Warrior Women Inc.

The Naked Warrior

Leigh Michaels — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 16:10:29 +0000

Today is an anniversary, on 10^th September 1067 Lady Godgifu died. I’m sure you’ve heard of her, but you may not know it. She is the founder of the English city of Coventry, and would have been its overlord in her own right, and she was the wife of the powerful Earl Leofric. Her two sons became earls in their own right, and her daughter married the last Saxon King of England, Harold. Earl Leofric was known for his harsh ways and was often accused of not fearing God. Godgifu on the other hand was a very devout believer, and a generous lady. As overlord of Coventry, it was her responsibility to collect taxes from it - except for one tax. That tax – known as the heregeld – was the tax levied by the Danish King of England, Cnut, for the support of his personal body guard. Her husband was one of four powerful earls who collected this tax for the king. Since Coventry was just a fledgling town, estimates of its population range from fifty families to 350 souls – which may be pretty close to the same number, the heregeld was especially hard on the townsfolk. So Godgifu asked her husband to stop collecting it. Once the Danish line had died out, and the Saxon Kings had returned, it was certainly possible for Leofric to do so. But he refused.

Robert of Wendover – the chronicler who gives us the oldest version of the tale, though it is 100 years after the life of Lady Godgifu – which is probably why her name became better known in a more modern version! – tells us an interesting tale about what a woman will fight for, and how.

“The saintly countess… desiring to free the town of Coventry from its burdensome and shameful servitude, often besought the earl, her husband, with earnest prayers, to free the town, by the guidance of the Holy Trinity and of the Holy Mother of God, from this slavery. The earl upbraided her for vainly seeking something so injurious to him, and repeatedly forbade her to approach him again on the subject. Nevertheless in her feminine pertinacity she exasperated her husband with her unceasing request and extorted from him the following reply: ‘Mount your horse naked’ he said ‘and ride through the market place of the town from one side right to the other while the people are congregated, and when you return you shall claim what you desire.’ And the countess answered: ‘And if I wish to do this, will you give me your permission?’ and the earl said, ‘I will.’ Then the Countess Godgifu, beloved of God, on a certain day, as it is said, mounting her horse naked, loosed her hair from its bands and her whole body was veiled except her fair white legs. Her journey done, unseen by a soul, she returned to her husband, who counted it a miracle. Then Earl Leofric granted a charter freeing the city of Coventry from its servitude with his seal.” (translation by Miss Lancaster, and quoted by H. R. Ellis Davidson)

Yes, Lady Godgifu is more commonly known as Lady Godiva.

It is also interesting that this episode is credited with a great change of heart by Earl Leofric, who became a God fearing man, and gave back lands to the church that he and his family had taken.

One other note: it is true that the story of Lady Godiva includes the story of Peeping Tom, but Tom is not part of the story until 1659.

Lady Godiva was determined to fight for what she believed in, even willing to humiliate herself to attain what she felt was right. (and only by the miracle that let her hair cover her was she saved from the public humiliation of nudity) So today – be sure and salute the Naked Warrior Woman of Coventry!

Black Agnes Randolph - Countess and Warrior

Leigh Michaels — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:24:59 +0000

Agnes Randolph, Countess of Dunbar, March, and Moray. Quite a mouthful. But the title of a woman warrior to be reckoned with. Agnes, known often as “Black Agnes” because of her coloring, was the daughter of Isobel Stewart and Thomas Randolph, 1^st Earl of Moray. Randolph was a nephew and supporter of Robert Bruce, or Robert I, King of Scotland, and Isobel Stewart was the first cousin of Robert I’s son-in-law. This is a pedigree of some interest in the time of the Wars of Independence in Scotland. Her family had been staunch supporters of Bruce, which might be considered hard to live up to. But not by Agnes.

