of her life, as well as by the nobleness of her blood, being sprung from a long line of kings. Among other good deeds, she rebuilt the convent of Iona, which Columban, the servant of God, had constructed in the time of Brude, king of the Picts, but which had fallen to ruin through the tempests of war, and length of years.* The Saxon chronicles are full of allusions to the foundations made by devout women, such as the daughter of Erkenbert, king of Kent, who is styled "holy damsel of an illustrious sire." St. Bathilda, queen of the Francs, whom Corby in Picardy, revered as its foundress, is minutely described by a writer who lived. in the same age. Being of Saxon race,' he says, "she was of a gracious and subtle form, and of a beautiful and cheerful countenance. To the king, her husband, she showed herself as an obedient wife; to the princes as a mother; to the priests as a daughter; to young men and boys as the best of nurses; to all as an amiable and gracious friend. She loved priests as fathers, and monks as brothers. To the poor she was a pious nurse, distributing great alms to them; she was always exhorting youths to religious studies, humbly supplicating the king for the Churches, and for the poor people, and daily commending herself with tears to Christ, the heavenly King." Nor will it be an unworthy association, if descending to a lower rank, and to later times, we speak next of Pernelle, wife of Nicolas Flamel, one of these holy matrons, whose charities alone suffice to render them historic personages. The details in her last will are very curious. Besides what was to be given to priests for masses, and to monks, and to brothers serving hospitals, who were to say vigils for her soul, she leaves money to the sick of the hospitals, to orphans, and to poor people, to pilgrims, and to young maidens. All was to be given for God; and no one was forgotten. Neither Martin, who gives the holy water at the door of St. James, her parish Church, nor the five people who are in the habit of sitting at the gate to ask alms, nor the other poor who usually sit close to the pulpit in the Church, during the sermon, nor the little boys whom she specifies by name, nor Jehannette who makes the tapers, nor her servant Gautier, nor Mengin, her young clerk for God.‡ Marie Felice des Ursins, duchess of Mortmorency, used always to make a spiritual Orderic. Vitat. Hist. Nor. Lib. VIII. + Acta Sanct. Ord. S. Benedict. tom. II. Hist. Critique de Nicolas Flamel et de Pernelle sa femme, p. 297-302. retreat when her husband was absent. Her charities were boundless; she gave pensions to indigent families, sums to hospitals, to prisoners, and to a number of poor confraternities. She laboured to appease enmities, to stop law-suits, to gain pardon for soldiers, to convert people of vicious lives. It is recorded of her, that she could not endure to hear any one criticize a sermon, for every preacher seemed to her worthy of reverence. While in the sorrowful castle of Moulins, she would not reveal a secret which would have injured the cardinal in the king's estimation; nor would she permit her servants to utter a word against her enemies. The princess of Epinoy continued to her last hour, to practise all the exercises of piety; and she was seized with death in the Church, at an early hour of the morning, in her sixtyfirst year. Maria Theresa, wife of Lonis XIV., and daughter of Philippe IV. of Spain, used to make a retreat in some austere community before every great festival of the Church. Of her charities, we shall witness examples in another place, to which the foregoing details might have been referred, could we have wholly separated the justice from the mercy of Christian women, whose angelic ministry sheds such a soft light amidst the dark scenes of war, and civil commotions. Philip Villani says that the Pisan captives, when conducted to Florence, were lodged in the prisons of the community, and were abundantly provided, by good and charitable Florentine women, with all that they wanted. During the recent persecutions of the Church, the devotion of women has fully corresponded with the highest expectations which the mind, nourished with ecclesiastical traditions, could form of its efficacy. Open the pages of a Pacca, and you find that it is women who fly to present their offerings to the captive pontiff at Florence, at Lyons, and at Valence, and who press round to water his feet with their tears; observe what passes at the present day, and it is women who, as at St. Sebastian, are seen to follow the devoted monks with prayers, heroically offered up aloud for their deliverance. During these late horrors, every Christian woman, in Spain and Portugal, as formerly in France and England, has, according to he ability, and the occasion, repeated the part of the Countess Mathilda towards the clergy who fled to her for safety, of whom Donize says, "Defuit haud ulli, quin profuit optima cunctis, Non ab ea moestus, si quis vir venit honestus That But most commonly they dwell at length upon all their characteristic graces. noble knight, Olivier de La Marche, in his work entitled, "Le Parement et Triomphe des dames d'honneur," says, that he composed it for one in whom were united "humility, attention, and diligence, perseverance, firin resolve, good thoughts, loyalty, magnanimity, patience, liberality, justice, sobriety, faith, decorous dress, devout memory, charity, remorse of conscience, the fear of God, piety, a horror of evil, prudence, hope, riches of heart, nobility of understanding, acquired by the recollection of death. This," he adds, "is the habit to triumph, and to be well adorned at all points." He continues to explain each of these qualities, and in describing the fear of God, gives this admonition : "Fuyons la cause qui aultruy bien empire C'est ung péché qui ne peult estre pire."