FReeper Canteen ~ Part VIII of Women Warriors:European Women Leaders ~ March 9, 2004

Part VIII: European Women
Leaders and Defenders

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.

In 1075 Emma, Countess of Norfolk held Norwich Castle against repeated attack and siege. When it became evident that the castle could not be taken the Countess was offered safe conduct for herself, her troops and her possessions to join her husband who had fled to France. She accepted and relinquished the castle.

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. (Click on picture for link to additional information)

During the wars of Brittany in the mid 1300's, several women defended their lands on the battlefield. One of the best known was Jane, Countess of Montfort, who personally led her troops in defeating Charles of Blois at Hennebonne. She later fought a sea battle off the coast of Guernsey. Charles' wife, Jeanne de Penthierre, took to the battlefield to free him after he was taken prisoner by the English. Jeanne de Belleville, whose husband Oliver III of Clisson was beheaded by Charles of Blois, led her troops in sacking several towns loyal to Charles. She later obtained 3 ships from Edward III of England which she used to sink French merchant and military vessels. She kept her two young children with her on her military campaigns until she eventually retired and remarried.

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.

Jacqueline of Bavaria, Countess of Holland, Hainault and Zealand (1402-1437) became ruler of her lands when her father died on May 13, 1417. Her most powerful vassal, the lord of Arkell, rebelled against the rule of a 15 year old woman and led a revolt to overthrow her, laying siege to the fortified city of Gorkum. Jacqueline led an army of 300 ships and 6,000 knights to relieve Gorkum. She personally led her reserve troops in a charge against the castle gate and defeated Arkell's forces.

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.

In 1524 the King of France and the Constable de Bourbon were at war. The King's armies laid siege to Marseilles. Ameliane du Puget, the governor's daughter, led a troop of women who broke the siege. They dug a mined trench known as the Tranchee des Dames which became the modern day Boulevard des Dames.

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.

Next Tuesday, Part IX of Women Warriors:
Women Soldiers and Sailors

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on March 09:
1454 Amerigo Vespucci explorer
1564 David Fabricius Essen Germany, astronomer (discovered variable star)
1568 Aloysius "Luigi" van Gonzaga Italian prince/Jesuit/saint
1758 Franz Joseph Gall German/French physician (frenology)
1791 George Hayward US, surgeon, 1st to use ether
1814 Taras Shevchenko Ukraine, national poet/painter/professor of Kiev
1824 Leland Stanford (Governor/Senator)/found Stanford University
1839 Felix Huston Robertson Brigadier General (Confederate Army),died in 1928
1839 Modest P Mussorgsky Russian composer (Boris Godunov)
1875 Martin Fallas Shaw composer
1881 Enver Pasja Turkish General/politician
1885 Ringgold "Ring" Lardner baseball player
1890 Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov Soviet foreign minister (UN)
1902 Will Greer Frankfort IN, actor (Grandpa Walton-The Waltons)
1912 Alan David Melville polymath
1918 Mickey [Frank Morrison] Spillane Brooklyn NY, mystery writer (I the Jury)
1920 Carl Betz Pittsburgh PA, actor (Alex Stone-Donna Reed Show)
1923 André Courréges France, fashion designer (introduced the miniskirt)
1923 James Buckley (Senator-Republican-NY)
1926 Irene Papas Corinth Greece, actress (Moses The Lawgiver)
1933 Lloyd Price Kenner LA, singer (Lawdy Miss Clawdy, Misty, Just Because, Come to Me)
1934 Yuri Gagarin Russia, cosmonaut, 1st man into space (aboard Vostok 1)
1936 Glenda Jackson Birkenhead Cheshire England, actress (Hopscotch, Touch of Class)
1936 Marty Ingels Brooklyn NY, comedian (I'm Dickens He's Fenster)
1936 Mickey Gilley Ferriday LA, country singer (Urban Cowboy)
1940 Raul Julia San Juan Puerto Rico, actor (Addams Family, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Eyes of Laura Mars)
1942 John Cale Welsh/US bassist/violinist/singer (Velvet Underground)
1942 Mark Lindsay Eugene OR, rocker (Paul Revere & the Raiders)
1943 Bobby Fischer US, world chess champion (1972-75)
1945 Ray Royer rocker (Procol Harum-Whiter Shade of Pale)
1945 Robin Trower London England, rocker (Procol Harum-Whiter Shade of Pale)
1955 Teo Fabi formula-1 Indy-car racer (rookie of year-1983)
1959 Barbie doll (Mattel)
1964 Phil Housley St Paul MN, NHL defenseman (New Jersey Devils, Team USA Olympics-98)
1970 Melissa Rathburn-Nealy US soldier (Iraqi POW)
1972 Sara Nicole Williams Miss Washington-USA (1997)
1973 David Prinosil Olmutz Czechoslovakia, tennis star (1995 ATP Newport)

