Marie Magdelaine Mouron, also known as Picard and La Garonne, (floruit 1696), was a French soldier. She served in the French army disguised as a male from 1690 until 1696. She served under the Duke of Noailles in Catalonia and participated in the Siege of Rosas in 1693. Her biological gender was exposed after she was forced to medical attention after a duel with a fellow soldier. In March 1696, she was arrested accused of desertion, during which her story was documented. The documentation of her case is considered to have great historic value for several reasons: it documents a case of a female early modern age soldier without the sensationalism usually surrounding narratives of such occurrences; it also documents the life of a common foot soldier of the French army regardless of gender, as narratives of French foot soldiers of this epoch was quite rare.
References[]
- John A. Lynn: The French Wars 1667-1714: The Sun King at War (2002)
The original article can be found at Marie Magdelaine Mouron and the edit history here.