Love for Sale: 'Ladies of the Night' in Early-Modern Europe

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The Landsknechts - arguably some of the most famous mercenaries of Europe - were not only sought after by the lords but also by the ladies. While the mercenaries had the rough appeal of adventurers, they themselves longed for the caring arms and the warmth in bed only a woman could provide. Landsknechts and women were an inseparable pairing. Be it because of love or lust, the women of the baggage train or the camp and the soldiers frequently found together. In this video we are going to explore the relationships between women and men in and around a Landsknechts-camp. This is how modern historiography explains landsknechts love.
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00:00 Intro
00:48 Nord VPN
02:16 Ladies of the Night
Bibliography
Altdorfer, Albrecht, Zeichnungen, Deckfarbenmalerei, Druckgraphik, hg. von Mielke, H., Berlin/Regensburg 1988.
Baumann, Reinhard, Landsknechte, Ihre Geschichte und Kultur vom späten Mittelalter bis zum Dreissigjährigen Krieg, München 1994.
Franck, Sebastian, Sprichwörter, hg. von Peter Klaus Knauer, (Sebastian Franck: Sämtliche Werke. Kritische Ausgabe mit Kommentar Bd. 11), Bern 1993
Rogg, Matthias, s.v. Landsknecht, in: DNP
Rogg, Matthias, Landsknechte und Reisläufer. Bilder vom Soldaten. Ein Stand in der Kunst des 16. Jh.s, 2002.
Showalter, D., Astore, W., Soldiers’ Lives Through History, 2007.
Stadler, Hans, s.v. Schlacht bei Pavia, in: HLS.
Welti, l., Graf Jakob Hannibal I. von Hohenems, 1530-1587. Ein Leben im Dienste des Katholischen Abendlandes, Innsbruck 1954

[@SandRhomanHistory]

Get Nord VPN with a 73% discount, 1 month for free and a 30-day-money-back-guarantee right now and support our channel: nordvpn.com/sandrhoman

[@eldrenofthemist2492]

Can you do a Fantasy Theory video? How well would the Roman or Greek army do if they were in Lord Of The Ring? :D

[@burtrenolyds9805]

Good job on the Nord advert dude. Cool to see dudes working for themselves like this. Keep it up.

[@petertimowreef9085]

If they can offer a 73% discount, imagine how much they're overcharging regular costumers. Oh well, thanks Nord VPN for paying for this content so I don't have to.

[@Oxtocoatl13]

In the diaries of that one mercenary who kept a diary through the 30 year's war, he describes how he was wounded in the battle for Magdeburg, so his wife went to join the sack of the city while he lay on a sickbed. Someone had to provide for the family.

[@ukaszgrzesik7231]

Relationship goals.

[@franciscoscaramanga9396]

You mind dropping the source? I wouldn't mind reading that.

[@Oxtocoatl13]

@@franciscoscaramanga9396 sure, the guy's name was Peter Hagendorf. Just couldn't be bothered to check when I first wrote the comment.

[@franciscoscaramanga9396]

@@Oxtocoatl13 Nice! Thank you! That might make the basis of a good story someday.

[@NefariousKoel]

@@Oxtocoatl13 - Silver belts, some fancy clothes, and some wine. Apparently the wine went down well and the rest of her booty netted 12 Thalers. Enterprising woman.

[@XDestroyoxZx]

A thing I really love about your channel is how much you focus on the common person. It's one of my favorite parts of studying history.

[@brokenbridge6316]

Indeed

[@Black-Sun_Kaiser]

Agree

[@josephdavis1704]

Agreed. Most real analysis of history will pay attention to the common person in my experience. The only time I have seen it not be paid attention to is in American primary and secondary education.

[@ontheline3077]

Yes. Reminds me of Braudel works, very attentive to detail.

