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This is a collection of images from the Middle Ages and Renaissance showing women riding astride, rather than sidesaddle. The list avoids images of women in combat (including Amazons); for this sort of imagery, see the Women In Armor linkspage.
This linkspage came about because I was so sure that the only evidence for a medieval woman riding astride was the Ellesmere illustration of the Wife of Bath – and even then, that her depiction in such a position was intended to clue the reader/viewer as to her background, even before she had a chance to tell the other pilgrims all about herself. I found it surprising that there were more visual examples, largely from earlier medieval illustrations, where women just happen to be riding astride rather than sidesaddle, apparently without creating some sort of subliminal reference to the woman’s character or morality.
This is not to say that other women do not appear to ride sidesaddle in other illustrations, or that sidesaddle just happens to pop into existence as the 14th century closes (note, for example, the 12th century depictions of the Flight Into Egypt in which Mary rides aside, rather than astride) – just that visual evidence for women riding astride (other than Amazons, etc.) exists in medieval contexts.
Note the frequent appearance of the gardecorps as an overgarment for these women.
The women, also, as well as the men, ride astride, with their legs stuck out on each side of the horse. Gerald of Wales, The Topography of Ireland
- A queen (?) riding a horse (fol. 1r) and Lady of Roestoc on her way to Arthur's court (fol. 97v), Lancelot Cycle (Ashmole 828), beginning of the 14th century
- A young woman on horseback comes to question Lancelot, La Queste del Saint Graal (Brit. Lib. Royal 14 E III, fol. 91r), c. 1300-1315
-
Illustrations of
Herr Wernher von Teufen (fol. 69r),
Herr Wachsmut von Mühlhausen (fol. 183v),
and
Herr Bruno von Hornberg (fol. 251r)
in the Manesse Codex (UBH Cod. Pal. germ. 848), c. 1300-1330
- Mirror-case: A couple on horseback, c. 1300-1330
- Bas-de-page scene showing hawking, with man and two women on horseback (fol. 151r); bas-de-page scene showing two ladies on horseback, riding astride, with one pointing and the other blowing a horn (fol. 152v); bas-de-page scene of two women jousting (fol. 197v); from the Queen Mary Psalter (British Library Royal 2 B VII), c. 1310-1320
- The Queen of Sheba visits Solomon, Bible historiale (PML M.322, fol. 189v), c. 1325
- Master Estienne and Marguerite at the Black Gate, Artus de Bretagne (BNF Fr. 761, fol. 66v), second quarter of the 14th century
- Fols.
78v,
79, and
79v
of the Taymouth Hours (British Library Yates Thompson 13), second quarter of the 14th century
- Mirror case: Departure for the falconry-hunt, c. 1325-1350
- Ivory mirror back with hawking scene, c. 1325-1375
- Mirror case: A knight and lady hunting, c. 1330-1350
- Mirror back with falconing party, c. 1350-1375
- Frescoes of the Good and Bad Government at the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena by Abrogio Lorenzetti, c. 1338-1340; see detail of the Effects of Good Government on City Life
- Illustrations in The Romance of Alexander (Bodley 264), c. 1338-1344, including fols. 80v, 98r and 122v
- The daughter of Bademagu seeks Lancelot, Lancelot du Lac (BNF Fr. 122, fol. 21v), c. 1344
- Departure for the hunt, Livres de Modus et Ratio (BNF Fr. 12399, fol. 72v), 1379
- The Wife of Bath in the Ellesmere manuscript of the Canterbury Tales, c. 1410. Her depiction correlates with the description in the text: “Upon an amblere esily she sat, / Ywympled wel, and on hir heed an hat / As brood as is a bokeler or a targe; / A foot-mantel aboute hir hipes large, / And on hir feet a paire of spores sharpe.” (Note that the Prioress and Second Nun are riding sidesaddle.) It is thought that the Wife of Bath rides astride as an outward sign of her back story and overall character; see for example Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s “Foot-Mantel” and Her “Hipes Large,” and A Visual/Textual Reading of the Ellesmere ‘Wife of Bath.’
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