Queen Victoria

There are several series which I have started on this blog and not continued/finished.  So I thought I'd pick them up again. I particularly enjoyed writing about the women listed in Deborah Felder's book: The 100 Most Influential Women of All Time. Felder wrote about them in the order that she had ranked them, but I chose to write about them chronologically, in hopes of fitting them more closely in my mind with the time in which they lived. I'll have to go back and re-read my posts about the earlier women. I see I last wrote about George Eliot who lived from 1818-1890.

The next person listed is Queen Victoria (1819-1901), ranked 38 out of 100. I must admit I'm not much of a fan and I'd need to go back and re-read the library book to remember why Felder gave her that much credence. Though I'm certainly no expert, the only real way in which I would consider her influential is that she and her husband Albert changed the pattern of behaviour for British monarchs. 

They both had unhappy childhoods which they attributed to the sexual escapades and affairs of their parents; they decided to be more upstanding, to practice higher morals and to raise their children to behave similarly. I'm not sure the latter attempt was successful, considering the life of their eldest son, Bertie. Nevertheless the Victorian era became synonymous with rigid social rules about sexual morals, such that even when discussing furniture one said 'limbs' rather than 'legs'. The Victorian era is also remembered as one of hypocrisy (hence the name, Victoria's Secret for the lingerie company), because of the levels of poverty that led to prostitution, the widespread use of child labour, also the strictest observance of the class system. Between the 'family values' they upheld and the size of the family they produced (nine children) Victoria and Albert personified a lifestyle with which the growing middle classes of Britain could identify.

Just before Victoria came to power in 1837, Britain had passed the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833 which outlawed slavery in the British Empire (with a few exceptions). In 1838 £20 million pounds was put aside to pay to slave owners as reparation for the loss of their slaves; of course no reparation was offered to the slaves themselves.

Nothing I've read about Victoria suggests she was a particularly fond mother.  She thought babies were disgusting. Later, she saw her children as obliged to serve and please her and seems to have had little regard for their feelings. Whether this was because of her view of being a mother or of being a queen, I'm not sure. I gather this was not an uncommon attitude in Victorian society overall, particularly where advantageous marriages were concerned. 

According to Wikipedia Victoria supported the Reform Act of 1867, before which only 14% of the seven million men in Britain could vote. This act doubled that number. However, Victoria was not in support of women being able to vote.

Victoria has never been depicted as particularly intelligent but rather a woman ruled entirely by her emotions. Her journals report that she enjoyed her sex life with Albert, which is fair enough. After his death she withdrew from public life so much so that a protester put up a notice on Buckingham Palace demanding that

"...these commanding premises...be let or sold in consequence of  the late occupant's declining business."

She was known to be susceptible to flattery and apparently had the odd crush on various men, earning her the nicknames of "Mrs Melbourne" and "Mrs Brown".  Queen Elizabeth I also had affairs of the heart, or at least one with Robert Dudley, but as queen before the institution of constitutional monarchies she had a great deal more power and during Elizabeth I's reign England became a great power.

The Great Famine in Ireland happened during Victoria's reign, when Britain was at its peak, the richest nation in the world. For some time I've held her largely responsible in my own mind. However, just now I've read that she gave £2,000 toward the British Relief Association in aid of the Irish, more than any other individual. 

I've long thought of her as full of self-pity, a spoiled and pampered individual who happened to be born into the royal family. That said, she had a horrible childhood living under the Kensington System, an elaborate set of rule devised by her mother and her mother's supposed lover to keep Victoria weak and dependent.  She clearly adored her husband, though she was loathe to lose any of her power to him. I can't imagine that being royalty, particularly being the longest reigning monarch in Britain's history is conducive to having what I would consider to be an admirable character. The 'constitutional monarchy' had been in place for well over a century by the time Victoria became Queen, so her powers were quite limited, perhaps only to "the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn".  So perhaps I'm too hard on the woman. In any case her name describes the era in which developed societies became industrialized and she perhaps witnessed the largest changes in the world during her reign, the longest in British history to date.

By the way, mark your calenders. This year 11 September will not only be the 14th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, it will the be day on which Elizabeth II takes the place of Queen Victoria as the longest reigning monarch.  I'm wondering what sort of events will mark the observance of that event!

Suffragettes, Abolitionists and Authors - Part IV

George Eliot (1819 - 1880) Ranked by Feldman as number 27 of out 100 most influential women. Author of Silas Marner, Middlemarch and others. I have seen the former on our shelves, but don't believe I've ever read it. I keep confusing George Eliot with George Sand, only because they are women who chose George as part of their pen name. Even stranger, Sand was French, but this is about Eliot and she was English. Having read briefly about her life, I shall definitely read her work with more interest as hers was a rather peculiar life

She was born in Warwickshire where her father was the estate manager of Arbury Hall, a relatively important position. Because she was considered an unattractive girl with little chance of marrying, she was given a better education than most girls at the time, at least up to the age of 16.   One cannot entirely disagree with this assessment of her appearance, but this certainly doesn't seem to have stopped her from finding love in her life.

