E

‘E’     see     Fullerton, Mary Eliza

Eadburga (Eadburh) – (c770 – c830) 
Anglo-Saxon queen
Eadburga was the eldest daughter of Offa II, King of Mercia, and his wife Cynethryth, and was married (787) to King Beorhtric of Wessex, who had sent an embassy to her father’s court to solicit her hand. The marriage remained childless. Queen Eadburga’s unsavoury career was recorded by Asser, Bishop of Sherborne, in his Life of Alfred whom the writer stated told him the story himself. An entirely unscrupulous woman, King Beorhtric allowed Eadburga to exercise too much power. Jealous of his favoured friends, she falsley accused them that the king might have them put to death. If her accusations were disregarded, Eadburga removed them with poison. Furious at Beorhtric’s attachment to a young earldorman named Worr, the queen poisoned him but accidentally poisoned her husband as well (802).
With Beorhtric’s death, his nobles rose against Eadburga, who gathered her treasure, and fled to the court of Charlemagne. Offerred the choice of marriage with the emperor or his son Charles (772 – 811), Eadburga tactlessly chose the younger on the grounds of his youth. Affronted, the emperor denied her a royal husband, but appointed the queen to rule over the convent of Ober Altaich in Bavaria where she became a nun taking the name of Salome. However, her behaviour there proved so disgraceful that Eadburga was ejected from the convent, and forced to travel with only one maid-servant to Pavia, in Italy, where she was seen begging for food in the streets before her death.

Eadburga of Repton – (c660 – after 714)
Anglo-Saxon virgin saint
Eadburga was the eldest daughter of Aldwulf, King of East-Anglia (664 – 713), and sister to King Alfwold (713 – 749) and to Ethelburga of Hackness. Eadburga was appointed as abbess of Repton in Derbyshire, and was venerated as a saint. Eadburga was mentioned in On the Resting Places of the Saints (1889) as being interred at Southwell-on-Trent. She is the same as the abbess of Repton mentioned by Felix in his vitae of St Guthlac, who sent the saint a leaded coffin and a shroud when he was close to death (714). Her feast date is now lost.

Eadburh     see also     Eadburga  or   Edburga

Eadburh of Mercia (Eadburga) – (c830 – c890)
Anglo-Saxon princess
Princess Eadburh was perhaps the daughter of King Wigmund and his wife Aelfflaed, the daughter of Coelwulf I, though King Coenwulf has also been suggested. A surviving charter concerning her son Aethelwulf and the Abbey of Winchcombe which described Eadburh as de regali genere Merciorum Regis indicates a close relationship with the family of King Coenwulf and his brother King Ceolwulf of Mercia, who had owned the abbey which was protected by papal privilege.
Eadburh was married to the powerful nobleman, Aethelred Mucil, ealrdorman of the Gainas, and their children included Aethelwulf (c848 – 901), Earl and governor of Mercia and Eahlswith, the wife of King Alfred of Wessex. Eadburh is the link between the British royal house and the ancient kingdom of the Mercians. Queen Ecgwynn, the first wife of Edward the Elder (899 – 924) and mother of King Athelstan (924 – 939), was probably her granddaughter.
With the death of her husband (873) and the subsequent invasion of the kingdom by the Danes, the princess fled with her household for protection at the court of her son-in-law in Wessex, where she resided until her death some years afterwards, and assisted with the education of her grandchildren. Alfred’s mentor, the historian Asser the famous Bishop of Sherborne, recorded that the king admired his mother-in-law, whom Asser had met at the West-Saxon court, describing her as ‘a notable woman, who remained for many years after the death of her husband a chaste widow, until her death’ and this brief mention would seem to indicate her as a lady of some considerable character.

Eaden, Robin – (1943 – 2001) 
Anglo-Australian editor
Philippa Robin Eaden was born in Driffield, Yorkshire, and emigrated to Australia withn her family (1947). Educated at the Walford Anglican School for Girls in South Australia, she graduated with honours from Adelaide University (1965) and became a teacher in Paris (1968). Robin co-edited several books including The Annotated Such is Life and Warrabarna Kaurna: Reclaiming an Australian Language shortly before her death. An artist of some note, she specialized in landscapes. Robin Eaden died in a car crash with her partner, at Port Vincent, South Australia.

Eadflaed     see    Edfleda

Eadgifu (Edgiva) – (c899 – 968)
Anglo-Saxon queen consort
Eadgifu was the daughter of Sighelm, Earl of Kent who died at the battle of Holme (905), though her mother’s identity remains unrecorded. Eadgifu became the third wife (916) of King Edward the Elder (871 – 924) to whom she bore two sons, Edmund I (921 – 946) who succeeded his elder half-brother Athelstan as king (939), and Edred (923 – 955) who succeeded his brother due to the infancy of his nephews. Her two daughters were Edburga (919 – 960) the Abbess of Winchester, and Elgiva (924 – 963) who became the the first wife of Conrad I (926 – 993), King of Burgundy (937 – 993) and took the German name of Adelaide at the time of her marriage.
The youthful Queen Dowager Eadgifu appears to have remarried several years after King Edward’s death perhaps (c927). The identity of this nobleman remains unknown, but Eadgifu bore this man five children, four sons and a daughter including Aelfhere (c928 – 983) the Duke of Mercians (956), father of Aelfric (c953 – 1016) Earl of Mercia, and Aelfheah (c930 – 972) who was created Earl of Hampshire (957) and left descendants.
A firm supporter of the monastic reform instigated by Archbishop Dunstan of Canterbury, during the reign of her two sons, Queen Eadgifu became a woman of great power and was one of the most closely consulted of royal counsellors. It was due to her influence that her son Edred perusaded Ethelwold to remain in England and appointed him as abbot of Abingdon. However, with the accession of her elder grandson Edwy (955 – 959) Queen Eadgifu fell from power and was banished from the court, her estates being confiscated. With the accession of her grandson Edgar I the queen dowager was reinstated at court and her estates returned, though she never recovered her former political pre-eminence.
Prior to her death she retired from court to reside in a convent, though she was present at court to attend the celebrations surrounding the birth of her great-grandson Edmund of Romsey (966). Her daughter Edburga became an abbess. Queen Eadgifu died (Aug 25, 968) and was interred in Canterbury Cathedral in Kent.

Eadgifu of England     see   Ogiva of England

Eadgyth     see also    Edith

Eadhild    see    Edhilda

Eadwara – (fl. c700)
Anglo-Saxon virgin saint
Eadwara was born at Exeter, in Devonshire, and was sister to Paul, Bishop of Leon in Brittany. She became a nun or religious recluse in England and was sister to three other female saints, Juthwara, Sidwell, and Wulvella (Wilgith).

Eady, Dorothy – (1904 – 1981)
British Egyptologist
Eady was born in London. After a childhood accident sufferred at an early age (1907) she mystically identified herself with ancient Egypt and its culture, and firmly believed that the city of Abydos had been her home in previous incarnation, where she believed that she had been a minor royal. She has been recorded as one of the most believable examples of reincarnation known in the modern era. Eady travelled to Egypt in 1935 where she married an Egyptian and took the name of Omm Sety. After her marriage ended in divorce, she joined the Department of Antiquities in Cairo, as a draftsperson. She worked alongside Selim Hassan, the noted archaeologist, for whom Eady created indexes and provided drawings for three volumes of work concerning his excavations at Giza. She then worked with Ahmed Fakhry as his assistant at Dashur, and worked in tomb restoration. Dorothy Eady began a study of Egyptian hieroglyphics at the Temple of Isis, becoming a respected international specialist on the subject. Settling permanently in Cairo, she was officially appointed Keeper of the Temple by the Egyptian government (1956).

Eady, Jane Sarah – (1847 – 1938)
Australian civic leader
Born Jane Williams in Tasmania, she trained as a maker of Honiton lace and became the wife of George Eady. She was mother to the famous Liberal politician, lawyer, and sportsman, Charles John Eady (1870 – 1945). Mrs Eady was a prominent activist for the war effort during WW I, and assisted with the establishment of the Royal Hobart Hospital Women’s Auxiliary. She was also active with the Hobart Relief Centre, the Benevolent Society and with the care and education of poor children. Jane Eady died in Hobart, aged ninety (March 29, 1938).

Eafa – (fl. c670 – c675)
Anglo-Saxon queen
Eafa was the daughter of Eanfrith, King of the Hwicce tribe in Mercia, and the niece of King Eanhere. Her father and uncle were probably dependent rulers under the overlordship of Wulfhere, King of Mercia. Her marriage with Ethelweah, King of the South Saxons (Sussex), was probably celebrated at the Mercian court (c673). At the same time Ethelwealh also received Christian baptism in the prescence of King Wulfhere and his court, this being presumably a condition of the marriage, which had been negotiated for important political and dynastic reasons. Oshere, who is recorded as king of the Hwicce (693) was related to Queen Eafa, though he was probably not her son.

Eafa of Kent (Ermenburga) – (c644 – c693)
Anglo-Saxon queen
Sometimes called Domna or Aebbe, she was the daughter of Eormenraed, King of Kent (640 – c656) and his wife Oslafa, the daughter of Anna, King of East-Anglia. She was married to Merewald (c634 – c680), king of the Magonsaete tribe, in Herefordshire, a younger son of Penda, king of Mercia, to whom she bore a son, Merefin, who died young, and three daughters.
Eafa’s two brothers, Aethelbrith and Aethelred were murdered at Eastry in Northumbria, during a dynastic struggle in Kent (670). The crime had been committed by the king’s counsellor Thunor. As a means of healing this quarrel, King Egbert (670 – 673) acknowledged his guilt publicly, ordered the princes to be royally interred in the church of Wakering, and made further amends by granting as a wergild (blood-price) to Queen Eafa a large tract of land on the island of Thanet in Kent, where she founded the abbey of Minster dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
Eafa later retired there and became a nun herself. Living in 691, she had died by 694, and was venerated as a saint (Nov 19). Her three daughters all became nuns, Mildrith, Abbess of Minster-in-Thanet, Mildburga, Abbess of Wenlock, and Mildgyth, who lived as a religious recluse.

Eagar, Margaretta Alexandra – (1863 – 1936)
Irish royal governess
Margaretta Eagar was born (Aug 12, 1863) in Limerick into a Protestant family. She was trained as a nurse in Belfast and later worked as the matron of an orphanage. She was appointed to serve as governess (1898 – 1904) to the four daughters of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, from whom they learned to speak English with a distinct Irish accent which later had to be corrected by their tutor Sydney Gibbs. Margaretta left the Imperial service in 1904 and received an Imperial pension. She published the memoir Six Years at the Russian Court (1906) and continued to work as a governess. She later ran a boarding house and died in penury.

Eagels, Jeanne – (1894 – 1929)
American stage and film actress
Jeanne Eagels became one of the most famous leading ladies of the 1920’s flapper era. She was born Amelia Jeannine Eagles (June 26, 1894) in Kansas City, Missouri, and made her stage debut at the age of seven. She grew into a celebrated blonde beauty, making a name for herself on the Broadway stage in the role of Sadie Thompson in, Rain, the play written by John Colton, being adapted from a short story by W. Somerset Maugham, and which role she played for two years (1922 – 1924). By this time she had adopted the ‘Eagels’ spelling of her name, reputedly because she thought it looked better in lights.
Eagels was married firstly to Morris Dubinsky, head of a travelling theatre show, to whom she bore a son, and secondly (1925 – 1928) to Ted Coy, a noted university football star, from whom she was later divorced. They had no children. Her private life was surrounded by intense publicity and media coverage. Jeanne Eagels died aged thirty-six (Oct 3, 1929), from an overdose of heroin. Eagels was rather negatively portrayed by Kim Novak in, Jeanne Eagels (1957), which screenplay had been based on the scandalous book by Eddie Doherty, The Rain Girl: The tragic story of Jeanne Eagels (1930). Her movie credits numbered in the handful and included, The World and the Woman (1916), Fires of Youth (1917), Under False Colors (1917), The Cross Bearer (1918), Daddies (1918), Man, Woman and Sin (1927), The Letter (1929) and, Jealousy (1929).

Eager, Mary Jane – (1859 – 1944)
American novelist
Mary Jane Whitfield was born (Aug 30, 1859) in Aberdeen, Mississippi, the daughter of Robert Whitfield. She was educated in local secondary schools and then at Washington University in St Louis. She was married (1883) to Patrick Eager. Mrs Eager had trained as a teacher and received considerable musical instruction, so that whilst her husband was appointed as head of the Brownsville Female Academy in Tennessee, she served as director of music there. She published works under the pseudonym ‘David Patrick MacMillan’ such as, Keep My Money (1914), and, That Little Pongee Gown (1913). She died (June 18, 1944) at Clinton, Mississippi, aged eighty-four.

Eagle, Mary Kavanagh Oldham – (1854 – 1903)
American suffrage campaigner, civil leader, and writer
Mary Kavanagh Oldham was born (Feb 4, 1854) in Kentucky and was raised there. She was trained as a schoolteacher and was employed as such prior to her marriage with James Philip Eagle, later the governor of Eagle Rock, Arkansas (1889 – 1893). The marriage remained childless. Mary Eagle founded the Women’s Cooperative Association and was a prominent figure amongst the Arkansas Federation of Women’s Clubs. She was the author of, The Congress of Women: Held in the Woman’s Building, World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, USA, 1893 (1894). Mary Eagle died (Feb 15, 1903) in Little Rock, Arkansas, aged forty-nine.

Eahlswith of Flanders (Ealswid) – (fl. c900 – c930)
French noblewoman
Eahlswith was the elder daughter of Baldwin II, Count of Flanders (879 – 918) and his wife Elfrida of Wessex, the daughter of Alfred the Great of England and his wife Eahlswith of Gainas, for whom she named. She was sister to Count Arnulf I the Old of Flanders (918 – 964) and to Count Adalulf of Boulogne. Eahlswith and her younger sister Ermentrude were named in the Chronicle of Ethelweard as the daughters of Count Baldwin II. The name of her husband has never been identified, as neither has that of her sister. Either Ealhswith of Ermentrude was the mother of Hildebrand (died after 961) who was appointed as Abbot of St Bertin. The Cartulaire de Saint-Bertin recorded that Count Arnulf was the avunculus (maternal uncle) to Hildebrand but did not specify which sister was his mother.

Eahlswith of Gainas (Ealswide, Elswitha) – (c853 – 902)
Anglo-Saxon queen (871 – 899)
Eahlswith was the daughter of Aethelred Mucel, earl of Gainas and his wife Eadburga, who was a Mercian princess. She was married (868) to Alfred the Great, who succeeded his brother Aethelred I as king of Wessex (871). Her marriage was an attempt to unite the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and thus protect them from Viking incursions. Eahlswith was the mother of King Edward the Elder (871 – 924) and of Aethelflaed, the famous ‘Lady of Mercians’. Her husband presented her with the palace of Wantage, in Berkshire, his own birthplace, as her dower estate. The queen founded the convent of St Mary at Winchester, commonly known as ‘Nunnaminster,’ where she took the veil after her husband’s death. Queen Eahlswith died (Dec 5, 902) and was regarded as a saint by the church. Her remains were later removed from Nunnaminster and reinterred within Winchester Cathedral.

Eakins, Aimee – (1890 – 1966)
Australian nurse
Eakins was born in New Zealand and did her nursing training at Bendigo, in Victoria, graduating in 1914. With the outbreak of World War I she joined the AANS (Australian Army Nursing Service), serving at Salonika in Greece. She later joined the staff at the Royal Perth Hospital in Western Australia (1927), and established the almoner’s department in that hospital. She remained unmarried. Aimee Eakins died (Feb 7, 1966) in Perth, aged seventy-five.