She was married to Patrick Dunbar, Earl of Dunbar and March, around 1324. This causes most people to place her birth in 1312, as most girls in this era were married at that age, but nothing is certain. The Dunbars, with all of their territory within a few miles of the English border and straddling the main invasion route always taken by the English, had changed sides several times during the Wars of Independence. Patrick himself had given asylum to the English king, Edward II, in 1314 after the Scots’ victory at the Battle of Bannockburn. Patrick later on made his peace with Robert I, and will put his seal on the Declaration of Abroath – the Scots Declaration of Independence – in 1320. After the disastrous defeat of the Scots at Halidon Hill in 1333, Patrick was allowed to return to his English alliance by Edward III. With the advantage of an English alliance, Patrick was able to refortify his castle at the expense of the English in 1334. In 1335, he returned to his Scots alliance, and went of on military service for the Scots Government – which was acting for the young David II, his father, Robert I having died in 1329. Since he had changed sides, Edward III of England declared all of the Earl of Dunbar’s estates forfeited. He didn’t get them, so in 1337/8 (the date is usually given as 1338, but it is also dated 1337 – dating in this period tends to be unclear) he ordered William Montague, 1^st Earl of Salisbury to take Dunbar Castle.

It should have been simple, Salisbury was one of the great generals of the era, and Earl Patrick was gone. Only the Countess was in the castle, and Black Agnes had only a small group of servants with her. Castle fortification was built to withstand a siege, though, so heavy equipment was brought. The English under Salisbury brought a mangonel, a huge rock throwing machine, several catapults, and a battering ram known as a “sow”.

The English arrived at the gates of Dunbar Castle on 28^th January, and as was the accepted form, asked the Countess Agnes to give them the castle. Her reply – or at least her supposed reply – is usually given as “Of Scotland’s King I haud my house, he pays me meat and fee, and I will keep my gude auld house, while my house keeps me.” Taking this as the ‘no’ it was meant to be, Salisbury settled down to begin throwing boulders and other rocks at the castle walls.

The universal agreement is that Black Agnes and her ladies would come out on the battlements dressed in their finest dresses, and use their handkerchiefs to brush away the dust whenever the English scored a hit on the walls. The typical feminine touch – keeping the place tidy. But Black Agnes did more than that. All the chronicles admit that she, and she alone, was the organizer of the defenses. It is very rare that women are mentioned at all in the chronicles, let alone given credit for military command, so it is safe to say that Black Agnes was indeed the organizer of the defense of Dunbar Castle.

When Salisbury got tired of the humiliation of the dusting of the walls, he tried the sow, and battered at the gate. Agnes ordered her men to recover some of the stones that the mangonel had thrown over the walls, and drop them down onto the heads of the defenders. Not only was this an effective strategy, it led to the decision that continuous bombardment, and simply waiting to starve the castle’s inhabitants out was going to be the strategy for Salisbury from now on.

It was not an effective one, Dunbar Castle has a postern gate – a back door – that is accessible by sea. While the English had blockaded Dunbar harbor, local people could sneak some supplies in by small boats. While it was possible that the castle garrison could have been starved out – the locals were taking the risk of their lives if they got caught, so there couldn’t have been many willing – it would be a close run thing to keep his own supplies coming regularly for an indefinite period. So Salisbury tried something else.

The Earl of Moray – Black Agnes’ brother, John Randolph – was an English prisoner, so Salisbury had him brought to the castle walls and threatened to hang him. Black Agnes pointed out that if Salisbury killed her brother, she would become the Countess of Moray all the faster. What his feelings were by this denouncement aren’t recorded anywhere, but John Randolph wasn’t hung by Salisbury. (He will actually ransom himself from the English, and be killed in the young King David II’s invasion of England in 1346 – making Agnes the Countess of Moray anyway.)

After a five month siege Sir Alexander Ramsay of Dalhousie was able to get substantial supplies into the castle by the postern gate on or around 10^th June, and the siege was abandoned by Salisbury. Black Agnes, Countess of Dunbar and March, and soon to be Countess of Moray, had successfully defeated the English by holding out against the siege.

While it is sometimes labeled “anonymous”, just as often the following verse is attributed to William Montague, 1^st Earl of Salisbury:

She kept a stir in tower and trench
That brawling, boisterous Scottish wench!