Deaths which occurred on March 09:
1620 Aegidius Albertinus German writer (Lucifer's Kingdom), dies at 59
1913 Eberhard Nestle German biblical scholar, dies at 61
1962 Dr Howard Engstrom Boston MA, a designer of Univac computer dies at 59
1965 Anthon van der Horst Dutch organist/composer, dies at 65
1969 Richard Crane actor (Surfside 6), dies at 50
1974 Earl W Sutherland Jr US pharmacologist (Nobel 1971), dies at 58
1988 Kurt Georg Kiesinger West German chancellor (1966-69), dies at 83
1989 Robert Mapplethorpe US photographer, dies at 42
1992 Menachim Begin Israeli prime minister (1977-1983, Nobel 1979), dies at 79
1993 Bob Crosby swing-era bandleader (Bobcats), dies of cancer at 79
1994 Fernando Rey Spanish actor (French Connection), dies of cancer at 76
1994 Lawrence E Spivak journalist (Meet the Press), dies at 93
1995 Ian Ballantine publisher, dies of heart attack at 79
1997 Terry Nation writer (Dr Who, Blake 7) at 66

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1966 COLLINS WILLARD M.---QUINCY IL.
[KIA AT CRASH SITE 3 RECOV]
1966 FOSTER ROBERT E.---LOCKPORT NY.
[KIA AT CRASH SITE 3 RECOV]
1966 PETERSON DELBERT R.---MAPLE PLAIN MN.
[NO TRACE SUBJ 3 RECOV]
1967 GRAENING BRUCE A.---KENMORE OH.
1967 PUTNAM CHARLES L.---KEY WEST FL.
[REMAINS RETURNED NOV 3 1988]
1969 REX ROBERT F.---ODEBOLT IA.
1969 TINSLEY COY R.---CLEVELAND TN.
[11/05/69 RELEASED]
1969 WALTERS TIM L.---SOUTH BEND IN.
[REMAINS IDENTIFIED 08/11/99]
1970 COTTEN LARRY W.---NASHVILLE TN.
1970 PARCELS REX L. JR.---BERKELEY CA.
1970 ROBINSON EDWARD---KANSAS CITY MO.
1970 SCHOEPPNER LEONARD J.---CANTON OH.
1970 TERLA LOTHAR G.---SCRANTON PA.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
1452 Pope Nicolaas I crowns Frederik III Roman Catholic-German emperor
1496 Jews are expelled from Carintha Austria
1497 Nicolaus Copernicus 1st recorded astronomical observation,
1562 Kissing in public banned in Naples (punishable by death)
1617 Sweden & Russia sign Peace of Stolbowa
1697 Czar Peter the Great begins tour of West-Europe
1721 English Chancellor Exchequer John Aislabie confined in London Tower
1741 English fleet under Admiral Ogle begins assault on Cartagena
1745 Bells for 1st American carillon shipped from England to Boston
1796 Napoleon Bonaparte marries Josephine de Beauharnais
1798 Dr George Balfour becomes 1st naval surgeon in the US navy
1820 James Monroe's daughter Maria marries in the White House
1822 Charles M Graham of New York patents artificial teeth
1839 Prussian government limits work week for children to 51 hours
1841 US Supreme Court rules Negroes are free (Amistad Incident)
1842 Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Nabucco" premieres in Milan
1844 Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Hernani" premieres in Venice
1858 Albert Potts of Philadelphia patents the street mailbox
1860 1st Japanese ambassador arrives in San Francisco en route to Washington DC
1861 Confederate currency authorized-$50, $100, $500, $1,000
1862 "Monitor" (Union) & "Merrimack" (Rebel) battle in Hampton Roads
1864 Ulysses S Grant is appointed commander of Union Army
1889 Battle at Gallabat (Metema); Mahdi's beat Abyssinian emperor John IV
1889 Kansas passes 1st general antitrust law in US
1893 Congo cannibals killed 1000s of Arabs
1897 Indian fans start calling the team Indians (in 1915 becomes official)
1904 Brandon's Lester Patrick becomes 1st hockey defenseman to score a goal
1907 1st involuntary sterilization law enacted, Indiana
1914 US Senator Albert Fall (Teapot Dome) demands "Cubanisation of Mexico"
1916 General Fransisco "Pancho" Villa leads Mexican band raid on Columbus NM (17 killed)
1918 Russian Bolshevik Party becomes the Communist Party
1918 Ukrainian mobs massacre Jews of Seredino Buda
1932 Eamon De Valera becomes President of Ireland
1932 Former Chinese emperor Henry Pu-Yi installed as head of Manchuria
1933 Congress is called into special session by FDR, & began its "100 days"
1936 Babe Ruth turns down Reds to make a comeback as a player
1942 Construction of the Alaska Highway began
1943 Greek Jews of Salonika are transported to Nazi extermination camps
1945 334 US B-29 Superfortresses attack Tokyo with 120,000 fire bomb
1945 Japanese proclaim the "independence" of Indo-China
1946 Ted Williams is offered $500,000 to play in Mexican League, he refuses
1950 Willie Sutton robs Manufacturers Bank of $64,000 in New York NY
1953 Josef Stalin buried in Moscow
1954 1st local color TV commercial WNBT-TV (WNBC-TV) New York NY (Castro Decorators)
1954 Edward R Murrow criticizes Senator Joseph McCarthy (See it Now)
1956 Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus arrested & exiled to Seychelles
1957 8.1 earthquake shakes Andreanof Islands, Alaska
1959 1st known radar contact is made with Venus
1959 Barbie, the popular girls' doll, debuted, over 800 million sold
1961 1st animal returned from space, dog named Blackie aboard Sputnik 9
1962 Egyptian President Nasser declares Gaza belongs to Palestinians
1962 US advisors in South-Vietnam join the fight