After her education finished her father's position allowed her access to the library at Arbury Hall. It is said that her writing draws heavily on Greek literature and only one of her books can be printed without the use of Greek typeface. Her mother died when she was 16 and she took over the housekeeping for her father. She was 21 when her brother married and took over the family home, so she and her father moved to a village near Coventry, where she fell in with Charles Bray and his wife. Their home was a meeting place for people interested in discussing radical views. Whether it was their influence, or the varied exposure at schools to differing religious views, the challenges of the day to the Anglican church by religious dissenters or her independent reading, at some point Eliot began to reject Christianity. Though her father threatened to throw her out of the home for these ideas, she remained with him until his death when she was 30. She then spent a year in Switzerland, travelling there with the Brays but continuing to stay on her own.


When she returned to England she moved to London with the intention of becoming a writer under her own name and she worked as assistant editor for a left-wing journal for three years during which she met George Henry Lewes, a philosopher and critic. Within a few years Evans and Lewes decided to live together in spite of the fact that he was married. Lewes had a wife and three children, but because they had decided to have an open marriage (these Victorians!) she had four other children with another man.  As these four children's birth certificates bore Lewes' name, he could not divorce her on these grounds. Evans and Lewes lived together openly for 20 years. It is surmised that it was in order to hide her living arrangements from the wider public rather than her gender that she took a male pen name, though she was rather scathing of the majority of women's writing of the day. It was during her time with Lewes that she wrote her popular novels, noted for astute observation of rural life and for their social, political and psychological insight.


When Lewes died in 1878, she spent two years editing his final manuscript for publication. She found comfort in the company of John Walter Scott, a man 20 years her junior whom she married in May 1880. She died in December that year from a throat infection coupled with her chronic kidney disease. With such an unusual life, I suspect I'll remember Mary Ann Evans / George Eliot much better in future.

Suffragettes, Abolitionists and Authors - Part III

This group of posts is about the next five women listed in chronological order from Deborah Felder's book, 100 Most Influential Women.   All of these posts are listed under the heading 'Influential Women'.

Charlotte Bronte (1816 - 1855) Rated 44th amongst the 100 most influential women. Author of Jane Eyre, Villette and Shirley. Aged 27, developed crush on married man, a teacher in Brussels. Age 38, married, got pregnant and died.

Emily Bronte (1818 - 1848) Rated 45th. Author of Wuthering Heights. Age 20, became teacher in Halifax, worked 17-hour days, health failed. Died of TB, aged 30.

There is no doubt this was a brilliant family and that a number of their published works are classics.  Virtually every decade has produced a movie of either Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre or both, though granted this isn't necessarily a measure of their literary worth!  Though today they might be thought as stories more written for women than men, in their day they were thought to be remarkably unfeminine. However, after reading the Wikipedia entries for these two sisters and their parents, a remarkable collection of doom, gloom and death interspersed with literary genius and a bit of laudanum addiction, I'm thinking that there was something wrong going on there.


The father initially did several apprenticeships, as a blacksmith, a linen draper and a weaver before entering higher education and becoming an Anglican priest. He married Maria Branwell, the daughter of a successful merchant. His position in Haworth was as a Perpetual Curate, which is a post held in a sparsely populated area which doesn't have a vicar. So far as I can tell, they were Perpetually Poor. The children entertained themselves by writing poetry and novels. The only son also painted, which apparently also involved the obligatory consumption of alcohol and possibly laudanum. The children's ill health is attributed to a poor water source, it being runoff from the church graveyard, to poor living conditions at a Yorkshire school for curates' children (later depicted at Lowood in Jane Eyre), and to overwork as teachers and governesses. Tuberculosis is of course contagious and its manifestation was encouraged by generally poor nutrition and of course there were no antibiotics at the time. For the most part, the Bronte offspring were felled by this disease:


Elizabeth - died aged 11
Maria - died aged 12, (both in 1825);
Anne, died aged 29,
Emily - died aged 30,
Branwell, died aged 31 (all in 1848/49); all died of tuberculosis.
Charlotte died aged 38 from TB, or possibly from severe morning sickness.
Maria Branwell Bronte, their mother, died aged 38 from uterine cancer.


Patrick Bronte, the father, lived to the age of 84; his son-in-law, Arthur Bell Nichols remained with Patrick until his death in 1861 and himself lived to be 87. This strikes me as quite strange, that's all I'm saying.

