Strong Women

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FRENZY by Mark King
ISBN 9781846248771


History is written by the winners.

Watching the funeral of Baroness Thatcher with all its pomp and pageant I did wonder; if the Labour Party had been in power instead of the Conservatives would she had been given such a grand send off? Would it have been just a simple family affair with her contribution to history slowly written out, just like most of the other strong women over the last two thousand years?

History has always been written from a male perspective with even great British Queens like Elizabeth the 1st and Queen Victoria portrayed as lonely figures whose life revolved around a man or lack of one. But it's not always the case! From my part of the world in Norfolk have come four such strong women.

The first was Boudica nearly two thousand years ago. When her husband the King of the Iceni died in an accident the Roman Governor of Britain decided he would take advantage of the situation. Using force he took away the Iceni lands, had Queen Boudica humiliated by being publicly flogged, and had her daughters raped. But he had messed with the wrong women! She stirred her folk in rebellion and marched to the capital at Colchester, and burnt it to the ground; with every Roman citizen being slaughtered, the men had their penises cut off and shoved into their mouths. Then she marched down to London and burnt it to the ground as well before defeating a Roman legion sent to quell the uprising. Then she finished off by destroying the religious centre of Roman Britain at St Albans. She was eventually defeated, but never captured with history saying she committed suicide.

The second women was the total opposite, she was an anchoress called Julian of Norwich who in the mid 1370's wrote the first book published in English by a women, and which is still in print today, Revelations of  Divine Love, after receiving visions when near to death. She volunteered to be bricked up in a small room at St Julian's church for over 35 years www.julianofnorwich.org. She prayed and gave guidance from a small window to all who needed it, and her teachings/writings over the years have influenced the Anglican Church, the Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church!

The third women is nurse Edith Cavell from Norfolk who cared for both German and Allied soldiers in Brussels during the first world war, and was shot for it. She became a tool of propaganda by both sides, but it was the words of the battle hardened German officer in charge of the firing squad which summed her up, 'as I looked into her eyes I saw the bravest person I have ever met.' If you type her name into a search engine you will see that her presence is felt all around the world to this day.

The fourth women is Miss Elsie-Tilney who I mentioned a couple of weeks ago in my blog posted on the 3/4/13, titled Yad Vashem, www.yadvashem.org.

I think these four women alone would make the subject of a good book, and could be expanded on no doubt with many others, but with my promotional work for FRENZY and the fact I'm now starting on my manuscript for my second book, this is one project I may never get around to starting.

So if anyone out there in this big wide world is looking for an idea then please feel free. I think the title,The First Feminists, would work well, and although I am a simple man I would be more than happy to help you in anyway I can. My email address is at the top and all the information you need is on my door step.

Regards

Mark King.