In the Company of Men: Cross-Dressed Women Around 1800. Wayne State University Press, Detroit. ISBN 0-8143-3145-9
Introduction
(blogged by Heather Rose Jones)
Krimmer’s primary focus is on the motif of cross-dressing women in 18th century German literature (novels, plays, etc.), but as part of the background, she reviews a great many historic cases. The issues of theory that are covered in these opening parts of Krimmer’s work, with the complexities of gender theory and clothing as signifiers of all manner of social classifications, are thoroughly covered in the analysis of chapters 2-5. The present summary is simply a rough catalog of the examples she cites.
1721 in Halberstadt, Germany – Catharina Lincken charged for wearing men’s clothing. Three different male aliases are listed, under which she served as a soldier at various times. Her transgressions also included switching back and forth between Catholicism and Lutheranism. She married a woman named Catharina Mühlhahn.
Court theatrics and masquerades in which women dressed as men (and sometimes vice versa) were held under Empress Elisabeth I of Russia (1741-62) and Princess Amalie of Hessen-Homburg (1774-1846).
Examples are cataloged under several headings:
Criminals
(no date) The wife of the bandit Schinderhannes participated in his robberies in male dress.
(no date) Trijin Jurriaens of Hamburg (see Dekker & van de Pol 1989 for details)
(no date) Isabe Bunkens (see Dekker & van de Pol 1989 for details)
1643, Germany - Isabella Geelvinck worked as a cook for a military regiment for 10 years
Mary Frith aka Moll Cutpurse (1584-1659) gained fame when her life was put on stage in The Roaring Girl
1720 – The cross-dressing pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read were captured and tried.
Religious Figures
Legends of cross-dressing saints: Thecla, Pelagia, Marina, Hildegund, Athanasia of Antiochia, Margaretha
Joan of Arc
Pope Joan
Travel and Leisure
Lady Mary Montague wore men’s clothing while traveling abroad
Queen Christina of Sweden traveled in men’s clothing using the name “Count Dohna” after abdicating in 1654.
The poet Sidonia Hedwig Zäunemann wore men’s clothing while traveling.
The German courtesan Maria Anna Steinhaus wore men’s clothing while traveling and hunting.
Countess Amalie of Bavaria wore trousers for hunting.
Military
Hannah Snell served in the British army as a man.
Angélique Brulon was a soldier in Napoleon’s army and continued to serve after discovery, as did Thérèse Figueur (1774-1861).
German women who had military careers in the Low Countries in male guise included Maria van Antwerpen (aka Jan van Ant) (1719-1781) and Catharin Rosenbrock of Hamburg.
1799 – A German woman, Antoinette Berg, joined an English regiment fighting the French in the Netherlands, after which she joined the navy and traveled to the Caribbean.
Theater
After women began to take up theatrical roles, it became a fashion for certain types of male roles to be habitually played by female actors, such as Shakespeare’s Romeo and Hamlet. A long list of actresses became known for playing trouser roles in the 18th century and later.
* * *
Chapter 1: The Female Soldier and the French Revolution
(blogged by Heather Rose Jones)
This chapter focuses primarily on the history of women participating in military contexts in male dress, whether actual disguise was the intent or not.
Starts off with Joan of Arc, as usual.
Cross-dressed noblewomen involved in the Fronde insurrection in 1652-3: the Princess of Condé marched to Bordeaux in military uniform to gain support; the Duchess of Longueville disguised herself as a man to escape imprisonment after leading the Spanish army in Paris . Also participating in male disguise: the Duchess of Chevreuse and Madame Montpensier.
The upheavals of the French Revolution inspired some women to cross-dress openly as a symbol of their right to public participation, including Théroigne de Méricourt (1762-1817). Many women served openly in the French National Guard as early as 1789, even as officers. Known names include the sisters Félicité and Théophile Fernigh, Thérèse Figueur, Madame Poncet, Angélique Marie Josèphe Brulon.
In this same era, cross-dressing for better employment was documented for Catherine Louise Vignot (a coal carrier), Anne Grandjean (a carpenter), an unnamed female cobbler.
Even after attempts were made to discourage women’s military participation, we find Renée Bordereau, Francoise Després, and the Vicomtesse Turpin de Crissé.
The Napoleonic wars also provided a more relaxed context on the other side for German women participating in the military in male guise (though perhaps sometimes openly). Known individuals include Eleonore Prochaska (whose gender was only discovered after a heroic death that inspired poems and plays), Rosalie von Bonin (who commanded a cavalry unit), Anna Lühring (who was unmasked only due to a letter from her father).
The remainder of Chapter 1 discusses novels with cross-dressing female protagonists, set in the context of the French Revolution.
no subject
Date: 2015-01-26 06:49 pm (UTC)