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

GendeGap.com ^ | February 25, 2004 | LaDivaLoca

[LaDivaLoca]

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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

[StarCMC]

Does that sound good or what?? My SIL emailed me that my brother has been in contact with his replacement who is due to arrive on location in 5 days. The begins the process of acclamating the new guys and then he's on his way home too!! Sounds like we are gonna have a LOT of "Welcome Home" parties close together!! Woo-Hoo!!!!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good day to you, and thanks for checking in. Happy meetings. UGH!
Thanks for helping keep Texas and the US of A safe. And thanks for helping honor our military, past and present.

.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Thanks for the update!

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Hurry on home!

[StarCMC]

I'm outta here again for a while! See ya later this afternoon!! :o)

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

WOO HOO!
Hurry on back here!

[txradioguy]

"1978 Daniel "Chappie" James Jr retired Air Force General, dies at 58"


Gen. James a Tuskeegee Airman was the first Black 4-star General in the Air Force.

His son LTG Daniel James III was the Adjutant general of all Texas National Guard forces when I was there and is not the director of the Air National Guard at Bolling AFB in D.C.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Thanks for the Operation Homelink™ info Co-Captain!
This would be good in the opening post?

[Kathy in Alaska]

Do you have enough room for all your stuff? LOL!
Thanks, John, for helping protect all of us. ((HUGS)) and prayers for you as you start the process of coming home.

[mystery-ak]

With Mike's latest 30 day extension to help with this surge, he'll be bringing up the rear...his boots will hit US soil on May 8th....his unit will have won the distinction of being the longest deployed Guard unit....whoppee

[txradioguy]

ok one correction to my last post not = NOW my fingers and this keyboard are not cooperating with each other!


Our replacements have been here for two weeks now! We are just packing everything now. WHEW I didn't realize I could aquire so much "stuff" in one year.

You're right Star LOTS of welcome home parties! I wouldn't miss a single one of them.

Tonk I'm getting there as fast as the military can get me home! LOL!

[blackie]

Part VI of Women Warriors: Celts ~ Bump!

[blackie]

Coffee and donuts with Tonk ~ Bump!

[blackie]

Medal Of Honor Citations ~ Bump!

[ohioWfan]

And what a HEROES' welcome they'll all get!!

Counting the DAYS now!!

[blackie]

Coffee with Kathy ~ Bump!

[tomkow6]

......no, not yet......

[txradioguy]

HEY!!! That patch looks familiar! I still have it on a set of my Class A's! LOL! and it's on the front of my day planner along with the other patches I've worn or are currently wearing.

[Kathy in Alaska]

You are on your way, tom....ya snagged #50 and #100!!