The history of Woman in England, and her influence on Society and Literature, from the earliest period

Front matter

T H E mmT ©iEY ot wot am IN EN GIL AN ID). BY LAWIfiANCE. ■ ■yufm W®___ 0. . DON. HENR.Y COiBPlN, G11KAT MAULMOROUCH STREET, ■y^y (pyLc^fi^zs. Great M.*irlboro\igli Sta ■ ■ THE HISTORY OF WOMAN IN ENGLAND, AND HER INFLUENCE ON SOCIETY AND LITERATURE, FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD. BY HANNAH LAWRANCE, AUTHOR OF "HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND, FROM THE TWELFTH TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY." VOL. I. TO THE YEAE 1200. LONDON : HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1843. LONDON : TRUSTED BY MOVES AND EABCLAY, CASTLE STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE.

Preface

. The claims and duties of women have, of late years, attracted general attention ; but although many works, either illustrating the present state of female society in England, or pointing out its future prospects and respon sibilities, have appeared, no attempt has been made to exhibit the social and intellectual condition of our countrywomen in past ages. The present day is distinguished by a spirit of historical inquiry, and the study of whatever can throw light on the condition of our fore fathers is becoming increasingly popular; but still it is only a faint and shadowy view that we can obtain of our female ancestors — the women whose powerful influence moulded the charac-

PREFACE.

. IV ters of those, to whom we owe our national greatness. In the course of reading for her 'former work, " Historical Memoirs of the Queens of England," the interest of the writer was awakened by the many valuable notices of female society, which not only the monkish chronicle, but the legal record, and the household book, supplied ; and, when she turned over the pages of many a forgotten Anglo- Norman poet, she discovered, with increased in terest, that not to queens alone, but to many a high-born lady, our early literature owed its chief encouragement. Still, as she proceeded in her pleasant task, she found each contem porary remain, — legend, tale, miracle-play, will, inventory, diary, — combined to throw a vivid light, not merely on society during the middle ages, but especially on the condition of woman in England.

Information so interesting and abundant, though as yet so little known, seemed to de mand a separate notice ; and the outline of the present work then suggested itself to the

PREFACE.

. V writer — a work, which, not confined to the middle ages alone, should trace the progress of female society in England from the earliest period of her history, and illustrate the in fluence of woman on our civilization and litera ture. Important has been that influence. Little is told us of women in Saxon times, yet even then there were illustrious queens, and more illustrious female scholars, whose exer tions for the diffusion of knowledge demand the gratitude of their descendants. Scarcely more is known of female society during the Anglo-Norman period ; yet it was at the bid ding of the lady that our earliest poets sang, and the fountain of modern fiction — chivalrous romance, was unsealed by female hands. During the age of chivalry, the object of knio-htly worship becomes indeed more dis tinctly visible ; but even at this period many a lady illustrious for her talents, and interest ing from her romantic history, has no record save in the seldom-opened pages of the monkish chronicle. Descending to more recent times, a VI

PREFACE.

. we find the history of women in England linked with each great event. Female in fluence gave the impulse to those doctrines which produced the Reformation, — to woman's patronage, England owes the introduction of printing, — while amid all the changes of after times her voice was still heard. In tracing the progress of woman in Eng land through these various phases of her his tory, it has been the chief aim of the writer to collect contemporary information from every available and authentic source, and thus to present a truthful picture of her country women in past times. The first volume is now offered to the reader, and the second, con tinuing the history of woman in England to the close of the fifteenth century, will shortly follow. H. L. PAGE CONTENTS. Chapter I. Britain at the Invasion of the Romans — British Women — Cartismandua — Boadicea — Extent of the Influence of the Roman Invasion — Christianity in troduced only among the Romanised Britons — — Decline of Roman Power — The restored Bri tish Kingdoms — State of Society among the later Britons — State of Women among them — Extracts from the ancient British Laws — The arrival of the Saxons 1 Chapter II.