Ealawyn – (c823 – after 850)
Anglo-Saxon princess
Ealawyn was the elder daughter of the aetheling Ealhere, governor of Kent (c841 – 853), and niece to king Aethelwulf of Wessex (839 – 856), and was granddaughter to King Egbert. Ealawyn was married to a nobleman named Osbert, who was living in 855. The couple had two children, both living in 859, Eadwald, who held estates at Brabourne and Chart, and Ealburga, the wife of Ealdred, who held estates at Bourne and Brabourne.

Ealda – (c919 – c950)
Anglo-Saxon aristocrat and courtier
Ealda was perhaps the daughter of Eadric, Earl of Wessex, and sister to Ethelwerd I the Historian (c924 – c998), they being descendants of King Aethelred I (866 – 871), the brother of Alfred the Great. Ealda was married to Ordmaer, earldorman of Wiltshire, whom she predeceased. Her daughter Aethelflaed was the second wife of King Edgar I (959 – 975) and Ealda was the maternal grandmother of King Edward the Martyr (975 – 978).

Ealdgyth     see also    Aldgyth

Ealdgyth of Northumbria (Aldgyth) – (c1010 – before 1066)
Anglo-Scottish royal heiress
Ealdgyth was the daughter of Uchtred, earl of Northumbria, and his third wife Aelfgifu (Elgiva), the daughter of Aethelred II ‘the Redeless,’ King of England. She was married (c0125) to Prince Maldred, Lord of Allerdale (c1003 – 1045), the younger brother of Duncan I, King of Scotland (1034 – 1040), and grandson of Malcolm II, as his second wife. Ealdgyth survived her husband, but died sometime before the Norman Conquest (1066). She was the mother of Gospatric (c1030 – c1073), earl of Northumbria and, who was deprived of Northumbria (1072) and was created earl of Dunbar instead, and of Maldred (c1035 – after 1084), both of whom left descendants. Through her younger son, Ealdgyth was ancestress of the important English feudal border clan, the Nevills, and also of George Washington, first President of the USA (1789 – 1797).

Ealdgyth of Sweden (Eadgyth, Edith) – (c995 – c1028)
Anglo-Saxon queen (1016)
Ealdgyth was the daughter of Olaf III Skotkonnung, King of Sweden and the captive Slav princess, Edla. Thus she was half-sister to King Anund Jacob (1022 – 1051) and to Ingegarde, the wife of Jaroslav I, Grand Prince of Kiev. She was married firstly (c1010) to Sighere, the Danish jarl (earl) of Northumbria, who was killed in battle, and secondly (1015), at Malmesbury in Wiltshire, to King Edmund II Ironside (1016) to whom she bore two sons, Edmund, and Edward (he was probably born posthumously).
With the death of her husband (Nov 30, 1016) and the accession of Canute, Ealdgyth’s sons were in great personal danger, as heirs to the throne. Eventually they were sent to exile in Scandinavia to save their own lives. Their ultimate journey into Hungary (c1028), where her younger son would remain for another three decades, probably coincided with her own death. Her younger son Edward (1017 – 1057), surnamed the Exile, was the father of Edgar II Aetheling and St Margaret, queen of Scotland.

Ealdgyth Swan-Neck (Eddiva the Fair, Edith) – (c1025 – after 1086)
Anglo-Saxon beauty and figure of romantic legend
Ealdgyth was of noble ancestry, being probably the granddaughter of King Aethelred II the Redeless, perhaps being the daughter of the Danish earl Thorkell Havi, and his wife Eadgyth, the daughter of King Aethelred, and widow of Eadric Streona, earl of Mercia.  Probably through her royal mother, Ealdgyth was the heiress of vast estates in East Anglia and was married (c1040) according to Danish ‘handfast’ custom and bore him many children. Though the church did not really sanction this custom, there is no indication that the children of Harold and Ealdgyth were not considered royal after their father became king (1066). It was in the interests of the Norman chroniclers of William the Conqueror to denigrate the Anglo-Saxon royal house in favour of the new dynasty. It is this which led to the modern idea that Ealdgyth was only Harold’s concubine instead of his actual legal wife.
Political reasons later caused Harold to repudiate Ealdgyth, and to make a more politically favourable dynastic marriage (1064) with Aldgyth of Mercia, the widow of Gruffyd, king of Wales. This undoubtedly legal marriage also pleased the church. Despite this seperation, the fact of the couple’s devotion was recorded by the fact that after Harold’s death in battle at Hastings, it was Ealdgyth who searched through the dead for his mutilated body, being able to identify the king by a private mark known only to her. She organized for his remains to be buried secretly at Waltham. The legend of her search for her former husband was the subject of the famous poem, The Battlefield of Hastings (1855) written by Heinrich Heine.
Ealdgyth was still living in 1086, when she was recorded at the owner of considerable property in the Domesday Book. She then held estates in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, and Suffolk and it names many of her vassals, including four women, which seems to indicate that King William did not confiscate all her estates. She died sometime after this date. Her children were,

• Godwin Haroldsson (died after 1072).
• Edmund Haroldsson (died after 1069).
• Magnus Haroldsson (died after 1068).
• Ulf Haraldsdotter (died after 1087).
• Gytha Haroldsdotter (c1053 – 1107). She became the first wife of Vladimir II Monomachus (1053 – 1125), Grand Prince of Kiev (1113 – 1125). She was the ancestress of Philippa of Hainault, the wife of Edward III of England (1327 – 1377) and was the ancestress of Queen Elizabeth II.
• Gunhilda Haraldsdotter (c1061 – after 1095). She became a nun, but left her convent to live with the count of Brittany as his mistress. She later returned to the Abbey of Wilton in Wiltshire, where she died.

Ealswide   see   Eahlswith of Gainas

Eames, Elizabeth Sara – (1918 – 2008)
British archaeologist and scholar of mediaeval tiles
Elizabeth Sara Graham was born (June 24, 1918) in Northampton, the daughter of a chemist. She attended school at Rugby, before studying at Newnham College, Cambridge, where she studied archaeology and anthropology. During WW II she was attached to the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service), and then went to Denmark in order to study the history of Viking women at the University of Oslo. Eames painstakingly catalogued the large collection of mediaeval floor tiles, most of which were dated between the Norman Conquest (1066) and the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII (1509 – 1547), and which were housed in the British Museum in London. This collection had been purchased from the ninth Duke of Rutland (1947). She directed various archaeological digs, including those at Ramsey Abbey, Cambridgeshire (1967 – 1968) and at Haverholme Priory in Lincolnshire (1970). Elizabeth Eames died (Sept 20, 2008) aged ninety.

Eames, Emma Hayden – (1865 – 1952)
American soprano
Eames was born in Shanghai, China, the daughter of an international lawyer, and was taught singing from her earliest years. At the age of five (1870), Eames travelled with her mother to Bath, Maine, amd to Boston, where she received further vocal instruction. Receiving further training under Mathilde Marchesi, the teacher of Nellie Melba in Paris (1886 – 1888), she also undertook acting training at the Pluque there. Engaged by the Opera Comique (1888), Eames achieved great success in the role of Juliette in Theodore Gounod’s, Romeo et Juliette (1889), and created the role of Colombe in Camille St-Saens’s, Ascanio. She also appeared in performances of Gounod’s, Faust at Covent Garden in London, but her most famous role was that of Siegelinde. Eames married the painter Julian Story (1891) and appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in New York until 1909, when she retired from the stage. Eames later remarried to the baritone Emilio de Gogorza (1911) with whom she toured in concert, and resided in Paris for some years. Eames later returned to reside in the USA (1936). Emma Eames died (June 13, 1952) in New York aged eighty-six.

Eames, Marion – (1921 – 2007)
Welsh novelist and political activist
Eames as born in Merseyside, England, and was raised at Dolgellau. She attended the Guildhall College in London, and was employed as a librarian at the Aberystwyth University, before working as a radio producer with the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) in Cardiff. Marion Eames’s best known published work as, Y Stafell Ddirgel (The Secret Room) (1969). Actively involved in Welsh nationalism and politics, Eames worked as a regional organizer for Plaid Cymru, the political party which worked towards establishing an independent Welsh state within the European Union. Marion Eames died (April 3, 2007) aged eighty-five.

Eames, Ray – (1912 – 1988)
American architect
Born Ray Bernice Alexandra Kaiser in Sacramento, California, she went to New York to study abstract painting with Hans Hofmann, and then attended the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (1940). There she met the architect Charles Eames (1907 – 1978) whom she married (1941). Together the couple established an outstanding career for themselves as an architectural design team, and they used their own home in Santa Monica (1949) as a showcase of their style of design, as well as establishing a highly popular range of furniture (1946). Also involved with graphics, exhibition design, and film making, they were jointly awarded the Gold Medal by the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects. It was the first time this award had been won by a woman, and by a couple (posthumously, for Charles had died the preceeding year). Ray Eames died (Aug 21, 1988) in Los Angeles, California, aged seventy-five.

Eames, Rebecca – (1640 – 1721)
American witchtrial victim
Rebecca was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts (Feb, 1640) and became the wife of Robert Eames (1661), an immigrant from Bristol in England, to whom she bore eight children, including Nathaniel Eames (1685 – 1765), of Boxford, Essex, Massachusetts.During the notorious Salem witchtrials (1692), Eames was accused of witchcraft, and imprisoned in Salem until her trial, though she was ultimately released. The stress of these events killed her husband (1693). Eames is believed to have saved her life through passing information against other victims. Rebecca Eames survived the Salem trials by thirty years, and died at Boxford, Essex, aged eighty-one (May 8, 1721).

Eames, Samantha – (1969 – 2003)
Australian archaeologist and author
Eames attended university rose to become a specialist concerning the the history and artifacts of the Bronze Middle Age Period. She travelled and worked on archaelogical sites throughout the Middle East region, including important expeditions at Tell Brak in north eastern Syria and at Tell Beth Shean at Pella in Jordan. Eames wrote the valuable archaelogical treatise “ Between the Desert and the Sown : The Hauran as a Frontier Zone in the Bronze Middle Age,” which was printed in the Palestine Exploration Quarterly (2003). Samantha Eames died young (March 31, 2004) from a tumour of the brain, in Queensland, aged only thirty-three.

Eanflaed – (626 - c704)
Anglo-Saxon queen and abbess
Princess Eanflaed was born (April 17, 626) the eldest daughter of Edwin of Deira, King of Northumbria, and his second wife Aethelburh, the daughter of Aethelbert I, king of Kent, and was baptised a Christian when only a few weeks old (June 5), being the first Northumbrian to receive Christian baptism. With the death of her father (634), she resided in Kent with her family.
After her return to the Northumbrian court, she was married (643) to Oswiu (Oswy), King of Northumbria, the marriage designed to unite the two sections of Northumbria into one coherent kingdom. Oswiu granted Enflaed the estate of Gilling, near Richmond, as part of a dynastic reparation (651), where she built a monastery.
Because of her efforts to instill the Roman ritual at the court, Pope Vitalian sent the queen a cross of gold, with a key, made from links that were believed to have formed part of the chains of St Peter and St Paul. With her husband’s death in battle (670), she became a nun at the abbey of Whitby, with her daughter Aelfflaed under the presidence of Abbess Hilda. There she later became abbess, though she may have shared that office jointly with her daughter. Her daughter Osthryth became the ill-fated wife of Aethelred, King of Mercia.
Queen Eanflaed took a prominent interest in ecclesiastical affairs, and was patron of Bishop Wilfred of York, whom she encouraged to become a monk, and whom she assisted so that he might make a pirlgrimage to Rome. The church regarded Eanflaed as a saint (Nov 24), but the later destruction of Whitby by the Danes has removed all trace of an early lirutgical cult of Eanflaed, though Glastonbury Abbey claimed to have her relics. The late Welsh tradition that Eanflaed and Edwin were baptized by a certain Rum map Urbgen can be dismissed as fable.

Eangyth – (c660 – after 718)
Anglo-Saxon nun
Eangyth was of noble birth and during her youth the mistress of Centwine, King of Wessex (676 – 685) to whom she bore a natural daughter Edburga (Bucge) (c680). Eangyth took holy orders and was placed as abbess of the convent at Minster on the island of Sheppey in Kent, where she raised their daughter. Mother and daughter were on friendly terms with St Boniface, with whom they corresponded. A surviving letter (dated c716 – 718) is written by Eangyth and her daughter jointly, and in it they apologise for writing ‘in rustic style and unpolished language.’ The abbess also speaks of problems facing the religious community, and mentions the desire of both ladies to make a pilgrimage to Rome. Eangyth died before this could be accomplished, though her daughter later travelled there.

Eanswyth (Eanswida) – (c619 – 640)
Anglo-Saxon saint
Princess Eanswyth was the daughter of Eadbald, King of Kent (616 – 640), and his third wife, the Merovingian princess, Emma of Austrasia. She was full-sister to kings, Earconbert (640 – 664) and Eormenraed (640 – c656). Eanswyth steadfastly refused to consider a marriage arranged for her by her father with a Northumbrian prince, and she fled his court. Eventually he consented to her building a monastery at Folkestone (after 630), where she was veiled as a nun and spent the remainder of her short life. It is recorded that her abbey lacked a supply of fresh water, which she is miraculously supposed to have recitified by producing a condhuit a mile long by striking the ground with her crozier. Eanswyth died (Aug 31, 640), aged barely twenty. Regarded a saint, her feast was observed annually (Sept 12).
Eanswyth’s convent was later destroyed by the Danes, though the church was refounded by King Athelstan (924 – 939). The convent was later refounded for Black Benedictine monks on the same site (1095). Part of it was swallowed up by the encroaching sea, and the house was removed to Folkestone. Its successor is the parish church of St Mary and St Eanswida, built in the twelfth century. A Saxon coffin discovered in the north wall (1885) containing the bones of a young woman, are thought to be her relics.

Earcongota (Eorcungoda, Erkengota) – (c643 – 660)
Anglo-Saxon saint
Princess Earcongota was the daughter of Earconbert, king of Kent (640 – 664) and his wife Sexburga, the daughter of Anna, King of East-Anglia. She was sister to the Kentish rulers Egbert I (664 – 673) and Lothair (673 – 685). Earcongota accompanied her two aunts, Saelfryd and Ethelburga, to the abbey of Faremoutier, in Brie, France, where she was trained for life as a nun. She was said to have been forewarned of her death by a visitation from angels, so that she made a farewell visit to each of the sisters of the abbey, recommending themselves to their prayers, and died the same night in great peace, aged only about seventeen. Her body was enshrined in the church of St Stephen, where her grave exuded a balsamic scent several days later, which was believed to attest to her great sanctity. Later canonized, Earcongota’s feast was kept at Faremoutier and at Ely in Kent (Feb 21). At Meaux in France her feast was observed five days later (Feb 26). She was never an abbess as is sometimes maintained, and the alternate veneration date (July 7), whilst commonly given, is incorrect.

Eardley, Joan Kathleen Harding – (1921 – 1963)
British painter
Eardley was born (May 21, 1921) in Warnham, Sussex, the daughter of William Edward Eardley, an army officer, and was raised in Horsham, Sussex, and later in London, studying at the Goldsmith’s College of Art in London (1938) and at the Glasgow School of Art (1940 – 1943). She travelled to France and Italy after World War II, but then returned to Glasgow and taught evening classes. Eardley was best known for her simple portrayals of daily scenes and people, some from the tenements of the city, her own style being influenced by Vincent Van Gogh. For some years she worked at Catterline, near Aberdeen, which was the inspiration behind her most beautiful seascapes and landscapes, and she was elected to the Royal Scottish Academy just prior to her death (1963). Examples of her work are preserved in the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, the Birmingham City Art Gallery, the Huddersfield Gallery, and the South London Art Gallery, amongst others. Joan Eardley died aged only forty-two (Aug 16, 1963).

