In warlike times, when battle was the business of life and
victory over a foe the highest honor that could be had, when
home in the true sense there was none, and when castles were
less houses for pleasant living than strongholds to shelter
raiders and resist assault, women were as heroic as their age.
If they were not so accurate in their aim as the archers, of
whom it was said every English bowman “bore under his girdle
twenty-four Scots,” they knew how to man the ramparts and defend
the bridges as well as their lords themselves. Womanliness in
the bower, dignity in the hall, courage in the castle--that was
the whole duty of these noble women of a rude but manly age,
and to their example, their influence and their shaping power
as mothers England owes much of her greatness and half of her
strength. Letting Boadicea pass as an example of the feminine
fighting blood, we find in Dame Nicola de Camville an early
specimen of the warlike political woman. She took the royal
side in the famous war with the barons, and held Lincoln Castle
against Gilbert de Gaunt, first for King John and afterward
for Henry III, till the battle called Lincoln Fair broke her
power. The beautiful Countess of Salisbury, she who was so
ardently beloved by the third Edward, was another instance of
feminine daring, in her case coupled with the loveliest and
most graceful sweetness. Black Agnes was again a heroine of
the virago type, and Queen Philippa, Queen Margaret, and others
of the same kind honored their adopted nationality by their
courage and devotion. Meaner women were as brave. In a skirmish
at Naworth (1570) Leonard Dacres had in his army “many desperate
women, who there gave the adventure of their lives and fought
right stoutly.”--_The Fortnightly Review._
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