Random Women Disguised As Men Made History (12 items)

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  (#7) Marina the Monk

  Marina was still a young woman when she pledged to live her life as a male monk in the 8th century CE. Known as “Marinus,” she was incredibly devout and her true identity went unquestioned. So much so that, when the local innkeeper’s daughter became pregnant, she claimed Marinus was the father. In perhaps the greatest parenting move of the 8th century, Marinus accepted responsibility for the child and raised it as her own until her death.
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  (#12) Ulrika Eleonora Stålhammar

  • Dec. at 45 (1688-1733)

  Ulrika Eleonora Stålhammar, along with her bevy of sisters, was born in Sweden in the late 1600s. The death of her parents, family debt, and a sketchy marriage arrangement caused Stålhammar to disguise herself as a man and flee her hometown. Using the name “Vilhelm Edstedt,” Stålhammar joined the Swedish military to fight in the Great Northern War and even rose through the ranks to become a corporal. Rumors began to spread about her identity and, in particular, her marriage to a woman named Maria. She faced criminal charges and a thorough public trial which could have ended with her execution, but Stålhammar received just one month in jail. She was also pilloried and exiled, which is not great, but she and Maria reunited and spent the rest of their lives living together in the country.
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  (#1) Joan of Arc

  • Dec. at 19 (1412-1431)

  Before she was a legend, Joan of Arc was just your average 15th-century French peasant girl - worried about boys, her hair, the plague - you know, teen stuff. But one day, a handful of saints came to her in a vision, saying it was her duty to help lead France to victory over the English. Somehow, Joan found her way to court and was granted a military appointment, a.k.a. armor, a horse, and instructions to pretend she was a man. She was an exceptional military leader and King Charles VII was a great champion of her, but the Burgundians and the English saw her as a threat. She was captured by Burgundian forces in 1430 and rushed through a religious trial in 1431 which culminated in her execution. In 1456, she was exonerated, a decision which paved the way to her eventual sainthood.
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  (#5) Hannah Snell

  • Dec. at 69 (1723-1792)

  Hannah Snell was born in England in 1723 but spent her life disguised as a male soldier named James Gray. During her stint with the Marines, Snell was wounded in battle 12 times, including a hit to the groin. How she managed to recover from injury and mask her true identity is still unknown. Eventually, though, Snell revealed her gender, was honorably discharged, granted a pension (nice!), and opened a pub called The Female Warrior.
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  (#9) Sarah Edmonds

  In 1857, Sarah Edmonds left Canada for Hartford, CT, in order to escape an abusive father who had always wanted a son. As a woman alone in a new country, Edmonds disguised herself as “Franklin Thompson” and worked as a traveling Bible salesman. When the Civil War started up, Edmonds enlisted and served many roles, including nurse, courier, and spy. She only revealed her true identity to her comrades during a reunion after the war. Surprisingly, her old war buddies accepted this shocking revelation and even helped Edmonds score a soldier’s pension from the U.S. government. Take that, dad!
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  (#6) George Eliot

  • Dec. at 61 (1819-1880)

  British-born Mary Ann Evans was already a distinguished writer and editor when, in the mid-1850s, she wrote her first full-length novel under the pen name George Eliot. Her foremost reason for doing so was an attempt to be taken seriously as a writer because most of the fiction being published by women at the time was regarded as “silly.” Her plot worked, of course, as Middlemarch and her many other works are regarded as some of the finest Victorian literature ever written.

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