The same noble spirit that distinguished the German women, was likewise
found among the females of =Britain= and =Scandinavia=. Tacitus in his
“Annals” XIV gives an account of Boadicea, queen of the Iceni, a tribe
that occupied the eastern coasts of Britain. To defend the independence
of her country against the Romans, this queen succeeded in uniting some
of the British tribes and drove the invaders from several fortified
places. When Suetonius, on hearing of the revolt, hastened up with a
strong army, he found himself opposed by large numbers of the
aborigines, men as well as women. Among the fighters were many
priestesses or Druids, who, clothed in black, with streaming hair and
brandished torches, fought like furies. When they saw themselves far
outnumbered and realized that all was lost, these women preferred death
to slavery and perished among the flames, which destroyed their
stronghold.
When the Roman legions met the main body of the Britons, they beheld
Boadicea admonishing her warriors, to conquer or die in battle. In the
fearful contest 70,000 Romans and 80,000 Britons were slain. But when
the combat resulted in the complete defeat of the latter, Boadicea
poisoned herself to avoid falling into the hands of the victor.
The Edda and many other sagas of the Scandinavians contain likewise
accounts about heroic women such as they were in those days of the past:
strong in body as in mind, and equal to any emergency. Brave alike in
heart and in character, independent, open and frank, they were loyal to
their husbands and their duty when fitly matched. Fearlessly they joined
in the daring expeditions of their sea-kings, who packed their
“dragon-ships” to full capacity with warriors and made raids on all the
coasts of Europe, even on the countries that border the Mediterranean
Sea.
From several interesting relics of old Icelandic literature we also know
that as early as in 986 A. D. Norse women went with Eric the Red to
Greenland. Here they helped in establishing a settlement, Brattahlid.
And when in 1007 Thorfin Karlsefne sailed from this place to Vinland,
some newly discovered country in the far Southwest, he too was
accompanied by several women, among them his wife Gudrid. Some time
after her arrival she gave birth to a son, Snorre, the first child of
white parentage born on American soil.
Another of these fearless women, Froejdisa, took active part in a hot
skirmish with the aborigines of Vinland. When the Norsemen were about to
yield to the overwhelming numbers of these “Skraelings,” it was she who
encouraged the men to stubborn resistance. Several years later, in 1012,
this same resolute woman, in company with two men, fitted out an
expedition of her own to Vinland. After an absence of one year she
returned to Brattahlid with a large cargo of valuable lumber, furs, and
other goods, but also suspected of having killed her partners as well as
their men with her own hands.
[Illustration]
[Illustration:
CHRISTIANS OF THE THIRD CENTURY.
]