[@flacidfrank8410]

Steel rain

[@bskorupk]

"A soldier's life in pike-and-shot age, was rough, but some parts of it were more.. hospitable than others." - SandRhoman History

[@dingliedangliedoodle9261]

@N Fels Where there is the pike there is the shot too.

[@MudHut67]

Yeah we all watched the video, thanks

[@nickdarr7328]

What made me love history is how similar people today are to people even 5000 years ago. I remember a letter sent from an Italian bishop or cardinal to a colleague in England sometime around 1100. He complained about you can't visit a house of ill repute anywhere in Italy without finding at least one courtesan of English stock. This was during the height of the crusades and catholic fervor where anyone able went on a pilgrimage. You were required to get a letter from your local bishop giving permission for the pilgrimage and could present the letter for free or cheap lodging or food at churches along the way. Adventurous men could join the crusades but adventurous women had to get more creative. People think of middle age peasants as bland, boring, without dreams, superstitious and all too happy to burn neighbors as witches. But these people were so much more and more creative than beaten down church going sheep waiting to die of the plague or in child birth

[@arthas640]

People tend to think that people of the past werent like us and that they had all kinds of crazy beliefs, like that people only ate bread, hated spices or seasoning food, never bathed, hated sex, or that everyone just laid around starving in between wars and that people didnt travel, enjoy entertainment like music and plays, or that they didnt enjoy good food just like we do.

[@Tyrone9256]

Soldiers and soldier's wives, a tale that never changes

[@seneca983]

I would guess soldiers today don't use the services of prostitutes as much, at least not when on campaign (though I'm not certainly claiming that it never happens).

[@johnhenry4844]

@@seneca983 If I was a soldier back then, getting a temporary wife or basically a gf would be a lot safer than a prostitute, given STD’s being common, treatment non existent

[@gfuentes8449]

@@johnhenry4844 a lot of the modern STDs didn't exist either

[@vascocorreia3128]

@@gfuentes8449 wouldnt only aids not exist? since by 1500 I believe that the stds which are thought to have come from the new world to the old world would already have travelled to europe.

[@KingsandGenerals]

_Deletes the topic from the list_

[@Journeyman107]

Damn my man is getting noticed by the big channel now

[@lucaswallace7476]

You acknowledge now you gotta make a video about it >:3

[@Dragons_Armory]

I love it, a look into the daily lives of the often forgotten people. What great fuel for storytelling. Thanks man, these content are super enjoyable.

[@mariushunger8755]

Even SandRhoman feels the lovely christmas vibes 👌🏼

[@threethrushes]

July, 1996. Ft. Bragg, NC. After a month of ROTC training, we have a day off; the company commander gives us the names and addresses of all the places which we are expressly forbidden from frequenting... Plus ca change.

[@jamesharding3459]

The more things change, the more things stay the same.

[@jonathanallard2128]

Plus c"est pareil!

[@gorgon6680]

Does anyone else love how we always occasionally see a man with a really big and jolly smile in these videos?

[@Pikkabuu]

The separation that these people faced is really something that we cannot properly understand. In my country a soldier returning from the 30 Years War first stopped in his friends house and fell in love with the houses maid. Problem was that the soldier was married but he hadn't seen his wife for years so while he did get engaged to the maid he then decided to go home to see if his wife was still alive! She was alive btw and the church got awfully interested in the guy who was married to one woman and engaged to another!

[@lanzknecht8599]

The german name for the ladies that accompanied and travelled with troops is Marketenderin. The services they provided included besides the ones shown here in detail were food, health care, trading, and sometimes if they themselves were too old or not in any form attractive only the provision of "personal services"

[@clintmoor422]

hell yes! family friendly content from the family friendly channel number 1!

[@thequeenofswords7230]

I really do love these cultural explorations, it's very interesting to see this period through the lens of authentic experience rather than trying to read the tea-leaves of historical propaganda.

[@andreydragomirov8559]

The Spanish movie "Alatriste" (2006) depicted the reality of Early Modern Europe very well...

