Normal Women, page 6
Women of the emerging ‘middling classes’ sometimes lived as mistresses of noble or royal men, attending the great houses and royal court and enjoying good treatment, money and gifts while they were in fashion. Most common women who were paid for sex were supplementing a low income, or under coercion. They sold sexual experiences to men either ‘on demand’ on the street, took them to a room, or worked in ‘bawdy houses’ or ‘bath houses’ where a man could rent a woman for a short time or hire her for the whole night. Women who worked in bawdy houses were often hired and paid as domestic servants, handing over all or some of the money they were paid for acts of sex.
Several medieval cities banned prostitutes; others required that they wear a striped hood to identify them as immoral women. In 1344, the city of Bristol banned prostitutes and lepers in the same decree, blaming both for epidemic illness.133 Many other towns required women selling sex to wear identifying yellow hoods.134 Forty Exeter women were accused of being whores in 1324, when about 1 per cent of the town’s population of women were thought to be selling sex.135
London’s specialist areas for the sex trade were in the City of London, where legal brothels traded on Cock Lane (or Cokkes Lane), and outside the City boundaries, south of the river in the parish of Southwark: convenient for courtiers and politicians, a short boat ride from Westminster where the ‘stews’, often bath houses, had been regulated by the crown since 1161 when, in an attempt to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, Henry II ruled that they might not ‘keep any woman that hath the perilous infirmity of burning’.136 By 1374, 18 ‘stews’ in the borough of Southwark were offering baths, dining and sexual acts, all run by women from Flanders.137 The area was owned by the Bishop of Winchester, and the women were known as the ‘Bishop’s chickens’ and expected to wear clothes that identified them as prostitutes. They could not be seen wearing aprons or spinning, like respectable housewives, and they were not to harass men in the streets.138
From the earliest centuries, the church viewed prostitution as an inevitable part of society. Thomas Aquinas believed that paid women should satisfy men who otherwise would turn to sodomy: ‘Take away prostitutes from the world and you will fill it with sodomy.’139 The church said that those who made a profit from the prostitution of women were condemned, but women themselves should be encouraged to repent.140 From about 1300, ecclesiastical acceptance led to an open trade in sex, partially regulated for the safety of clients and the women workers.141 There was no condemnation of the clients, yet Thomas of Chobham, a twelfth-century theologian, believed that prostitutes should not receive mass or take communion but be encouraged to confess.142 Any man who married a prostitute was offered a remission of his sins by the church, which believed he was doing a ‘good deed’.143
Prostitutes were socially accepted. Most women working in the recognised whore houses in the bigger towns were included in community events. They could join sewing and spinning circles; they almost always took other work in addition to prostitution, and participated in community and even church rituals, and could testify in court as witnesses or pursue their own civil cases. When they were cash-rich, they might loan money and goods and be integrated into community life as respected donors to charity. Some also worked as ‘fences’ for stolen goods, or in criminal gangs or with their families.
Few women made a good living from selling sex; most were driven to it by hunger or poverty and might take food or drink for a sexual act and make no money. Working casually on the streets, they were especially vulnerable to abuse. A prostitute could bring an accusation of rape, but no jury would convict a man on the word of a lone woman, and even if they did they would not think that she had suffered any damages, as her chastity and good name were already gone.144
Women at War
There was no peace after the 1066 invasion but constant uprisings, local battles between landowners, feuds among lords and armed conspiracies against the monarchs. Women of all classes participated as leaders and foot soldiers. After 1135, when Empress Matilda tried to regain her throne, there were nearly 20 years of civil war between her and her cousin, the usurper Stephen. The daughter and only direct heir to Henry I, Matilda (1102–67) was the first Norman woman to inherit the English throne, and forced to be the first queen militant – raising her own army and leading it into battle for two years of skirmishes, until her victory at the Battle of Lincoln in 1141.145 She imprisoned the pretender Stephen and ignored a demand from his wife, Queen Matilda of Boulogne. Matilda of Boulogne then mustered her own army to plunder the country around London, persuading Londoners to ally with her against the empress, who moved her forces to Winchester and besieged the bishop’s castle. Matilda of Boulogne pursued Empress Matilda and defeated her. For six years Empress Matilda led her own troops, her own vassals and knights, and paid mercenaries to follow her into battle. Eventually Stephen acknowledged his defeat and made peace, but even then he did not hand over the throne. He named Matilda’s son as his heir, and the boy became Henry II.146
In 1173, Eleanor of Aquitaine led her sons in a revolt against their father Henry II. In 1215, the English barons revolted against King John, and in 1264 against Henry III. Local boundary disputes were settled by raids and violence: all English border lands with Wales and Scotland were raided constantly from both sides, and English kings marched on both unruly neighbours. The English fought wars in Europe and went on a series of crusades to the Holy Lands with women in the lead and among the troops.