Eardley-Wilmot, May – (1883 – 1970)
British lyricist
Eardley-Wilmot was the elder daughter of Rear Admiral Sir Sydney Marow Eardley-Wilmot, and his wife Grace Maud Hoare. She was educated privately at home, and then abroad at Heidelberg, in Germany. With the completion of her education and her return to England she became closely involved with the Performing Right Society, establishing a reputation for herself as a popular lyricist, and was a devoted leader of community singing. Eardley-Wilmot wrote the lyrics for several popular songs including, ‘Little Grey Home in the West‘ ‘Rose of My Heart,’ ‘Coming Home,’ ‘The Road of Looking Forward,’ and, ‘What a Wonderful World it Would be.’ She also wrote a volume of poems, published under the title, Voice from Dunkirk. May Eardley-Wilmot died unmarried (June 3, 1970) at Bromley, Kent, aged eighty-six.

Earhart, Amelia Mary – (1898 – 1937) 
American aviatrix
Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas, the daughter of a lawyer, and trained to become a qualified nurse and social worker in Toronto, Canada, during World War I. She married George Palmer Putnam (1931) but retained her own surname. She first attracted public attention when she became the first female passenger and log-keeper to fly the Atlantic Ocean, the flight leaving Newfoundland and arriving safely at Burry Point, in Wales, Britain (June 17, 1928). Gaining her flying license after lessons from aviatrix Neta Snook, Earhart became the first woman to successfully cross the Atlantic alone (May 20 – 21, 1932). She made highly publicized and successful flights from Hawaii to California (1935) and Mexico City to Newark, New Jersey (1935). Earhart founded an American women’s flying the group, the Ninety-Nines, and was appointed as an officer of the Luddington Line, the first airline service to provide regular passenger service between Washington, D.C. and New York.
Amelia Earhart’s plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during an attempt to fly around the world (July, 1937). Her body and that of her navigator, Fred Noonan were never recovered, and there has always remained much mystery and speculation, some reasonable, some completely outlandish, as to the manner of their deaths. Her autobiography Last Flight (1938), was edited posthumously by her husband.

Earle, Alice Morse – (1853 – 1911)
American historian, antiquarian and author
Earle was born (April 27, 1853) in Worcester, Massachussetts. She wrote concerning a variety of colonial subjects such as domestic life, the upbringing of children and the problems entailed, stage-coaches, and gardening. Earle was the author of Old Time Gardens (1901), and, Two Centuries of Costume in America, which was published in two volumes (1903). Her other published works included, The Sabbath in Puritan New England (1891), Customs and Fashions in Old New England (1893), Colonial Dames and Good Wives (1895), Colonial Days in Old New York (1897), Child-Life in Colonial Days (1899), and, Stage-Coach and Tavern Days (1900). Alice Earle died aged fifty-seven (Feb 16, 1911).

Earle, Evelyn Grace Boileau, Lady – (1869 – 1963)
British baronetess (1900 – 1939)
Evelyn Boileau was the daughter of Major Charles Henry Boileau, of the 61st Regiment, and the granddaughter of the noted Victorian officer, Major-General Francis Boileau. Evelyn was married (1891) to Sir Henry Earle (1854 – 1939), the third baronet (1900 – 1939), whom she survived over two decades as the Dowager Lady Earle (1939 – 1963). Her only child, Phyllis Audrey Earle (born 1892) became the wife of Captain Osbert Stephen Cundy-Cooper, and left descendants. Lady Earle died (July 20, 1963) aged ninety-three.

Earle, Maria Theresa – (1836 – 1925)
British author and horticulturalist
Born Maria Theresa Villiers, she attended the South Kensington School of Art. She was married (1864) to Captain Charles William Earle, of the Rifle Brigade, to whom she bore two sons, and the famous suffragist, Lady Constance Lytton was her niece. A noted society horticulturalist, Earle wrote several gardening works such as the best-seller, Pot-Pourri from a Surry Garden (1897), which ran into eleven reprints during the first years, and which was followed by, More Pot-Pourri, A Third Pot-Pourri (1908), and, Gardening for the Ignorant (1912). Her last publication, Pot-Pourri Mixed by Two, was co-written with Ethel Case. Mrs Earle also wrote, Letters to Young and Old (1906) and a volume of reminiscences, Memoirs and Memories (1911). Maria Theresa Earle died at Cobham, Surrey, aged eighty-eight (Feb 27, 1925).

Earle, Merie – (1889 – 1984)
American character actress
Earle only began her film career in her seventh decade, and then embarked on a career in television at the age of eighty-two. Merie Earle appeared in such films as, Cat Ballou (1965), with Jane Fonda, Fitzwilly (1967), Gaily, Gaily (1969), Norwood(1970), and, Crazy Mama (1975). Several of her later movie credits were produced when she was over ninety, such as, Fatso (1980) and, Going Ape! (1981). Earle also made several appearances on the television in, The Jerry Reed When you’re Hot You’re Hot Hour (1972), and in, The Waltons (1973 – 1979).

Early, Eleanor – (1891 – 1969)
American newspaper correspondent, journalist and author
Early was born in Newton, Massachusetts. She wrote several informative regional volumes on the New England region such as, And This Is Boston (1933), and, And This Is Cape Cod (1936). As well she produced several holiday travel guides such as New Orleans Holiday (1946) and Caribbean Holiday (1960). She was also the author of the, New England Cookbook (1954). Eleanor Early died (Aug 25, 1969) aged seventy-seven.

Early, May    see   Fleming, May Agnes

Earp, Gertrude Mary – (1871 – 1946)
Anglo-Australian health care activist
Gertrude Saddington was born in Saddington, Leicestershire, the daughter of Samuel Saddington. She married (1893) George Frederick Earp, the brother of Australian consul Charles A. Earp (1877 – 1933). Residing in Newcastle, New South Wales, from 1893, Earp established herself as a vocalist and artist of some considerable talent, and was president of the Queen Victoria Club (1912). Greatly interested in the field of domestic health care, Earp established first-aid and knitting classes in her own home at Point Piper, as well as providing basic instructions and lectures concerning home nursing. A board member of the Crown Street Women’s Hospital, she was a member of the National Council of Women, and strongly advocated protection for the indigenous aborigines. Gertrude Earp died in Sydney, aged seventy-five (Sept 5, 1946).

Earp, Josephine – (1861 – 1944)
American actress and lawman’s wife
Born Josephine Marcus in New York, she was raised in San Francisco in California. She joined Paulina Markham’s travelling theatre company as a dancer (1879). Though technically an actress, she ahd resorted to prostitution to survive, and it was whilst on the way to Prescott in Arizona that she met up with Johnny Behan, sheriff of Yavapai County, who asked to marry her.
Josephine at first refused, but changed her mind and lived with Behan at Tombstone in Arizona. When he became involved with another woman, Josephine left him for the famous lawman Wyatt Earp (1881). This was the main reason behind the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral in that year. Adopting Earp’s name she accompanied him around America, panning for gold and racing horses in San Diego, and exchanged her jewellery with the millionaire Lucky Baldwin, in exchange for gambling credits. Widowed in 1930, she fought to have Earp’s name removed from the film which was eventually titled Frontier Marshal (1939), and released by 20th Century Fox Studios, even though she benefitted financially from the movie. Josephine Earp died (Dec 20, 1944) in Los Angeles, aged eighty-three.

Eason, Ruth Paul – (1898 – 1976)
American educator and author
Ruth Paul was the daughter of David Philo Paul, of Portsmouth, and his wife Annie Gertrude Bright. She was trained as a teacher and after her marriage she later established the Ruth P. Eason Education Center in Maryland. Ruth Eason was the author of History of the town of Glen Burnie (1972).

Easter, Margeurite Elizabeth – (1839 – 1894)
Southern American poet
Born in Leesburg, Virginia, she remained unmarried and died aged fifty-four. Margeurite Easter published a collection of verse entitled Clytie, and Other Poems (1891).

Easterling, Narena Brooks – (1890 – 1957)
American minor novelist
Easterling was born (Dec 12, 1890) in Zanesville, Ohio and attended Columbia University before she resided in Jackson, Mississippi. She wrote several novels such as, Broken Lights: A Novel (1929), Gifts from God: Two Stories (1953), The Southern Moon (1938), and, A Strange Way Home (1952), which concentrated on unlikely exotic themes and were not particularly well written. She sometimes assumed the pseudonym ‘Renee Easterling.’ Narena Easterling died (Sept 26, 1957) aged sixty-six.

Eastern Jewel – (1907 – 1948)
Mongolian spy and traitor
Born Princess Hsien-hsi (Chun Chu Kung Chu) in Inner Mongolia, she was the daughter of Prince Shan-chi (1863 – 1922) and his concubine Tong Chen, and was related to the last Chinese emperor Pu-Yi. Her father was a descendant of T’ien-ts’ung, emperor of Manchuria (1626 – 1643). Promised in marriage by her father to his Japanese military advisor Naniwa Kawashima, she was sent to Tokyo to be educated at the Matsumato School for Girls, and took the name Yochiko Kawashima (1914). She was married instead (1927) to Kanjurjab, a Mongolian prince, son of the mongol general Babojab, but deserted him four months later. The couple were later divorced (1931). Beautiful and engaging, she wore Western male attire, and attracted hordes of lovers, including Ryukichi Tanaka, the head of the Japanese Intelligence Service in Shanghai.
From 1931 she worked with Tanaka to provoke the Chinese against Japanese business, in order to give a pretext for Japanese agression.Eastern Jewel’s influence was all pervading, she instigated riots, intrigued and committed treason against her own people, and plotted the downfall and deaths of high-ranking officials, whilst simultaneously being involved with a treasonous liasion with Tanaka. She was seen to publicly rejoice over the bombing of Shanghai (1932) and wore Japanese military uniform and held the rank of a commander. Sadistic and syphlitic, she was later arrested, tried and found guilty of treason. Such was the abhorrence of her crimes that she was refused a military execution and was beheaded (March 25, 1948) in Peking (Beijing).

Eastlake, Caroline – (fl. 1868 – 1873)
British painter
Caroline Eastlake was a native of Plymouth, and specialised in the painting of British wild flowers. Her work was exhibited at over two dozen exhibitions throughout London, and an example is preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Eastlake, Elizabeth Rigby, Lady – (1809 – 1893)
British author and translator
Elizabeth Rigby was born (Nov 17, 1809) in Norwich, Norfolk, the daughter of a physician, Edward Rigby and his second wife Anne Palgrave. She travelled extensively in Europe (1838 – 1841) and wrote letters to her mother from Reval, in Russia. This collection was entitled A Residence on the Shores of the Baltic (1841), and achieved her her first literary recognition. It was followed by two novels The Jewess (1843), and, Livonian Tales (1846). Elizabeth Rigby contributed articles to the Quarterly Review on a variety of subjects, becoming known for sarcastic prose, and was remembered for a particularly scathing review she gave for Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre (1848). She married (1849) Sir Charles Lock Eastlake (1793 – 1865), the Keeper of the National Gallery and president of the Royal Academy.
Lady Eastlake’s other works included the translation of G.F. Waagen’s Treasure of Art in Great Britain (1845 – 1847), Fellowship: Letters addressed to my Sister Mourners (1868) concerning her ongoing grief at the death of her husband, which attracted her the favourable attention of Queen Victoria, and the editing and completion of the History of our Lord as Exemplified in Works of Art (1864), which was written by Anna Jameson. Elizabeth Eastlake also edited and published her husband’s Contributions to the Literature of the Fine Arts (1870). Lady Eastlake died (Oct 2, 1893) aged eighty-three, in Fitzroy Square, London, and was interred with her husband in Kensal Green Cemetery.

Eastman, Carole – (1934 – 2004)
American screenwriter
Eastman was born (Feb 19, 1934) and sometimes adopted the pseudonym ‘Adrien Joyce.’ Her most notable credits were the films, The Shooting (1968), directed by Monte Hellman, Five Easy Pieces (1970), directed by Bob Rafelson, and, The Fortune (1975) directed by Mike Nichols. For her work on, Five Easy Pieces, Eastman was nominated for an Academy Award, together with Rafelson. Carole Eastman died (Feb 13, 2004) aged fifty-nine.

Eastman, Crystal – (1881 – 1928)
American suffragette and socialist
Eastman was born into a comfortable family, which believed in equal education for women. This family support enabled her to graduate successfully from New York University with a law degree (1907). She spent a year studying the working conditions of the poor who had been affected by industrial accidents in Pittsburgh, and then drafted the first worker’s compensation law (1909), which was later to be accepted as the national model for all other such laws to follow. Eastman was a foundation member of the National Women’s Party (1913), which later campaigned for the Equal Rights Amendment (1923), and was a co-founder of the first Feminist Congress, which was held in New York (1919). After her second marriage, Crystal Eastman resided in England.

Eastman, Elaine Goodale – (1863 – 1948)
American poet and author
Elaine Goodale was born (Oct 9, 1863) at Mt Washington, Massachussetts, and was the sister to poet Dora Read Goodale. She was married to the Sioux Indian physician and author, Charles Alexander Eastman (1858 – 1939). Eastman’s two earliest collections of published verse were written in her late teens, in collaboration with her sister, Apple Blossoms: Verses of Two Children (1878), In Berkshire with the Wild Flowers (1879), an All Round the Year Verses from Sky Farm (1881). Her own works include Journal of a Farmer’s Daughter (1881), Little Brother o’Dreams (1910), Indian Legends Retold (1919), The Luck of Oldacres (1929), and, Pratt, the Red Man’s Moses (1935). She collaborated with her husband to write Wigwam Evenings (1909). Elaine Goodale Eastman died (Feb 24, 1948) aged eighty-four.

Eastman, Julia Arabella – (1837 – 1911)
American novelist
Born (July 17, 1837) in Fulton, New York. Eastman made a name for herself with such popular novels as, Short Comings and Long Goings (1869), Beulah Romney (1871), and, Young Rick (1875). Julia Eastman died (Jan 1, 1911) aged seventy-three.

Eastman, Linda Anne – (1867 – 1963)
American librarian
Eastman was born in Oberlin, Ohio, the daughter of a grocer, and was educated in Cleveland. She trained as a teacher and remained unmarried. After further training with the Cleveland Public Library (1892) and at the New York State Library School in Albany, she was appointed as librarian of a new branch of the Cleveland Public Library (1894). With the financial aid of Andrew Carnegie, Eastman assisted with the establishment and organization of the School of Library Science at Western Reserve University (1904). Eastman was ultimately appointed as director of the school (1918), becoming the first woman to head a metropolitan library system in the USA. She then established a municipal reference service and an information bureau. Linda Eastman retired in 1938 and was the author of, Portrait of a Librarian: William Howard Brett (1940), a biography of her mentor. She received the Carnegie Corporation award for the fostering of education (1927) and the Cleveland Medal for Public Service (1929), whilst the Eastman Reading Garden, was named in her honour. Linda Eastman died (April 5, 1963) in Cleveland, aged ninety-five.

Eastman, Mary Henderson – (1818 – 1880)
American traveller and author
Mary Henderson was born in Warrenton, Virginia, and married the army officer, painter, and, book illustrator Seth Eastman (1808 – 1875), who provided illustrations for some of her own works. Mrs Eastman’s first published work, Dahcotah; or, Life and Legends of the Sioux Around Fort Snelling (1849), is believed to have inspired Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to write his famous poem, The Song of Hiawatha (1855). Her second novel, Aunt Phillis’s Cabin; or, Southern Life As It Is (1852) was written as the Southern answer to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s controversial, Unce Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly (1851). Eastman’s other works included, The American Aboriginal Portfolio (1853), Chicora and Other Regions of the Conquerors and the Conquered (1854), and, Tales of Fashionable Life (1856). Mary Henderson Eastman died aged sixty-one.