1964 1st Ford Mustang produced

1964 Supreme Court issues New York Times vs Sullivan decision, public officials must prove malice to claim libel & recover damages
1967 Svetlana Allilueva, Stalin's daughter, defected to the West
1974 Last Japanese soldier, a guerrilla operating in Philippines, surrenders, 29 years after World War II ended
1976 1st female cadets accepted to West Point Military Academy
1977 Admiral Stansfield Turner, USN (Ret), becomes 12th director of CIA replacing acting director Knoche
1977 Hanafi Moslems invade 3 buildings in Washington DC, siege ended March 11th
1979 Bowie Kuhn orders baseball to give equal access to female reporters
1979 France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1980 Flemish/Walloon battles in Belgium, 40 injured
1981 Dan Rather becomes primary anchorman of CBS-TV News
1986 NASA announces searchers found remains of Challenger astronauts
1986 Soviet probe Vega 2 flies by Halley's Comet at 8,030 km
1987 Chrysler Corp offered to buy American Motors Corp for $1 billion
1989 Senate rejects Bush's nomination of John Tower as Defense Secretary
1990 Dr Antonia Novello sworn-in as 1st hispanic/female US surgeon general
1993 Rodney King in court says he thinks he heard cops yell racial slurs
1994 IRA launch 1st of 3 mortar attacks on London's Heathrow Airport

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Belize : Baron Bliss Day
Ukraine : Taras Shevchenko (Ukrainian poet) Day (1814)
World : Amerigo Vespucci Day (1451)
Memphis TN : Cotton Carnival (held for 5 days) (Tuesday)
New Mexico : Arbor Day (Friday)
US : Federal Employees Recognition Week (Day 3)
US : Iditarod Race Week (Day 3)
American Woman's History month

Religious Observances
Anglican, Roman Catholic : Commemoration of Gregory, bishop of Nyssa
Roman Catholic : Memorial of St Frances of Rome, patron of motorists, housewives

Religious History
1839 Birth of Phoebe Palmer Knapp, American Methodist hymnwriter. She published more than 500 hymn tunes during her lifetime; her most famous melody comprises the tune to Fanny Crosby's hymn, "Blessed Assurance."
1843 Scottish clergyman Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in a letter: 'You will never find Jesus so precious as when the world is one vast howling wilderness. Then he is like a rose blooming in the midst of the desolation, a rock rising above the storm.'
1930 Pioneer linguist Frank Laubach wrote in a letter: 'It seems to me...that the very Bible cannot be read as a substitute for meeting God soul to soul and face to face.'
1931 The World Radio Missionary Fellowship (WRMF) was incorporated in Lima, Ohio, by co_founders Clarence W. Jones and Reuben Larson. Today, this interdenominational mission agency broadcasts the Gospel in 15 languages to South America and throughout Europe.
1965 Three white Unitarian ministers, including the Rev. James J. Reeb, were attacked with clubs on the streets of Selma, Alabama, while participating in a civil rights demonstration. Reeb later died in a Birmingham, Alabama hospital.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"If you always postpone pleasure you will never have it."

Rules For Diet...
Food use for medicinal purposes never count, such as hot chocolate, brandy, toast, and Sara Lee Cheesecake.

New State Slogans
Hawaii: Haka Tiki Mou Sha'ami Leeki Toru (Death To Mainland Scum, But Leave Your Money)

A Time Honored Truth...
One nice thing about egotists: They don't talk about other people.

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