[@gfuentes8449]

how do you know?

[@andreydragomirov8559]

@@gfuentes8449 , I know history.

[@stormiewutzke4190]

When George Washington was on the march the availability of rum was a problem. Brewing was a womans job and since soldiers needed alcohol as a way to disinfect water if the soldiers had to buy beer or cider it tended to put them where they met ladies who tended to tag along. The growing camp followers became a problem when it got out of control. For people who didn't travel very often meeting new people is always romantic. Our modern understanding of things usually misses a balance of power and a more interesting life than we might expect.

[@Black-Sun_Kaiser]

This channel really is one of a kind, I love it.

[@WarlordFlanker]

I really love learning about the Pike & Shotte era of European warfare. Please do more on Landsknecht, Swiss Guard and their campaigns.

[@zetectic7968]

As the saying goes "Love finds a way" but sexual desire/lust often gets first place😁Money is commonly part of the process.

[@cjclark2002]

The way you’re videos present obscure topics makes em more engaging and colorful, sparking further interest from average and long term viewers man. Quite the unique channel among all others.

[@argokarrus2731]

I love this channel, could you perhaps cover One-Eyes Jan Zizka in a video series? Excellent video as usual!

[@Thraim.]

Note to self: Don't become a Landsknecht

[@shadowlord1418]

Dont think your in danger of that

[@JH-lo9ut]

The design of their outfits say it all: Landsknechte don't give a f*ck! about what you think. They intend to fight, drink and whore their way to an early grave and they are going to enjoy it as long as the they can, because the alternative sucks just as bad.

[@robrick9361]

@@shadowlord1418 *you're

[@julio5prado]

Very interesting! Where you can find a lot of info about this topic is in the Spanish Tercios. These were highly professional and regulated in detail, plus there is a mountain of records and documentation including the role of all the women that accompanied the tercios.

[@burakbayrakc1020]

A great video as always

[@garydmcgath]

As always, useful stuff for my research.

[@dabocaster]

Great videos dude. Every single one is great!

[@shadowwarriorshockwave3281]

Very interesting I never knew I wanted to know more about camps

[@kirgan1000]

The camp was realy a walking city, the army need carftsmen, seamstresses, cooks, farrier, carptenter etc and then we have the whole "private commerce" like merchants who buy the loot, "entertainment" etc Mercenaries did not normaly dig trenches during a siege, but did have "civilian" workers that did most of the work.

[@kalsizzle]

this channel is super underated

[@gabrielvanhauten4169]

fantastic video mate

[@hendrikokara913]

What a special and thoughtfull Christmas present. :)

[@dubbyx8490]

I subscribe to this channel because its representation of ancient everyday life is unmatched!

[@JanHans]

Fantastic video.

[@brokenbridge6316]

Nicely informative video

[@ethanpf449]

Could you do a series on the Khmelnytsky Uprising?

[@edi9892]

What do we know about them being armed? Some images showed daggers, and I've heard before that they were actively partaking in looting, which is very much a high risk endevor...

[@jonathanallard2128]

Surely women teamed up with men to loot and wouldn't be so foolish as to do it on their own.

[@bukkebruse2936]

a dagger is an extremely useful tool for camp life, why wouldn't they carry them?

[@napoleonibonaparte7198]

Ah yes, the last of the 4 Fs of the natural functions of the hypothalamus.

[@johntitor1256]

I don't get it. Aren't those 4 Fs fighting, flighting, feeding, and the French Empire?

[@threethrushes]

Feeding Fighting Fleeing Fibonacci-derived, integral calculus solving.

[@manueljoshua175]

Now I'm mad at my school that I never learned about Entgen even though she came from my city. We only learned about Beethoven 😒 This would have been a far more interesting history class 😂

[@darkushippotoxotai9536]

I'd hate to clean up after the class, To be frank. Seriously, tho, Beethoven is much more interesting than a Average prostitute.