Easton, Florence Gertrude – (1884 – 1955)
Anglo-American operatic soprano
Easton was born in Middlesborough, and studied at the Royal College of Music in London, and in Paris. Easton first performed with the Moody-Manners Opera Company, and she and her first husband, the tenor Francis MacLennan joined the cast of the Berlin Royal Opera in Prussia (1907 – 1913). After a short stint with the Hamburg Municipal Theatre, Easton joined the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where she remained over ten years (1916 – 1929). Fluent in four languages, she was a versatile performer, and had over one hundred roles in her repertoire, being particularly acclaimed in the roles of Brunnhilde, Carmen, Turandot, and Isolde. Easton briefly retired for three years to Hampstead in London (1929 – 1932) and made further appearances, singing the role of Tosca as a guest artist at Sadler’s Wells (1934). She later briefly rejoined the Metropolitan, but had retired before the outbreak of World War II (1939). Florence Easton died (Aug 15, 1955) in New York.

Eastwick, Henrietta – (fl. c1770 – 1802)
British silversmith
Henrietta was the wife of Adrian Eastwick of Aldersgate Street, London, who was a maker of small silvergoods. After the death of her husband, Henrietta continued the business on her own and registered her mark (1782). Her second mark was registered seven years later (1789), and finally she registered jointly with one William Eastwick (1802), who was probably her son over a successful career that had spanned three decades by then.

Eastwood, Alice – (1859 – 1953)
American botanist
Eastwood was born in Toronto, Canada, the daughter of a public health official turned real estate agent. She was educated at the Oshawa convent and later graduated from East Denver High School in Colorado (1879). She was trained as a high school teacher, but her first love was botany. She remained unmarried. Alice Eastwood resigned from her teaching career (1890) and produced, A Popular Flora of Denver, Colorado (1893), before removing to California, where she became an assistant at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, and founded the California Botanical Club. She became involved in extensive field work and indentification and climbed Mt Whitney (1903). Alice then published, A Handbook of the Trees of California (1905). It was especially due to Eastman’s own efforts and work that the herbarium and the Academy, which had been damaged by the earthquake and fire of 1906 was later restored. With her assistant, John Thomas Howell, she founded and edited the journal, Leaflets of Western Botany (1932) and assisteed with the editing of the journal, Erythea, founded by Willis Jepson. Alice Eastman died (Oct 30, 1953) in San Francisco, aged ninety-four (Oct 30, 1953).

Easty, Mary – (1634 – 1692)
American colonial landowner and witchtrial victim
Mary Towne was born in Yarmouth in Norfolk, England, the daughter of William Towne. She immigrated to America with her family, and was a resident of Salem, Massachusetts, where she married Isaac Easty. She was sister to Rebecca Nourse and Sarah Cloyce, who also became victims to the Salem witchtrial hysteria. Mrs Easty was accused by Ann Putnam and others and was arrested, but was quickly released because of her respectable standing within the community (May 18, 1692). However, she was re-arrested two days later due to fresh accusations. Easty and her sister Cloyce petitioned the court, their minister, and Governor Phipps presenting their case. Despite this, Mary Easty was found guilty and publicly hanged (Sept 22, 1692), aged fifty-eight. Her family was later compensated with twenty pounds from the colonial government for her wrongful execution (1711).

Eaton, Aileen – (1909 – 1987)
American sporting promoter
Aileen Eaton was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, in Canada. She was married to the famous boxing promoter, Cal Eaton, who ran his business from Los Angeles in California, and became involved in the business herself during the war years (1942), and travelled wideley throughout the US. With the death of her husband (1966), Aileen took over the running of his business concerns, and organized over ten thousand boxing bouts at the Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium. Popularly referred to as ‘the Redhead,’ Eaton promoted the careers of such famous boxing figures as Joe Frazier, George Foreman, and Carlos Palomino, amongst several others. She retired in 1980 and was posthumously inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame (2002), the first woman to be so honoured.

Eaton, Anne Thaxter – (1881 – 1971)
American children’s editor and author
Born (May 3, 1881) at Beverly Farms, Massachussetts, Eaton worked for many years as the editor of thechildren’s book department of The New York Times Book Review. Eaton compiled several publications for children, including, Poet’s Craft (1935) for which she collaborated with Helen Fern Daringer, Animal’s Christmas (1944), and, Treasure for the Taking: A Book List for Boys and Girls (1946). Eaton herself wrote, Reading with Children (1940). Anne Eaton died (May 5, 1971) aged ninety.

Eaton, Charlotte Anne Waldie – (1788 – 1859)
British traveller
Charlotte Eaton left reminiscences of her visit to France at the time of the battle of Waterloo, later published in London as, The days of battle, Quatre Bras and Waterloo by an Englishwoman resident at Brussels in June, 1815 … (1853). It was republished thirty years later under the title, Waterloo days; the narrative of an Englishwoman resident in Brussels in June, 1815 (1888).

Eaton, Doris – (b. 1904)
American stage and vaudeville actress
Eaton was the younger sister to actresses Pearl and Mary Eaton. Like her sisters she received dance training in Washington, D.C., and appeared togther with them there in the fantasy play, The Blue Bird by Maurice Maeterlinck at the Subert Belasco Theatre (1912). The three sisters all appeared together in a new production of, The Blue Bird (1915), by the Poli Production Company, and Doris and Mary performed the title roles of Mytyl and Tytyl. Her career declined during the 1930’s, and Doris survived her sisters by many decades. When aged almost one hundred she published her memoirs The Days We Danced (2003), under her married name of Doris Eaton Travis.

Eaton, Edith Maude – (1865 – 1914)
American author and journalist
Eaton was born (March 15, 1865) at Macclesfield, in Cheshire, England, the daughter of Edward Eaton, a British merchant, and his Chinese wife, Grace Trefusis, the adopted daughter of British missionaries. She was the elder sister to Winnifred Eaton. She accompanied her family to New York in the USA, and then to Canada, where she was raised in Montreal in Quebec.
Well educated at home by her parents, Edith had articles publiched in local newspapers such as the, Montreal Star and the, Daily Witness from an early age. She became famous as the author of popular stories concerning the hard struggles made by poor Chinese immigrants, many of which she wrote using the pseudonym ‘Sui Sin Far,’ which she adopted in 1896. Eaton’s works included, A Chinese Ishmael (1899), Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of a Eurasian (1909), An Autumn Fan (1910), A Love Story from the Rice Fields of China (1911), and collection of linked stories entitled, Mrs Spring Fragrance (1912). She remained unmarried. Edith Eaton died (April 7, 1914) in Montreal, aged forty-nine.

Eaton, Elizabeth – (fl. c1840 – 1854)
British silversmith
Elizabeth was the wife of a manufacturing silversmith, William Eaton, whose premises were established in Aldersgate Street, in Cripplegate, London. With her husband’s death (1845), Elizabeth Eaton continued the business and registered her mark, some of her work being exhibited at the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace (1851). Later, her son John joined her in the business, and they were registered together (1854). Examples of her work, most notably a Victorian salt spoon and asparagus tongs are preserved in the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C., USA.

Eaton, Jeanette – (1892 – 1968)
American author and biographer
Born in Columbus, Ohio, Eaton wrote biographies of various famous historical persons such as Manon Roland in A Daughter of the Seine: The Life of Madame Roland (1929). Other works included, The Flame: Saint Catherine of Siena (1931), Jeanne d’Arc, the Warrior Saint (1931), Young Lafayette (1932) and, Leader by Destiny: George Washington, Man and Patriot (1938). Jeanette Eaton died (Feb 19, 1968) aged seventy-five.

Eaton, Marjorie – (1901 – 1986)
American actress
Born Marjorie Morley Eaton (Feb 5, 1901) at San Francisco in California, prior to the arrival in telelvision, Eaton appeared in several films, most notably as Miss Eliza MacFarlane in, Anna and the King of Siam (1946), with Rex Harrison and Irene Dunne, as the maid Bessie in, The Time of Their Lives (1946), Mourning Becomes Electra (1947), a mental patient in, The Snake Pit (1948), and Hester Forsyte on, The Forsyte Woman (1949).
Eaton appeared in episodes of many popular American television series, such as, The Lone Ranger (1950), Robert Montgomery Presents (1952 – 1955), Hallmark Hall of Fame (1953), The Loretta Young Show (1959), Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond (1959), My Three Sons (1960 – 1961), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1962), and, The Waltons (1973). Later film roles included that of Mrs Peters in, Zombies of Mora Tau (1957), released in Britain as The Dead That Walk, Miss O’Brien in, Witness for the Prosecution (1957), with Charles Laughton and Marlene Dietrich, the evil Hetty March in, The Atomic Brain (1964), and Sister Ursula in, The Trouble with Angels (1966) with Rosalind Russell. Eaton worked consistently all of her career, and appeared in several films aged well into her eighties, such as, The Attic (1980), Street Music (1981), and, Crackers (1984). Marjorie Eaton died (April 21, 1986) in Hollywood, aged eighty-five.

Eaton, Mary – (1901 – 1948)
American stage and film actress
Eaton was born (Jan 29, 1901) in Norfolk, Virginia, and was trained for the stage from childhood, receiving dance instruction in Washington D. C., and performed with her sisters Pearl and Doris Eaton. Mary worked with success as a leading lady with the, Ziegfeld Follies and then made her debut on Broadway in the Schubert Brothers’ play, Over the Top (1917), with Fred Astaire. She then appeared in films with the Marx Brothers, such as, Glorifying the American Girl (1929), and, The Coconuts (1929).
Other film credits included the silent films, His Children’s Children (1923), and, Broadway after Dark (1924). Though the most famous of the Eaton sisters, Mary’s career declined during the 1930’s and the latter part of her life was spent battling three failed marriages and alcoholism. Mary Eaton died (Oct 10, 1948) of liver failure in Hollywood, California, aged forty-seven.

Eaton, Mary Emily – (1873 – 1961)
British botanical painter
Eaton was born (Nov 27, 1873) in Coleford, Gloucestershire, and was educated at private shools in London before attending the Taunton School of Art in Somerset and at the Royal College of Art in Kensington. Originally employed as a painter for Worcester porcelain, Eaton spent two years in Jamaica (1909 – 1911) before visiting New York in the USA.
Eaton spent twenty years (1911 – 1932) as an artist with the New York Botanical Gardens. Besides at the Botanical Gardens, her work was exhibited at the National Geographic Society, of Washington, D.C. Later returning to England (1932), her work was also exhibited with the National Book League in London (1950). Eaton is best known for producing the illustrations for the famous botanical volume The Cactaceae (1919 – 1923) produced by Britten and Rose. She was awarded the Grenfelt Medal of the Royal Horticultural Society (1922). Examples of her work are preserved in the Smithsonian Institute and at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation. Mary Emily Eaton died (Aug 4, 1961) aged eighty-seven, at Ossington, Somerset.

Eaton, Pearl – (1898 – 1958)
American stage actress, choreographer and dance specialist
Eaton was born (Aug 1, 1898) in Norfolk, Virginia. She was the elder sister of Mary and Doris Eaton, with whom she received dance instruction in Washington D.C., where all three appeared together in Maurice Maeterlinck’s fantasy play The Blue Bird (1912). Pearl was offerred a place in the chorus in Al Jolson’s show, Robinson Crusoe, Jr, at the Winter Garden Theatre, Washington. This was followed by performances in The Passing Show and Sinbad.
During this time Eaton was married (1917) to violinist Harry Levant, to whom she bore a daughter. Pearl Eaton then worked for the, Ziegfeld Follies (1918 – 1923) before working for the theatrical company of Charles Dillingham. Her final stage performance was in She’s My Baby (1928). Her second husband was the oil magnate Dick Enderley. With the decline of her career in the 1930’s Pearl Eaton pursued various careers, as a dance instructress, and real estate manager, and was even employed by the Los Angeles County Census Bureau. She became a recluse during the latter part of her life, and sufferred from alcoholism. Pearl Eaton was found murdered in her apartment (Sept 10, 1958) aged sixty. The crime was never solved.

Eaton, Peggy O’Neale – (1796 – 1879)
American socialite
Born Margaret O’Neale in Washington, D.C., she was the daughter of an innkeeper. She was married firstly (1816) to John Timberlake, and secondly (1829) to John Henry Eaton, a prominent Democrat leader, who held the post of secretary of state for war under President Andrew Jackson.
Famously beautiful, she caused a furore in polite society, despite her friendship with the future president, Martin Van Buren, because of her lowly background, and because of her premarital relations with her second husband, which were well known. This social outcasting caused a presidential cabinet crisis, and President Jackson was forced to re-organize her cabinet in order to remove the ringleaders. Eventually her husband was forced to resign his post (1831) but he accepted the position of ambassador to Spain. Peggy accompanied him there (1836 – 1840), where she achieved great social success and acceptance.
With the death of Eaton (1856), Peggy later formed a romantic liasion with a much younger Italian dancing instructor, who evenutally deserted her for her granddaughter. Her own, Autobiography of Peggy Eaton, was not published till fifty years after her death (1932). Peggy O’Neale Eaton died (Nov 8, 1879) aged eighty-three.

Eaton, Quaintance – (1901 – 1992) 
American author
Eaton was born in Kansas City. Becoming a devotee of opera in the early 1920’s she wrote articles on the subject for Musical America magazine, eventually becoming associate editor, and was also contributing editor to Opera News. Quaintance was the author of an anecdotal history of the Metropolitan Opera whilst on tour entitled, Opera Caravan (1957). Two further volumes of opera history followed, The Boston Opera Company (1965), and, The Miracle of the Met (1968). Her last work Sutherland and Bonynge: An Intimate Biography (1987), concerned the lives of Australian soprano Dame Joan Sutherland and her husband the conductor Richard Bonynge. Quaintance Eaton died in Manhattan, New York.

Eaton, Rachel Caroline – (1869 – 1938)
American Indian scholar and author
Eaton was the daughter of George Eaton, a white man and of Nancy William Eaton, a Cherokee squaw. She attended the Cherokee Female Seminary (1887), Drury College, and then Chicago University in Illinois. Eaton trained as a teacher and worked in the Cherokee Nation schools and at the Cherokee Female Seminary. She later held academic positions at Lake Erie College in Ohio and at the Trinity University in Texas. With her later return to Oklahoma she took up the appointment as superintendent of schools in Rogers County, and published articles concerning the history of her people. Rachel Eaton remained unmarried.

Eaton, Susan – (1957 – 2003)
American academic
Eaton was born (July 9, 1957) and attended various colleges before obtaining the appointment as assistant professor of public policy at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.
She later became a nursing home researcher at Harvard, and strongly supported the rights of ordinary workers. She wrote articles and treatises concerning the role of women within the union movement, as well as sexual equality in the workplace and the successful management of health care issues. Susan Eaton died (Dec 30, 2003) in Boston, Massachusetts, aged forty-six.

