TROUBLE

What makes a woman truly 'troublesome'? For historian Lucy Worsley, it’s the rule-breakers, the status quo shakers, and the icons who refused to play by the book. We asked Lucy to come up with a list of her five favourite historical women. An impossible task, we know. But she definitely delivered. Her chosen five defied every societal expectation of their time. They weren't just living their lives, they were busy leaving a mark on history by simply being themselves. Let's dive in, shall we? 

Jane Austen 

We all love Colin Firth in a wet shirt, including Lucy herself, and are very grateful to Jane Austen for writing the story that inspired that scene. But does it go deeper than just a love of her iconic stories that inspired Lucy to include her in this list?

I’ve always loved Jane Austen for her writing. I’ve read most of her books, my personal favourite being Persuasion. But the way Lucy describes Jane and what she really did through her writing has given me a newfound respect and love for the author. 

She went against the norm. The whole point of Jane’s life was to marry money. She wasn’t aristocratic; neither was she of the working class. She needed to marry into money, or she would be expected to be a glorified nanny to her 33 nieces and nephews. 

Instead of falling into one of these two categories, she became a professional writer, opening the way for every female author who came after her, showing people that there was more to life than marrying for money. In Lucy’s words, “She changed the world”

Agatha Christie

Who do you picture when you think of Agatha Christie? Well, you’re probably wrong. A young Agatha Christie in the 1920s was actually quite the adventurous woman. Some of her favourite things included skinny dipping and surfing on the distant shores of South Africa and Hawaii. She was one of the first people to drive on the M4 motorway, in a car she specifically chose because of its ability to go 140 miles per hour. Our favourite cosy crime author was definitely not the little old lady in pearls that her marketing team wanted us to believe she was. 

Another thing to keep in mind? Never get on her bad side. Statistically, her favourite antagonist was a doctor. Why? During her time as a nurse in WW1, she said that doctors would treat nurses like human towel rails. Putting them behind bars in her novels was a way to get her revenge. 

Sweet little old lady indeed. 

Queen Mary I, or more commonly known as Bloody Mary

Is her story the first example of propaganda in history? Probably not, but it’s definitely been one of the most effective ones. Mary Tudor is infamous for being a ruthless monarch who would burn people at the stake for their differing religious beliefs, but so did Henry VIII, Edward and Elizabeth I. So why is Mary the only one who is made into this cruel villain of the Tudors? Well, she lost. Protestants prevailed against the terrible Catholics, and those who died in the fight were martyred for doing so, particularly those who died at the stake because of Mary. 

Is it time to tell a different story? A story of the first crowned Queen of England, who prevailed through so many traumatic events in her early life. Being separated from her mother and disowned and threatened by her father. Nobles saying, ‘If she were my daughter, I’d bash her head against the wall until it was as soft as stewed apples.’ 

She paves the way for history when she takes the throne back from Lady Jane Grey, becoming the only Tudor in 16th century to successfully seize the throne by force. Would Jane have kept the crown if Mary hadn’t taken it? Would Elizabeth have stood up and done the same? Yes, Mary made a lot of mistakes. But you could argue Elizabeth learned from the mistakes her older sister made, and it helped her to become one of the greatest monarchs England has ever seen. 

Catherine the Great

Having her hair done in the carriage on her way to St Petersburg after being woken up to the news of her husband's death and her subsequent rise to the throne I consider to be the first of Catherine the Great's power moves. Followed not long after by giving her husband the embarrassing death of dying from haemorrhoids. He definitely deserved that.

Despite endless attempts at destroying her reputation on the part of Western Europeans and Russians alike, she is still remembered as one of the Greats. She started Russia on the path to Enlightenment, shifting the culture from religion and conservatism to rationality. 

The best description of Catherine, Lucy quotes painter Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun: "I was very surprised at her small stature. I had imagined her to be as tall as her fame. She was also very fat, but her face was still beautiful. She wore her white hair up, framing it beautifully. With her head held high, her eagle-like stare, and a countenance accustomed to command, all this gave her such an air of majesty that she might have been queen of the world."

I don’t think any other description could top that. 

 Murderess Maria Madding

Who would have thought that murderesses were the key to getting the truth about gender history? This is why Lucy has picked a murderess as the last of her all time favourite women. Generally, the details of lower class women’s lives have been lost to history, but the murderess's life would have been recorded in detail, from her family relationships, motives, jobs and what they might have believed to be true about the world. 

 Known as the Lady Macbeth of Bermondsey, Maria Manning committed the murder of her lover one really hot summer. She and her husband formed a throuple that went very very wrong. Maria bashed their lover's head in and buried him under their kitchen tiles. They made the rookie error of leaving the man's false teeth in his mouth, and this is how the police identified him when they found him. The couple of [now] only two, tried to flee. Maria to Edinburgh and her husband to Jersey. But they were caught and sentenced to death by hanging. 

At this point, Maria was very famous for dressing too nicely on trial, being Swiss, and, of course, brutally murdering her lover. Ten thousand people attended their execution, including Charles Dickens, who did not enjoy it at all. Soon after, he started his campaign against public hangings. Fifty years later, public hangings were stopped forever. 

And this brings us to the end of Lucy Worsley’s list of her all time favourite women. What a fascinating group of women. I agree with Lucy when she said she wouldn’t want to be at a dinner party with the lot of them.