Came I early, came I late,
I found Agnes at the gate!

This Warrior was a Lady - Aethelflaed Lady of the Mercians

Leigh Michaels — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 00:07:29 +0000

“But very soon after they had agreed to this she died, twelve nights before midsummer, in Tamworth, in the eighth year she was with rightful lordship holding Mercian rule. Her body lies in Colchester, in the east chapel of St. Peter’s Church.”

So the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle bids good by to one of the most amazing women in history. Yet, who has ever heard of Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians? (sometimes modernized as “Ethelfled”) Which is really too bad. She was probably born around 865-870, not only the oldest daughter of that great English folk hero Alfred the Great, but according to his biographer, his oldest child. Why was Alfred so great? He is credited with creating a unified kingdom called “Angle-lond” – England. Today of course we are more inclined to say he began the process of creating England, but in the end, isn’t it basically the same thing?

She was married to Aethelred, the Lord of the Mercians sometime after the recapture of London by her father in 886. Aethelred became ill sometime in 909 or 910 and died in 911. It would appear that Aethelflaed took command of the province in his illness. Some fragments from the Irish Annals has her giving lands “near Chester” to a Norseman named “Hingamund” – who should probably be identified as a known historical character called Ingimund – in what most likely was 910. Apparently he saw that Chester was a really nice fortified town – known as a “borough” in this period and one of the ways that her father, Alfred, had tried to control the Scandinavian threat. Who wouldn’t want a nice town, fortified against outside threat at someone else’s expense? So Ingimund tried to take over Chester. One thing the Annalist is clear on – it was Aethelflaed who manned and defended Chester. Her husband is mentioned as being “diseased” at that time, but certainly he wasn’t mentioned as being part of the battle for Chester. Aethelflaed, and Aethelflaed alone, is mentioned as defending the town. Moreover, Aethelflaed was successful. It must be admitted that the Annalist claims that she had help from the Irish, some boiling hot ale and eventually routed the enemy by “letting loose on the attacking force all the beehives in the town so that they could not move legs or hands from the great number of bees stinging them.” Perhaps not an orthodox victory, but a victory none-the-less.

As a widow, Aethelflaed came into her own. She built some of those fortified towns, about two per year. The boroughs of Tamworth, Stafford, Eddisbury, and Warwick owe their birth to her. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle claims that Aethelflaed also raided into Wales in 916, capturing “a king’s wife and thirty-four others” in a single night’s work. Interestingly, the Chronicle also tells us that she “obtained the borough that is called Derby with all that belonged to it. There also were killed four of her thanes, who were dear to her, inside the gates.” So she didn’t build Derby – she took it by force of arms. The following year she took Leicester, and in the final year of her life, she took York who “gave pledges to be under her rule.” This is the event eluded to in the opening quote.

Why haven’t we heard of a tenth century woman who could command armies, build fortified towns, hold and capture these same fortified towns, lead daring raids, and negotiate treaties? I can’t say for certain. Part of it maybe that the tenth century is considered the “Dark Ages”, and part may be that the facts I have given you are about everything that is known about Aethelflaed. Still, Aethelflaed should be better known than she is – who better could claim to be the “Mother of England” than the woman warrior whose father was the Father of the Nation?

Leigh Michaels

Triumph knows no age limit

Leigh Michaels — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 01:29:44 +0000

Two Old Women: An Alaskan Legend of Betrayal, Courage, and Survival by Velma Wallis Harper Perennial; 1993.

This is an excellent presentation of one of the many oral traditional stories of the Alaskan Athabascan people. (There are also Athabascan peoples in the Southwest, the Navajo and the Apache.) It speaks of the harsh life of those whose only means of survival were to wander between the Porcupine and Tanana Rivers north of the Great Alaskan Range.

The climate here is unforgiving, and this story is about whether the People are willing to be as unforgiving as their habitat.