Invasion of the Saxons — Character of the New Invaders — Their Respect for Women — The Princess of East Anglia — Their Objection to a Female Ruler, Sexburga — The "Cwen" — The "Hælfdge" — Her Prerogatives — The Higher Class of Women — The Proceedings at the Shire-Gemot at Aylston — Wyn fleth's Claim — Wealth of the Saxon Ladies — Weaving and Embroidery — Situation of the Second and Third Class of Females — The Bondswomen — Their Manu mission viewed as a Religious Act — Beneficial Influence to the present day of the Saxon Invasion .... CONTENTS. PAGE Chapter III. The earlier Saxon Period — The Preaching of Christianity — Influence of Women — The first Saxon Convents — St. Hilda — Caedmon — Princess Elfleda — St. Etheldreda— Abbess Hildelitha— St. Aid helm's Works addressed to her and her Nuns — Abbess Eadburga — St. Boniface's Correspondence — Loebgitha's Letter — Life of St. Willibald, the earliest Work of an English Female Writer — Speci mens — Invasion of the Danes — Destruction of the Female Monasteries — Ethelburga, Wife of King Ina — Eadburga — Judith, her Coronation Service .... 61 Chapter IV.

The Revival of Learning under Alfred — Story of Queen Judith — Alfred's Conventual Foundations — Shaftesbury — Wilton — Nunaminster — Eadburga, its First Abbess — Ethelfleda, "the Lady of the Mercians" — Elfrida — Her Remorse — Emma married to Ethelred — Her Marriage with Canute — Bishop Alwine — Mis fortunes of Emma on the Death of Canute — Accession of her Son Hardicnute — Story of her Daughter " Gunilda the Fair" — Accession of her Son Edward — His Quarrel with Her — Her Trial by Ordeal — Her Death — Editha — She becomes the Wife of King Edward — Dismissed by Him — Restored — Her Learning — Ingulphus' School-boy Interview with Her — Introduction of Norman Customs — Edward's Death — Respect paid to Editha by the Conqueror — Her Mother Githa— " Editha the Fair," Widow of Harold CONTENTS. IX PAGE Chapter V. Influence of the Norman Invasion on the Political State of the Saxons — The Feudal System — In fluence of that System on Women — Saxon Laws unchanged — Superior Protection granted to Women under Norman Power — Did the Conqueror attempt to make Norman-French the National Tongue? — Influence of the Conquest on Saxon Female Monas teries — Benefits conferred on Women by the Social Improvements of the Normans 188 Chapter VI.

Accession of Henry I. — Literary Tastes of both his Queens — " Good Queen Maude's" Letters to St. Anselm, and to Pope Paschal — Turold's Life of her Mother, St. Margaret — St. Hildebert's Correspond ence and Poems — St. Hildebert's Letter to Adelais — Marbodus — Philip de Than's " Bestiarius," Queen Adelais' Handbook of Zoology — Gaimar's "Estoire" — Trouvere David — " Voyage de St. Brandan" — Specimens — Beneficial Effects of the Patronage of Adelais — Constance la Gentil — Alice de Conde — Female Patronage of Norman Literature — Charac teristics of this Branch — Introductions — Specimens — The « Salut." X CONTENTS. PAGE Chapter VII. The Progress of Learning — New Conventual Establishments — The Female Convents — The Nun's Profession — Daily Routine of the Convent Life — General Occupations of the Nun — The Female Con ventual Officers — The Abbess — The Prioress — The Præcentrix — The Cellaress — The Chamberlain — The Kitchener — The Infirmaress — The other Officers — The Lay Sisters — The Scholars — The Convent School — The "Nun-Schoolmistress" of the 12th Century — The English Nun's Skill in Embroidery — Gold Work — Splendour and Beauty of the English Work — Story of the London Embroideress — Other Instruction in the Convent School — Concluding Remarks — Note, the Complin and Midnight Services 262 Chapter VIII.

Advancement of Literature — The Trouvere Herman — Contests of Stephen and the Empress Maude — Reason why London rejected Her — Accession of Henry II — Elinor of Aquitaine — She patronises Wace, and the Troubadours — Troubadour Poetry — Its Characteristics — Elinor's Influence on Cceur de Lion — Her Regency — Noble Ladies of this Period — Petronilla, Countess of Leicester — The Lady Roesia de Vere — Female Wards— The Story of Gilbert de Plumpton — Women of the Middle Classes — Of the Lower — Conclusion ILLUSTRATIONS. Queen Editha, Consort of Edward the Confessor, (See page 172.) Frontispiece. Queen Editha's Interview with Ingulphus, (See page 175.) Vignette. THE HISTORY OF WOMAN IN ENGLAND.