[@stephena1196]

@@darkushippotoxotai9536 Beethoven started the trend for musicians to smash up their instruments, but I just don't find that interesting. Entgen sounds fascinating and not the least bit average to me, but then I know nothing of prostitutes.

[@darkushippotoxotai9536]

@@stephena1196 Read up the Profumo affair. It's the best tragic-comic affair you'll ever read. A doctor partronising "Liberated Girls" who was most likely set up to be the fall guy, A Russian Attaché, A leading UK politico, and 2 way mirrors. I detest dramas and the underworld, But it's damned interesting. There is also a story about a New York Cop's ma being a prostitute who slept with black men and then got beaten to death by one of the guys she slept with and the baby-cop-guy was left with the alleged murderer's mother during his childhood. Crazy story.

[@jc6226]

when i saw the lady selling beer also had a squirrel, i knew i had come to the right place.

[@silverchairsg]

My love always has a rooster on her shoulder; am I doing something wrong?

[@raulsiniallikl2317]

dmn good video! more similar content please!

[@Wolf_Larsen]

Perfect video length

[@Lapkonium]

Nice vid m8

[@istoppedcaring6209]

to be fair, if you hadn't seen a woman in months you would be happy to go for these apparantly that is still the case with US soldiers talking about so called "desert queens"

[@lunchitizemecapn]

No joke man. This was really a thing in the Army. One author I read put it best by rating the women in his unit by how many days it would be before he would begin to have dreams about them.

[@vilgefortz3131]

Video length = beginning of the hundred year war, well played!

[@richardbradley2335]

Amazing !

[@johnwhite5217]

Can you make documentation about pirate and the carbine sea life how they lived please 🙏

[@bigsarge2085]

Interesting!

[@takeiteasy8847]

I am not so sure about the dog part though. In baroque paintings puppys appear basically everywhere.

[@stevenmccart5455]

If the ladies looked anything close to what those illustrations make them out to be I might have been tempted myself.

[@medievalist8441]

Wish you'd do the battle of the golden spurs

[@mcchrille928]

Can you make a video about the battle of Copenhagen

[@Heresjonnyagain]

What are the sources for Entgen? I haven’t been able to find anything on her

[@socratrash]

Landknechts specialist. Bravo

[@ShionShinigami]

Strange question, but why is pretty every youtuber I follow sponsored by Nord VPN? No matter if it is video games, motorsports, history, etc... Nord VPN is everywhere... 😁

[@johndoe6737]

The raid Shadow legends of vpns

[@threethrushes]

Disagree, but before I explain, a short notice from the sponsor of this comment, Nord VPN. For a low-fee, you can get whatever benefit they are selling, and a money-back guarantee.

[@xanpenguin754]

Because it’s Nord VPNs advertising/marketing strategy.

[@_SpamMe]

It's really annoying, especially in these well-researched channels: makes viewers think that they can trust NordVPN, as they presumably trust the channel to provide accurate information. Muddles the entire ad vs content thing, and grossly misrepresents what VPNs do every single time (it doesn't make your information any more secret than not surfing without a VPN, especially on https sites, it just exposes the same information to different people - in this case, the NordVPN people. So your question is effectively whether you trust them or not).

[@seneca983]

VPNs are probably somewhat less specific to a type of consumer than some other products.

[@Chironex_Fleckeri]

I love this time period. I would love to be a bird at this time. Lots of fresh air and plenty to eat in the fields and forests. 🐦

[@mediocremodeler5174]

My safe word is pineapple. That shows I’m a wealthy man of sophistication.

[@tsarzamancorpdna]

what we can learn from this vid "Ppl who risk their lives defs wanna have fun in case they dont make it in the next battle"

[@SSHitMan]

The American slang word "hooker" for ladies of the night originated from the contingent who attached themselves to Union General Joseph Hooker's army in the American Civil War.

