'Bereft of all human help?': Scottish widows of the Thirty Years' War

Dr Kathrin Zickermann

A significant number of Scottish soldiers and officers joined the contesting armies of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648):it has been estimated that no fewer than 50,000 Scots served within the Danish-Norwegian and Swedish forces alone. Due to the conflict's high attrition rate the Scottish soldiers left a considerable number of dependents behind, whose experience has so far been understudied. Dr Zickermann's talk seeks to address the fate of some of those women who were married to Scots serving and dying abroad. In particular, it analyses the widows' provision through official institutions and private networks and explores the scope of their own agency. You can watch a recording of this talk which originally took place on Wednesday 2nd December, 2020.