Since all lords held their lands under the agreement that they would raise a certain number of soldiers and lead them into battle, women deputies for feudal lords, and female lords themselves – heiresses and widows – were also obliged to raise troops for the king. The abbess of Barking Abbey was one of four abbess-barons who were required to perform military service and called upon to provide fighting men by Henry III and Edward I.
Lady Hawis of London (1211–74) held the manor of East Garston in Berkshire and was bound by the terms of her tenancy to Edward I in 1250 to ‘conduct the vanguard of the king’s army as often as he should go into Wales . . . and in returning to bring up the rerward of the said army’.147 She had to lead from the front, be the first into Wales which was being colonised by the English, and the last out – the most dangerous positions.
Another royal tenant, Elene la Zouche (1228–c.1345), who could pay a fee to send a knight in her place, chose to ride with the army. The record of the Exchequer said: ‘She did her Service with the King (habuit servicium suton cum Rege) in the Army of Wales, according to the King’s Precept or Summonce, as appeared to the King by the Rolls of the Marshalsy of his Army.’148
All feudal tenants including women had to offer military service to their lord for a number of days every year in the lord’s army. Some women volunteered and dressed as men; some used the army as a way to live as men. Women also followed armies in support of soldiers, finding or buying food, cooking, cleaning and doing laundry, and in battle, loading and arming guns, and rescuing and nursing the wounded. Some followed their family members or lovers and found themselves in dangerous and historic events, but rarely in the records. Some women, especially those living in port towns, who were experienced sailors, volunteered or were ‘pressed’ – forced – to serve at sea.
Working women were almost always involved in defence when their own town or castle came under siege; unlike the ladies, they could not get away. During the Scots invasions of northern England in 1136–8, entire towns were put to the sword and women were killed or kidnapped.149 Women prisoners were often raped or even enslaved as an act of war.
Aristocratic women acted in joint command with their husbands, often the only advisor and assistant that a nobleman could trust.150 Petronella, Countess of Leicester, was said to have dressed in armour, carried a shield and lance, and fought as a knight at the Battle of Fornham in October 1173.
Most ladies took responsibility for fortifying their castles against attack when their male family members were away. Bamburgh Castle, a major point of defence on the north-east coast, was held by Matilda de l’Aigle against siege from the king, William II, in 1095, only surrendering when the royal forces captured her husband Robert de Mowbray and threatened to blind him.151 In 1139, Matilda of Ramsbury commanded the stronghold of Devizes and held it against King Stephen.152 Countess Mabel, Robert of Gloucester’s wife, held King Stephen in captivity after his capture at the Battle of Lincoln in 1141.153
Richenda de Longchamp (c.1145–?) was sister to William de Longchamp, the unpopular justiciar and chancellor of England under Richard I, who was in dispute with Geoffrey, Archbishop of York, the king’s illegitimate brother. Things came to a head when Geoffrey tried to return from France to England in 1191 and William demanded that he renew his oath of loyalty to the absent King Richard before returning. Geoffrey found himself blocked from England by an alliance of three women loyal to William de Longchamp: his sister Richenda de Longchamp, governess of Dover and castellan of Dover Castle, and her allies the Countess of Flanders and the Countess of Boulogne – all three in sole charge of their lands while their husbands were on crusade.
