I found this lovely image—most likely of the great warrior Queen, Matilda of Tuscany—and thought how familiar she looked, banded together with her sisters-in-arms, swords and longbows, arrows, and beautiful dresses. Though Matilda was certainly far more powerful and effective as a warrior queen, this image seemed like a perfect illustration for a band of querulous brides that appear in Zizola's novel.
More than a while ago, I wrote about the peculiar figure of the "banished bride" in folktales and ballads — the bride who unwittingly stands in for the heroine until she can extricate herself from whatever impediment has kept her temporarily from her intended groom. The poor dear is then banished at the altar — sent home, and even though financially compensated, her honor and reputation dimmed. Here's what I wrote in that post:
"So what happens to those banished brides — not the deceitful and disguised brides, they always meet with bad ends — but those brides like poor Anne of Cleves determined too ugly (and "too swarthy") by Henry the Eighth and sent home as unsuitable. Since we never get their side of the story or the what-ever-happened-to-that-young-woman? The writer in me couldn't resist wondering what those women might do to reclaim themselves if given a chance in a novel. A young writer I know suggested they went home with a huge sigh of relief — imagining that such weddings to total strangers would have been scary enough to contemplate.
But from a narrative point of view, that's no fun — especially after reading the Lost Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales of Laura Gonzenbach; I know that the Italians — or at least the Sicilians– are firm believers in spectacular revenge. So I couldn't help but think of a sisterhood of Banished Brides coming together and taking their fury on the road to extract some form of punishing compensation. A band of marauding, almost brides are offering to my young heroine roadside companionship and rancorous cautionary tales about men in general. (Although I suspect the trickster traveling with her would not be able to resist the temptation of meddling with those dangerous women.) Well…there's a few chapters to meditate on and then to write."
Queen Matilda was certainly no banished bride—though she did have an awful marriage to a stepbrother—but she seems to have compensated for all the shortcomings of an unhappy marriage by becoming a highly effective military commander and fighter. All this happened in the 12th century, which is pretty remarkable.
I cannot wait to read about the Banished Brides in your book! Also, thanks for the tip about Matilda of Tuscany – she is not a historical figure I was familiar with previously, and I love her story!
Perhaps not with longbows but I instantly think of Wilis (Giselle etc) despite that the banished bride actions are from the other side of the grave. Talk about spectacular revenge – they even have a Queen. A Queen of wronged women! One has to wonder what happened to her that made her Queen… O.O
PS Apparently I live in Typo City today. I had to go spell correct my four sentences. Thank goodness it’s a no-alarm day tomorrow.
The art led me also to her story — it’s fascinating isn’t it? Even though not the century I am researching for the novel, she was such a powerful figure — sort of Italy’s Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Oh I had not thought of that — but yes! The Wilis certainly follow in the revenge of the banished brides tradition. I went and looked at Giselle’s history and sources — apparently in the mid 19th c there was a lot of haunted dancing ballets of the period…including this one “The Nuns Ballet” — where scantily clad nuns rise from their graves to dance “wantonly in the moonlight.” Of course they had to be young nuns — right? Who would want to see elderly nuns dancing wantonly in the moonlight?
I wonder if the 12 Dancing Princesses are related in some way? All those nightly dances.
Oh boy! You just got my brain buzzing! And then there’s the Dracula’s Brides connection too… scantily nuns/brides rise in the moonlight? Which brings me back around to the book Wildwood Dancing – wasn’t that 12 Dancing Princesses retelling set in Romania? (I just did a concept/mind map on Banished Brides & Twelve Dancing Princesses, hit save, but my brain refuses to stop!)