Did woman join the crusades

Answer 1

Yes and no. There is little evidence to suggest women were fighters, but there is some credible evidence that a small number of women accompanied their husbands to the Crusades-- a notable example was Eleanor of Aquitaine, who not only went along to serve as a nurse for the wounded but brought some of her female servants as well. That said, this seems to have been the exception. Women's primary role was to encourage and recruit their sons to fulfill their religious duty and fight against the enemy.

And while the men went off to fight, the women remained at home, tending to domestic duties. Upper-class women maintained the property and the manor, sometimes even having to fend off invading armies of the enemy (there are some stories of women who fought under those circumstances, to defend their home and property). But for the most part, the women were the ones who preserved the home and kept the society functioning. They also prayed, waited and hoped; and later, many were left to mourn their husbands, brothers, and fathers in folk songs and ballads (some of which we still have today, which is how we know what their feelings were; the women accepted the belief that the Crusades were a religious duty, but they wished the cost to their families were not so high).