§ John Marot, in his Doctrinal des Princesses et nobles Dames, gives many instructions which express the peculiar female graces, which were then deemed essential, proving clearly how much women then differed from that allegorical personage, described by Guillaume de Lorris, in the romance of the Rose, of whom he says, Vita Mathild. Lib. II. c. 2. Gouget Bibliotheque Françoise, tom. X. 136. "Car quand bien peignée elle étoit Bien parée et bien atournée Elle avoit faite sa journée." He enforces the necessity of prudence, liberality, faith, of esteeming learned persons, of using things with moderation, of avoiding idleness, of cherishing gratitude to God, of giving good examples, of not deferring good actions to the approach of death, of maintaining peace, honour, patience, and of prayer to God in spirit and in truth.* Hear what a noble man of the age of chivalry witnesseth. "I have often heard knights say, that when Messire Geoffroy used to ride through the country, when he saw the castle or manor of any lady, he used always to ask to whom it belonged, and when they would reply, it belongs to such a one, if the honour of that lady had incurred a stain, he used to go out of his way as far as half a league to get privately to the gate, which he used to mark with a little piece of chalk, and then ride away."+ In the romances of chivalry, which are true representations of the contemporaneous society, we find the women characterized by a high and uncompromising tone of manners; their lords had no reason to fear the trial of that magic vessel desired by the knight in Ariosto, which showed his consort's guilt to him that drank, nor their children, the waters of the overflowing Rhine, whose retributive discernment has been the theme of northern legends. When the knight Gallhalt le Brun had conquered at the tournament under the tower, and had sent to say to the beautiful lady within that it was for the love of her he had conquered, and that he prayed her to send him some gift, great or little; the lady, who of other love besides the love of her husband, had never thought, when she heard that charge, replied to the messenger in these words, "If he hath conquered at the tournament, hath he not had recompense sufficiently high and noble in being held the best knight of all the place? Say to him from me, that I am not a woman to render guerdon to a strange knight. I have my husband, fair and good; he it is who is my friend and my knight; I seek no other but him. All this you will say from me" In general, we are not aware of the extent of learning which was possessed by the women of the middle ages. In old Suabian chronicles, we meet with the duchess Hedwig, in the tenth century, who, in her * Tom. IX. 26. † S. Palaye Mem. sur la Chevaleriè, 1. I. 147. Gyron le Courtois, f. CCLXIX. castle of Hohentwiel instructs her husband's nephew, Burkard, who afterwards became Abbot of St. Gall, in the Greek tongue, and in the rules of versification.* Eckehard II. monk of St. Gall, by permission of his abbot, used to visit this castle, in order to teach her Latin, and explain Virgil to her. So learned and studious was the great countess Mathilda known to be, that the patriarchs of Jerusalem and Constantinople, as well as the Roman pontiffs, used to send her their own writings. Donizo, her chaplain, says, that she equalled bishops in application. Mary Cajétane Agnesi, after distinguishing herself among mathematicians, chose to hide her literary glories in retreat, devoting herself to the assistance of the infirm and aged poor, in the hospital Trivulzi, at Milan, in which she died. Anne of Brittany, the idol of her country, and the wonder of her age, skilled in astronomy, Greek and Latin, as well as any clerk in her duchy, was another memorable example. In her book of hours she is represented on her knees in prayer, her two daughters standing behind her, and her patron, St. Anne, on her left hand. Celebrated in the domestic histories of Padua was Eleonora Maltraversa, the wife of Papafava Carrara, mother of an illustrious line, and possessed of such wisdom and rare qualities of mind, that noblemen came from all parts of Italy to consult her as an oracle whom they used to find administering medicines to the poor. Who can enter the solemn halls of Padua without being reminded of Helena Piscopia Cornaro, that fair, illustrious and holy woman, clad in the habit of St. Benedict, who possessed a perfect knowledge of the Spanish, French, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Eckehard in Cas. c. 10. + Vita Mathild. Liv. II. c. 20. Bernardini Scardeonii Hist. Patavinæ. and Arabic languages, who was a poet, a theologian, an astronomer, and who was admitted doctor in philosophy in that university? It was in obedience to the will of her father, in whose house she resided, though always wearing the monastic habit, that she consented to this act, which, by its publicity and singularity wounded her exquisite sense of what belonged to the retiring modesty of her sex. "All ordinary