Eaton, Winnifred – (1875 – 1954)
American author
Eaton was born (Aug 21, 1875) in Montreal, Quebec, in Canada, the daughter of a British merchant and a Chinese mother, the adopted daughter of British missionaries, and was the sister to Edith Eaton. Winnifred Eaton became writing articles for local newspapers and later left home for Kingston in Jamaica (1893), where she worked as a stenographer for a newspaper, before returning to the USA to work as a typist in Chicago, Illinois. Because of her mixed ancestry Eaton was able to pass herself off as a Japanese American, and using the pseudonym ‘Onoto Watanna’ she published popular Japanese romance novels and short stories in America. These works included Mrs Nume of Japan (1899), A Japanese Nightingale (1900), A Japanese Blossom (1906), Daughters of Nijo (1907), and the best-seller, Tama (1910), amongst others. She also wrote an intriguing semi-autobiographical novel entitled Me, A Book of Remembrance (1915), which was incredibly popular.
Eaton was married twice, leaving four children from her first marriage. She resided for several years at Calgary, in Alberta, Canada (1917 – 1924) before returning to live and work in New York, where she wrote screenplays for the movie industry. Finally returning to live permanently at Calgary, Eaton founded the ‘Little Theatre’ (1932) theatrical group, and served as president of the local branch of the Canadian Authors’ Association. Winnifred Eaton died (April 8, 1954) at Butte in Montana, aged seventy-eight.

Eaubonne, Francoise d’ – (1920 – 2005)
French feminist, essayist, and historian
Francoise was born (March 12, 1920) in Paris, the daughter of an anarchist. She was raised in Toulouse, and became a radical and militant feminist, who coined the term, ‘ecologie-feminisme’ (ecofeminism) in her work, Le feminisme ou la mort (1974). Francoise d’Eaubonne founded the FHAR, a new homosexual movement (1971), and was acqquainted with such contemporary literary figures as Jean Cocteau, Simone de Beauvoir, and Jean-Paul Sartre, amongst others. Her published works included the collection of verse, Colonnes de l’ame (1942), the essay, L’Evangile de Veronique (2003), and the historical novel, Comme un vol de gerfauts (A Flight of Falcons) (1947). Francoise d’Eaubonne died (Aug 3, 2005) aged eighty-five, in Paris.

Ebba    see also    Aebbe

Ebba – (c830 – 870) 
Anglo-Saxon Christian martyr
Sometimes inaccurately called the daughter of Aethelred I, King of Northumbria, she was more likely a relative of one of the usurper kings of Northumbria, who reigned till 878. Ebba never married and became abbess of the double monastery of Coldingham, near Berwick. In 870 a group of Vikings, led by the sons of Ragnar Ladbrok, arrived at the mouth of the Tweed River, and began laying waste to the surrounding countryside. Their intention was to reach the rich abbey of Coldingham nearby. Ebba assembled all the sisters in the cloister and then, at her own urging and example, they disfigured themselves by cutting off their noses and upper lips, in order to preserve their chastity. The Vikings broke into the chapter-house, and, disgusted by the condition of the nuns, set fire to the building and killed them all. Ebba was venerated by the church (April 2).

Ebbisham, Margaret Emma Reiner, Lady – (1882 – 1965)
British social activist
Margaret Reiner was the elder daughter of Arthur Reiner, of Ferriby Sutton, Surrey. She was married (1907) to Sir George Rowland Blades (1868 – 1953), baronet (1922), and later first Baron Ebbisham (1928). Lady Ebbisham served with hospital units in France with the Red Cross during WW I, for which she was appointed a member of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. She served officially as Lady Mayoress of London (1926 – 1927) during her husband’s tenure as Lord Mayor. For her work for the war effort during WW II she was appointed as MBE (Member of the British Empire) by King George VI (1943) in recognition of her service. For her work in France during WW II, the French government made her a member of the Legion d’Honneur.
Widowed in 1953, she was Dowager Baroness Ebbisham (1953 – 1965). She was the mother of Sir Rowland Roberts Blades, second and last Baron Ebbisham (1912 – 1991), at whose death the title and baronetcy became extinct, and three daughters, including Hon. (Honourable) Helen Elizabeth Blades (born 1908), who became the wife of Admiral Sir Guy Herbrand Russell (1898 – 1977). Lady Ebbisham died (Nov 2, 1965) aged eighty-three.

Ebden, Agnes – (c1865 – 1930)
British civic leader and social reformer
Agnes McKenzie was the daughter of Colonel Murray McKenzie, an officer of the Bengal Horse Artillery in India. She attended Wellington College in Malvern, and became the wife of Charles John Ebden, a Justice of the Peace. Mrs Ebden worked tirelessly for various worthy causes aimed at helping hospitals and the general care and welfare of women and children. She received the Order of Mercy and served as the deputy president of the British Red Cross Society. In recognition of her valuable service to the community she was appointed CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) (1918) by King George V. Agnes Ebden died (Jan 31, 1930).

Eberardi, Teresa – (fl. c1750 – 1762) 
Italian vocalist
Teres Eberardi joined the Haymarket Theatre in London, and made her debut there as Clarice in, Il mondo nella luna (Nov, 1760) in which she achieved notable success. Teresa’s most successful roles which also included male ones, included Alcestis in, Arianna e Teseo, Lena in, Il filosofo di campagna, Decio in, Tito Manlio, Timagenes in, Alessandro nell Indie, and Brigida in, Il mercato di Marmantile. Teresa also performed in Soho and at various benefit concerts in 1762. The musician and composer Charles Burney, father of the diarist Fanny Burney, was much impressed by the simplicity and innocence of her performances.

Eberhard, Ada Jane – (1868 – 1932)
Australian civic leader
Born Ada Abbott in Ballarat, Victoria, she was educated at the Broadland House School in Launceston, Tasmania. Ada Abbott was married to Carl Theodore Eberhard. Ada Eberhard was the founder of the Queen Victoria Hospital in Launceston and was appointed as first tresurer. She was prominent with public fundraising activities for WW I, and was closely associated with the Red Cross Society and the Girl Guides Association. Ada Eberhard (Dec 22, 1932) died in Launceston, aged sixty-four.

Eberhardine Katherine of Wurttemburg – (1651 – 1683)
German princess
Princess Eberhardine Katherine was born (April 12, 1651) at Stuttgart, the daughter of Eberhard III, Duke of Wurttemburg, and his first wife Anna Dorothea, the daughter of Johann Kasimir, count and Rheingrave of Salm-Kyburg. She was married (1682) at Oettingen, when aged over thirty, to Prince Albrecht Ernst I of Oettingen-Oettingen (1642 – 1683), as his second wife. She was princess consort for only one year (1682 – 1683) and died childless at Oettingen (Aug 19, 1683), aged thirty-two.

Eberhardine Sophia of Oettingen – (1666 – 1700)
German princess
Princess Eberhardine Sophia was born (Aug 16, 1666) at Oettingen, the daughter of Prince Albrecht Ernst I of Oettingen-Oettingen (1642 – 1683) and his first wife Christina Frederica, the daughter of Eberhard III, Duke of Wurttemburg. She was married to Prince Christian Eberhard of East Friesland (1666 – July 30, 1706), and died (Oct 30, 1700) at Aurich, aged thirty-four. Princess Eberhardine Sophia left three children,

• Princess Christina of East Friesland (1688 – 1750). She became the second wife of Prince Friedrich Anton of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1692 – 1744).
• Prince George Albrecht of East Friesland (1690 – 1734). He was married and left descendants.
• Princess Juliana Louisa of East Friesland (1698 – 1740). She became the second wife of Joachim Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Norburg, and left descendants.

Eberhardt, Isabelle – (1877 – 1904)
Swiss traveller and author
Isabelle Eberhardt was born near Geneva, Switzerland, the illlegitimate daughter of a tutor, and the wife of a Russian general. She was raised as a boy by the anarchist, Alexander Trophimovsky, and by the age of sixteen (1893) she was fluent in six languages. Eberhardt later travelled to West Africa, where both women converted to Islam. Her mother died, and she wrote articles about Africa for publication in Paris journals. She travelled through the Algerian Sahara dressed in male attire, which enabled her to gather some rather shocking details concerning sex and drug use. Her notoriety made her the victim of an assasination attempt, and eventually, the Algerian authorities exiled her for several years (1900 – 1903). Eberhardt later married Slimene Ehnni, a Muslim army officer with French citizenship, and returned to Morocco, but was hospitalized due to severe illness. She died in a flash flood the day she left hospital. Her diaries, letters, and short stories survive.

Eberhart, Mignon Good – (1899 – 1996)
American detective novelist
Eberhart was born (July 6, 1899) in Lincoln, Nebraska, and became the wife of Alanson C. Eberhart. Eberhart achieved great popularity with her novels, many of which were made into feature films, such as, The White Cockatoo (1935), While the Patient Slept (1935), Murder by an Aristocrat (1936), The Murder of Dr Harrigan (1936), The Great Mystery Hospital (1937), The Dark Stairway (1938), Mystery House (1938), The Patient in Room 18 (1938), and Three’s a Crowd (1945), amongst others. Other novels included the, Case of Susan Dare (1934), The Chiffon Scarf (1939), The Hangman’s Whip (1940), Five Passengers from Lisbon (1946), Dead Man’s Plans (1952), Postmark Murder (1956), Melora (1959), Enemy in the House (1962), Call After Midnight (1964), R.S.V.P. Murder (1965), Woman on the Roof (1967), and, El Rancho Rio (1970).
Mignon Good Eberhart died aged ninety-six.

Eberhart, Nelle Richmond – (1871 – 1944)
American lyricist
Eberhart was born in Detroit, Michigan. Having trained as a musician she collaborated with the composer, Charles Wakefield Cadman (1881 – 1946) and wrote the lyrics for the famous songs, From the Land of Sky-Blue Water and, At Dawning, amongst other librettos pieces produced by Cadman. She published the collection, From the Land of Sky-Blue Water, and Other Songs for Music (1926). Nelle Richmond Eberhart died (Nov 5, 1944), aged seventy-three.

Eberlein, Sophia – (1889 – 1931)
Russian-American murder victim and figure of legend
Sophia was born in Russia and immigrated to America during her youth. She was married firstly to Hugo Eberlein, a businessman from Harvey in North Dakota, to whom she bore two daughters. With the death of Hugo (1928) Sophia remarried to Jakob Bentz. He later killed her whilst she slept and re-arranged the crime to make her death look like a car accident. Sophia’s daughter became suspicious and went to the police. Bentz admitted his guilt after interrogation and was sentenced to life for her murder. He died incarcerated (1943). Sophia Eberlein’s murder became the subject of local celebrity, and when the new Harvey Library was later built on the site of the family home decades afterwards (1990) it has supposedly remained the source of ghostly hauntings and visitations.

Ebert, Joyce – (1932 – 1997)
American character actress
Born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, she graduated from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. She studied acting under Uta Hagen and Lee Strasberg, and made her New York stage debut in the role of Julie in Liliom at the Rquity Library Theater, and married director Arvin Brown. Ebert received an Obie Award and the Clarence Derwent Award for her performance in The Trojan Women (1963), and she also played both Ophelia and Queen Gertrude in different productions of Hamlet.
A highlight of her career was her performance in the title role of The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd, by D.H. Lawrence. Ebert performed in over eighty productions at the Long Wharf Theater in New Have, Connecticut over a thirty year period, her first appearance being in, Misalliance (1966). One of her last performances was in Noel Coward’s, Song at Twilight (1996), opposite Fritz Weaver. Joyce Ebert died (Aug 28, 1997) at Southport, Connecticut, aged sixty-four.

Ebinger, Blandine – (1899 – 1993)
German actress and vocalist
Ebinger was born (Nov 4, 1899) in Berlin, Prussia, and made her first stage appearance at the age of eight at Leipzig in Saxony (1907). She later joined the Berlin Royal Playhouse (1914) where she performed with actors such as Kurt Tucholsky and Erich Klastner, appearing mainly in plays by Henrik Ibsen and Hauptmann. Blandine Ebinger became a celebrated actress of the post war period in Germany, and was popularly known as the ‘Queen of the Lyrical Berlin Backyard Chanson’ because of her performance of Lieder eines armen Madchens (Songs of a Poor Girl) which had been written especially for her by her first husband Friedrich Hollaender. In little over half a decade (1931 – 1937) she appeared in over one hundred German films.
Ebinger immigrated to the USA prior to WW II and worked often with Charles Laughton before returning to Europe after the war (1946). She worked for a period in Zurich, Switzerland before ultimately returning to Germany and resided in Berlin. Ebinger published her autobiography, Blandine von und mit Blandine Ebinger) (Blandine of and with Blandine Ebinger) (1985). Blandine Ebinger died (Dec 25, 1993) in Berlin, aged ninety-four.

Ebner, Christine – (1277 – 1356)
German ascetic nun, mystic and visionary writer
Ebner was born (March 26, 1277) in Nuremburg into a noble family, and became a nun at the Dominican convent of Engelthal in Bavaria, at the age of twelve (1289). Christine and several of the nuns in her convent adhered to very strict ascetic practices, and sufferred mystical visions and revelations, her first in 1291. Following the advice of her confessor, Conrad of Fussen, she produced two works which dealt with these divine occurences, Buchlein von der Gnaden Uberlast (The Little Book on the Unbearable Weight of Grace) (c1346), and, Leben : Geschichte der Christina Ebnerin (A Life : Visions of Christina Ebner) (1351), which dealt with her own personal experiences. Both these works survive. Christine Ebner died (Dec 27, 1356) at Engelthal, aged seventy-nine.

Ebner Margarethe – (c1291 – 1351)
German mystic and visionary
Ebner was born at the town of Donauworth in Bavaria, and was sent to become a Dominican nun during childhood at the convent of Maria Medingen, near Dillingen, on the Danube River.
After sufferring an illness around the age of twenty which eventually confined her to her bed (1312), Margarethe began experiencing divine visions in which saw herself as the bride of Christ and of the Passion. Margarethe Ebner died at the convent (June 20, 1351) aged sixty.
She had corresponded for many years with the monk, Heinrich von Nordlingen (c1310 – before 1387), and their surviving collection of letters is considered one of the oldest surviving collections in Germany. Henry wrote down her, Offenbarungen (Revelations), which she had recorded in her own Swabian dialect. Her works survive, but were not published until the late nineteenth century (1882).

Ebner-Eschenbach, Marie Dubsky, Baroness – (1830 – 1916)
Austrian dramatist and novelist
Marie Dubsky was born at Adislawitz Castle, Moravia, the daughter of Count Dubsky. She married her cousin Baron Moritz von Ebner-Eschenbach (1848). The baroness became a leading light in the literary salon that was attached to the Imperial court of the Emperor Franz Joseph. Her plays included Maria Stuart in Schottland (1860), and her novels Die Prinzessin von Bonalien (1872) and Zwei Komtessen (1885) became widely popular. Among her best works was the novel Das Gemeinde kind, about a murderer’s struggle for respectability. Considered to be the most prominent of nineteenth century female Austrian writers, she was famous for her epigrams, and produced Aphorismen (1880). The baroness was the first woman to be awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Vienna (1900). Her memoirs were entitled Meine Kinderjahre (1906).

Eboli, Ana de Mendoza, Princess de     see    Mendoza, Ana de

Ebrington, Georgiana, Viscountess     see   Fortescue, Georgiana Dawson-Damer, Countess

Ebsen, Vilma – (1911 – 2007)
American stage and film actress and dancer
Ebsen was born (Feb 1, 1911) in Belleville, Illinois, and was sister to actor and performer Buddy Ebsen (1908 – 2003), who was best known for his appearances as Jed Clampett in the popular television comedy series The Beverly Hillbillies (1962 – 1970). Vilma trained as a dancer at her father’s dance school in Orlando, Florida, and went to New York with her brother, where they performed together in the vaudeville act and appears in the Florenz Ziegfeld production Whoopee (1928) produced by Eddie Cantor. For the next decade brother and sister worked together in clubs, vaudeville theatres and appeared in several Broadway productions such as Flying Colors (1932) and Ziegfeld Follies of 1934. After this they went to Hollywood in California, where Vilma played the starring role of Sally Burke in the film Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935).
Ebsen now seperated from her brother in the act, and had married (1933) the composer and bandleader, Bobby Dolan (Robert Emmett Dolan) from whom she was later divorced (1948), having borne one child. She returned to Broadway to appear with the British dancing stars, Jack Buchanan, Evelyn Laye, and Adele Dixon in Between the Devil (1937 – 1938). After this Vilma retired permanently and devoted herself to her family. She later remarried (1948) to the tennis player Stanley Briggs to whom she bore a son. Her sister and brother Buddy later assisted Vilma financially in order that she could establish a dance school at Pacific Palisades in California which the sisters ran together. Vilma Ebsen died (March 12, 2007) aged ninety-six.

