Aal de Dragoner

Aal de Dragonder (Aal the Dragoon) (died before 1710) was a soldier in Rotterdam.

Life

Disguised as a man, Aal served in the Dutch army as a dragoon for many years (her name, ‘de Dragonder’ derives from the Dutch word for dragoon). Sometime before 1710 Aal was stabbed and killed by another soldier during a game of cards. After Aal's death, it was discovered that she was a woman. Her body was not buried, but was put on display in an anatomical theatre in Rotterdam, holding a sword and seated upon a stuffed horse.[1] It remained on display for more than one hundred years, until the collection was broken up.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Dekker, Tradition of Female Cross-Dressing, p. 73.

References

  • R.M. Dekker and L.C. van de Pol, The Tradition Of Female Transvestism In Early Modern Europe (Basingstoke, 1989).
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