FReeper Canteen ~ Part VI of Women Warriors: Celts ~ February 25, 2004

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Part VI: Celts

Among the ancient Celts women rulers and warriors were so common that when a group of Brigantian captives was brought to Rome in the reign of Claudius they automatically assumed his wife, Agrippina the Younger, was the ruler and ignored the Emperor while making their obeisance to her. In 51 AD the Brigantian Queen, Castimandua, allied herself with Rome as a client state after delivering to the Romans a rebel war-lord she had captured in battle.

Other well-known Celtic warrior queens include Aife of Alba (modern day Scotland) and her contemporaries Mebd of Ireland and Scathach of Skye.

Aife was a female-warrior and a sorceress from Ireland who lived in Scotland with other Druidesses. Their task was to initiate and train young Celtic noblemen in the art of love and war. Queen Aife loved her chariot and horses more than anything else. She met with Cuchulainn and did battle with him. Cuchulainn won the fight by cunning and forced her to give three things in return :

That she became Scathach's vassal
That she agreed to become Cuchulainn's lover
That she gave him a son, Conlaech

Cuchulainn asked her to teach the secrets of war to their son and after the initialisation to send him to Ireland. She trained Conlaech, but when he arrived in Ireland and met his father, Cuchulainn did not recognise him. They fought together and the result was that Cuchulainn killed by his own son.

Scathach had a school of martial arts in the Isle of Skye. All the famous warriors of Ireland were said to have been trained by her. Her most famous pupil was Cuchulain. In return for her instruction, Cuchulain helped Scatach with her own battles, in particular against Aife.

In 61 AD Queen Boudicca of the Iceni of Norfolk led a major rebellion against the Romans during which she sacked and burned modern day London and St. Albans. Boudica or Boadicea's husband, king Prasutagus of the Iceni willed half of his kingdom to the Roman empire and half to Boudica and their two daughters, Camorra and Tasca or, according to legend, Voada and Voadicia. The Roman administrator ignored the will and proceeded to take over the entire kingdom. Boudica joined Iceni forces with another tribe, the Trinobantes, and together they fought back and conquered the Roman colony Camulodunum (Colchester) and burned the temple dedicated to Claudius. The Romans retaliated against the insurgents by sending a whole division of soldiers, but they were defeated. The insurgents then marched on London, which they sacked, and killed its Roman population, as well as their sympathizers. They did the same at Verulamium (St. Albans) and other settlements. In the end the Romans were victorious, and slaughtered the rebel troops. Boudica and her daughters escaped but then poisoned themselves rather than allow capture. She lived (15-61)

The first recorded effort to bar women from military participation was a law passed in 590 A.D. at the synod of Druim Ceat. It proved to be unenforceable when the women warriors refused to lay down their arms and comply with it.

Aethelflaed, oldest daughter of Alfred the Great, was considered the chief tactician of her time. She united Mercia, conquered Wales and subdued the Danes becoming the de facto ruler of the Mercians and Danes. She was killed in battle in June 918 AD at Tammorth in Staffordshire. She rebuilt the Roman walls, and devised a street plan that still survives today. Aethelflaed built several churches in her new stronghold, but was most fond of St. Oswald's priory. She gave them the bones of Saint Oswald, important Christian relics captured from the Danes, and enough treasure for it to be called "The Golden Minster".

In 1100 Maude de Valerie, a Welsh revolutionary, raised an army to rebel against the oppressive regime of King John. She was captured on the battlefield and died as his prisoner. Died: 1210 in Windsor castle.

Maud (Matilda) de Braose was also known as the Lady of la Haie and to the Welsh as Moll Walbee. Married to William de Braose, the "Ogre of Abergavenny", she was a significant warrior in her own right. Her long defence of Pain's Castle when it was besieged by the Welsh earned it the name "Matilda's Castle". The local people saw her as a supernatural character. She was said to have built Hay Castle single handed in one night, carrying the stones in her apron. When one fell out and lodged in her slipper she picked it out and flung it to land in St Meilig's churchyard, three miles away across the River Wye at Llowes. The nine foot high standing stone (left) can still be seen inside the church.

