Matilda’s Top Women In History

Lady Jane Grey holds the record for the shortest lived monarch in English history - she was Queen for 13 days, and only 9 of them were known to the public. She was manipulated by the powerful men around her, and forced into a situation she didn’t want and couldn’t control.Sources/Further Reading:Tallis, Nicola: Crown of Blood - The Deadly Inheritance of Lady Jane GreyIves, Eric: Lady Jane Grey - A Tudor MysteryLady Jane Grey Reference Guide https://ladyjanegrey.info/?page_id=8723 Connolly, Sharon Bennet: Lady Jane - The 9 Days Queen https://historytheinterestingbits.com/2024/06/26/lady-jane-the-9-days-queen/Wikipedia: Lady Jane Grey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Jane_Grey

Mary Fortune - it almost sounds like a made up name. However, although Mary did use numerous pseudonyms, this wasn’t one of them. Mary Fortune saw the Irish Potato Famine, the construction of Canada’s railways, the violence and despair of the Australian goldfields and rise rise and fall of Marvellous Melbourne - at the time one of the richest cities in the world. She established a name for herself as a top journalist and writer of crime fiction, and forged a career most women were locked out of. But she also had personal demons - struggles with alcohol, poverty and a criminal son. Her life - its disappointments and its opportunities - in many ways mirrors the colonial society in which she lived.Sources/Further Reading:Brown, Megan and Sussex, Lucy: Outrageous Fortunes - The Adventures of Mary Fortune, Crime-Writer, and Her Criminal Son GeorgeMelbourne Museum: Marvellous Melbourne https://museumsvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/resources/marvellous-melbourne/Sussex, Lucy: Mary Fortune https://victorianfictionresearchguides.org/mary-fortune/National Museum Australia: Defining Moments - Federation https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/federationMichel, Alice: Hidden Fortunes of Colonial Australian Popular Fiction: Women in Mary Fortune’s “Dora Carleton”https://moujique.savana-hosting.cz/easa_wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/02-Alice-Michel-Hidden-Fortunes-of-Colonial-Australian-Fiction_PAGC.pdfMichel, Alice: Unconventional Memoirs: Mary Fortune’s Account of Life on the Diggingshttps://journals.openedition.org/ces/4138

Mary Fortune - it almost sounds like a made up name. However, although Mary did use numerous pseudonyms, this wasn’t one of them. Mary Fortune saw the Irish Potato Famine, the construction of Canada’s railways, the violence and despair of the Australian goldfields and rise rise and fall of Marvellous Melbourne - at the time one of the richest cities in the world. She established a name for herself as a top journalist and writer of crime fiction, and forged a career most women were locked out of. But she also had personal demons - struggles with alcohol, poverty and a criminal son. Her life - its disappointments and its opportunities - in many ways mirrors the colonial society in which she lived. Sources/Further Reading:Brown, Megan and Sussex, Lucy: Outrageous Fortunes - The Adventures of Mary Fortune, Crime-Writer, and Her Criminal Son GeorgeMelbourne Museum: Marvellous Melbourne https://museumsvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/resources/marvellous-melbourne/Sussex, Lucy: Mary Fortune https://victorianfictionresearchguides.org/mary-fortune/National Museum Australia: Defining Moments - Federation https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/federationMichel, Alice: Hidden Fortunes of Colonial Australian Popular Fiction: Women in Mary Fortune’s “Dora Carleton”https://moujique.savana-hosting.cz/easa_wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/02-Alice-Michel-Hidden-Fortunes-of-Colonial-Australian-Fiction_PAGC.pdfMichel, Alice: Unconventional Memoirs: Mary Fortune’s Account of Life on the Diggingshttps://journals.openedition.org/ces/4138