Chapter I

Britain at the Invasion of the Romans — British Women — Cartismandua — Boadicea — -Extent of the Influence of the Roman Invasion — Christianity introduced only among the Romanised Britons — Decline of Roman Power — The restored British Kingdoms — State of Society among the later Britons — State of Women among them — Extracts from the ancient British Laws — The Arrival of the Saxons. Nineteen centuries have now well-nigh passed away since Britain, but obscurely known to the ancient world, attracted the notice of Cæsar. His invasion followed ; and, although the subjugation of a barbarous race could scarcely add another leaf to the victor's laurel, he yet boasted the conquest of a land of un known extent in the farthest west — of a new VOL. i. b STATE OF WOMEN IN BRITAIN world — and Rome celebrated, by a festival of twenty days, the event which first brought our country within the circle of the great European familv.

It was during his subsequent contests with its inhabitants, that Cæsar obtained the first information as to their social condition. Bri tain at this period was divided among numerous tribes, subsisting in various degrees of imper fect civilisation — from the woad-stained dwel lers in the northern parts, whose only shelter was the cave and only pursuit the chase, to the more advanced inhabitants of the south, who, clad in vest and mantle, possessed ornaments of brass and silver, who had made some progress in agriculture, and who advanced to battle with spear and shield, guiding their well-constructed war-chariots. Little is known of the condition of the women belonging to the more barbarous tribes ; their lot, however, was, doubtless, that which has been always the lot of woman in savage life — that of the drudge and bond-slave : but among the more civilised tribes, the general respect paid to women seems to have awakened the surprise both of Cæsar and Tacitus ; and AT THE ROMAN INVASION. 3 the latter historian, especially, notices their custom of allowing females, equally with the men, to hold the supreme authority.

The women among these tribes were warlike : they advanced to battle, not merely as attendants and spectators, but took part in the conflict ; and so customary was this, that we are told, the gifts received by the bride were not merely oxen, that great source of wealth, but the caparisoned horse, the shield, and the sword.* But the British women were not merely warlike ; they cultivated, successfully, many of the arts of peace. Their baskets were so exquisitely woven of fine grass, that the Roman lady did not disdain to use them ; and their ingenuity in adorning their garments with various kinds of needlework, although their only implement was a rude needle of bone, has been noticed by several historians. The distaff, too, was in use among them, for the fine wool of Britain was celebrated from the time of Cæsar's invasion ; and we are told that they were also skilful in weaving various kinds of cloth. * Solinus.

FEMALE DRUIDS. It is very questionable whether the superior station assigned to British women was at all attributable to the religion of the country — Druidism. From the little that can be ascer tained respecting that ancient and widely spread faith, the priesthood seems to have been confined to the male portion of the community. It was the Arch-Druid who, seated beside the cromlech, and beneath the shadow of his guar dian oak, gave forth his mystic oracles ; and it was to his attendant brethren that the perform ance of the inferior religious rites was assigned. Both Cæsar and Tacitus, however, mention an order of female Druids, but they were most probably merely the relatives of the priesthood, as they appear not to have fulfilled any sacer dotal office. It was this class of women, when Aulus Plautus pursued the retreating Druids as far as Anglesea, who, in garments of mourn ing, with streaming hair and brandished torches, unavailingly opposed the advance of the Roman legions, and whose appearance ex cited the terror of a fierce but superstitious soldiery.

These, together with their male companions, fell victims to the vengeance of CARTISMANDUA. the conquerors ; * and from henceforth we find no further notice of a female class of Druids. The warlike character of the Britons was severely tested by their Roman invaders ; but they fought with persisting valour, and more than a century elapsed ere Rome completely held the southern and eastern portion of Bri tain in subjection. It is during this period that the first female names in British history meet us. Of the earliest, little is distinctly known, nor is that little creditable to her : Cartismandua — this is, doubtless, her Roman ised name — who appears to have been queen in her own right, and reigned over the Bri gantes for many years ; but, having taken her husband's armour-bearer for her paramour, her indignant subjects deposed her.

