Following the Armies: Contemporary Images of Military Women and Children in German Central Europe

A reenactor portraying a Prussian Soldatenfrau
late in the Seven Years War

Dear Reader,

Today, I would like to present several contemporary images of women who followed Germanic Armies during the Eighteenth Century. These women, often the wives of soldiers, traveled alongside the armies of Frederick the Great and Maria Theresa. The first four images come from the collection produced by Johann Christian Becher, Wahrhaftige Nachricht derer Begebenheiten drawn during the Seven Years War.

A Franconian Sutleress, Becher

The first woman, a sutler of some means, wears a red sleeved waistcoat and dark blue jacket and petticoat. Her shoes are obscured, but she wears a round, shallow-crowned felt hat with a red ribbon. Her cart/wheelbarrow contains a cask, bags, and she is pictured with a "Coffee Machine" according to a different version of the same image.  The cookware is not blackened. 

An Austrian Sutleress and her family 

There are some similar elements of dress in this image, showing a black felt round hat, likewise tied with a red ribbon (both are knotted on the right of the wearers' crown). This woman has three children, two walk barefoot, and the third is kept tied around the woman's body. Like the Franconian woman above, this woman wears a dark colored jacket with a bit of red at the sleeves. She appears to have a patterned apron and light colored petticoat with red striping. Her daughter carries a walking stick, bottle, and wine skin or draw-string bag, and has a pink sleeveless top over her shift, a green petticoat, and blue apron. Her son wears a round felt hat, worn knee breeches, and a cream woolen waistcoat. 

A Wuertemberger Soldier's Wife

This woman carries a small child on her head, tied to a basket. She has a straw hat, a long cream-colored woolen or linen frock coat, a black waistcoat, and a white cloth around her neck. Her apron is white with blue floral patterning, and she wears a blue petticoat. She has something strapped to her back and a small keg with a strap. 

A Grenadier's Wife from Mainz, her family and equipment 

This women wears a blue jacket and petticoat, her head is tied in a scarf, and she wears no hat. Her eldest daughter cares for a smaller child on the back of a donkey, in a grey top and petticoat with a light colored neck-cloth and straw hat. The woman appears to have light brown shoes, the daughter wears red shoes. The women leads the donkey and has a walking stick, and what appears to be a linen wallet on her back. 

A French Sutleress and a Hungarian Hussar's wife

The French sutleress (left) wears a brown brunswick or long jacket, what might be a military canteen or a glass bottle, a pink cap, a blue apron and green striped petticoat. The Hungarian woman wears a sleeveless green top, no discernible shirt, a loose head covering underneath a military-style laced cocked hat, a blue hussar's jacket, and a white striped petticoat. Somewhat memorably, she carries a strand of garlic in her right hand, and a chicken or some sort of fowl in her right hand. 

The next few images come from details of the military art of Hyacinth de La Pegna, an  artist who commemorated the Hapsburg victories of the Seven Years War. 

This image shows a Prussian soldier's wife with a blue jacket, red petticoat, and white cap. Her baby, on her back, is swaddled in green cloth. 

This woman, with an orange jacket, white shawl/neck cloth, and white cap wears a red petticoat and has her shirt sleeves tucked into the arms of her jacket. She appears to have some sort of wallet/blanket around her middle, held in her right hand. 

This painting shows Prussian women in states of relative undress as a result of the early morning surprise attack at Hochkirch in 1758. The woman on the right appears to have a white/rose colored cap, and she has her sleeves rolled up, and wears her stays. On the left, a women holds a child in while wearing similar clothing, but appears to have a brown/orange blanket of some sort draped around her. 

This scene, also from the downfall at Hochkirch, appears to show a woman in matching sleeveless top and petticoat fleeing from a tent with a blanket around her middle.  She wears a white cap, and sleeves rolled to above the elbow. 

Pro-Prussian Silesian Woman, surrender of Breslau

This image, taken from a commemorative print of the surrender of Breslau, shows a pro-Prussian Silesian woman, with a dark colored petticoat, light-colored jacket with a light-colored shawl and cap. 

The Begging Soldier's Wife, Daniel Chodowiekci

This image, by Prussian painter Chodowiecki, shows a women with a jacket, two military style cocked hats, a market wallet, some type of leather or linen bag, and a light colored petticoat. As a result of her market wallet, it is difficult to definitively address some of her clothing. 

From the above sources, it is clear that some women wore old or unused cocked hats, and occasionally wore military style coats/jackets. Patterned aprons and blue aprons appear in multiple images, as do petticoats with stripes near the bottom. 

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Thanks for Reading, 

Alex Burns