Suffragettes, Abolitionists and Authors - Part II

This is another post about influential women, as listed in a book by Deborah Felder.  Although I've long ago returned the book to the library, I recorded her list and her rankings for future use here.  I've been researching them on the internet in a different order to their ranking, rather I've put them in chronological order to appreciate more about the time in which they lived.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815 - 1902) was rated 7th in 100, and I would have to agree that she rates this high. Abolitionist, women's rights activist, suffragette, temperance activist. I believe this is one of the women about whom I was supposed to write an English research paper at university when I was 16. Never mind that it was my first ever research paper (with footnotes and everything!) and that the books I brought home from the library all weighed a ton and looked dry and daunting, my uninformed impression of Stanton was that she would be dead boring. Forty years later I realise how mistaken I was (I dropped out of school rather than face that hurdle; 16 was too young for me to have a go at higher education).

Elizabeth was born in New York, the daughter of a lawyer and a politician Daniel Cady and enjoyed a formal education not often given to daughters. She was one of five daughters who lived to old age, out of eleven children born to the Cady family. Her father's sadness at her 20-year-old brother's death and a statement that he wished she was a son led her to believe he valued sons more than daughters. In spite of her excellent academic achievements she could not go to university. Elizabeth met Henry Brewster Stanton through her involvement with the abolition and temperance movements. He was a journalist, anti-slavery orator and, following their marriage, an attorney. Elizabeth required that 'promise to obey' be removed from the wedding vows as she was entering into a relationship of equals. They attended the International Abolition of Slavery Convention in London on their honeymoon. Though she took her husband's name, she refused to sign herself as Mrs. Henry B. Stanton, always insisting on her own name. Married for 47 years, because of employment, travel and finances they lived apart more often than together, though they had six children together, as part of what she called 'voluntary motherhood'; she felt that women should have control of their sexual relations and childbearing, an unusual idea in an era when women were expected to 'submit'. Though much alike in temperament, they disagreed on various issues, women's suffrage in particular; neither Elizabeth's father or husband favoured it.


Elizabeth was one of the organisers of the first women's rights convention in 1848. After initially working with Susan B. Anthony with their common involvement in temperance work, they formed a working partnership focussed on women's suffrage, in which Elizabeth wrote many of the speeches delivered by Anthony, who being single and childless was able to attend more functions. Though Elizabeth wanted to address women's rights more widely, she was persuaded to concentrate on suffrage. She and Anthony both broke with the abolistionist movement following the Civil War in that they lobbied against the ratification of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth amendments, giving the right to vote to African-American men but not to women.


In 1868 the two women formed the National Woman Suffrage Association, of which Elizabeth was president for 21 years. In her later life she travelled widely in the US and in Europe, speaking on behalf of women's rights. Her views included rights of economic opportunities, right to serve on juries and gender-neutral divorce laws. In 1892, she delivered a speech, Solitude of Self, to the Committee of the Judiciary of the US Congress. She and others wrote The Womans Bible, published in the late 1890s, to refute religious views that women should be subsurvient to their husbands. Though this book enjoyed great sales, its controversiality eventually caused the NWSA to separate itself from its ideas and, to some extent, Elizabeth. Several quotes suggest that at 80, though old, obese and bedridden, she was undaunted: "The only difference between us is, we say that these degrading ideas of woman emanated from the brain of man, while the church says that they came from God." "Our politicians are calm and complacent under our fire but the clergy jump round the moment you aim a pop gun at them 'like parched peas on a hot skillet'". "Well, if we who do see the absurdities of the old superstitions never unveil them to others, how is the world to make any progress in the theologies? I am in the sunset of life, and I feel it to be my special mission to tell people what they are not prepared to hear ..."


Forty years later, I definitely feel I did myself a grave disservice, not having studied about Elizabeth Cady Stanton. I think she might have changed my life. There are some excellent quotes from her here and here. My current favourite is

The heyday of woman's life is the shady side of fifty.

Suffragettes, Abolitionists and Authors - Part I

I thought I'd dip back into my List of 100 Influential Women (or rather Deborah Felder's list).  I always learn something new and inspiring from writing these posts. 


Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811 - 1896) Felder rated Stowe number 11 on her list of 100 influential women.  Harriet was born and died in Connecticut.  She was one of her father's 13 children.  Her mother (of 9 childen) died when she was 5 years old.  Harriet's father was a Presbyterian minister and she had several brothers who became notable ministers.  Harriet attended Hartford Female Seminary, run by her elder sister Catherine, where she received a classical (traditionally 'male') education.  When she was 21 she moved to Cincinnati to join her father who had become president of the Lane Theological Seminary.  During a cholera outbreak, she visited the home of another seminary student in Kentucky.  It is said that there she was taken to see a slave auction, an experience that left its mark. 

