|
|
|
|
|
Women accompanied all the Crusades. The First Crusade (1096-1099) included almost equal numbers of men, women and children. The Papal Bull of 1189 prohibited women from joining the Third Crusade but was widely ignored. Some noble women, nuns and abbesses took Crusaders vows, others simply accompanied the armies and fought when their company was attacked. Among the Queens known to have participated in the Crusades were Eleanor of Aquitaine, Eleanor of Castile, Marguerite de Provence, Florine of Denmark and Berengaria of Navarre. Guilbert de Nogent writes in his history of the Crusades of "a troop of Amazons" who accompanied Emperor Conrad to Syria and of women Crusaders in the army of William, Count of Poitiers. Pope Boniface VIII wrote several letters in 1383 in which he mentioned Genoese ladies who were Crusaders. |
|
|
Throughout the middle ages noble women vigorously, and often successfully, defended their own or their male relatives, lands and castles. Around 890 AD Thyra, Queen of Denmark, ruled in her husband's absence. She led her army against the Germans who invaded Sleswick and Jutland and over a 3 year period built the Danneverke, a great wall which was Denmark's major defense for centuries and portions of which still exist. In 945 Igor of Russia
was killed by the Drevelians during a tax revolt. His wife, Olga,
raised an army which attacked Drevelian strongholds forcing them
to cease their revolt and pay taxes. Urraca, Queen of Aragon became sole ruler of Leon-Castile in 1094 when her husband died. She married Alfonso of Aragon in 1098 and spent the remaining 13 years of her reign at war with him to protect the inheritance rights of her son by her first marriage. Both she and her half-sister Teresa who ruled in Portugal personally led their armies into battle. In Italy, Alrude, Countess of Bertinoro, led an army to break the siege of Aucona in 1172. She forced the Imperial forces to abandon the siege and engaged in several battles on her return to her castle. Nicola de la Haye, was the daughter of Baron de la Haye, hereditary castellan of Lincoln. She successfully defended the town against several rebel raids and in 1216 was made sheriff of Lincolnshire. Jeanne of Navarre (1271-1304) ruler of Navarre, Brie and Champagne and wife of King Philip the Fair of France led her army against that of the Count de Bar when he attempted to rebel against her. Although Philip was entitled by marriage to claim rulership over Jeanne's lands he never did so. In 1334 Lady Agnes Randolph,
wife of Patrick, Earl of Dunbar and March, held the castle of Dunbar
against the forces of the Earl of Salisbury for more than 5 months. Phillippa of Hainault, queen of Edward III of England, was named regent while he fought the French. In 1346 she led an army of 12,000 soldiers against the invading Scots and captured David Bruce, their king. Margaret of Denmark
(1353-1411) became ruler of Denmark and nominal Queen of Norway
on the death of her son Olaf II in 1387. Denmark, Norway and Sweden
were at war and Margaret led her armies against key cities and fortresses,
eventually forcing the Swedes and Norwegians to withdraw from Denmark.
She was elected Queen of Norway in 1388. The following year she
was offered the Swedish throne after she defeated the Swedish king
and took him prisoner. She persuaded the Diets of the three countries
to accept her grand-nephew, Eric of Pomerania, as heir to their
thrones. In 1397 she forged the Calmar Union, uniting the three
nations under a single monarchy and becoming the most powerful ruler
in Scandinavian history. In 1429 Isabella of Lorraine led an army to free her husband Rene, Duke of Anjou, who had been imprisoned by the Duke of Burgundy. She later took to the field to fight for Rene's recognition as King of Sicily. Her daughter Margaret of Anjou (1430-1482) married Henry VI of England and defended the Lancastrians during the War of the Roses. Leading her armies she defeated both the Duke of York and the Earl of Warwick. In 1471 she landed at Weymouth expecting to join her forces with those of Jasper Tudor, but his army was delayed and Margaret's greatly outnumbered forces were defeated at Tewkesbury. She fled the battlefield on foot carrying her infant son and eventually escaped with him to Flanders. She raised a new army and returned to England where she fought for a number of years before being captured by the Yorkists, who allowed Louis XI of France to ransom her after obtaining her oath that she would cease fighting. Isabella I of Castile
(1451-1504), wife of Ferdinand of Aragon and queen regent of Spain,
who sponsored Columbus' voyage and brought the Inquisition to her
country, led her armies into battle early in her reign to protect
her succession. Later during the conquest of the Moors, she sometimes
rode into battle or mounted sieges with and without Ferdinand, but
she was better known as a genius at military tactics and supplying
armies in the field. Lady Ann Cummingham led a cavalry troop of men and women in the Battle of Berwick on June 5, 1639. In 1643 during the English Civil War, Blanche the Countess of Arundel, defended Wardour Castle against a Parliamentarian army while Brilliana the Countess of Harley, who was pregnant at the time, defended Brampton Castle against the King's army. Non-noble women also fought to protect their homes, towns, cities and countries. In 1518 in Guienne, France, the Protestant Garrison, a group of 350 girls, were pressed into service to construct and defend fortifications in the wars against the Emperor Maximilian. In 1568, two sisters, Amaron and Kenau Hasselaar, defended the Dutch city of Haarlem against a Spanish invasion. They organized and led a battalion of 300 women who fought on the walls and outside the gates. In 1569 Marguerite Delaye
lost an arm fighting in the battle which lifted the siege of Montelimar.
A one-armed statue of her was erected by the grateful town. In the late 18th century Despo Botssi, along with her 11 daughters and granddaughters were among the defenders of the Greek city of Souli. When it was obvious they would be overrun, the women blew up the powder rooms of the Castle of Dimoula killing themselves and the invading army. Lascarina Boubalina commanded four warships which she used to liberate costal towns from the Turks and engage Turkish ships at sea. Her sailors were forbidden to rape women or sack the towns they liberated. In 1808 an army of 12,000 French soldiers besieged the Spanish city of Saragossa. Augustina, called the "Maid of Saragossa", refused to leave her cannon on the walls and rallied the other defenders. She was later offered both military and civilian honors but merely asked to retain her rank of artillery captain, along with it's pay and benefits and the right to continue to bear arms and wear her uniform. She was written about by Byron and Southey and painted by Goya and Wilkie. |
|
|
|
Copyright (c).2000.All Right Reserved .The Warrior Women In Films |
|
