Women and Children in Foreign Mercenary Regiments During the Smolensk War

This article discusses the presence of women and children in early modern military communities with reference to the foreign regiments in Russian service during the Smolensk War of 1632–1634. While gender history has been extensively researched in the context of Western European military history, it has not yet received much attention in studies of seventeenth-century Russian warfare. The article explores possible avenues for such research, drawing primarily on Russian-language archival records of the semi-autonomous regiments for which all non-Russians (mostly Germans, Englishmen, and Scots) were recruited abroad. Other sources include the surviving wills of English mercenary officers, the church records of the Lutheran parish in Moscow, and the accounts of foreign travellers to Russia. The article systematises evidence on the wives, mistresses, and children of foreign soldiers and officers who came to Russia as members of their families or in some other status. These data prove the constant presence of women and children in the foreign regiments during the siege of Smolensk. The article examines the legal situation of these persons and the policy of the Russian authorities towards them. It also discusses their property situation, inheritance issues, and women’s participation in legal and informal conflicts within the military communities, as well as corruption cases related to the illegal service of minors in the regiments. It also examines the social tensions created by marriages between mercenaries and the daughters and widows of foreigners living permanently in Russia. Documentary evidence of any contact between mercenaries and Russian women is almost entirely lacking.