An uncle in Cincinnati invited her to join a writers' club, called the Semi-Colon Club, where she met Calvin Ellis Stowe and his wife Eliza Tyler Stowe.  When Eliza died a few years later, Harriet married Stowe, a professor at the seminary.  They later followed his career to Maine, where the couple took part in the Underground Railroad, assisting fugitive slaves.


Of course, Harriet Beecher Stowe is most famous for having written Uncle Tom's Cabin.  This book was initially published in the anti-slavery journal National Era, in installments over a nine month period before it was published in 1852.   When she and her family were later invited to the White House to meet President Lincoln, it is rumoured that he said something to the effect, "So you're the little lady who caused this great big war."  In fact, no one knows quite what was said, but journal entries of both Harriet and of her daughter refer to this visit as 'funny' and they apparently found the experience quite amusing.  I doubt it can be said that she caused the war, but her book certainly will have fuelled the discussions about slavery.


I have to confess to having not read Uncle Tom's Cabin, but I have now added it to my book list.  She wrote other books, including novels, memoirs, a travel guide and a book about domestic managed co-authored with her sister Catherine.  Some of these books are available online, including Agnes of Sorrento.  I have downloaded a PDF file of her and Catherine's book, The American Woman's Home (published 1869).

Writers and Fighters

It's been a while since I studied my list of 100 influential women and so I want to pick that up again.  In the next batch of five, as they come in chronological order, we have

Jane Austen (1775 - 1817), ranked 13th by the author Deborah Felder in her book, The 100 Most Influential Women of All Time.  

I won't write about Jane as I've written about her before.  If you are big a fan - and that club is quite large - I'm guessing you'll already know quite a bit about her.

Dorothea Lynde Dix (1802 - 1887), ranked 31 out of 100.  

She was an American activist who lobbied Congress and state legislatures on behalf of the indigent insane.  She was responsible for the establishment of the first mental asylums in the US.  Prior to this any insane person who had no family to look after them was placed in the care of an individual who received money from the town funds.  With no regulation and poor funding, there were many instances of abuse and neglect.  Prior to becoming an activist she wrote a book, Conversations on Common Things, a sort of comprehensive text book for your 1824 student.  You can read it yourself here.  I have a graduate degree and I don't know half those things!  Dix also served as Superintendent of Army Nurses during the Civil War.  It could be argued how successful she was in this role, as she was often in conflict not only with the  doctors, but with the nurses she managed as well.  Her unstinting care for both Confederate and Union soldiers alike did however earn her the respect and admiration of the Confederate South.

Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) was ranked number 20. 

Originally named Isabella Baumfree, she renamed herself around 1843.  Born into slavery, her last owner promised her freedom a year before the New York legislature abolished slavery there, if she worked hard for him in the meantime, but changed his mind later.  She did the work she felt owed, spinning 100 pounds of wool, before she walked away to freedom.  She said she didn't run, feeling that was dishonest, but walking away was acceptable.   When later, after the abolition of slavery had passed, she learned the former owner had illegally sold her 5 year old son to an owner in Alabama.  She took her case to court to get custody of her son and was the first black woman to win a case against a white man.   Sojourner is best remembered for a speech, "Ain't I a Woman", for which there are different versions, depending upon the recorder.  Truth's own account of her life can be found here.    She helped recruit black soldiers for the Civil War.  She did a lot of public speaking - at a time when this was highly unusual for women - supporting abolition, of course, but also women's rights.

I nearly titled this post, The Sisters Grimke, for Sarah Grimke (1796-1873), ranked 25th, and

Angelina Grimke (1805-1879), ranked 24th.  

These sisters were among 13 children born to a judge, an Episcopalian and plantation owner in South Carolina.  The sisters were very close and both found slavery abhorrent.  They were also frustrated at not being able to pursue the educational opportunities granted to their male siblings.  They rebelled, first against the Episcopal church, then left the Presbyterian church to join the Quakers.  Even the Quakers, however, found their public speeches about abolition to be inappropriate activities for women and they did not support Sarah's intention to train as a minister.  When they attended the Convention of the American Anti-Slavery Society, they were the only women present.  Angeline addressed the Massachusetts State Legislature in 1837 concerning abolition, and was the first women in the United States ever to address a legislative body.  She pointed out that the North abetted slavery by buying products grown or made in the Southern slave states.  Both sisters seem to have spent a large part of their lives fighting the establishment of the day on behalf of themselves and others, though in their later years they each settled down to quieter personal life due to ill health.

