[judywillow]

Somne of your source on this one is fanciful. A 160 lb bow of any sort would be of use only to our strongest modern athletes, if that. There was nobody alive in the middle ages capable of pulling a 160 lb. bow and there sure as hell has never been anybody light enough to ride horses and strong enough to pull a hundred and sixty pound bow. Figure about 80 or 90 lbs, absolute tops.

Aside from that, the idea of women riding in a mongol army is ludicrous. Mongol women stayed home and raised mongol kids.

[muawiyah]

The Mongol way of life wasn't very different from the ancient Scythians who preceeded them. Many different tribes of Scythians ordinarily taught the use of swords and bows to their girls who joined them in whatever warfare arose.

The ancient Greeks supposedly came up with their Amazon Women tales based on their observation of these tribes.

There's no reason to suppose the Mongols left their women defenseless anymore than did the more ancient people in that part of the world.

[MoJo2001]

Somne of your source on this one is fanciful. A 160 lb bow of any sort would be of use only to our strongest modern athletes, if that. There was nobody alive in the middle ages capable of pulling a 160 lb. bow and there sure as hell has never been anybody light enough to ride horses and strong enough to pull a hundred and sixty pound bow. Figure about 80 or 90 lbs, absolute tops.
Aside from that, the idea of women riding in a mongol army is ludicrous. Mongol women stayed home and raised mongol kids

 

Welcome to the Canteen!
First, the source for the Mongol series is shown at the top: http://www.coldsiberia.org/



 

[PzLdr]

Actually, Mongol women not only traveled with the Army, they had a great deal of power. When Chinnghis Quan's son-in -law Toguchar was killed during the Khwaresm campaign, his widow , the Quan's daughter, supervised her brother's (Tolui?) destruction of the city where he died, including the killing of every human being there.

When Uggedai, Qua Quan died, his widow was regent in his place , and delayed the Quriltai to choose his succesor until her son Guyuk was chosen.Tolui's widow, Sorghatani Beki refused Guyuk's attempts to marry her off, and forged an alliance with Batu Quan of the Golden Horde to not only elect her son Mongke as Qua Quan, but to take that office from the house of Uggedai for the rest of the Mongol Empire's history.

Chinnghis Quan's reliance on his mother Houlun, and his principal wife, Bortai, is quoted at length in the Secret History. I can find no firm documentation that Mongol women rode to battle with the men, however. Considering the structure and discipline of the Mongol Ordu, and its almost continual engagement in warfare, I doubt that they did.