It begins in the midst of a harsh winter, with the clan starving. It is decided that for the sake of the group, two old women must be left behind. No one is very happy about it, but no one will speak out against it either. The old have had their lives already, the hunting men, who provide for everyone, and the children, the hope of the future must be preserved. But if it is the right decision, why does everyone feel so bad? Necessity wins out, and the two women, Ch’idzigyaak and Sa’, are left alone.

It is Sa’ (whose name means star) who refuses to give up. If she is going to die, she is determined to die trying. Her spirit is so strong, that it overcomes the sadness, anger, and shock of Ch’idzigyaak (whose name means chickadee). The story of how the two old women must fight not only their own fears and elderly bodies, but the elements as well is fascinating. Their struggle is indicative of the struggle that all people face at least once in their lives – to fight on, or just give up. Sa’ and Ch’idzigyaak fight the good fight, and win through in the end.

This is a legend with a lesson, so the ending will not surprise anyone. In fact, the reader will probably see the ending of the story practically before it begins. But Wallis’ version is so well written that every reader will find themselves reading on to the end. And they will find that it has been well worth it.

Leigh Michaels

Woman Warrior of Africa

Michael McLean — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 23:44:54 +0000

The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Anchor Books; 1-4000-3477-9

This is a unique look at a number of interesting premises. Firstly, McCall Smith’s main character is female, and the narrative point of view includes her thoughts. Secondly, this particular detective agency is located in Botswana; not your typical detecting local. Thirdly, McCall Smith has a very clear grasp of the customs and tribal stresses and strains of the area that give the reader not only an understanding of the area, but a sympathy for their views that is very rare. Fourthly, there is the fact that the is no one single mystery driving the novel; it is merely a vehicle to introduce us to the owner of the No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, and tell us why she is in this business for herself. There are in fact a half dozen mysteries solved in the course of our meeting of Precious Ramotswe.

And Mme Mma Ramotswe (the proper respectful address for a woman in her position, though she is always known simply as Mma Ramotswe) is a warrior of the most obvious kind in the twentieth century. It is not only men who find Mma Ramotswe’s agency out of the ordinary. Her motives are probably the one’s you could expect from a woman who had lost an adored father, who had lost her one and only child, and who had spent all together too much time in an abusive marriage. Mma Ramotswe opened her agency “to help people with problems in their lives.” So she runs the only ladies’ detective agency - in fact it’s the only detective agency in Botswana. This does not mean that there are people racing to seek her aid.

Her first cases are women who are looking into the suspect behavior of their spouses. They are solved efficiently and with great dispatch. In one, she takes on a renegade crocodile, in the other, her proof that the client is right to suspect her husband’s behavior is not a welcome outcome. Eventually Mma Ramotswe gains respect for her abilities, and even the men folk of the community start coming to her for help. She is not afraid to challenge the status quo; in the form of the police, big businessmen or even a witch doctor. Her calm demeanor, determination, and sympathy for the troubled, makes Mma Ramotswe one of the easiest characters to like that a reader will ever come across.

McCall Smith is able to bring so much knowledge and sympathy to not only the character of Precious Ramotswe, but to Botswana itself because he was born early in the twentieth century under British Imperialism in what has become Zimbabwe. He also taught at the University of Botswana for a while, and his first hand knowledge of the people of this country make his book fascinating. His characters draw the reader into this wonderfully unfamiliar world. Though the views and traditions of the people are different, their troubles and triumphs are universal. A must read for anyone of either gender who fights for family, freedom, justice, and a nice shade tree. As Mma Ramotswe promises in her advertisement; “Satisfaction guaranteed for all parties.”

Michael McLean

Great Warrior Woman of the Apache

Leigh Michaels — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 20:34:33 +0000

Warrior Woman by Peter Aleshire. St. Martin’s Press: 0-312-24408-8

In the introduction of his work, Aleshire begins boldly “The stories of Geronimo, Crazy Horse, and Custer pale beside the tale of another warrior - one who fought relentlessly, successfully, and against all odds almost continuously for forty years. This warrior fought longer then Geronimo or Crazy Horse and more effectively than Custer. History suggest this warrior wielded supernatural powers, evaded successfully a full one-quarter of the United States Army, and displayed an epic personal courage and heroism. But you’ve probably never heard of her.” And it is no more than the truth, for who has ever heard of Lozen? This great warrior of the Apache is never mentioned in the White accounts of the Indian wars of the Southwest, and Aleshire believes that this was done by her own people. Not because they were ashamed of her, but because they wanted to protect her from the attention of the Whites who they had learned not to trust.