Though Truth was illiterate, her story has been published a number of times and all the other women were writers of speeches and letters as well as books.  Jane Austen, of course, wrote anonymously, as well bred women of her time were not supposed to publish books.  All of these women pushed the boundaries on issues we recognise today as important, but they were highly unique in their own time.  Reading about them is really quite humbling, not to mention exhausting!  I'm not cut out to be a fighter myself, and my writing is pretty much limited to this blog, but if nothing else, I can pay homage by reminding you as well as myself about what amazing things they accomplished.

A Saint, Three Queens and an Author - Part III

An author, the author in this case, is Mary Wollstonecraft (ranked well near the top at number 6).  I was thinking in the back of my mind that this was Mary Shelley (wife of my namesake, Percy Bysshe), but no, this is Mary Shelley's mother.  

1.  Mary Wollstonecraft lived from 1759 to 1797, a short but unconventional life as a writer, philosopher and a proponent of women's rights.  

2.  Wollstonecraft was one of six children born to a 'genteel' family headed by a violent, drunk father whose profligacy led them into financial difficulties.  At 19 she left home and took a position as a lady's companion, but didn't get on with her employer.  She was later a governess in another household which didn't suit her either, though the children she instructed thought she was inspiring. 

3.  She was unconventional in having had two love affairs before marriage to William Godwin (Mary's father).  The first was with a married man, the second with an American, Gilbert Imlay, whom she followed to France during wartime.  She had an illegitimate daughter with him and though he registered her as Mrs. Imlay after Britain declared war with France to give her some protection, he eventually abandoned her and the baby in the midst of the French revolution.  Amazingly, she attempted suicide twice over this Imlay character.  She continued to call herself Mrs. Imlay after returning to Britain.   She later married William Godwin after finding herself pregnant by him.  They then set up households in two adjoining houses so they could still each enjoy their independence.  She died within a couple of weeks of giving birth to Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (later Mary Shelley) from septicaemia, at the age of 38. 

3.  Her writing spanned several genre:  

Thoughts on the Education of Daughters: with Reflections on Female Conduct, in the More Important Duties of Life (1787)  was a 'conduct' book; an early version of today's self-help book.  She argued that women only appeared silly because they had not had the benefit of an education.

Original Stories from Real Life (1788) was a children's book, teaching moral ideas such as honesty and frugality.  This book used some of her experiences as a governess.

A Vindication of the Rights of Man (1790) was a political argument in response to Edmund Burke's defence of the aristocracy following the French Revolution.

A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792) was a feminist argument in favour of educating women according to their position in society, pointing out the value to society that women could add as educators of children and companions to their husbands.

Letters Written in Sweden, Norway and Denmark (1796) was a travel narrative, commenting on the social and philosophical ideas of those countries.  Wollstonecraft went to Scandinavia on the behalf of Gilbert Imlay.  He didn't apparently appreciate her efforts as it did nothing to rescue the relationship.

Wrongs of Women, or Maria (1787), was an unfinished novel, published after her death.

4.  Following her death, William Godwin published a book about her life, revealing her illegitimate child, her affairs, her suicide attempts.  People were shocked.  Wollstonecraft was remembered more for Godwin's Memoir than for her own writing.

5.  Some 50-60 years later, Quaker abolitionist and feminist, Lucretia Mott, began  quoting from Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Women.  Since that time other well known feminists such as George Eliot and Virginia Woolf picked up Wollstonecraft's ideas and embraced her life as an 'experiment in living'.  Wollstonecraft is credited as being the first feminist writer.

6.  Just as with European history, what I've learned about Mary Wollstonecraft has given me another puzzle piece.  Her daughter, Mary Shelley, became an accomplished writer herself and you will all recognize her most famous work.  When she was only 19, Mary Shelley's book was published:  Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818).  She also lived a very unconventional life...but that would be another post.

A Saint, Three Queens and an Author - Part II

The next influential women in chronological order happen to all be queens:  Isabella of Spain, Elizabeth I of England and Catherine the Great, of Russia.  I don't know how you feel about these posts, but I'm feeding my own curiosity, reading things I probably wouldn't unless I set myself the task of telling you about these women.  It will also tell me what biographies I might want to track down at some point.  I love putting the jigsaw of European history together with the different sources I encounter over time.

Queen Isabella (ranked 21 of 100).

1.  She lived from 1451 to 1504.  

2.  Her much older half-brother kept changing his mind about whom she should marry.  She finally took the reins in her own hands and eloped with Ferdinand, the man her mother had originally given her hand.  They had to get Papal concession because their grandfathers were brothers, but that eventually was granted so the half-brother didn't manage to get the marriage annulled.

