Historic Battlefield Women and their Functions

August 22, 2017 11:23 AM

Vivandieres were common and ubiquitous in the French armies up to WW I. The first link is a good overview with some nice paintings/photos. The second linkVivandieres in the military gives a more nuanced view of these women, and has link to references and a one-book bibliography. This last link is a Pinterest page 76 Best Vivandieres images with many of them having info attached.
posted by MovableBookLady (15 comments total)

I had no idea about this! This is delightful.
posted by corb at 11:25 AM on August 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Thanks for this, had never heard of Vivandieres before.
posted by Fence at 11:31 AM on August 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

I totally forgot to mention the U.S. Civil War women who fulfilled the same duties. They are mentioned in the linked sources, however.
posted by MovableBookLady at 11:39 AM on August 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

So without knowing it's meaning I walk past an image very similar to this painted on a sign on the alley wall of a building that has an italian restaurant, Riccardo Trattoria, on N. Clark Street in Chicago at least two or three times a week.

I often wondered what the deal was with the image. THANKS MovableBookLady and METAFILTER!
posted by srboisvert at 11:40 AM on August 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

Now I want a tonnelet for Burning Man.
posted by thedaniel at 11:56 AM on August 22, 2017

I am familiar with La fille du régiment (The Daughter of the Regiment) concept but this is the first I have heard of vivandieres...
posted by jim in austin at 12:22 PM on August 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

And apparently Gilbert (sans Sullivan) did a burlesque La Vivandière in 1867...
posted by jim in austin at 12:56 PM on August 22, 2017

TIL

wow, this is best of the web and metafilter gold
posted by infini at 1:43 PM on August 22, 2017

I also found a one-act ballet entitled Les Vivandieres (Markitenka in Russian) Markitenka but there's no info on the plot, just some stagings info, so I left it out of the main post.
posted by MovableBookLady at 2:45 PM on August 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

I want one of those jackets, with the buttons from shoulder to waist.
posted by Oyéah at 2:53 PM on August 22, 2017

The photos at the end of the first link were especially neat.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:16 PM on August 22, 2017

This is awesome, thanks!
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 7:41 PM on August 22, 2017

I would wear one of those ensembles to work every day if I could
posted by Hermione Granger at 9:23 PM on August 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Wow! This is incredible. I'm going to have to share this with the costuming community I'm a member of.
posted by happyroach at 11:59 PM on August 22, 2017

I really enjoyed seeing that Vivandiere a la Greque, srboisvert; just shows what we don't know. I wish I had found more info on these women in armies other than French or U.S.
posted by MovableBookLady at 8:59 AM on August 24, 2017