Lozen would appear to be the sister of Victorio, she was known to be among Nana’s band after her brother’s death, and she was listed as one of Geronimo’s band at his surrender. This means that she had fought for more than thirty years. Among her own people she had renown for her supernatural abilities; she was able to tell what direction the enemy was coming from, how close they were, and how numerous. She was also known for her ability to steal horses, one of the most treasured warrior skills among the Apache. Lozen was also a healer and midwife.

No one can say why she chose the rather unnatural path of the warrior. Apache women are traditionally very powerful. A man moved into the woman’s band when she accepted his advances, creating the alliances between bands that the Whites of the time did not understand, mostly through ignorance and lack of effort. She had the right to divorce him at anytime - without question, but the women were expected to remain faithful and supportive. Their council was sought after, and they were widely respected. But Apache women did not become warriors, they did not need to in order to be powerful.

Lozen, however, made the decision to become a warrior from an early age. Aleshire attributes this to her supernatural powers, which is certainly the strongest explanation. Since Lozen herself, and all of her compatriots, were illiterate there is no way of knowing the details of her remarkable life. This is one of the most tragic losses to history. Aleshire acknowledges this from the introduction, and gives a detailed explanation of his almost unique way of approaching this problem. (he acknowledged his debt to Sandoz’s Crazy Horse for the origin of several of the decisions he made.) He utilizes anthropological works, army lists, personal reminisces both from U.S. army men and the stories told by the captured Apache leaders, and the oral histories gathered from the people who were children as Lozen’s life came to an end. His telling of her story is humanistic and sympathetic. He also gives his readers a very complete picture of the traditions and beliefs of the Apache, and puts Lozen into these traditions with great skill.

The life of this great warrior woman, famed for power, wise counsel, horse stealing, and being a crack shot, is too little known. If you can bear the constant misunderstandings between the Whites, the Mexicans, and the Apache and the tragedy that results when three such different traditions and cultures collide, Warrior Woman: the Story of Lozen; Apache Warrior and Shaman is well worth your time.

Leigh Michaels

A Modern Warrior Woman

Leigh Michaels — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 17:10:11 +0000

The King of Terrors by Michael McLean –
available online at: http://www.whispersofthemuse.org/Lit/Literary.htm
(just scroll down to “Literary Longs” and it is linked chapter by chapter.)

San Miguel, a small mountain town in northern New Mexico, is the site of the Catholic University of St. Michael. The University has been plagued for two years by a bizarre stalker, whose motives are as mysterious as his behavior. When a graduate student is found beaten to death, it is suspected that she turned on her attacker - the stalker. Meg MacGregor, San Miguel’s Sheriff, begins an intense search for a figure she has previously labeled a harmless fruitcake, while also tracking a local drug ring in a county wide investigation. Meg, who inherited the Sheriff’s Office when her husband died in the line of duty, is an intelligent, hot tempered, half Lakota woman. With the help of her deputy, a young Hispanic Romeo, and his cousin, the office receptionist, Meg sets out to find the stalker. She is aided and sometimes hindered by a cast of small town characters and the people from the University who knew the victim. This includes the victim’s married advisor, with whom she had an affair, the hostile professor of her last class, a friend from a previous University, her fellow graduates and most importantly, Jeremiah Prescott, the absent-minded professor to whom she was engaged. Meg and her deputy attempt to work out some kind of a system to find out what all of the young women attacked have in common and thus begins the monumental search for an unidentified male in a college town. Tired from nightly drug patrols, confronted with mountains of paperwork, Meg feels frustrated and guilty. Since the worst thing the stalker had done to anyone in the past was badly frighten them, she has let the investigation slide in the tide of more urgent matters. Seeking solace, Meg turns to the two men in her life. She is supported by her widower father, a British expatriate who owns the only twenty-four hour restaurant in town, and the ancient priest of the local church who offers Meg what comfort he can. Somehow, with semi-comical élan and a rather haphazard supporting cast, Meg is able to juggle DEA seminars, the murder investigation, a fire at the University and a student overdose to finally locate The King of Terrors. Ultimately, Meg is able to build her case and confront the murderer with his crime.