3.  With the union of Isabella (of Castile and Leon) and Ferdinand (of Aragon) came the unification of Spain (such as it is).  Unfortunately, in their desire to make Spain a single country with a single religion, Ferdinand was convinced to initiate the Spanish Inquisition (yeah, that one) to help rid the country of Jews and Muslims.

4.  I only ever equated the name Isabella with Christopher Columbus, and it is likely this is how she was most influential (in a positive way).  It was her willingness to sponsor exploration of the world along with the country's unification that allowed Spain to build an empire.

5.  Interestingly, Portugal wasn't happy with the claims Spain made in South America, claiming that territory for itself.  So, the two countries sat down and divided the world between them with the Treaty of Tordesillas.  This rang a bell with me, as it is a salient point in the plot of James Clavell's excellent novel, Shogun.

6. I was fascinated to learn that Isabella's youngest daughter was none other than Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry the VIII, the Queen he had to start a new church to divorce.  That's what I mean about puzzle pieces.

Our next Queen I know well:  Elizabeth I, ranked 16th.  She's one of my favourite historical figures and I'll read a book or watch a movie about her any day.  In fact, she's probably to blame for my coming to England.  I watched Young Bess at the impressionable age of 13.

1.  The second daughter of Henry VIII, she lived from 1533 to 1603.  

2. Her father had moved heaven and earth to rid himself of his first wife (see above) in order to marry Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth's mother.  If ever a girl child needed to be a boy, Elizabeth did.  When she was 2 and a half, her mother was beheaded.  This was supposedly for adultery, incest and treason, but really because she didn't produce a male heir.  (The irony of it all, now that we know a child's gender is determined by the father).  With a half-sister, half-brother and a cousin inserted into the succession ahead of her, that Elizabeth lived to claim the throne is part miracle and part wily caution on her part.





3.  Elizabeth was the best educated young woman of her time.  She ruled with more moderate policies than her siblings or father.  


4.  She never married, perhaps because she feared losing power as reigning queen, possibly because she loved an unsuitable man, Robert Dudley, or maybe because it was a convenient political carrot for the first part of her reign.  Over time, part of her fame was for being a Virgin Queen.


5.  As head of England's Protestant Church, Elizabeth feared the Catholic interests of France and Mary Queen of Scots, her cousin.  She eventually imprisoned Mary and had her beheaded as a means of protecting her own throne.  In spite of this, and perhaps because Mary's son, James VI of Scotland, was raised a Protestant, she made him her heir; he was then also James I of England.


6.  Though cautious in foreign affairs and never a patron of the arts, the longevity of her reign after the numerous successions alternating between Catholic and Protestant rulers provided a peace that the English appreciated.  The Elizabethan era is remembered for the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the adventures of Francis Drake, and the writings of Shakespeare and Marlowe.  She is also, unfortunately to blame for the plantations of Protestants in Ireland, the beginnings of the massive problems there.


Finally, we come to Catherine the Great, ranked 46th.  My Mom always expressed admiration for this woman, and I've never known much about her before.  After writing this piece, I wonder what mushy movie my Mom watched.  Catherine sounds pretty scary to me!  Maybe it was that toughness that Mom admired?  





1.  She was actually of German and Danish descent, born in Prussia, originally named Sophie, and lived between 1729 and 1796.  She married the heir to the Russian throne, Peter the III (whereupon her name changed to Catherine).

2.  It's all rather complicated, but apparently her husband wasn't that keen on being Tsar of Russia; he was fascinated by Frederick II of Prussia and his soldiers were rather insulted by this, particularly as they had been at war with Prussia for the seven years prior to Peter III's rein.  Catherine, on the other hand, did everything she could to be more Russian including changing from the German Lutheran religion to become Eastern Orthodox, learning the language and keeping up with current affairs, which of course made her more popular. 

3.  Only six months into his rein, Peter was lolling around in Oranienbaum (now on my list to see in St Petersburg!) with his mistress and his Prussian buddies, leaving Catherine in St Petersburg (she apparently had a few lovers of her own, mind).  The military unit assigned as his personal guards revolted in a 'bloodless coup'; bloodless until 3 days later when one of the soldiers killed him.  There is no evidence that Catherine was involved in his murder; there were others who would have benefitted from his death.

4.  So, though not descended from any previous Russian emporer, she boldly stepped in and became Empress.   Why she is called 'Great', well, for one, she had the longest reign of all the Emporers of Russia since Peter the Great (Tsar from 1682 to 1725), lasting 34 years.