The final fall of her husband may owe a lot to her hasty reply to King John when he requested her son William as a hostage in 1208. She refused on the grounds that John had murdered his nephew Arthur whom he should have protected. The dispute between John and the de Braoses led to Maud dying of starvation in the King's castle at Windsor along with her son, while her husband, stripped of all his lands, died the following year in exile in France. In the 15th century Maire o Ciaragain led Irish clans against the English and was known for her ferocity in battle.

In 1545, Lilliard led the Scots at the Battle of Ancrum in one of their last victories over the English forces. She killed the English commander but lost her own life later in the battle.

Ireland's contribution to female heroines includes the 16th-century Grainne Ni Mhaille who was known as the 'Queen of the Irish Seas'. She was called Mhaol (meaning 'cropped hair'), but was called Grace O'Malley by the English. Born in the Province of Connacht, Grainne married and had 3 children before she commenced her famous career on the high seas, marshaling 3 pirate ships and up to 200 men as she opposed the English attempts to remove her. Her husband was an O'Flaherty who was executed by Queen Elizabeths colonists who attempted to completely subjugate the Irish way of life. In 1556 she married again, this time to Iron Richard Burke and had a son named Tibbot. Captured and jailed for 2 years she returned to her homeland in Connaught to continue her defiance. In 1558 Elizabeth I pardoned her in an attempt to bring peace to the region but his attempt failed as the local English administrators continued to goad the woman who had been a thorn in their side for years. They even interned her son and brother despite Elizabeth I instructing that they be released. Fighting was her only means of survival and this she did until the Irish defeat at the Battle of Kinsale in 1601 checked her dominance. She died in 1603 and has since been, to a large degree, overlooked as a genuine heroine of Irish history.

Next Tuesday Part VII of Women Warriors:

South America

To: Diva Betsy Ross

Hi Diva!
Thanks for YOUR contributions to the Canteen.

101 posted on 02/25/2004 8:31:41 AM PST by 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub (Thank You Troops, Past and Present)

To: 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub

It's coming VERY close, Tonk.

This has been the longest year in any of our lives!

But we got an e-mail from him today, and he's doing great! Just really ready to come home......

THANKS for remembering him, and all the other brave men and women who are sacrificing for OUR freedom and for OUR safety. GOD BLESS THEM!!

102 posted on 02/25/2004 8:34:15 AM PST by ohioWfan ("ANGER IS NOT AN AGENDA FOR THE FUTURE OF AMERICA")

To: ohioWfan; Ragtime Cowgirl; Old Sarge; All

103 posted on 02/25/2004 8:36:04 AM PST by 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub (Thank You Troops, Past and Present)

To every service man or woman reading this thread.
Thank You for your service to our country.
No matter where you are stationed,
No matter what your job description
Know that we are are proud of each and everyone of you.

To our military readers, we remain steadfast in keeping the Canteen doors open.
The FR Canteen is Free Republics longest running daily thread specifically designed
to provide entertainment and morale support for the military.
The doors have been open since Oct 7 2001,
the day of the start of the war in Afghanistan.
We are indebted to you for your sacrifices for our Freedom.

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT
Showing support and boosting the morale of
our military and our allies military
and the family members of the above.
Honoring those who have served before.
CLICK HERE TO FIND LATEST THREAD.

104 posted on 02/25/2004 8:36:59 AM PST by 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub (Thank You Troops, Past and Present)

To: Kathy in Alaska

Weather's clearing up. Rain's moving South. FR's sure a little slow this morning.(LOL)

105 posted on 02/25/2004 8:43:43 AM PST by E.G.C.

To: Kathy in Alaska

Good morning Kathy in Alaska!!
Feeling like a new dollar bill this morning, thank you.

106 posted on 02/25/2004 8:43:57 AM PST by Soaring Feather (~ I do Poetry and party among the stars~)

You're not feeling good??? Should I come over & cook for ya??