Several periphery characters create a network of contacts that will form the basis for an ongoing series. These include, the county Sheriff, other officers from the county office and the county coroner. In San Miguel, Meg uses her father’s penchant for gossip, a nurse at the local emergency center and an office girl at the University with a crush on her deputy. The King of Terrors is written to be the tantalizing introduction to the series based on this cast of characters.

by Leigh Michaels

A Sleuth of Size who does not Apologize

Michael McLean — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 17:54:14 +0000

Larger than Death by Lynne Murray, St Martin’s Minotaur; 0-312-97277-6

A woman must be a warrior when her body moves from the voluptuous to the Reubenesque; culturally we do not approve of or accept those who are not rail thin and muscular. Josephine Fuller, the unrepentant sleuth mentioned above, is full figured, proud, and not afraid to use the muscle of sharp intellect and even sharper tongue. Larger than Death, our introduction to Murray’s investigator, presents the reader with a woman of rare spirit and determination, one determined to live a “Fuller” life. (as she herself tells her new boss) Jo has just divorced, found a dream job investigating possible philanthropic donation recipients, and has just completed her first little job of charity investigation. Deserving and needing a little R and R, she goes to visit her best friend, Nina West. Arriving on Nina’s front doorstep, Jo finds the police. Nina is DOA, her throat slit; making her the apparent victim of a serial killer preying on the full figured women of the Seattle area. Enraged that this could happen to Nina, Jo is determined to find the one responsible.

Somehow things are not what they seem. There are things about this killing that do not add up to the serial killer; a phone call, a last letter from Nina, and the mysterious removal of the police seal from Nina’s apartment. Was it the serial killer? If not, who should Jo suspect? The old friend from Nina’s hometown, Andy, who runs a diet and weight-loss center that stands for everything Nina opposed? Her new boyfriend, Mulligan, to whom Jo herself is instantly attracted, and who is oddly, equally instantly attracted to Jo? (after all, his previous lover died only two days ago.) The creepy computer geek, Eric, who lived in the apartment below Nina, claims that she and Mulligan had been fighting a lot, but Mulligan tells Jo (with honesty, as a promise, or simply as a happy memory?) that the noises that Eric heard were far from a fight. Is the computer geek in Eric that innocent sexually, or is it to lead Jo away from the fact that Eric wields a knife a bit too freely? Should Jo suspect Nina’s long time friend, Joan, who also seems to be attracted to Mulligan? (he will eventually tell you, in the last two pages, why he would appear to have no first name.) Or even more interestingly, could it be someone from Eastways Spiritual Paths? Nina once belonged to this cult-like foundation, but now seems to be running a halfway house for its former members. The final suspect is the biggest surprise to Jo – Nina’s illegitimate son, William Crain. Jo had not known of his existence, but is that why she keeps coming back to him as a possible suspect? Is it because he was raised by Eastways members? Or could it be because he has killed his foster father and is on the run?

Nothing stops Josephine Fuller; not being followed by a mysterious pick-up truck, nor being attacked by someone with a really big knife. In the end, Jo manages to find out what Maxine, Nina, Isabelle Zangrilli, Dr. Morton, and the Reverend Gordon Bliss all have in common, finds William Crain and gets him to agree to turn himself in, and lastly, manages to find the serial killer. But has she found Nina’s killer?