When Geoffrey got past his two enemy European countesses and arrived in Dover, Richenda had her men demand that he repeat his oath of loyalty before she would admit him to England. The archbishop refused, and Richenda’s men were ordered to arrest him; but he galloped to St Martin’s Priory and demanded sanctuary. Invoking the authority as the most senior archbishop of England, he sent a message to Richenda demanding to know if she was aware of how her men had treated him.
Richenda cheerfully replied that she was following the instructions of her brother William de Longchamp, the lord chancellor, and ‘in order to put an end to idle speech’, the archbishop should be aware that if her brother sent her word to burn her own castle to the ground, she would do so.154 She added that she would burn down the entire city of London if her brother wished.
The archbishop excommunicated her on the spot – banning her from confession, forgiveness and mass, and permitting any faithful Christians to disobey her. Nobody did. Richenda ordered her men to break sanctuary and arrest Geoffrey, but when they entered the church and found him seated on his throne before the altar, wearing his alb and stole and holding a golden cross, they did not dare. Memories of the sainthood of Thomas à Beckett were too strong for Richenda’s men, if not for her.
When Richenda’s husband Matthew de Cleres returned from crusade, he was appalled to find his wife in the middle of this dramatic stand-off with a royal archbishop. He dashed to the priory to propose a compromise. While her husband was apologising for her, Richenda seized the archbishop’s horses and sent them as a gift to her brother. For five days there was stalemate: Richenda’s men did not dare to break the sanctuary of the church; Geoffrey would not repeat his oath of loyalty to the king; and Richenda’s husband could not command her.
Finally, her men – fearing the wrath of Richenda more than that of God – broke sanctuary and dragged the archbishop to her castle through the outraged town of Dover. Richenda’s husband Matthew, in tears, fell on his knees to the archbishop at the castle gate and would not rise until he was forgiven. But Richenda made no apology – once again she demanded Geoffrey swear an oath of loyalty to the king or leave the kingdom. Once again he refused. She threw him into the castle vault.
There he stayed for eight days, refusing food from her excommunicated hands, so that she told him to send out to the bakehouses in Dover and buy his own dinner. Finally, Archbishop Geoffrey’s supporters forced William de Longchamp to order Richenda to free her prisoner. William fled the country, to his king Richard I, and was partially forgiven and restored by him. Richenda kept her post as castellan of Dover Castle, and may have held it till her death.155
Nichola de la Haye (c.1150–1230) inherited the right to be castellan of Lincoln Castle and was there alone when her husband’s enemy, William de Longchamp (Richenda’s brother again), attacked Lincoln in 1191. She held out for more than a month before a truce was called. After the death of her husband, she held her inheritance in her own right, until offering to retire in her sixties, but King John refused to let such a powerful and loyal woman leave the castle and appointed her sheriff of Lincolnshire. When the king died the following year, in 1217, the French army invaded England and took the city. By now about 67 years old, Nichola held out in the castle as Louis of France’s army brought up siege machinery and reinforcements, bombarding it from the south and east for three months, until the English royal army arrived to lift the siege.
Despite Nichola de la Haye’s loyal service to King John, he granted her castle and the city of Lincoln to the Earl of Salisbury, William de Longespée. So Nichola mounted her horse and rode 150 miles to the new king Henry III, to demand the return of her castle. He conceded to her and when she died as the castellan in 1230, aged about 80, she left her fortune to her sole surviving heir: her granddaughter.156
Alice de Montfort, wife of Simon, was ‘one of his most trusted lieutenants’, delivering reinforcements, advising in his war council and commanding Narbonnais Castle in his absence in 1217.157 Another woman castellan at Bamburgh – Isabella Beaumont de Vescy – was appointed in 1304 by Edward I. She proved to be so successful that when the king died, his son renewed Isabella in her post.158
In 1321, Isabella of France, queen consort to King Edward II of England, at the head of her force, was denied entry to Leeds Castle by a rebel woman – Lady Badlesmere. The queen forced an entry, and Lady Badlesmere’s archers opened fire on the queen’s men, killing six and forcing the queen to retreat.159
While campaigning in Scotland in 1335, Edward III entrusted the defence of his kingdom to three women. He commanded Margaret, widow of Edmund, Earl of Kent, and Marie, wife of Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, and Joan Botetourt, wife of Thomas, to gather trusted advisors together in London and to ‘arm and array your people . . . to repel powerfully and courageously the presumptuous boldness and malice of our same enemies . . . if those enemies invade.’160
Agnes Randolph, Countess of Dunbar and March (1312–69), defended Dunbar Castle in 1338 against the English forces led by William Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury. Agnes held the castle with only a small garrison force against the English army with the powerful and experienced general, and is supposed to have said:
Of Scotland’s King I haud my house,
I pay him meat and fee,
and I will keep my gude auld house,
while my house will keep me.161
She did keep her good old house, defeating the Earl of Salisbury, who abandoned the five-month siege and retreated.