Ebsworth, Dame Ann Marian – (1937 – 2002)
British barrister and High Court Judge
Ebsworth was born (May 19, 1937), the daughter of a naval officer. She attended secondary school in Portsmouth, before studying history at London University, and qualified as a lawyer (1962), working mainly with criminal cases in Liverpool, Lancashire. Ann Ebsworth was appointed as Recorder of the Crown Court (1978) and then as a circuit judge (1983) she served as a member of the Paole Board (1989 – 1992) before being appointed as the sixth ever female High Court Judge (1992 – 2001) and duly took her seat on the Queen’s Bench Division, the fist female judge to ever be assigned there.At this time she was appointed DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire). She was forced for health reasons to retire (2001). Dame Ann Ebsworth died (April, 2002), aged sixty-four, leaving a considerable bequest towards cancer research in her will.

Eburne, Maude – (1875 – 1960)
American character actress
Eburne was born (Nov 10, 1875) in Ontario, Canada. Famous for her small stature, she began acting on stage in Canada and New York, later appearing on Broadway (1914), where she played a cockney maid. Eburne usually played comic servants on the stage until 1930, and then moved to films (1931). She appeared in many films, usually in the role of interfering, matronly women. Best known for her appearance in Ruggles of Red Gap (1935), Eburne appeared in other films such as, The Bat Whispers (1930), The Vampire Bat (1933), Champagne Waltz (1937), West Point Widow (1941), and, Mother Wore Tights (1947), amongst many others. She retired from the screen a few years after WW II ended (1951). Maude Eburne died (Oct 15, 1960) in Hollywood, California, aged eighty-four.

Ebury, Charlotte Arbuthnot Wellesley, Lady – (1808 – 1891)
British aristocrat
A prominent courtier to William IV (1830 – 1837) and then to Queen Victoria (1837 – 1901), the Hon. (Honourable) Charlotte Wellesley was the daughter of the eminent diplomat, Sir Henry Wellesley (1773 – 1860), first Baron Cowley (1828 – 1860), and his first wife, Lady Charlotte Cadogan (1781 – 1853), from whom he was later divorced (1810). After this divorce her mother remarried to the first Marquess of Anglesey. Charlotte was sister to Henry Richard Charles Wellesley (1804 – 1884), the first Earl Cowley (1857 – 1884), also a famous diplomatic figure, who served as British ambassador to the court of the Second Empire in France (1852 – 1867). Charlotte was married (1831) to Robert Grosvenor (1801 – 1893) who was created first Baron Ebury (1857) by Queen Victoria. She then became Baroness Ebury (1857 – 1891). Lady Ebury died (Nov 21, 1891) aged eighty-three. She left seven children,

• Hon. Victoria Charlotte Grosvenor (born 1832). She died unmarried.
• Robert Wellesley Grosvenor (1834 – 1918). He succeeded his father as the second Baron Ebury (1893 – 1918). He was married and left descendants.
• Hon. Albertine Frances Elizabeth Grosvenor (born 1840). She died unmarried.
• Hon, Thomas George Grosvenor (1842 – 1886). He served in the diplomatic corps in Peking (1879 – 1883) and in St Petersburg (1885 – 1886). He was married but died childless. His widow, Sophie Williams (1852 – 1938), the daughter of the American minister to China, remarried to Sir Albert Gray, KCB.
• Captain Hon. Norman de l’Aigle Grosvenor (1845 – 1930), of the Grenadier Guards. He served as Member of Parliament for Chester (1869 – 1874), and was married and left descendants.
• Lieutanant Hon. Algernon Henry Grosvenor (1846 – 1907). He was married and left descendants.
• Hon. Richard Cecil Grosvenor (1848 – 1919). He was married but died childless.

Ebuskun Khatun – (fl. 1242 – 1246)
Queen of Turkestan
Ebuskun Khatun was the wife of the Mongol prince Mutugen, the eldest son of Jagatai, and grandson of Genghis Khan. Widowed when her husband was killed at the battle of Bamian (1221), she raised their son Qara-Hulagu, who succeeded his grandfather Jagati twenty years later (1242). Ebuskun ruled as regent for four years until the great Khan Guyuk intervened and replaced Qara-Hulagu with Mongka, the younger brother of Jagatai.

Eccles, Charlotte O’Connor – (c1854 – 1911)
Irish journalist and novelist
Charlotte Eccles was the daughter of a newspaperman and was educated in England, France, and Germany. Eccles began her literary career as a journalist with the Irish Monthly and wrote articles on women’s issues such as education and workplace prejudice, which appeared in publications such as the Pall Mall Gazette and the New York Herald.  Her harrowing account concerning the conditions for women in a public hospital in Vienna was published in the Nineteenth Century magazine (1899). Eccles collaborated with Sir Horace Plunkett, and was employed by the Board of Agriculture and Technical Instruction to lecture and write in Ireland. She wrote a critically acclaimed collection of short stories about Ireland, Aliens of the West (1904) and also wrote the famous fantasy story The Rejuvenation of Miss Semaphore (1897)

Eccles, Mary Morley Crapo, Lady – (1912 – 2003)
Anglo-American collector and author
Mary Morley Crapo was born in Detroit, Michigan, the descendant of Huguenot ship owners, and attended Vassar College and Columbia University. She was married (1939) to Donald Hyde, a New York lawyer, himself an avid collector. Mary Hyde and her husband managed to purchase over five hundred of the surviving letters which had been written by Dr Samuel Johnson to various contemporaries, including his friend Hester ‘Queenie’ Thrale, and James Macpherson, the translator of Ossian, as well as some of Johnsons’ diaries and poems. They went so far as to turn their own estate of Four Oaks Farm, near Somerville, New Jersey, into a copy of Streatham Park, the original home of Mrs Thrale. In her earnest endeavour to collect as many of Samuel Johnson’s surviving correspondence that could be found, she enlisted the aid of the eccentric collector, Colonel Ralph Isham. Their collaboration led Mary Hyde to write the one-act play, Levee at Fifty-Third Street.
With the death of her first husband (1966), Mary published several historical works such as The Impossible Friendship, which dealt with the relationship between Johnson and Thrale, and edited, Bernard Shaw and Alfred Douglas, A Correspondence. She later remarried (1984) to the British politician Sir David McAdam Eccles (1904 – 1999), first Viscount Eccles (1964 – 1999), as his second wife. With her second husband, Lady Eccles founded the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library (1992), and she was made an honorary fellow of Pembroke College at Oxford University and a Benjamin Franklin Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Lady Eccles survived her husband as the Dowager Viscountess Eccles (1999 – 2003). Lady Eccles died aged ninety-one.

Eccles, Sybil – (1904 – 1977) 
British letter writer
Sybil Dawson was the daughter of Lord Dawson of Penn, and became the first wife (1928) of the noted politician and diplomat Sir David McAdam Eccles (1904 – 1999), who was later created first baron (1962), and then first viscount Eccles (1964). The couple had three children, John Dawson Eccles (born 1931), the second Viscount Eccles (1999), who married nad left issue, Simon Dawson Eccles (born 1934), married with issue, and Polly Eccles (born Selina), who married firstly, Robin Andrew Duthac Carnegie of the Queen’s Dragoon Guards, and secondly, as his second wife, George Petty-FitzMaurice, eighth marquess of Lansdowne. Both marriages ended in divorce, and there was issue only from her first. Whilst her husband was abroad engaged on diplomatic missions for the government in Africa, Europe and America (Nov, 1939 – Aug, 1942) during WW II, Sybil remained behind at Chute, England with their children. Their correspondence was published as By Safe Hand : Letters of Sybil and David Eccles.(1983).

Ecgfryth (Ecgfrida) – (c979 – after 1018)
Anglo-Saxon heiress
Ecgfryth was the daughter of Ealdhun, Bishop of Durham. Her father arranged for her first marriage (995) to Uchtred of Northumbria and provided her with a dowry of six estates that belonged to the see of Durham, on the condition that Uchtred should keep her in honourable marriage. Uchtred’s earldom was restored to him by King Aethelred II (1006) when he ably defended Durham against the Scots. He repudiated Ecgfryth, restoring three of her dower estates to the church. He then remarried to a Danish heiress, Sigen Styrsdotter. Countess Ecgfryth remarried a second time (c1008) to Ealdred, earl of Bernicia, who also eventually repudiated her (c1012). She then returned to her father’s household and gave her lands to the church. Ecgfryth later took the veil as a nun and was buried at Durham. Ecgfryth had borne Uchtred a son, Aldred, earl of Bernicia, and five daughters. Her granddaughter Elfleda was the wife of Earl Siward of Northumbria and the mother of the ill-fated Earl Waltheof (died 1076). To her second husband Ecgfryth bore a daughter, Sigrid, who married three husbands, the second of whom was Earl Eadwulf of Bernicia. The story of her marriages and the dissensions caused between the descendants of Ecgfryth and Uchtred’s various marriages is outlined in the surviving Latin work De Obsessione Dunelimi (The Siege of Durham).

Ecgwynn – (c871 – c900) 
Anglo-Saxon queen consort
The second wife of King Edward the Elder (871 – 924), she was related to St Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was himself related to the royal house of Wessex. She was probably a connection of Queen Eahlswith, the wife of King Alfred, the mother of Edward, being perhaps the daughter of Eahlswith’s brother Aethelfrith, earl of Wessex and Mercia and his own wife Eahlswith. Such a dynastic alliance would have been in keeping with the tradition of the royal house. The marriage was arranged by King Alfred (c887) to consolidate the former Mercian kingdom. Indeed, Ecgwynn’s son Athelstan (c895 – 939) was brought up in Mercia and recognized as the heir to that kingdom. It was only to the throne of Wessex that her son’s claim was questioned, and thus the untrue stories spread that Athelstan’s mother was a common prostitute or a shepherdess.

Echerolles, Alexandrine des – (1777 – after 1843)
French diarist
Madamoiselle des Echerolles was a member of a provinical patrician family. Her mother died during her youth and she was raised by her father and an aunt in Moulins. With the outbreak of the Revloution, and the approach of Republican forces, she was forced to flee with her father to Lyons. Her father and aunt were captured. Her father managed to escape, but her aunt was guillotined. Alexandrine remained living in quiet obscurity until the end of the Terror (1794). With her father’s remarriage, she went into permanent exile from France. She never married and published two volumes of memoirs in Moulins, which dealt specifically with this early period of her life Quelques annees de ma vie (1843).

Echlin, Elizabeth Bellingham, Lady – (c1702 – 1783)
British baronetess (1725 – 1757)
Elizabeth Bellingham was the daughter and coheir of William Bellingham, of Levens, Westmorland. She was married (1725) to Sir Robert Echlin (Nov 13, 1699 – May 13, 1757), second baronet, whom she survived over twenty-five years as Dowager Lady Echlin (1757 – 1783).  Lady Echlin died (Jan, 1783) aged about eighty. As she left no male heir, the baronetcy passed to a kinsman of her late husband, whilst their only surviving child, Elizabeth Echlin, was married (1747) to Francis Palmer, of Swords, county Dublin.

Eckart, Jean – (1921 – 1993)
American theatrical designer
Born Jean Levy, in Chicago, Illinois, she was educated in New Orleans, later attending the Yale School of Drama, where she met her future husband (1943), the set designer William Eckart. Eckart worked with her husband, and the couple designed sets for many famous Broadway shows, such as, Fiorello and, Damn Yankees.  Also innovative with lighting and sets, they received a Donaldson Award and two Tony awards for their work on the musicals, The Golden Apple, Li’l Abner, She Loves Me, and, Mame. The couple did design work for the CBS broadcast of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s, Cinderella (1957), and they designed and co-produced, Once Upon a Mattress (1959) with Carol Burnett. Their film credits included, Pajama Game and, The Night They Raided Minsky’s. Jean Eckart died of cancer (Arpt 6, 1993) at Dallas, Texas, aged seventy-two.

Eckert, Johanna von    see   Holm, Hanya

Eckhardt-Gramatte, Sophie Carmen – (1899 – 1974)
Russian-Canadian violinist, pianist and composer
Born Sonia Fridman-Kochevskoy (Jan 6, 1899) in Moscow, and was raised by foster parents in England, being always known as Sophie. She was taken to Paris at an early age (1904) and was taught piano by Nicholas Rubinstein. A talented child prodigy her, Etude de concert (1910) was published there. After performing publicly in Berlin, Prussia, Geneva in Switzerland and in Paris, she studied the violin in Berlin with Bronislaw Huberman. She was married (1920) to the Expressionist painter Walter Gramatte and later resided for several years in Spain (1924 – 1926) under the musical guidance of Pablo Casals. With the death of her husband (1929) she toured the USA before retiring (1930) in order to devote her time to musical composition. She was remarried (1934) to the art historian, Ferdinand Eckhardt.
Sophie studied at the Preussische Akademie in Berlin under Max Trapp and later moved to Vienna (1939 – 1954) after which she removed to Winnipeg in Canada (1954). She was awarded an honorary doctorate from Brandon University in Manitoba and was the first Canadian composer to receive the Diplome d’honneur of the Canadian Conference of the Arts (1974). Eckkhardt-Gramatte’s works included the ballet suite, Ziganka (1920), the, Grave funebre (1931) for violin and chamber orchestra, Capriccio concertante (1941), an orchestral piece,  Concertino (1947), for a string orchestra, and her, Piano Sonata no. 5 (1950), and Symphony no. 2 ‘Manitoba’ (1970). Sophia Eckhardt-Gramatte died (Dec 2, 1974) aged seventy-five, in Stuttgart, Wurttemburg, Germany.

Eckstorm, Fannie Hardy – (1865 – 1931)
American author, historian and compiler
Eckstorm was born (June 18, 1865) in brewer, Maine. She co-wrote The Minstrelsy of Maine (1927) with Mary Winslow Smyth, and co-authored, British Ballads from Maine (1929), with Smyth and Phillips Barry. Fannie Eckstorm died (Dec 31, 19460 aged eighty-one.

Ectacia (Echtach) – (fl. c450 AD – c500)
Irish saint
She lived in county Mayo as a nun or virgin recluse. She was mentioned in Colgan’s Life of St Corbmac. Ectacia was venerated as a saint in the Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae (Feb 5).

Edadil – (c1841 – 1875)
Ottoman sultana (1861 – 1875)
Edadil was a captured slave girl who became the second wife of Sultan Abdulaziz I (1830 – 1876). Her only son, Prince Mahmud Celaleddin Osmanoglu (1862 – 1888), died childless and unmarried.

Edana (Edania, Edina) – (fl. c470 AD – c520)
Irish virgin saint
The city of Edinburgh in Scotland was named for her according to ancient tradition. Two parishes and a holy well in Ireland are also named in her honour. Venerated as a saint (July 5) she was invoked by women sufferring in childbirth, but is thought to be perhaps identical with St Modwenna.