[@KLanio-lr8yv]

And how many were survivors of burd down city's, or farms....

[@Amantducafe]

Leaving a comment for the ladies and the algorythm

[@Rohv]

Did camp follower apply to the armies of Gustavus Adolphus and Oliver Cromwell? Given that they were religious armies, it would be contrary to their religious feelings to have these jezebels on camp.

[@hirdbarding3399]

...but those are wifies, and honorable camp workers, not harlots, sir!

[@bennai2]

And it wasn't unusual that a lands Knecht switched armys about 5 to 6 times in his life. They just served whoever paid them in a style like "today I fight for the protestants and after they can't pay me any more I fight for the catholics"

[@benjamindover2601]

This is a much more accurate depiction of male and female relations throughout history than the modern feminist theory, for most of history men and women worked together to try and make each others lives a little less awful. Focusing on each others strengths to make a more complete family unit when combined.

[@jodycarter7308]

It's how we get the insult "your mother wears army boots"

[@Sofus.]

🎄

[@donald8066]

We had to remember that live was extremly hard at this time, so a landsknecht live was not that bad, when you were lucky you live some years with good food, wine and a women, more then the normal farmer ever had.

[@baneofbanes]

If that was the case there would never be new farmers.

[@abrvalg321]

2:55 just like at home

[@kingoliever1]

Funny heard also some story´s about the french legion that they also get women which are even checked by the army.

[@fabrizioruffo1799]

I though Unser liebe Frau referred to the Virgin Mary?

[@999Evandro]

Of course it refers to the Virgin Mary. The lyrics of the song is very explicit about it.

[@elemperadordemexico]

Very nice pfp Cardinal

[@peterszeug308]

Anybody else from Euskirchen around here? :D Andere Euskirchener am Start? :D

[@Witnessmoo]

Damn they had Jody back in medieval times too!

[@lazarhistory]

0:28 Yo, what?

[@pp-wo1sd]

She's just helping him find his lost nuts

[@lo6757]

“contraceptive sheeths”

[@genghiskhan6809]

So basically not much different than modern army women but with a few additions.

[@LynxSouth]

An overly broad title for the narrow focus of the video, but interesting.

[@fn8382]

how much is 5 kreuzer in todays money ?

[@EuroUser1]

Prostitution was one of the least inmoral things that happened in and around the battlefield.

[@jabloko992]

'commercial love' lmfao

[@purplenurp5590]

Funny thing is that my last name is knecht

[@f.b.l.9813]

just 2-3 women for several hundred men? wow..... they must really feel sore everyday

[@f.b.l.9813]

I'd like to buy 10!

[@mikemike4705]

There is a tradition in those countries surrounding Russia, which consists of the Locals bringing up their women to amuse the invading Soldiers passing by in their way to attack Russia, it would be interesting how far back this marvelous customary was first started.

[@alicjacaban2226]

Stalin send lot of criminalists as Cannon fodder to army. {and after war they and crippled veterans ended in gulags}

[@matchlockashigaru9755]

@@alicjacaban2226 source: i made it up

[@alicjacaban2226]

@@matchlockashigaru9755 oh really🙄 Stalin need any man he can get. or as soldier or as worker. but after war .lot of criminalists with weapons . were to dangerous to let them walk free. some of them were sended to gulags asap. and many others back to old ways and were send there little later.(after WW2 soviet union have plague of crime.mostly thieft)and disabled veterans? after war cities in soviet union were full of soldiers without all limbs. war was wery costly. off course this showing weakness. and is better if foreiginers not see them. if they disapear.and many of them disapeared .

[@baneofbanes]

@@alicjacaban2226 there were penal battalions in the Soviet military yes but the average Soviet infantry man was just as likely to commit rape.