5.  During her reign she added about 200,000 square miles to Russia's map, mainly from the Turks (Ottoman Empire) and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (who knew there was such a thing?).  She won territory that gave access to the Black Sea, a project only begun by Peter the Great, and made her country the dominant force in Southeastern Europe.  At same time as taking on the Ottoman Empire, Russia successfully defended herself against a take-over bid by Sweden, who assumed she'd be distracted by the Turks.  Catherine made Poland a vassal state, set up trade with Japan and gave Russia the role of mediator between other states potentially headed for war.  She was a patron of the arts, improved Russia's adminstration, worked to modernize her along Western European lines and became a recognized power in Europe.

6.  It has to be said, however, that whilst she may have been Great for Russia, she wasn't so hot for the majority of Russians, ie the peasants.  Though she wanted to be known as an 'enlightened sovereign', serfs suffered under Catherine, not least because they were conscripted to fight her wars.  In spite of her friendship with French philosphers such as Diderot and Voltaire, it was the Russian nobility who most benefitted whilst she was Emporess.

A Saint, Three Queens and an Author - Part I

I revisited my list of Influential Women the other day, when considering what books I might hunt at the library.  I already had a list of inter-war reading to pursue and I wouldn't necessary want to read a whole book about each and every woman, though I may do for some.  

Joan of Arc was ranked number 55.  She lived from 1412 to 1431 -- such a short life!  Everyone knows she was a peasant girl who claimed to have visions from God telling her to fight for France and she was apparently a good soldier.  That's about all I knew, other than she was burned at the stake as a witch but later canonised.  

At that time the King of France was Charles VI - AKA Charles the Beloved and the Mad.  Apparently he was schizophrenic and at times unable to rule.  Interesting how they decided he was mad, but she was a witch...pays to be rich and titled, huh?  Anyhow, two of his family members, a cousin and brother - and their respective followers -  fought over who would be regent and guardian of the king's children.  This was also in the time of the 100 Years War with England, about the English claim to the throne of France,  which included loads of burning and pillaging.  We can't forget the death and destruction of the Plague which had been around lately as well.  She definitely lived in interesting times.

Henry V of England took advantage of all this squabbling and grabbed a large chunk of northern France, including Paris, at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.  Five years later, the Queen of France signed a treaty that gave her daughter in marriage to Henry and agreed that his heirs, not those of Charles the Mad would rule France.   As it happened, Henry V and Charles VI both died within a couple of months of one another in 1422, leaving an infant son/grandson, Henry VI to claim the throne, but he didn't get crowned in time.

Charles VII, the son who lost out when his mother did the deal with Henry V, sent Joan of Arc to war and she did pretty well.  At that time important parts of France were held by the English, and not just Paris; the city of Reims, the traditional place for the coronation of kings, was under control of the Burgundians (the cousin's gang), in alliance with the English.  

Joan was sent to the Siege of Orleans, where morale was at an all time low and all the rational (conservative) military efforts had thus far failed.  Though the military leaders did their best to ignore her, she inserted herself into the battle and either by raising morale or advising clever tactics, certainly bolder strategy than had gone before, she turned the tide and rescued Orleans.

She was then sent along to take back Reims from the Burgundians.  This was a daunting task as it was far away and deep in enemy territory.  Military leaders were more agreeable to taking her advice by now, and the short story is that within weeks Reims was freed and Charles VII was crowned King of France in 1429.   

She continued to fight for France.  Though he was grateful enough to grant Joan noble status following victory at  yet another siege, when she was captured in battle only seven months later, in May 1430, he did not help her.  It was customary for noble prisoners to be ransomed by their family, but hers was a peasant family with no money.  The English bought her from the Burgundians and sent her to trial for heresy, a political revenge for enabling the crown of France to be taken from the English.

Her imprisonment and trial broke both secular and ecclesiastical rules, but her appeals were denied.  As best as I can tell, her execution was on the grounds of wearing male clothing, part of what she had foresworn as part of her abjuration, signed under threat of immediate death.  Heresy was only a capital crime for a repeat offense.  When, after being molested "by a Great English Lord who entered her prison" she resumed male attire, this was apparently the grounds for being burned at the stake, because of Biblical clothing law.  (We have come a long way, baby.)

In 1452, the church held a 'nullification trial' in which the leading church authority at the time,  the man who had denied her appeals, (now dead) was implicated with heresy for executing an innocent girl in pursue of a secular vendetta (but of course he couldn't be punished then, could he?)  The church declared her innocent in 1459, hence her status as a martyr.

Whether she was mad or given divine inspiration has long been debated.  History recognizes that she was very intelligent, full of courage and that she altered the course of history. Not a bad record for a teenager.

Influential Women

I've recently finished reading a book which ranks the 100 most influential women, past and present.  I was amazed, and annoyed with myself, at how many I'd never heard of.  The book is great in that it gives a 2-3 page biographical synopsis to explain why a woman was included on the list, but to my mind it is written backwards and I read it from back to front.  I didn't want to read about the most influential woman first and the least, last, if you follow me.