The Crusades – so-called ‘holy wars’ mustered by successive popes to try to recapture the Christian sites in the Middle East – took men from their farms and castles. But the image of a wife helplessly abandoned for years while her husband was on crusade, is the opposite of the reality. The men were only able to go because they could trust their wives or mothers to manage their lands in their absence. It was the leadership qualities of the women that freed their husbands to go to war or on crusade.162
Working women went on crusade as soldiers in great numbers, obeying the call from the Vatican to raise money for the church, fight a so-called holy war and capture the city of Jerusalem from the Muslim Arab kingdoms. Women as well as men were inspired by the cause, the opportunity for adventure and profit, and the chance to get away from English life. Not all went to fight. One English chronicler claimed that the prostitutes travelling with Richard I’s army on the Third Crusade made so much money that they lived better than the French king’s brother.163
Bernold of Constance wrote that ‘innumerable’ women wore male clothes to march with the crusader army and engage in battle.164 Muslim chroniclers reported women armed and fighting. One crusader ship had a passenger list of 453 on board, 42 of them women, half of whom were travelling without a male companion.165 A woman might go on crusade as a supporter of the armies, or as a supporter of an individual crusader or pilgrim. Or she might go as a pilgrim herself, travelling with the crusading army.166 Women were admitted to the Order of St John, a hospital order founded to support crusaders, and established their own centre at Minchin Buckland in Somerset.167 So many women and children went on the First Crusade in 1096 that Pope Urban II specifically banned them.168 Nothing discouraged the women crusaders, and in 1213 Pope Innocent III bowed to their perseverance and decreed that women as well as men could take the crusader vow.169
Some upper-class English women accompanied their husbands, and some may have been the crusader – persuading their less enthusiastic husbands to join them. Emma of Hereford, Countess of Norfolk who held her castle under siege, travelled on crusade with her husband, Ralph I of Gael, and died on the way to Jerusalem. Edith, daughter of William de Warenne, the 1st Earl of Surrey, accompanied her husband Gerard of Gournay-en-Bray with both the armies of Hugh the Great and Robert Curthose. Eleanor of Aquitaine took the crusader cross in her own right, recruited her ladies-in-waiting as royal guards, and led her own army of feudal vassals in the unsuccessful Second Crusade, accompanying her then husband King Louis of France in 1147. Eleanor of Castile accompanied her husband Edward I of England on the Eighth Crusade to the Holy Land while pregnant in 1271 and had her baby, Joan, in the city of Acre. Returning home, she rode out again with Edward to invade Wales and gave birth to their son Edward on 25 April 1284 while Caernarvon Castle was being built around her.
Crime and Punishment
The feudal Norman law of femme couvert created a loophole for law-breaking women to hide from justice and claim that their husbands were responsible for their actions. In Salle in Norfolk, in 1321, two sisters from a well-known family of thieves named Waraunt were accused of stealing and escaped punishment by claiming they were femmes couvert so could not be charged for their crimes. Another sister later charged with theft was also released. When their cousin John was apprehended for stealing clothes and household goods valued at 8s, he had no such defence and was hanged. Four years later, the sisters were all imprisoned – and released again; a year after that, two sisters were once more accused of theft and again escaped punishment.170 The family criminal unit was not unusual: a third of all gangs were families, often headed and organised by the mother of the group, experienced in avoiding the attention of the courts.171
