Star Wars and History by Nancy R. Reagin & Janice Liedl

Author:Nancy R. Reagin & Janice Liedl
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Published: 2012-10-08T04:00:00+00:00

Princess Leia is a hands-on leader in the Rebellion. (The Empire Strikes Back)

About a thousand years later, a resolute Italian noblewoman roused her subjects to war against the might of Emperor Henry IV. Countess Matilda of Tuscany defended the church’s independence against the empire during the Investiture Controversy of the eleventh century. She left her husband and cut off his access to her land and power, in order to provide support to the church leader. Her support was so successful that she was ultimately able to broker a reconciliation between the emperor and the pope at her stronghold of Canossa. Sadly, that peace lasted for only a short time, but Matilda continued to defend the church against the imperial army. As one of her chroniclers wrote, “Truly she acted nobly and magnificently, in a manner to which women are not accustomed; more I say, than manfully, she feared almost no danger. For whoever led her powerful army as she did?”19

Although Matilda may have provided the troops to defend the church, she never took up arms herself. Her military contributions were more akin to those of Mon Mothma, a politically skillful leader organizing the Rebellion against a powerful and entrenched force. The same could be said of Queen Melisende of Jerusalem. This twelfth-century queen battled indirectly against her husband and coruler, Fulk. The king attempted to rule without her and smeared her reputation by suggesting she had an affair with her cousin, the noble leader Hugh of Le Puiset. Melisende reportedly made life in the palace so dangerous for Fulk that he was forced to retract the charges and concede her right to rule in 1134.20

Royal women often rallied their supporters when danger threatened, as did Elizabeth I during the Armada crisis of 1588. She addressed the troops at Tilbury wearing a warrior’s breastplate and vowed that she had the “heart and stomach of a king” to lead them against the enemy.21 Sometimes such service was less public and more practical, as when the future Elizabeth II served as 2nd Lieutenant Elizabeth Windsor, a driver in the Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II.22 Princess Leia’s hands-on role in the evacuation of Hoth or the assault on the Imperial bunker on Endor would have been entirely in character for any of these royal women, who were used to taking charge in times of war or crisis.

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