[@magnuslauglo5356]

So much popular history is based around political and military history or the studies of the ruling class. Social history like this is really fascinating too and may be less likely to be colored by our inherent national biases. Soldiers nievitably spent most of their time waitng around for things to happen. A lot of boredom far away from home, living within a community whose norms and expectations are different from those of civilian life. And relationships and roles were surely fluctuaing and and complicated.

[@elshebactm6769]

🤠👍🏿

[@user-hh7mj7gg9w]

Am I the only one who noticed that he put roosters and puppies next to these women?

[@TheMrcassina]

Have you seen my codpiece?

[@Justin-pe9cl]

The other kind of mercenary.

[@killeanmcchesney5138]

Basically the average man had just as many ex wives if not more than they do now a days lol

[@superlegomaster55]

This is the content I am subscribed for 😩😩🥵🥵👆👆👆❤❤

[@hedgehog3180]

btw "selling her/yourself" is generally an archaic and somewhat awkward way of saying that in English, usually you just say "sells sex" or "sold sex" since that's more to the point. Though I'm honestly not sure if KZbin might get angry if you say that. Also a point to add is that in general in Medieval and Early Modern Europe sex work was institutionalized, it kinda came back to Humoral theory where there was a belief that men needed to have sex to get rid of excess humors so it was seen as a necessary evil to have brothels in a city, this meant that a lot of the time the brothel would actually be owned by the Church, which seems insane to us today but it was seen as totally fine back then. A lot of women also entered sex work because it allowed them much more freedom and they could often become very rich this way. And most of the time people were sorta okay with it, sex workers weren't looked down on so long as they stayed in their part of the city and at any time a sex worker was free to leave the trade and then they'd just be a normal member of society, this did have to happen through marriage though. This also tells us about part of the incentive from the perspective of women camp followers, to them it was kinda a double jackpot, Landsknechts could get very rich from mercenary work and they might also have gotten fairly rich from sex work and now that they were married they could be mostly respectable members of society.

[@bukkebruse2936]

you're not selling a product, you're selling your body and morals, so you're selling yourself.

[@barrieskotaya-ostojic8837]

Sloppy seconds when condoms aren’t used was a major issue back then

[@reallydoe2052]

Grow up

[@Urlocallordandsavior]

I assume that the female drawings in the video were stylized?

[@hobog]

Based on thumbnail, did Witcher actually have realistic attire for prostis , ignoring the shorts?

[@Sirikazy]

The german troop love in that time the sheeps

[@nickdarr7328]

Do you really think love and sexuality differ that much from 1520 to 2020? If you look at a ballad or poem from the middle ages it's as nauseatingly sappy as the crap my freshman roommate at college used to write to whoever he couldn't live with out this week. As for sexuality those people grew up in one room homes in giant families. I'm sure they learned first hand early on how the brothers and sisters got made. Not too different from the 8th grader who stole a video or magazine from his uncle when I was a kid. And know shown by the kid who cracked the parental controls on his phone

[@jonathanallard2128]

Humans, as animals REALLY don"t change fast. Evolution takes VERY LONG to effect any significant changes. Technology, society changes A LOT faster. We're the same animal but with different toys in a different environment. Sometimes it's fun to remember that.

[@ahmataevo]

In 1520 they didn't have public schools putting children on puberty blockers and brainwashing them into thinking they were LGBTQ+ without their parent's knowledge or consent. I'd say humanity now is in the beginnings of a ruination never experienced in history.

[@jonathanallard2128]

@@ahmataevo Chill out. USA =/= the world.

[@louditalian1962]

No

[@SkyFly19853]

You mean like Sugar Daddies and Sugar Mummies?... 🤔😏

[@nightrunner3701]

Commercial “love”? More like commercial MEAT!

[@bukkebruse2936]

indeed

[@Samsok013]

How about soldiers wanting some male love? I think its hard to find more about this as it was so taboo during that time but i find it quite interesting

[@keegobricks9734]

Boy I wish I never watched this...

[@Heresjonnyagain]

“Only a woman could provide” Some would beg to differ…