In this emergency she supplicated aid of the Roman invaders, who sent an army to her relief. This * Tacitus. Although not engaged in their religious services, a class of women certainly appear to have existed among the Druids, who were believed to foretell future events. When Alexander Severus was setting out on his last expedition, a female Druid cried after him, " Go thy way, neither expect victory nor trust thy soldiers ; " and sub sequent events proved that the warning was not idly given. BOADICEA. army was repulsed by the Brigantes, and al though the queen escaped, she was never able to recover her forfeited kingdom. The next female name is one well known to the general reader, and deservedly so, as of one who bravely, though unavailingly, fought for freedom — Boadicea, or probably more correctly, Bonduca.

The fate of this unfor tunate queen was what has unhappily been too common in the history of colonisation, although few treated with equal cruelty have inflicted as severe a revenge. Boadicea was the widow of a king of the Iceni, a powerful race, inhabiting tbe eastern part of Britain, and her husband at his death bequeathed to her his throne and half his treasures, at the same time constituting the Roman emperor — probably to secure his aid against the neighbouring tribes — joint-heir with his two daughters of the remaining half portion. The imperial procurator, however, seized the whole treasure ; and when the widow remonstrated, he caused her to be scourged, and her daughters to be seized and treated as slaves. The cruelly injured queen loudly pro claimed her wTongs ; she collected multitudes BOADICEA. 7 together, to whom she detailed her sutferings ; she pointed out the oppressive tyranny to which they were subjected, the heavy taxations imposed on those who had submitted to the Roman yoke, and concluded by denouncing that rapacity which, not content with spoiling the bring, "had taxed even the dead."* Her burning words excited the fiercest emotions in the listening multitude that sur rounded her ; she then took a hare which she had concealed in her vest, and let it slip, that by its course the attendant Druids, among whom the hare was viewed as a sacred animal, might foretell the result of the enterprise.

The * Her speech, which is given by Dio Cassius, and which, although doubtless made by the writer, may be correct as to the general outline, dwells especially on the heavy taxation imposed on the conquered tribes ; and the remark, " we are forced to pay for the bodies of our very dead," has most likely reference to the custom always adhered to by the Britons of burying their dead. Now as we know the Romans always strictly imposed their laws and usages on the people they subjugated, and as burning the dead was among them viewed both as a civil and religious rite, it was, perhaps, only by paying an enormous sum that the higher order of Britons obtained the privilege of interring their chieftains wrapped in tht-ir best apparel, and with axe and dagger beside them, as the opened cromlech has so often shewn.

The idea of burn- HER SUCCESSES. turnings and windings of the affrighted animal were pronounced of favourable omen — the Druids promised victory ; the multitudes shouted aloud, and Boadicea prepared to lead by her valour those whom her resistless eloquence had gathered around her. The march of the immense but undisci plined army was southward. They soon reached the flourishing city of Camulodunum (Maiden), and reduced it to ashes. They next held on, unopposed, toward London, even at this period a wealthy and populous city, but inhabited chiefly by Roman colonists. London shared the same fate as Camulodunum, for a superstitious terror seems to have paraing the corpse was peculiarly repugnant to Druidical belief; and late researches have proved how obstinately, during the whole period of Roman sway, the Britons adhered to their ancient burial-rites.

Dio gives rather a vivid picture of the British queen. " She was," he says, " a woman of lofty stature and stern countenance ; her yellow hair flowed almost to the ground ; she was clad in a parti-coloured vest, gathered round her in thick folds, and a large mantle, while she wore round her neck a gold chain." This was probably the " torque," the most valued ornament of the British chieftain, and a symbol of regal authority. It was a flexible band, composed of three or four rods of fine gold twisted together, and hooked at the ends to fasten it round the neck. HER LAST BATTLE. lysed the Romans, and Boadicea and her army passed onward to Yerulam, the municipal city ; and ere the legions of Suetonius could arrive, its splendid buildings lay a smoking ruin, and the barbarian army was loaded with its spoils.

At length the Roman forces com bined near London, and offered battle. The site of this desperate but decisive conflict has been variously stated, but the rising ground to the north of London, where, until very lately, the traces of a large Roman en campment were clearly to be seen, was most probably the spot. Here, at length, the well-disciplined legions of Rome and the barbarian army met, and again Boadicea addressed her people, conjuring them to fight bravely. She reminded them of their late successes, urged them to make one other effort to achieve their freedom, and then, as though prophetic of the result, added, that although the men might choose to live and be slaves, she, a woman, was de termined to conquer or to die. The Britons again advanced with shouts ; but the Roman legions received the shock firmly, and then, forming a wedge, broke through the large b HER DEATH. but unconnected human mass, and fearfully avenged the slaughter of their countrymen.

