For much of the history of warfare, the siege has been the most common form of conflict, and among those prolonged battles, there are 10 amazing tales of women who stepped up and changed the outcome. Large set‑piece battles were rare, but the grinding, wall‑to‑wall struggle of a siege forced everyone, regardless of gender, to play a part. Below you’ll find a lively, yet scholarly, rundown of the most dramatic female feats recorded during these tense stand‑offs.
10 Amazing Tales of Women in Sieges
10 Women Of Weinsberg
The Middle Ages in Europe were a bloody era, yet they also loved stories of wit and cunning. When Conrad III laid siege to the town of Weinsberg in 1140, a quick‑thinking ruse emerged that would echo through the ages.
According to the Royal Chronicle of Cologne, Conrad attacked because the town was held by his foe. Incensed by the citizens’ resistance, he vowed to put the defenders to death.
However, displaying a twisted sense of honor, he proclaimed that the women of the city could leave unharmed, taking with them as many possessions as they could carry. The women acted in perfect unison.
Instead of fleeing with valuables, each woman seized a husband and led him out ahead of the bewildered king. When an adviser urged Conrad to halt the procession, the king replied that a monarch’s word must be trusted.
Although the tale has become a beloved legend, its first written account appears only thirty years after the alleged event, leading many historians to accept it as essentially factual.
9 Black Agnes Of Dunbar
In medieval society, a great lady often oversaw her husband’s estates while he fought abroad, which meant many castles ended up under female command during sieges.
When the English army marched north to attack Scottish targets, they set their sights on Dunbar Castle, assuming an easy victory. Black Agnes, Countess of Dunbar and March, was not about to hand it over without a fight.
The English demanded surrender, but Agnes, with only a few guards, sent back a poetic retort: “Of Scotland’s King I haud my house, He pays me meat and fee, And I will keep my gude auld house, while my house will keep me.”
In response, the Earl of Salisbury launched stones at the walls. When his catapults fell silent, Agnes ordered her maids to sweep the battlements with white handkerchiefs. When Salisbury tried to batter the walls with a ram, she hurled massive boulders down to smash his siege engines.
After capturing her brother, the Earl of Moray, the English paraded him before the walls and threatened his life unless Agnes yielded. She merely shrugged, stating that if he died, she would inherit his lands. The siege dragged on for five months before the English finally withdrew.
8 Dorothy Hazzard At Bristol
The English Civil War pitted two fervent factions against each other: Royalists, who believed the king’s divine right, and Puritans, who argued that even monarchs must obey God’s law as they interpreted it. Dorothy Hazzard (sometimes spelled Hazard) of Bristol became embroiled in this clash.
In August 1643, Bristol, held by Puritan Parliamentary forces, faced a Royalist assault led by Prince Rupert. While the attackers were repelled outside, they could not breach the city walls.
When the besiegers seemed poised to crack the Frome Gate, Hazzard and her companion Joan Batten rallied women and children, stuffing bales of wool and soil into the breach. She even volunteered to lead a group of women as human shields to “dead the bullets” of the Royalist guns, but the town’s governor declined the offer and soon surrendered.
After the conflict, the governor was tried for cowardice and his swift capitulation. Dorothy Hazzard testified against him, highlighting her role in the desperate defense.
7 Nicholaa De La Haye
Born in 1150, Nicholaa de la Haye inherited extensive lands and castles across England, only to find herself caught in a period of intense national turmoil.
King Richard the Lionheart spent most of his reign abroad, delegating governance to others. When Nicholaa’s husband was ordered to surrender a royal castle, he refused, leaving the defense to his wife. She held the fortress for forty days until her husband negotiated a compromise with the Crown.
After her husband’s death, Nicholaa achieved the rare distinction of being appointed Sheriff of Lincolnshire and receiving Lincoln Castle in her own right. Though she attempted to surrender it to King John on the grounds of her age, he commanded her to protect it. When rebels attacked during the Barons’ Rebellion, Nicholaa’s steadfast defense enabled the king to triumph at the Battle of Lincoln.
6 Jeanne Hachette
Jeanne Hachette, also known as Joan the Hatchet, earned fame for brandishing an axe during the siege of Beauvais in 1472, rallying the defenders against the forces of Charles the Bold.