Murray presents her reader with well drawn characters, and intricate plot, and a sense of humor that runs the gamut from tongue-in-cheek to sarcasm. The book is an intense, yet somehow fun read that will leave you ready to spend more time with Jo Fuller; a sleuth of daring and humor, who owes no apologies to anyone.

Michael McLean

Female Gladiators and a Corpse in a Well

Michael McLean — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 16:56:06 +0000

The Jupiter Myth by Lindsey Davis. Warner Books, 2003. 0892967773

Marcus Didius Falco, informer for the Roman Emperor Vespasian, is stuck in Britannia. Having been sent by Vespasian, he remains (much against his will) to allow his wife (morally and legally above his touch, but a woman tends to get what she wants) to visit her family. (her aunt is the wife of the Procurator of Britannia no less!) The visit goes well until a hold over from the case that brought Falco out to the cold, rainy, backward province at the edge of the world is found face down in a well.

As the only person with a motive for the killing is Falco himself, he grimly takes on the investigation. It turns out to be unique in Falco’s experience. None of his witnesses are lying – they aren’t talking at all. That is until an old flame turns up with not only information, but with a new name and a new job – Amazonia the Gladiator. The glaidatrix’s evidence is not what Falco needed to hear. It looks like the killing was part of a protection racket with roots stretching all the way back to Rome. Nothing in Falco’s life, however, is a simple as it first appears. In a situation like this (and Falco is always ending up in one) it pays to have help. So Falco enlists the aid of his wife, his sister, his best friend, a torturer, a sleazy lawyer, a street urchin that his wife has taken in, and of course, his former lover and her cohort of female gladiators.

This, the fourteenth Falco novel, is a typical Davis triumph. Her portrayal of everyday life in the first century is excellent. Her style of first person narration – Davis herself is the voice of Falco – lends a brilliant immediacy to the tale. Davis ingeniously explains enough about the past to keep even a first time reader from getting lost without burdening this offering with useless retrospective.

by Michael McLean

The Great Celtic Warrior Woman of Britain - Part III

Leigh Michaels — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 16:52:35 +0000

After the destruction of three towns and the IX Hispania, Boudicca marshaled her forces, and set off in pursuit of the governor. To regain their freedom, to throw off the hated Roman yoke once and for all, they needed to win in open battle. Boudicca certainly understood this. The fact that she persuaded her followers to see it, speaks highly of not only her oratorical powers, but of the respect her fellow Celts had for her abilities. Facing and defeating the Roman legions was not an easy thing. It had certainly not been done often, but Boudicca felt confident that she could do it. Her followers shared that confidence.

Where this monumental battle actually took place, remains a mystery. From clues in Tacitus and the assessment of first century Roman roads, the best guess is Mancetter. That this battle took place can not be doubted – after the destruction of three towns it was obvious the Celts wanted to be free of the Romans. In order to attain this freedom, they would have to drive the Romans from the province by costly military defeat – the destruction of most of the legions in the province. The Germans under Arminius had done this successfully only fifty years before. But for the Celts of Britannia, it was not to be.

It would appear obvious that Boudicca was defeated by the same thing that had defeated all her male Celtic predecessors – from Vercingetorix on. The Celts were a society of independent beings who fought together only in the sense that they fought on the same day, in the same place, against the same foe. They fought for individual grievance and glory, for personal reasons and personal fame. Against the discipline of the Roman legions, this had consistently spelled disaster. That day in the year 60, somewhere along Watling Street, would turn out to be no different.

Tacitus tells us that after the defeat, Boudicca committed suicide. It seems a very sad ending to the life of such a brilliant military leader. On the other hand, some sources say that three hundred years before Boudicca, a male Celtic war leader led a raid against the Greeks, and when finally defeated, he killed himself. In the end, Boudicca may have simply been following the tradition of a defeated Celtic war leader. Gender had never been a bar to Celtic women, who could choose whatever lifestyle suited them. Once a woman had chosen the life of a warrior, the same expectations and the same code of behavior would have applied to her that applied to her male counterparts. The great warrior woman of the Celts, Boudicca of the Iceni, proved that they were more than equal to the task.