Seventy thousand Romans are said to have been put to death by the Britons in the preceding conflicts ; — eighty thousand Britons now fell in this fatal battle. Boadicea, " dis daining to survive the liberties of her land," drank poison ; nor can the historian deny his meed of admiration to the unfortunate queen, who fought and fell with Roman courage. Severity had been now tried for more than a century ; but the native tribes were still only partially subdued. It was reserved for the gentle and far wiser policy of Agricola to effect what the sword had attempted in vain. Under his rule the ruined cities were rebuilt, colonisation was encouraged, commerce pro tected, and the natives were incited by the display of Roman art and luxury to emulate the civilisation of their conquerors. The Bri tons were also encouraged to learn the Roman language, and to settle in the Roman towns, where, although the highest offices were ex clusively filled by Romans, many of the sub ordinate were enjoyed by the natives ; and we are told that ere long the Britons adopted ADVANCE OF CIVILISATION. both the dress and the customs of the imperial city.

That this was the case in the vicinity of the Roman stations is very probable, and that the Britons who dwelt in the cities — at Lon dinum or Verulamentum — should have ex changed their rude torques and bracelets, and their ruder utensils, for the delicate jewellery and beautiful pottery, so frequently discovered in the vicinity of the Roman cities, we may well believe, — and that the female Briton adopted the purple-edged robe, and the braided hair, and the broidered sandal of the Roman lady, when she became an inhabitant of a Roman city, is equally probable ; but that civilisation chased barbarism to the forests of the north and the west is disproved by the decisive fact, that not a single wood or stream bears a Roman name ; not a single Roman superstition has been handed down among the people ; not a single allusion to classical my thology, or even to Roman influence, can be found amongthe British remains : and that scarcely had the Romans finally departed, ere kingdoms with British names, governed by princes also bearing British names, and who SLIGHT INFLUENCE OF appealed to codes of ancient British laws, arose, and an energetic, imaginative, but un civilised people held possession of the land, until a ruder, but even more energetic race, chased them away.

A blank almost beyond parallel is the his tory of the four centuries of Roman domination in Britain. When the historian closes the tale of Boadicea's wrongs and her revenge, he closes the page of British history altogether. Nor are the annals of Roman power much more fully detailed. A mere list of the pre fects who successively governed Britain, — slight notices, rather than narratives, of the conflicts of their legions with the northern tribes, are all that his annals afford us, and the deeds of ten generations scarcely supply materials for one short chapter. And yet, during this long period, the Mistress of the AVorld swayed the destinies of our land, and towns rivalling those of France and Italy studded the southern division ; and the graceful forum, the stately temple, the luxurious bath, all the refinements of a most civilised era, were to be found in Britain — all that belongs to the most advanced state of society, except a literature.

ROMAN DOMINATION. 13 The sepulchral urn, the tessellated pavement, the well-sculptured capital, again and again meet our notice ; but the most diligent research of the literary antiquary has failed to discover the least fragment of narrative or legend, song or fable, — aught that can shew us what our forefathers and their haughty masters were during the long period of Roman domination. It was during this interval that Christianity was first introduced into Britain, but the obscurity that rests upon the national history rests equally upon its ecclesiastical. That the Christian faith spread rapidly among the Roman colonists, and probably among the Romanised Britons, appears certain ; but not withstanding the boast of an early Christian writer (Tertullian), that " districts inaccessible to Roman arms had yielded obedience to the Saviour," — that the uncivilised tribes among the natives continued heathens, is proved, both by the slight notices which authentic history affords us, and by the more indirect but still conclusive evidence of saintly legends.