Only 300 soldiers manned the town’s walls, and the enemy soon scaled the defenses. When a knight planted his banner atop a battlement, it seemed the town was lost.
Seizing the moment, Jeanne sprinted forward with her hatchet, cutting down the banner—or, according to some versions, the knight bearing it. Her daring act sparked the other defenders, who fought back for eleven hours until Charles the Bold was forced to retreat.
In recognition of her bravery, Jeanne was granted marriage to a beloved suitor, and an annual parade was established in Beauvais to honor the women who defended the city.
5 Women Of Carthage
The clash between Rome and Carthage stands as one of antiquity’s greatest wars, with both powers vying for dominance across the Mediterranean. During the final Punic War, Carthage found itself under a massive Roman siege.
Inside the beleaguered city, women sacrificed their jewelry to fund the defense and even cut off their hair to fashion bowstrings and catapult ropes. Temples were turned into night‑time factories where women labored to produce weapons.
Despite a fierce defense, the Romans dug massive earthworks into the sea to block Carthage’s harbor. In retaliation, Carthaginian women and children helped dig a new channel to the sea, allowing the navy to sortie and confront the Romans.
Unfortunately, the effort came too late. Carthage fell; its men were executed, and women and children were taken into slavery. The Roman general Scipio wept, not out of pity, but because he recognized that even Rome might someday meet a similar fate.
4 Maria Pita
Maria Mayor Fernández de Cámara y Pita, commonly known as Maria Pita, became the heroine of the 1589 siege of Coruña when English forces under Admiral Sir Francis Drake raided Spain in retaliation for the failed Armada.
The English captured the lower town and seemed poised to seize the fortified heart of the city. Maria, having joined her husband on the walls, saw him fall to a crossbow bolt but pressed on.
When an English soldier reached the battlements, Maria slew him and shouted, “Whoever has honor, follow me!” Her rallying cry spurred the defenders, who drove the English back.
For her valor, Maria received a pension, and a statue now stands in Coruña commemorating her courageous stand.
3 Sichelgaita Of Salerno
Sichelgaita of Salerno, wife of the war‑making Robert, Duke of Apulia, was not content to stay behind while battles raged. She habitually followed her husband into combat and sometimes even seized command.
During the battle of Dyrrhachium, she rode beside Robert in full armor. When she saw some of her own troops retreating, she seized a spear and charged, shouting, “How far will you run? Stop, be men!”
Other chronicles recount that she suffered an arrow wound in battle and narrowly escaped capture during a naval skirmish. Besides fighting, she also led the siege of Trani in 1080 while Robert pursued other campaigns.
2 Arachidamia Of Sparta
Sparta was renowned across Greece for granting its women far more freedoms than elsewhere, allowing them to own property and influence public affairs. While Athenian women were confined to the home, Spartan women were active participants in civic life.
When the Spartan queen Gorgo was asked why Spartan women “lord it over” their men, she replied, “Because we are the only women who are mothers of men.” Arachidamia, another fierce Spartan, faced a similar test.
When King Pyrrhus of Epirus turned his sights on Sparta, the city’s defenders considered evacuating women and children. Arachidamia stormed the council with a sword in hand, demanding, “How do you expect us to survive the destruction of our city?” The council then set about fortifying the city.
Spartan defenders dug a trench to slow Pyrrhus’s charge, and one‑third of that trench was completed by women and children, ultimately helping to save Sparta.
1 Unknown Mother
Pyrrhus of Epirus, famed for giving his name to “pyrrhic victories,” was a relentless war‑lord who could not curb his appetite for battle. After his defeat at Sparta, he turned his attention to Argos.
During the assault, he breached the city walls, only to find the narrow streets clogged with his own men. A defender managed to wound the king with a spear, prompting Pyrrhus to strike the wounded soldier.
Watching from the rooftops, the wounded soldier’s mother—an unnamed Argive woman—took a roof tile, hurled it at Pyrrhus, and struck him on the back of the neck. The blow knocked the king from his horse, stunned him, and allowed enemy soldiers to drag him into a doorway where he was beheaded, satisfying the mothers who had observed the carnage.