kinds of glory have been reaped by our family," said her father, "nothing remains but this surpassing honour which shall be ours on your compliance." "I obey you," said the saintly daughter, "but I feel that it is making the sacrifice of my life." She only requested as a condition, that the pulpit from which she was to hold forth might be transferred from the hall of the university to our Lady's chapel in the great church. Thither she passed through the learned assembly, which was composed of celebrated men, who had flocked from distant parts of Italy to behold a scene so extraordinary. After accomplishing the exercises to the delight and astonishment of all present, and having received the laurel crown, she hastily withdrew, to escape the applause and admiration of the crowd, but her prophetic words were soon verified. The interior agitation brought on fever, and almost immediately it was perceived that she could not survive the shock. It was in her last moments that the intelligence was received of the defeat of the Turks, and the deliverance of Christendom; but it was too late, or rather joy completed what humility had begun. She expired in a transport of pious gratitude, praising in sublime ejaculations the victorious Christ, and resigning into his hands that chaste, angelic spirit which had fled from its frail tenement through shame at receiving honours which seemed due to him alone. The author of the book entitled on the use of romances, amongst other charges against history, complains that women hardly appear in it. But surely in whatever sense we understand history, the accusation is ungrounded. The virtues of the countess Mathilda were not consigned to the silence that Pericles prescribed, for both in life and death, her fame sounded to the ends of the world. Hear Donizo. "Sunt ubique boni fuerant sibi maxime noti, Nam qui trans Pontum, seu Galliciæ remorantur, Christo jure preces, ex ipsa fundere sæpe Curabant, missos sibi mittebantque benignos." The spirit of chivalry, as well as the customs Vita ejus, Lib. II. c. 20. and legislation of the feudal age, gave even a political importance to women, which sometimes, perhaps, caused them to occupy a station in society, and to fulfil duties, for which they were neither generally qualified by nature, nor designed by the grace which had delivered them. One old writer styles the countess Mathilda "a military woman;' nevertheless their conduct during the middle ages, in this unfavourable and ambiguous position, constitutes a true miracle of history, of which this very instance is perhaps the most memorable. What a union of virtues in that venerable woman, the empress Agnes, who assumed the reins of government on the death of the emperor, Henry III., his son Henry being only five years old, and held them during five years, displaying consummate prudence, and singular industry,* endeavouring to keep off the gathering storm, and to preserve peace and order, governing with the greatest wisdom, strength, and justice. This was she to whom the great instructor of the desert, Peter Damian, writes in terms of such praise, after beholding her entry into Rome. "You have come humble to the humble, poor to the poor, as if along with rude shepherds and the rustic throng, to adore the child crying in the manger. Truly to see you then, and those that were with you, was a wondrous spectacle, an example most edifying of the imitation of the Saviour. You had laid aside the insignia of imperial grandeur; you appeared as a lowly penitent; you chose the sufferings of a mortified condition. On seeing you arrive thus, with Hermisinde, your relation, the widow of William, Count of Poictiers, it seemed as if Mary Magdalen came with the other Mary to the sepulchre, not indeed to seek the living among the dead, but to adore the vestiges of him that was risen." Altruda, of the noble and powerful Roman family of Frangipani, the wife of Rainerius, Count of Berthenora, came at the head of a military force which she joined with that of William Marchesalla, of Ferrara, to relieve Ancona, in the year 1172, when it was besieged by Christian of Mayence, arch-chancellor of the emperor, Frederic the First. She is described by Romuald of Salerno, and Andrea Dandulo, in their chronicles, and by Boncampagno, the Florentine, in his book on the siege of Ancona. The latter says, that "in beauty this noble lady shone amongst those who attended on her as the morning star amidst • Chronic. Hirsaug. + Voigt. Hildebrand, p. 41. the others, at the hour of prime." She tells the people of Ancona that after her husband's death, although oppressed with sorrow, she has governed his domains without contradiction. We, find, in fact, that she makes great donations to the monks of Camaldoli, for the soul of her husband. She tells the citizens that on hearing of their distress and peril, she has left her castles, towns, and possessions, and has hastened to their succour, leading at her side her only son, a minor, who, though but a boy, being mindful of his father's magnanimity, was inflamed with zeal to come to the assistance and protection of friends."* Who does not recur with delight to what he may have read in old Norman history of that beautiful and wise countess, Sybille, the wife of duke Robert, of whom William of Jumiège says, that "in the absence of the duke, she used to direct the public and private affairs of the province better than the duke would have done if he had been present."