" Among the Romans and Romanised Britons of the higher ranks, Christianity was preached with effect. But the country was still unconverted, CHRISTIANITY INTRODUCED. and though the bloody sacrifices of the Druids had brouo-ht down the anger of the Romans, their mysteries, purified by the abolition of a savage ritual, were perpetuated by the order. Full two centuries after the withdrawal of the Romans, we find Taliessin scarcely con cealing his belief in the religion of his forefathers ; and the Druidical worship, still re collected in Strath Clyde and Cumbria, was so strong and vigorous on the opposite shores of Deira, that the Britons not only preserved their priesthood, but induced the Saxon con querors to embrace their faith ; for the name of Coifi, the pontiff through whose persuasion Edwin king of Northumbria embraced Christ ianity, was no other than the title of the chief Druid."* Bede in his history instances, that one of the chief causes of the afflictions that befell the land, previously to the invasion of the Saxons, was because the more civilised natives (the Romanised Britons) utterly neg lected to preach the Gospel to the heathens around them ; while, that the ancient creed still lingered much later in the remoter parts * Sir F. Palgrave's " English Commonwealth," vol. i. p. 154.

EARLIEST LEGENDS. 15 of the land, is proved by the decrees of many a council, Saxon as well as Welsh, which pro hibit, under severest ecclesiastical penalties, the worship of groves and fountains, observances connected with the appearance of the new moon, and the homage still paid to the cromlech — superstitions unknown to the Saxon invaders, and belonging to a far earlier period, — brought perhaps by the earliest inhabitants of Britain from the land of Canaan. Saintly legend tells the same story ; for Lucius the first Christian king, and his first bishops, and St. Alban the first martyr, and his companions — all, from the unquestionable testimony of their names, must have been Ro mans, or Romanised Britons. Among female names, too, we meet with a Claudia, a beautiful native of Britain, who married a Roman senator, and became active in promoting the Christian faith ; and Helena, said to have been the daughter of a British king, but who became wife of the Emperor Constantius, and mother of the more celebrated Constantine — she, who is said to have well-nigh rebuilt Colchester, her native city, and girdled London round with its massive walls, but whose chief celebrity rests on her journey to the East, where the DECLINE OF ROMAN POWER. miraculous discovery of " the true cross " re warded the toilsome wanderings of the imperial pilgrim.

With the decline of the Roman empire the restitution of British power commenced. The Roman forces, summoned to battle nearer home, left Britain, at the commencement of the fifth century, to the mixed population of the towns and cities, who, rendered indo lent by luxury, saw with alarm, not merely the encroachments of the native tribes, but the advances of a new and more ferocious tribe of barbarians, the Picts, who menaced the north ern frontier. Taking advantage of the alarm thus occasioned, the Britons united their forces ; they deposed the Roman magistrates, took pos session of the cities, and then vigorously re pulsed the common enemy. Ere long, although but little can be ascer tained as to the precise period, or the circumstances under which those changes took place, a succession of small kingdoms arose, each pre sided over by a British prince, and claiming to be governed by British laws.

The influence of Roman civilisation and luxury passed away with Roman power, for the restored Britons were still a rude people. Although surrounded BRITAIN AFTER THE ROMANS. by monuments of Roman luxury, and in the vicinity of Roman stations, at least, accustomed to Roman manners, they still clung to their ancient, rude usages, as though civilisation had never visited them. This is forcibly proved in their wild and eloquent poetical remains, where every allusion and every image refers to a people scarcely advanced beyond the stage of pastoral life. The " three heroes of Britain " are characterised as the "three princely bulls:" Arthur rushes like a lion on his foemen, and they receive his attack like raging bears. The gifts that reward the bard are casks of mead and fat kine ; while Elphin receives the highest eulogies from Taliessin, for " he gave me wine, ale, mead, and the princely great steeds •" and rising into enthusiasm as he recollects all the princely largess bestowed by his valiant patron, he bids the cup-bearer " fill the horn of honour — the long blue horn, covered not sparingly with silver," and this rude horn is evidently as highly prized as the delicate silver vase, or precious myrrhine cup, had been by the Roman colonist.

In a state of society like this, the situation of women could scarcely be high ; and we find STATE OF SOCIETY abundant proofs of the inferior station assigned to them in the almost total absence of all allusion, not only to female influence, but even to female society. There is only one instance in which "the lady" is alluded to in these remains, and this is in a poem of Anuerin, where he celebrates his hero as foremost in every place, and as " receiving the portion of mead from the chief lady." That the "chief lady " among the ancient Britons occupied no seat of honour in the rude hall, like the "hlfædge" of Saxon times, but was merely a duteous attendant on her lordly guests, like the handmaiden of classical storv, we have evidence in the songs that celebrate the festive meetings of the British warriors.