Women All On Fire

This book offers a first-hand account of the heroic women who played an active part in the war between King and Parliament in the 17th century. The Royalists include Queen Henrietta Maria, who fled abroad with some of the Crown jewels to raise money and Mary Banks, wife of the King's Privy Councilor, who defended Corge Castle during an epic three-month siege, forcing the storming Roundheads to withdraw by heaving hot embers over the battlements. On the opposing side, there is Puritan Lady Brilliana Harley, who reveals her constant fear as she guarded Brampton Bryan Castle. Anne Fairfax, wife of Cromwell's northern General, who was taken prisoner after the battle of Adwalton Moor near Leeds and a classic account of the war from a Puritan's view by Lucy Hutchinson, wife of the Governor of Nottingham.