Female Warriors, Vol. I (of 2)

ss of Derby (Civil Wars in England)-Helena Zrinyi, Wife of Tekeli-Inc

es, and civil wars." The truth of these words is undeniable, more especially as the last is very frequently brought about by its forerunners. The war between Charles I. and the Pa

party take advantage of the King's difficulties to increase its own power, but the Irish rebels envenomed the bitterness between King and Commo

closed the gates, and made a most resolute defence, refusing to hear any proposal for surrender, for the castle, being defended on all sides by bogs and woods, was very difficult of access. She was at last relieved by the approach of Viscount Lisle and Sir Charles Coote with one hundred and twenty foot and three hundred horse

t that they determined to seize Wardour Castle, his mansion. In 1643, they sent orders to Sir Edward Hungerford, commander-in-chief of their forces in Wiltshire, to accomplish this design. He arrived before the castle on the 2nd of May, and as Lord Arundell

ered, by a warrant from Parliament, to seize. Lady Arundell declined to comply with his demands. Sir Edward immediately ordered up his heavy guns, and commenced a bombardment which lasted

r; but Lady Arundell and the other ladies rejected the proposal with disdain. The latter, too, together with the women-servan

pplied petards to the garden-door, they flung balls of wild-fire through the dismantled windows, causing much damage to the apartments in the cast

that the garrison and all the inmates of the castle should be granted quarter; secondly, that the ladies and servants should have all their wearing apparel, and that sixty serving-men, cho

with the inmates nothing but the clothes they wore. Lady Arundell, with the women and children, was carried prisoner

tion and plunder of Wardour Castle was e

o Bath. But the town was infected with small-pox and plague; and Lady Arundell refused so stub

ears; and at her death, she was buried, with

f Purbeck. Thinking to gain possession by stratagem, Sir William sent a party of forty sailors to demand four field-pieces which were in the castle. Lady Bankes, suspecting their real object, went to the gate, and requested the sailors to show their warrant. They produced one, signed by

but her real object was, that the besiegers, relaxing in their careful blockade, would give greater facilities for introducing fresh su

stle by storm. Dividing their forces, one party attacked the middle ward, which was defended by Captain Lawrence and his company, while the other division assaulted the upper ward, held by Lady Bankes with her daughters, her female servants, and five s

. She was interred in the south aisle of Rislipp church. The foll

he me

jesty King Charles the First, of blessed memory; who, having had the honour to have borne, with a constancy and courage above her sex, a noble proportion of the late calamity, and the happiness to have outlived them so far as to have seen the restitution of the government, wit

received intelligence that Parliament had despatched troops to annex his miniature kingdom, the Isle of Man. Wishing to preserve the island as a final ret

She refused compliance with either alternative; and for nearly a year contrived, though closely blockaded, to keep the enemy from coming to open hostilities. At last, on the 24th of February, 1644, P

a woman," said she, "and a stranger divorced from her friends and robbed of her estates, she

defence in person; but, though she took the office of commander, she was not unmindful of the spiritual welfare of

for them a free pass through the camp of the besiegers. When this was communicated to the countess, she thanked Sir Thomas for his courtesy in forwarding the missive; but replied that "she would willingly submit to her lord's comman

ilar message to her

iege was prosecuted with renewed vigour; while the garrison, animated by the presence of Lady Derby, continued to defend the house with unabated courage.

the most noble lady, his cousin," leaving one thousand five hundred of the besiegers dead on the field, and taking seven hundred prisoners. The

e latter defended it till the following December, when the decline of the Royal cause obliged him to open negotiations with

the borders of Cheshire, he was carried to his own town of Bolton-le-Moors, where he was beheaded, October 15th. Misfortune never comes unaccompanied. The bereaved countess was betrayed, with her children

es to revolt against their harsh masters. In 1678, an able leader was found in Emeric Tekeli, or Tokolyi, who, weary of vainly soliciting the Emperor Leopold to restore his paternal estates, resolved to take them for himself, together with the crown of Hungary. S

tia, who, with others, lost his head in 1671 for conspiring against Leopold. Helena was as brave as she was beautiful. By he

old took care to foment the growing jealousies between Tekeli and the Turks; and on the failure of the Hungarian leader in an attack on Cassau, the Bashaw of Great Waradin sent the hero in chains to Constantinople. He was released the following year; but during his imprisonment the Turks were driven from Hunga

Turkey. The Sultan, Mustapha, conferred upon Tekeli, Widdin, and some other districts, as a sort of feudal sovereignty; but he was afterwards neglected by the Turkish government, and compelle

challenge to any one who should dare to dispute their Majesty's claim to the crown. An old woman came in on crutches (which she left behind her), snatched up the gauntlet, laid her own glove in its place, and made off a

conjectured by those who saw her, to be a soldier in disguise. The champion, however, wise

iné. Madlle. de la Charce, arming the villagers on her estates, placed herself at their head, and harassed the enemy in the mountains; her mother, meanwhile, addressed the people in the plains, exhorting them to remain faithful. The sister of Madlle. de la Charce caused the cables of th

ed in 1731, under the title of "Mémoires de Madlle. de la Charce." This little romance, says Langlet-Dufres

OF V

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