+ While Robert de Culei, surnamed Burdet, was absent in Italy, his wife, Sybille, daughter of William of Caprea, defended Tarragona. She had no less courage than beauty. During her husband's absence she was full of vigilance. Every night she armed herself with a cuirass like a knight, mounted on the walls, made the tour of the place, and kept the sentinels awake. "What praise," cries Orderic Vitalis, "is due to a young lady who thus serves her husband with faith, by an attentive affection, and who piously governs the people of God with ability and vigilance." In the cathedral of Lucca, on the tomb of Berta, wife of the marquis Adelbert, of Lucca, who died in 925, you may read these lines among others in her praise: "Quæ specie speciosa; bono speciosior actu An earlier and perhaps still more beautiful example, was that of St. Bathilda, to whose mild and gracious manners I before alluded, who deserved to be entrusted with that portion of her husband's authority which regarded the protection of the churches, and the consolation of the poor. Charged with the regency on his death, she enfranchised the serfs; but as soon as her son Clotaire III. was of age to reign she has Annal. Camaldul. Lib. XXX. + Hist. du Normand. Liv. VIII. 14. tened to gratify her love of holy retirement, and withdrew to the monastery of Chêlles, which she had founded, and where she lived as a simple nun, devoted to works of piety and charity to the poor, in which house she died in the year 680. Beatrix the great duchess of Tuscany, so often praised by St. Peter Damian, was so highly and universally venerated, that cities contended for her tomb. Muratori transmits the verses of Donizo,* in which he expresses his regret that such a celebrated and holy lady should have her sepulchre in Pisa, an emporium of the East, which hears the perjuries of Pagans, Turks, Africans, and Parthians, who trade there, and which thus contains so many facilities for crime, instead of being entombed in Canossa, which was an eminent city in those days for religion and purity of manners. What would the ancients have thought of this contention for a woman's grave? Above all, how admirable appears the union of female justice in the middle ages with princely power, in the person of her illustrious daughter, the countess Mathilda ? "When the whole world," as Donizo says, with a poetic licence, was infected with the leprosy of schism, it was a woman in Italy who remained constant to Christ, in the person of Gregory his vicar. "Munda domus sola Mathildis erat spaciosa Catholicis prorsus fuit hæc tutus quasi portus; Ad vivum fontem currebant funditus omnes nam Quæque requirebant apud ipsam repperiebant.'" Her justice deterred the enemies of the Church, who sought to plunder it, and her death will be the signal for letting them loose. "Stabant O quanti crudeles atque tyranni Sub specie justa, noscentes te fore justam: Qui dissolvuntur, jam pacis fœdera rumpunt Ecclesias spoliant, nunc nemo vindicat ipsas." The lady of old feudal times has ever been fit argument of the poet's strain; witness that of the Last Minstrel, where it presents the lady of Branksome appearing on the castle wall, to answer the summons of the English lords who come to demand the person of Sir William of Deloraine, Rer. Italic. Script. tom. V. Vita Mathild. Lib. I. c. 20. + Annal. Camaldul. Lib. XX. Vita Mathild. Lib. II. c. 2. and 20. leading before her eyes her little son, their captive, to whom she makes that grand reply, "For the young heir of Branksome's line, At the moment when Sobieski mounted his horse to hasten to the relief of Vienna, during the memorable siege in 1683, when the Turks threatened to conquer this bulwark of Christendom, the queen, holding in her arms the youngest of their children, embraced him, and wept. "What reason have you to weep, madam?" said the king, "I weep," she replied, "because this child is not in a condition to follow you like the rest." Truly when it was a question of defending the holy state of Christendom, or of maintaining justice in the absence of law, in defence of the meek and the oppressed, the high, chivalrous sentiments of nature may have been allowed free scope, and the ideal of Plato's chivalry realized, without incurring the censure of the calm Eternal Wisdom. Such words as those of Clare to Wilton, must then have had a noble import: "Go then to fight! Clare bids thee go! And belt thee with thy brand of steel, Not, therefore, in the light of an isolated and wholly unprecedented fact, stands in history the heroism of the Maid of Orleans, of which Pasquier says, that, for his part, he regards it as a true miracle of God, an opinion which, in our age of criticism, has been supported by the eloquent pen of Goerres.* Nothing was more in harmony with the spirit of those times, than the spotless purity of her manners in the midst of an army, the ardour with which she resolved to contend for justice, the prowess of her deeds in its support, the wise simplicity of her answers, and the voluntary offering and sacrifice of herself to a cause which she believed to interest heaven. Pasquier alludes to another memorable example of a woman heroically constant in fidelity to the cause of truth and justice. "The history of the constable of St. Pol," says he, "has filled my soul with despight and compassion. With similar effects have I reviewed the * Die Jungfrau von Orleans. |