Berengaria of Navarre was married to one of England’s best known kings, and the daughter in law of a famous Queen. However she herself is less well known - despite living a very interesting life. She went on crusade, became stranded on an island, worried about her kidnapped husband and then ran her own independent territory for 2 decades. She never gave up and refused to simply fade away, even when her in-laws would have preferred she did. Berengaria was a real quiet achieverSources/Further ReadingWeir, Alison: Queens of The Crusades - England’s Medieval QueensWeir, Alison: Eleanor of Aquitaine, by the Wrath of God Queen of EnglandNorton, Elizabeth: England’s Queens - From Boudicca to Elizabeif of YorkRussell, Gareth: The Crusader's Bride: The Life of Berengaria of Navarre, Queen of England https://garethrussellcidevant.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-crusaders-bride-life-of-berengaria.htmlWikipedia: Berengaria of Navarre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berengaria_of_Navarre

Berengaria of Navarre was married to one of England’s best known kings, and the daughter in law of a famous Queen. However she herself is less well known - despite living a very interesting life. She went on crusade, became stranded on an island, worried about her kidnapped husband and then ran her own independent territory for 2 decades. She never gave up and refused to simply fade away, even when her in-laws would have preferred she did. Berengaria was a real quiet achieverSources/Further ReadingWeir, Alison: Queens of The Crusades - England’s Medieval QueensWeir, Alison: Eleanor of Aquitaine, by the Wrath of God Queen of EnglandNorton, Elizabeth: England’s Queens - From Boudicca to Elizabeif of YorkRussell, Gareth: The Crusader's Bride: The Life of Berengaria of Navarre, Queen of England https://garethrussellcidevant.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-crusaders-bride-life-of-berengaria.htmlWikipedia: Berengaria of Navarre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berengaria_of_Navarre

Lizzie Borden was suspected, arrested, tried and ultimately acquitted of a brutal murder, and that is why she is famous - or infamous. But her life is also an interesting insight into how middle-class American women lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She may have been found not guilty in court, but public opinion was very different - and the murder completely changed her life.Sources/Further ReadingSullivan, Robert: Goodbye Lizzie BordenRebellion, Leonard: Lizzie Borden, Past & PresentAxelron-Contrada, Joan: The Lizzie Borden Axe Murder Trial - A Headline Court CaseConforti, Joseph: How Lizzie Borden Got Away with Murder https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-lizzie-borden-got-away-with-murder-180972707/Last Will and Testament of Lizzie Borden https://phayemuss.wordpress.com/source-documents/

Lizzie Borden was suspected, arrested, tried and ultimately acquitted of a brutal murder, and that is why she is famous - or infamous. But her life is also an interesting insight into how middle-class American women lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She may have been found not guilty in court, but public opinion was very different - and the murder completely changed her life.Sources/Further ReadingSullivan, Robert: Goodbye Lizzie BordenRebellion, Leonard: Lizzie Borden, Past & PresentAxelron-Contrada, Joan: The Lizzie Borden Axe Murder Trial - A Headline Court CaseConforti, Joseph: How Lizzie Borden Got Away with Murder https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-lizzie-borden-got-away-with-murder-180972707/Last Will and Testament of Lizzie Borden https://phayemuss.wordpress.com/source-documents/

Gráinne Ni Mháille, known in English as Grace O’Malley, was a woman who broke all the rules. In the 16th Century - a time when women were not considered local leaders and didn’t go out on boats - she ruled over her own fleet of ships, sailing out to trade and raid all along the rugged West Coast of Ireland. She fought against the brutal English Governor and took her case all the way to the top - meeting Queen Elizabeth 1st in London in 1593. She was a remarkable woman - a trader, a pirate and a survivor.Sources/Further ReadingChambers, Anne: Ireland’s Pirate Queen - the True Story of Grace O’MalleyCook, Judith: Pirate Queen - The Life of Grace O’MalleyGoldsmith, Margie: Ireland’s Most Famous Pirate Queen - Grace O’Malley https://www.forbes.com/sites/margiegoldsmith/2022/11/22/irelands-most-famous-pirate-queen-grace-omalley/Williams, Emma Slattery (History Extra): Grace O’Malley - The Fearless Pirate Queen of Ireland https://www.historyextra.com/period/tudor/grace-o-malley-pirate-queen-ireland-irish-history-biography-facts-grainne-ni-mhaille/Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_O'Malley