It was not uncommon for one women to have many husbands in her lifetime.
Unlike their farming sisters, most campfollowers were not expected to produce
one child a year from age fifteen to thirty. As childbirth was a leading cause of
death among women, military wives had a slightly higher life expectancy then their
civilian counterparts. That, coupled with the relatively short life expectancy of the men, virtually insured that every woman would be a widow at least once.
Another benefit of traveling with the army was that Landsknechts, as usually stated
in their contracts with foreign powers, and authorized by Maximillian I at the Diet of Augsburg, were not subject to sumptuary laws, which restricted clothing, materials,
and jewelry according to social rank. As Max stated at that time, "Their lives are so
brutish and short, that dressing well is one of their few joys. I am not going to
take that from them."
The soldiers and their women had a reputation for bright, garish, and mismatched
clothing, most often put together from what was plundered from a town, or left over
on the battlefield.