Edburga (Eadburh, Bugga) – (c680 – 751)
Anglo-Saxon abbess and saint
Edburga was the illegitimate daughter of King Centwine and Eangyth, who later became a nun and abbess of Minster on the Isle of Thanet. She was much younger half-sister to Bishop Aldhelm of Sherborne. Edburga was educated there under the rule of St Mildreth, and the famous abbess Lioba of Bischoffsheim is said to have learnt the art of poetry from her. She later went on a pilgrimage to Rome with her mother, where she met St Boniface, with whom she engaged in a correspondence of some length. Soon after the death of Radbod, King of the Frisians (719), Edburga wrote to Boniface, sending him forty shillings and an altar cloth, regretting that it was not in her power to do more. A surviving letter from Boniface to Edburga (c735) is addressed to his ‘dearest sister who has brought light and consolation to an exile in Germany by sending him gifts of spiritual books.’ He later wrote to her in order to comfort her during her physical afflictions. Edburga succeeded as abbess (716) and built a new church at Minster, consecrated by Cuthbert, archbishop of Canterbury, where she translated the relics of St Mildreth. A talented calligrapher she produced a copy of the, Acts of the Martyrs, and the, Epistles of St Peter, for Boniface, written in letters of gold. Abbess Edburga died aged about seventy, and was venerated as a saint (Dec 12).

Edburga of Aylesbury (Eadburh) – (c590 – c650)
Anglo-Saxon virgin saint
Princess Edburga was the daughter of Ceolric, King of Wessex (591 – 597) and sister to King Cynegils (611 – 643). She was baptised a Christian, with her brother Cynegils, his children, and others by St Botolph (c637), at the instigation of King Oswald of Northumbria. If her identification as the daughter of Ceolric is correct, Edburga was probably a widow at this time, given she must have been aged in her late forties. She soon retired from the world as a nun at Aylesbury, where she may have been abbess, though legend states that she resided at Adderbury, which means ‘Eadburg’s burh.’ The legend that she trained Osyth for the religious life is pure fabrication.
With her death, Edburga’s relics were translated to Bicester, a house of Austin canons, founded in 1182, dedicated to the Virgin and St Edburga. The shrine, built in 1320, survives today in the church of Stanton Harcourt in Oxfordshire. The village of Edburton is said to have been named for her. She was venerated as a saint (July 18).

Edburga of Bicester (Eadburh) – (c630 – c680)
Anglo-Saxon virgin saint
Princess Edburga was the daughter of Penda, king of Mercia (626 – 654) and his wife Cyneswyth. She was sister to Cyneburh, queen of Northumbria and maternal aunt to saint Osyth.
Edburga became a nun with three of her sisters at Dordmuncaster, commonly known as Caistor (Kyneburgcastor) in Northamptonshire, a convent founded for them by their brother, King Peada (c655). Edburga later removed to Bicester in Oxfordshire, where she lived as a religious recluse at her death. She was venerated as a saint (June 20). Edburga’s own relics, and those of three of her sisters, Cyneburh, Kynethryth, and Kyneswyth, were all later translated to the abbey of Peterborough, and part of them, from there to Berg St Winnock, in Flanders (c1040), where Edburga’s memory was long honoured.

Edburga of Deira (Eadburh) – (c653 – c725)
Anglo-Saxon virgin saint
Princess Edburga was the daughter of Alchfrith, king of Deira in Northumbria and his wife Cyneburh, the daughter of Penda, king of Mercia (626 – 654). Edburga never married and took vows as a nun. She later served as second abbess of St Peter’s in Gloucester (710 – c725).

Edburga of Winchester (Eadburh) – (919 – 960)
Anglo-Saxon princess and saint
Princess Edburga was the eldest daughter of Edward the Elder, King of England (899 – 924) and his third wife, Eadgifu of Kent. She was the paternal granddaughter to King Alfred (871 – 899), and sister to kings Edmund I (939 – 946) and Edred (946 – 955). Prior to her father’s death Edburga was destined by her parents for the religious life, though according to pious tradition it was the child’s choice that decided her parents’ action in this matter. She was sent to the royal abbey of St Mary at Winchester (Nunnaminster), which had been founded by her grandmother, Queen Eahlswith, the wife of Alfred, and was there educated and trained for her future life. Edburga eventually became abbess at Winchester, and was later present at the scandalous coronation of her nephew, Eadwig (Edwy) (956). Princess Edburga died aged forty, and was buried at Winchester. Regarded a saint, her feast was celebrated annually (June 15). Her shrine at Pershore in Warwickshire was famous for its miracles.

Eddy, Fannyann – (1974 – 2004)
Sierra Leonean gay rights activist
The mother of a young son and involved in a same sex relationship, she was the founder of Sierra Leone’s first Lesbian and Gay Association and travelled the world, speaking before the United Nations and other international groups in order to gain recognition for the gay people of her country.Homosexual people of both sexes were subject to the most brutal homophobic treatment in local Sierra Leonean communities, and Eddy risked her own life speaking out about such attacks. Eventually, aged only thirty, Fannyann was gang-raped and then murdered, by a group of men who broke into her office (Sept 28, 2004). The Hirschfeld Eddy Foundation, a human rights association for lesbian and gay people was then established in her honour.

Eddy, Helen Jerome – (1897 – 1990)
American character actress
Helen Eddy began her career in silent films, her first being, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1916), but became best known for appearances in such famous films as, Mata Hari (1931), Madame Butterfly (1932), The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933), The Garden of Allah (1936) with Marlene Dietrich, Strike Up the Band (1940), and many others.

Eddy, Mary Morse Baker – (1821 – 1910) 
American founder of the Christian Science movement
Mary Morse Baker was born (July 16, 1821) in Bow, New Hampshire, the daughter of Mark Baker, and his wife Abigail, and was raised as a Congregationalist. She married firstly George Washington Glover (1843 – 1844) and secondly to Daniel Paterson (1853 – 1873) a dentist from whom she was ulitmately divorced.
Baker had sufferred frequent bouts of ill health since childhood, and had resorted to all sorts of remedies before coming under the influence of the mental healer Phineas P. Quimby (1862) and his ‘animal magnetism’ technique. Whilst recovering from a severe fall, Baker consulted the New Testament of the Bible, and her spine was healed. From this time onwards she developed the spiritual and metaphysical system that she called Christian Science, and her work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (1875) spelt out her firm belief in the illusory nature of illness, which she claimed could be cured by religious faith. Baker married her third husband, Asa Gilbert Eddy (1877), and founded the Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston (1879) and the Massachusetts Mataphysical College (1881), where she herself taught until 1889. Eddy founded several publications including the Chrisitan Science Journal (1883) and the Christian Science Monitor (1908), and supported equality in property rights for women, as well as suffrage and the ordainment of female ministers. Mary Baker Eddy died aged eighty-nine (Dec 8, 1910).

Edeldrud    see    Aethelthryth

Eden, Emily – (1797 – 1869)
British diarist and travel writer
Eden was the daughter of the first Lord Auckland, and sister to Fanny Eden and George Eden, Earl of Auckland. She never married, and with her sister she accompanied Auckland to India during his term as governor-general (1836 – 1842). Eden was the author of, Portraits of the People and Princes of India (1844), and her travel reminiscences, Up the Country (1868), which proved highly popular, and gave colourful insights to the daily life of the British in India prior to the Mutiny (1857). She also wrote two novels, The Semi-Detached House (1859) and The Semi-Attached Couple (1860). Two volumes of her, Letters from India were published by her niece, Eleanor Eden (1872). Emily Eden died aged seventy-two (Aug 5, 1869).

Eden, Fanny (Frances) – (1801 – 1849)
British diarist
The sister of Emily Eden and of George Eden, Earl of Aucklandm she never married and accompanied her siblings to Calcutta, in India during his term as governor-general (1836 – 1842). Her letters survive, and she died in England. Her private correspondence was edited and published posthumously as Tigers, Durbars and Kings, Fanny Eden’s Indian Journals 1837 – 1838 (1988).

Eden, Helen Parry – (1885 – 1960)
British poet, author, and literary critic
Helen Parry was the daughter of Judge Sir Edward Parry, and was educated at the Rodean School and at the University of Manchester, where she was awarded the vice-chancellor’s prize for English Verse (1903). She studied art under Byam Shaw and Rex Vicat Cole at King’s College. She became the wife (1906) of the painter, Denis Eden. Her published works included Bread and Circuses (1914), Coal and Candlelight (1918), The Rhyme of the Servants of Mary (1919), A String of Sapphires (1921) and the collection Poems and Verses (1943). Helen Eden died (Dec 19, 1960) aged seventy-five, at Brookside, near Enstone in Oxon.

Eden, Sybil Frances Grey, Lady – (1865 – 1947)
British civic activist and leader
Sybil Grey the mother of Prime Minister Anthony Eden (1897 – 1977), later earl of Avon. She was the elder daughter of Sir William Grey (1818 – 1878), the governor of Jamaica, and his second wife, Georgina Chicheley Plowden. Sybil was married (1886) to Sir William Eden, seventh baronet, whom she survived three decades as the Dowager Lady Eden (1915 – 1945). Their children included the eldest surviving son and successor, Sir Timothy Calvert Eden (1893 – 1963), eighth baronet (1915 – 1963) and author. He was married and left descendants.
During WW I (1914 – 1918) Lady Eden worked for the war effort organizing hospital and amnulance units for soldiers at the front. She was created DG.ST.J (Daughter of Grace of St John of Jerusalem) in recognition of her service, and was appointed OBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) by King George V (1920). Lady Eden died (June 17, 1945) aged eighty.

Eder, Shirley – (1919 – 2005)
American journalist and actress
Eder was born (July 11, 1919) in New York, the daughter of a judge. Despite the disapproval of her family for the theatrical life, Shirley made her first stage appearance with Celeste Holm in the play The Women (1935) which was produced in Newark.  However, her acting career soon faded, and she immersed herself instead as a film journalist, which was her true talent, and joined the radio station WINS in New York (1936). She co-hosted the television program Women Take It Over on WOR TV with Dorothy Ward and Ilka Chase (1951), and several years afterwards she joined The Monitor (1956) as a movie reporter. She was the ‘Girl on the Go’ on the WJR radio show Composite in Detroit, Michigan, and hed her own newspaper column throught he Bell Syndicate, as well as being a guest columnist for Dorothy Kilgallen. Eder later appeared in minor roles in two films, Palm Springs Weekend (1963) and, C.C. and Company (1970), and played herself on the popular television program, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1970). She visited Vietnam with Bob Hope during the war there (1972). She was the author of reminiscences entitled, Not This Time, Cary Grant (1973). Eder’s last years were shadowed by degenerative illness. Shirley Eder died (May 28, 2005) aged eighty-five, in New York.

Ederle, Gertrude Caroline – (1905 – 2003) 
American swimmer
Ederle was born (Oct 23, 1905) in New York, the daughter of Henry Ederle, a German immigrant and ddicatessen owner. Learning to swim during early childhood she began competing as a teenager. Between 1921 and 1925 she broke many swinning records, both at home and abroad. She won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics (1924) for the 400 metre freestyle relay, and bronze medals in the 100 metre and 400 metre freestyle races.
However, her lasting claim to fame was as being the first woman toswim across the English Channel from Cape Gris-nez, France to Kingsdown, Kent (Aug 6, 1926) when she set a new time record for the distance of 56 kilometres (14 hours and 31 minutes), beating the previous male record by nearly two hours. This feat gained her stardom in America, and she was given a ticker tape parade through New York in her honour (Aug 27) attended by nearly two million people, and was received at the White House by President Calvin Coolidge. She played herself in a film entitled, Swim Girl, Swim, and the song Tell Me, Trudy, Who is Going to be the Lucky One, was written especially for her. Gertrude later became deaf, and shied away from publicity. She became a swimming instructor at the Lexington School for the Deaf in New York, and launched her own line of fashion designer swimwear. She was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame (1965). Gertrude Ederle died (Nov 30, 2003) at Wyckoff, New Jersey, aged ninety-eight.

Eder-Schwyzer, Jeanne – (1894 – 1957)
Swiss feminist and chemist
Jeanne was born in New York, USA, and obtained her doctorate of chemistry from the University of Zurich (1919). She married a fellow chemist. Increasingly drawn to the movement for female suffrage and rqual rights, she supported the petition for voting rights to be granted to Swiss women (1929) and was later appointed a member of the Swiss information service. Appointed chairwoman of the Third Swiss Women’s Congress (1946), Eder-Schwyzer established the Swiss Institute for Home Economics (1948) and served as president. From 1945 – 1957 she served as president of the International Women’s Council. Jeanne Eder-Schwyder died (Oct 24, 1957) in Zurich.

Edeva the Fair    see   Ealdgyth Swan-Neck

Edey, Helen Winthrop – (1912 – 1998)
American psychiatrist and philanthropist
Helen Winthrop Kellogg was born in New York, the daughter of the noted industrialist, and manufacturer, Morris Kellogg, and was educated at the Brearley School in Manhattan and later at Vassar College and New York University. She was married to the noted editor and author, Maitland Edey, to whom she bore four children. Edey studied psychiatry and psychoanalysis at the William Alanson White Psychoanalytic Institute in Manhattan, and practiced herself for thirteen years (1957 – 1970). She was also a prominent figure in the field of women’s rights, being especially active in the fields of reproductive health and rights. Edey was closely associated for several decades with the work in New York of the Association for Voluntary Surgical Contraception (AVSC International). Helen Edey died (Sept 15, 1998) in Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, aged eighty-six.

Edfleda (Eadflaed) – (c904 – c950)
Anglo-Saxon princess
Edfleda was the daughter of Edward the Elder, King of England (899 – 924) and his second wife Aelfflaed, the daughter of Aethelhelm of Wessex, Earl of Wiltshire. She was a granddaughter of Alfred the Great of Wessex (871 – 899).  Edfleda was raised at the abbey of Wilton in Wiltshire by her mother after the queen was divorced (916). Edfleda never married and became a nun, perhaps at the abbey of St Mary at Winchester, popularly known as Nunnaminster, founded by her grandmother, Queen Eahlswith, the wife of King Alfred. Princess Edfleda died during the reign of her half-brother, King Edred (946 – 955) and was buried at Wilton Abbey in Wiltshire with her mother.

Edgar, Lucy Anna – (fl. 1845 – 1865)
Australian diarist and educator
Edgar was daughter to the superintendent of the Aboriginal institution at Merri Creek, near Melbourne in Victoria, which focused on Christian conversion, and lived there with her family during her childhood (1845 – 1851). The community built a bridge across the Merri Creek, which was destroyed in a flood (1850), but eventually dispersed, and Lucy removed to Hobart in Tasmania, with her family. Lucy later wrote a narrative memoir of this period in her life entitled Among the black boys; being the history of an attempt at civilising some young aborigines in Australia(1865), which was published in London by Emily Faithfull. Though written in a somewhat patronising style, the writer’s affection for aboriginal boys she was raised amongst remains, and she records that the efforts made for Christian conversion on the Aborigines was not oppressive in manner.

Edgarton, Sarah – (fl. 1830 – 1846)
American letter writer
Edgarton was a member of the Universalist congregation. She contributed articles to the annual church newsletter the, Rose of Sharon, and wrote to fellow New Englander Luella Case, asking for her to contribute to this publication. This correspondence initiated a lasting friendship, which developed into a lesbian relationship. The couple’s letters over a seven year period have been edited and published. Extracts were later published posthumously in the, New England Quarterly (1963).