107 posted on 02/25/2004 8:47:24 AM PST by tomkow6 (...TomKow6 for PREZ!...TomKow6 for PREZ!...TomKow6 for PREZ!...TomKow6 for PREZ!...TomKow6 for PREZ!)

eek, you come and cook for me??
Well, thanks but fried spaghetti and sardines are not on my menu. Just old back problems acting up again, Tom. Doing much better today.

108 posted on 02/25/2004 8:51:53 AM PST by Soaring Feather (~ I do Poetry and party among the stars~)

FR has been running at a snail's pace for days. Hmmmmm....

109 posted on 02/25/2004 8:56:39 AM PST by Kathy in Alaska (God Bless America and Our Military Who Protect Her)

What? You don't like CLASSY Cookin'????

110 posted on 02/25/2004 9:07:42 AM PST by tomkow6 (...TomKow6 for PREZ!...TomKow6 for PREZ!...TomKow6 for PREZ!...TomKow6 for PREZ!...TomKow6 for PREZ!)

Want me to jump up & down on your back?

111 posted on 02/25/2004 9:08:26 AM PST by tomkow6 (...TomKow6 for PREZ!...TomKow6 for PREZ!...TomKow6 for PREZ!...TomKow6 for PREZ!...TomKow6 for PREZ!)

Well, Burka Man, I have seen what you offer in the way of a menu and it does not encourage me.

112 posted on 02/25/2004 9:09:54 AM PST by Soaring Feather (~ I do Poetry and party among the stars~)

Way to go Tomkow - you got #50!

Let the games begin....

113 posted on 02/25/2004 9:13:22 AM PST by StarCMC (God protect the 969th in Iraq and their Captain, my brother...God protect them all!)

To: 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub

Pink carnations.....nice centerpiece today. Thanks men in the Military and the Canteen.

114 posted on 02/25/2004 9:13:31 AM PST by Kathy in Alaska (God Bless America and Our Military Who Protect Her)

1996 Haing S Ngor doctor/actor (Killing Fields), dies at 45

Excerpt from website -- linked below....

One film, more than any other, made such an impact on me that I can vividly recall scenes from it without any difficulty at all. That film, which I first saw in 1985, is The Killing Fields, a story of friendship that endured against appalling odds in war-torn Cambodia. Filmed in Thailand on a budget of $15 million, it recounts the true story of Dith Pran, a Cambodian assistant to American journalist Sydney Schanberg of The New York Times. After the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge, Schanberg was allowed to leave while Pran, forced to work long, hard hours in primitive conditions and under the constant threat of death, remained behind. Enduring four and a half years of privation and fear, Pran dramatically escaped across the border with Thailand and was reunited with his friend and mentor Schanberg in a Thai border camp on 9 October 1979, uttering the immortal words, "you came Sydney, you came."

One of the movie's best reviews I've read comes from Peter Reiher, which I've re-produced here to provide a flavour of the film: The Killing Fields is an extraordinarily powerful film, the best new film I've seen this year. It's a strong indictment of modern war in general and the American conduct of the war in Cambodia in particular, but its great strength derives from its secondary themes of the power of friendship and the importance of a will to survive, as well as general comments on accepting responsibility for one's actions. This rich combination of themes is what lifts The Killing Fields above most other films.

The Killing Fields is based on a true story. Sydney Schanberg was the New York Times correspondent to Cambodia during the 70s. He worked closely with his interpreter, Dith Pran, a Cambodian journalist. Together, they exposed many of the US atrocities in Cambodia which resulted from our secret war there, a spillover from the Vietnam War. Sydney and Pran also became good friends, but when Lon Nol's government fell and Pol Pot took over, Schanberg was able to escape and Pran could not. As Schanberg heard more and more of the horrors of the Pol Pot regime, Communism gone mad, he castigated himself more and more for persuading Pran to remain even when it was no longer safe. Meanwhile, Pran struggled to survive in a nation in which 3 million people, out of a population of 7 million, were killed in the course of a few years.