I've copied down the list and will likely track down some biographies of the ones that interested me the most.  While I was at it, I put their names and years of birth and death into a spreadsheet, so that I could put them in order by the time in which they lived.  The earliest five women constitute a very mixed bag:

Sappho (c. 613 B.C. - c. 570 B.C.).  I associate this name with Lesbians, and she was apparently bi-sexual and lived on the Isle of Lesbos.  What I hadn't realised was that she was a Greek poet of epic proportion who influenced not only Roman writers but other poets from the 16th to the 19th centuries.  She can also be considered the first known woman author and so the founder of women's literature. I thought it interesting how many details of her life could be found from her poetry, including the fact that she had a child named after her own mother, she came from an aristocratic family that was exiled for their political views and her own parents died by the time she was 6 years old.  Felder ranked her number 61.

Cleopatra (69 B.C. - 30 B.C.).   Cleopatra also lived in a very different time, where the custom was for the ruling family members to marry their siblings.   When Cleopatra's father died he left his kingdom of Egypt jointly to her (aged 18) and her 10-year old brother/husband.  Traditionally, she should have been subservient to her brother, but she was having none of that.  She fled Alexandria and declared war on Ptolemy XIII, her brother.  Enter Caesar, representing Rome, who wanted peace in Egypt, under joint rule of brother and sister, so as not to rock the boat in Rome.  However, Cleopatra, smuggled past her brothers' men in a rolled up carpet, won Caesar over.  Ptolemy XIII was overcome by Caesar and Cleopatra married a 12 year old brother, Ptolemy XIV.  He apparently kept his head down and out of the way.  Caesar and Cleopatra had a child together and were lovers until Caesar's murder in 44 B.C.   Wealthy Egypt was in danger from greedy Rome, especially when Cleopatra refused to aid Cassius, one of Caesar's murderers.  Instead, she allied herself with Marc Anthony, who was supporting Octavius, Caesar's heir.  Antony had also married Octavia, Octavius' sister.  However, at some point Antony decided he wanted Parthia (Persia) for himself and he invited Cleopatra to help him attain that goal.  She did more than that, of course, as they were married in 36 B.C. and had three children together.  It was their combined might that worried Rome and Antony, having neglected his previous wife and become far too ambitious, was out of favour.  Antony and Cleopatra's forces battled with Octavius and Antony, having failed to take Cleopatra's strategic advice, failed and fell on his sword.  Rather than be taken captive by Octavius, poisoned herself with the bite of an asp.  Felder asserts that Cleopatra was a brave and savvy woman and one of only two women in history - the other being Boudicca - to truly challenge the might of the Roman Empire.  She is ranked 84th.  

By the way, there is a fabulous novel that Bill has, called The Purple Pirate, by Talbot Mundy, set in this time and place; it's a great read!

The Virgin Mary (c. 1st Century B.C. - c. 1st Century A.D.)  Felder states that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is undoubtedly the most famous woman of all time.  However, not because of her own life and work, of which little is known. 

"More a myth and an article of faith than a flesh-and-blood woman, Mary reflects the times and culture of those who view her as an embodiment of their faith, hopes and desires.  She also reveals much about how women have been seen over time, becoming for each age a guide to the ideal and the perfect."

Her parents names were apparently Joachim and Anne, which is more than I ever knew.  Felder says the Gospel writers differ in the details of her life and the importance of her role.  It was interesting to read about the attempt to refer to Mary as a person, separate from her role in history and religion.  Felder ranked Mary as 10th most influential.

The next most historic female figure on this list was named Wu Chao (625 - c. 705).  Empress Wu ruled China for 50 years, during the T'ang Dynasty, and was the only woman ever to rule that country in her own right, alone.  Though she was known to be ruthless, her reign was an era marked by peace and prosperity, major reforms and high cultural achievement.  She is remembered as one of the strongest leaders in Chinese history.  She ranked 89th.

Murasaki Shikibu (973 - 1030) was a lady in the Japanese court and author of The Tale of Genji, considered the first great novel in world literature, a book filled with believable characters in real situations.  The novel covers a 75-year period and chronicles the career of a nobleman named Genji, illegitimate son of the Emporer, and of Kaoru, believed to be son of Genji, but actually the son of Genji's best friend.  Felder says that the book invites comparison with Proust (not that I've read Proust, either).  Lady Murasaki was ranked 73rd.

I can't imagine how Felder went about selecting the 100 women about whom she wrote, or how long it must have taken her to read about them and condense their life stories, but I'm glad she did.