Edgecumbe, Catherine St John, Lady – (c1471 – after 1539)
English Tudor courtier
Catherine St John was the daughter of Sir John St John of Bletsoe. She was married firstly to Sir Griffith ap Rice (died 1522), by whom she was mother to Sir Rice ap Griffith (c1490 – 1536), whose widow, Lady Catherine Howard, daughter of Thomas, second Duke of Norfolk, remarried to Henry Daubeney, the first Earl of Bridgewater. After the death of her first husband (1522), Lady Catherine had been part of the household of Queen Anne Boleyn whose brother George Rochford was married to her niece Jane Parker. Her dower rights caused some legal wrangling within the family that had to be sorted out by her brother-in-law Lord Morley.
Lady Catherine ap Rice then became the second wife of Sir Piers Edgecumbe (c1463 – 1539) whom she survived as the Dowager Lady Edgecumbe. Her second husband was son of the famous statesman Sir Richard Edgecumbe (I) (died 1489). Sir Richard Edgecumbe (II) (1499 – 1562) was Catherine’s stepson and she was the stepgrandmother of the noted poet and antiquarian Richard Carew (1555 – 1620). Sometimes identified as the Lady Edgecumbe who attended Anne of Cleves, the fourth wife of Henry VIII, this lady was in fact her stepdaughter-in-law Lady Winifred Edgecumbe (nee Essex).

Edgecumbe, Winifred Essex, Lady – (c1510 – after 1550)
English Tudor courtier
Winifred Essex was the daughter of William Essex. She became the second wife (c1535) of Sir Richard Edgecumbe II (1499 – 1562) to whom she bore eight children including Piers Edgecumbe (1536 – 1607) who was appointed as sheriff of Devon under Elizabeth I (1566) and left issue, and Richard Edgecumbe who was the Member of Parliament for Totnes (1562). Her granddaughter Margaret Edgecumbe, became the wife of Sir Edward Denny (died 1599) of Bishop’s Stortford Manor, Hertfordshire, and left descendants. Through her son Piers Lady Winifred was ancestress of the Barons Edgecumbe and the Earls of Mount-Edgecumbe.
Lady Edgecumbe (not her stepmother-in-law Lady Catherine as is sometimes stated by biographers) was appointed by Henry VIII to be a senior member of the household of his fourth wife Anne of Cleves, whom she accompanied to England from Dover and then became a senior member of her household. She was present at the queen’s ill-fated meeting with Henry (Jan, 1540) at Rochester. It was Lady Edgecumbe and the Countess of Rutland that reported that Queen Anne had remained a virgin during her marriage. After the queen’s divorce (July, 1540) Lady Edgecumbe’s official duties were transferred to the household of the king’s fifth wife Catharine Howard (1540 – 1542). Lady Edgecumbe was not implicated in Catharine Howard’s fall though she was questioned by the Privy councillors as to her activities. Lady Winifred seems to have retired from the court after the queen’s execution and devoted herself to the upbringing of her children. She appears as a minor character in the historical novel The Boleyn Inheritance (2007) by Philippa Gregory.

Edgell, Beatrice – (1871 – 1948)
British psychologist and author
Beatrice Edgell was the daughter of Edward Higginson Edgell, of Tewkesbury, and attended university at Aberystwyth in Wales, and abroad at Wurzburg in Bavaria. Edgell established one of the first psychological research laboratories in Britain. She was the first British woman to receive a doctorate in psychology, and the first woman to become a professor of psychology in Britain. Beatrice Edgell was the first woman to be elected as president of the British Psychological Society, and served as head of the Department of Philosophy and Psychology at Bedford College, in London, for four decades (1898 – 1933). Her own particular ares of research were with human memory, and concerning the Wheatstone-Hipp chronoscope. Apart from articles published in the Proceedings of the Aristotleian Society, her publications included Theories of Memory, and Ethical Problems. Beatrice Edgell died (Aug 10, 1948).

Edgerley, Catherine Mabel – (1877 – 1946)
British medical officer and author
Catherine Blackwood was born in Edinburgh, the daughter of William Blackwood. She was attended school in Edinburgh, and then travelled abroad in Europe to complete her education. She was married (1907) to Samuel edgerley, superintendent of the Menston Mental Hospital, near Leeds, in Yorkshire. Mrs Edgerley served as the assistant medical officer at the West Riding Mental Hospital in Sheffield, and was the surgeon instructor with the Otley division of the St John’s Ambulance Brigade. She published papers on the Bronte sisters, serving as the secretary of the Bronte Society, and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Catherine Edgerley died (Dec 21, 1946) aged sixty-nine, at Menston, near Leeds.

Edgerton, Alice Craig – (1874 – 1946)
American lawyer and author
Edgerton was born (July 25, 1874) in Caldwell, Wisconsin. She was the author of several works including, A Speech for Every Occasion (1931), and, More Speeches and Stories for Every Occasion (1936). Alice Edgerton died (Jan 7, 1946) aged seventy-one.

Edgerton, Mary Wright – (1827 – 1884)
American political figure and letter writer
Mary Wright was born in Ohio, and became the wife of Sidney Edgerton, the governor of Montana. During her husband’s period in office the couple resided at Bannuck in Montana (1863 – 1865). Her private correspondence with family members in Ohio from this period were later edited and published the following century as, “Love From All to All : The Governor’s Lady Writes Home to Ohio” in the Montana Magazine of Western History (1974).

Edgeworth, Maria – (1767 – 1849) 
Anglo-Irish novelist
Edgeworth was born in Blackbourton, Oxfordshire, the daughter of Richard Lovell Edgeworth, and his wife Frances, the daughter of Rev. Daniel Augustus Beaufort, rector of Navan, Meath, and was sister to Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort. Maria was educated in Derby and London, and later settled in Ireland with her family (1782) her father being a reformist landlord.
Her writing career began as she helped to educate her many young half-siblings, and her first written work was, Letters for Literary Ladies (1795) in which she defended her right to translate, which was followed by, The Parent’s Assistant (1796). Edgeworth also produced children’s stories, Moral Tales for Young People (1801), the highly influential teaching aid, Practical Education (1798) which was acclaimed by critics, and the novels, Castle Rackrent (1800), and, Belinda (1801). Other works included, Popular Tales (1804), The Modern Griselda (1806), Ennui (1809), which celebrated Irish rural life, Tales of Fashionable Life (1809), The Absentee (1812), and, Ormond (1817).
Edgeworth later travelled to France (1802 – 1803), and was said to have refused an offer of marriage made by a Swedish officer, Count Edelcrantz, because of her commitment to her family. She continued to write which provided her with financial security, and her last novel, Helen (1834), was said to have influenced Elizabeth Gaskell’s, Wives and Daughters (1866). She organized relief measures on her Irish estate of Edgeworthstown, County Longford, during the famine (1846). Though not a feminist, Edgeworth championed the cause of domesticity, though she genuinely believed in women’s intellectual and moral equality.

Edgington, May – (1883 – 1957)
British novelist and dramatist
Edgington was married (1912) to Francis Baily, and was a prolific and successful story writer, producing over seventy works during a forty-five year period (1909 – 1955). Some of her work was made into British and American films, including Secrets, which she co-wrote with dramatist Rudolph Besier, and was filmed starring legendary actress, Mary Pickford (1933).Edgington’s story His Lady Friends, formed the basis of the famous 40’s musical, No! No! Nanette!. Her novels included titles such as, Emergency Wife, Experiment in Love and Ladies Only. May Edgington died (June 17, 1957) in Alexandra, near Cape Town in South Africa.

Edgiva of England (Eadgifu) – (c908 – after 962)
Queen consort of Arles (c924 – 928)
Princess Edgiva was the daughter of Edward the Elder, King of England (899 – 924), and his second wife Aelfflaed of Wiltshire, the daughter of Aethelhelm, Earl of Wiltshire, and the granddaughter of King Aethelred I (866 – 871). Edgiva was married (c924) to Louis III the Blind (880 – 928) the former Holy Roman emperor, and then King of Arles in Provence as his third wife. The couple had an only child Richard of Vienne (c925 – after 962), who obtained the dukedom of Burgundy but not the throne of Provence. She was stepmother to Charles Constantine, Count of Vienne.
Queen Edgiva may have ruled Arles briefly as regent, but as it was a period of great unrest due both to the Saracen invasions, and the incursions made by the Frankish kings and the Hungarians, the exact nature of her authority remains undeterminable. Her grandson Rumon (952 – 1002) became a monk at the Abbey of Glastonbury in England where he was revered as a saint. Queen Edgiva appears as a character in the historical romance Avalon (1966) by the British novelist Anya Seton which revolves around his life.

Edgiva of Kent     see    Eadgifu

Edgiva of Leominster – (c1025 – after 1086)
Anglo-Saxon nun
Edgiva was trained for the religious life, and became a nun, being appointed to serve as Abbess of Leominster. She was abducted (1045) by Svein Godwinsson, Earl of Mercia the eldest brother of King Harold (1066), who kept her with him as his concubine. Edgiva bore Svein two sons, Haakon Sveinsson (died after 1064), and Tostig Sveinsson (died after 1053), and Svein married her, though the union was uncanonical, due to Edgiva’s former religious vows, from which she had not been released. He was then exiled from England. With Svein’s death at Lycia, near Constantinople, Asia Minor (1052), Edgiva was restored to her former religious dignity, by order of King Edward the Confessor. She was still living at the time of the Domesday Book survey, ordered by William the Conqueror (1086), and was recorded as a minor landholder.

Edgley, Edna – (1910 – 2000)
Australian actress and dancer
Born Edna Luscombe, in Carlton, Melbourne, Victoria, she performed in pantomimes from the age six. She later performed with visiting British vaudeville actor, Eric Edgley (1899 – 1967), whom she would eventually marry (1940). With her husband, she became joint proprietor of His Majesty’s Theatre in Perth, Western Australia (1950), and imported acts from all over the world, including the Bolshoi Ballet, the Moscow Variety Theatre and the Moscow Circus. An accomplished ballerina, Edgley performed on stage well into her eighth decade, appearing in two hundred performances of, Romeo and Juliet with the Australian Ballet (1974 – 1987) in the role of the Capulet’s nurse. Edgley also appeared with the Bolshoi Ballet and danced with the Australian Ballet’s productions of, Onegin, and, Sentimental Bloke. Edgley appeared in two famous films, The Man from Snowy River (1981), and, Phar Lap (1982), and was awarded the OAM (Order of Australia Medal) for her decades of service to the arts. She was the mother of entrepeneur Michael Edgley (born 1943). Edna Edgley died on the Gold Coast, Queensland, aged eighty-nine (May 8, 2000).

Edgren, Anna Charlotte    see   Leffler, Anna Charlotte

Edhilda (Eadhild) – (c907 – 937)
Anglo-Saxon princess and dynastic wife
Edhilda was one of the younger daughters of Edward the Elder, King of England (899 – 924) and his second wife Aelfflaed, the daughter of Aethelhelm of Wessex, Earl of Wiltshire. When her parents were divorced (916) Edhilda was raised by their mother at the abbey of Wilton in Wiltshire, away from the court. Like all her sisters, she possessed a talent for fine embroidery and worked upon several tapestries for the king’s court. Her half-brother, King Athelstan (924 – 939) arranged several European marriages for his numerous half-sisters, in order to raise English prestige abroad. An embassy to England was headed by the king’s kinsman, Arnulf I of Flanders, whose own mother was Edhilda’s aunt. The count successfully treated for Edhilda’s hand for Duke Hugh Capet (896 – 956) as his second wife. These festivities took place at Abingdon, and some of the gifts left by Arnulf made their way to Malmesbury Abbey in Somersetshire.
Edhilda and two of her sisters travelled to the continent (926) with great retinues and much wealth. There she became the second wife of Hugh Capet, Duke of Paris (896 – 956). Her two sisters were then found husbands, Edith was married to Otto of Saxony and Adiva (Aelfgifu) became the wife of Boleslav II of Bohemia. Duchess Edhilda died young (Sept 14, 937), aged about thirty, and left an only daughter, who became the wife of Count Hugh of Dagsburg and left descendants, though the line remains uncertain.

Edib, Halide    see    Adivar, Halide Edib

Edilientia – (fl. c450 AD)
British Celtic virgin saint
Edilientia was venerated at the church of Endellion in Cornwall. The details of her life and her feast date have now been lost. She was mentioned by Parker in his Calendar of the Prayer Book (1866).

Edinger, Tilly – (1897 – 1967) 
German-American palaeontologist
Ottilie Edinger was born at Frankfurt-am-Main and studied at the universities of Heidelberg and Munich. She obtained her doctorate (1921) and then studied the workings of the brain in fossil vertebrates, after becoming a research assistant at the University of Frankfurt (1921 – 1927).  Edinger was later appointed as custodian of the Senckenberg Biological Museum (1927 – 1938). With the outbreak of WW II, she immigrated firstly to Britain, and then to the USA (1940), where she joined the staff of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University (1940 – 1967) and eventually became an American citizen (1945). Edinger established and pioneered the field of paleoneurology, which encompassed the study of the brain and its interaction with the nervous system. She was the author of, Die fossilen Gehirne (1929), and, Evolution of the Horse Brain (1948). Tilly Edinger was killed in an accident (May 27, 1967) aged sixty-nine, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Edith of Aylesbury – (c620 – c680)
Anglo-Saxon virgin saint
Edith was the youngest daughter of Cynegils, King of Wessex (611 – 643). She was converted with other members of her family by St Botolph (c637) at the behest of King Oswald of Northumbria. Princess Edith renounced the marriage which had been arranged for her and begged from Cynegils the gift of the village of Aylesbury where she and her aunt Edburga, the daughter of King Ceolric built a monastery With the death of her aunt (c650) Edith may have joined the community under abbess Modwenna at Streneschalen. Queen Osyth of Essex was possibly raised in her household. Edith of Aylesbury’s feast was recorded in the Lignum Vitae (Oct 7).

Edith of England (Eadgyth) – (c913 – 947)
Queen consort of Germany
Edith was the daughter of Edward the Elder, King of England, and his second wife Aelfflaed of Wiltshire. She became the first wife (929) of Otto I, King of Germany (later emperor Otto I, 962 – 973) and bore him two children, Luidolf and Luitgarde. Her relations with her mother-in-law, the empress Mathilda were cool, and the elder lady appears to have retired from the court during Edith’s presidence, though she is credited with arranging the reconciliation of her husband with his mother. Queen Edith died aged in her early thirties (Jan 26, 947).

Edith of Pollesworth – (c897 – c950)
Anglo-Saxon abbess and saint
Edith was the eldest daughter of Edward the Elder, King of England (899 – 924) and his first wife, the Mercian heiress Ecgwynn. She was full-sister to King Athelstan (924 – 939) and had many half-sisters. Her brother arranged a political marriage (925) for her with the Viking leader Sihtric, who had made himself king of Northumbria with his capital at York. The couple had no children, and with his death (926) Edith retired from public life and became a Benedictine nun at the abbey of Pollesworth in Warwickshire. She was appointed abbess and became famous for her piety and religious sanctity. Regarded a saint, her feast was celebrated annually (July 15).

Edith of Wessex (Eadgyth) – (c1025 – 1075) 
Anglo-Saxon queen
Edith was the eldest daughter of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, and his wife Gytha, the daughter of Thorkils Sprakkaleg. Her eldest brother was the future Harold II. Educated at the royal abbey of Wilton, her father is said to have refused her wish to become a nun in order to arrange the advantageous marriage for with King Edward the Confessor (1003 – 1066) which took place at Winchester Cathedral (Jan 23, 1045). There were no children of the marriage, which gave rise to rumours of mutual chastity. Indeed, the queen was sincere in her religious devotions, and lived simply during her married life, though she donned magnificent robes on ceremonial occasions.
Her husband chafed under the tutelage of Earl Godwin, and in 1051, after her father and brother Tostig had unsuccessfully rebelled against Edward and been forced to flee to Flanders, Queen Edith was stripped of her possessions, and sent from court to Wherwell Abbey, Hampshire. With the restoration of her family to power in 1052 Edith was reinstated at court. She rebuilt the church for the nuns at Wilton, and this building was reconsecrated in 1065. At his deathbed, in Jan, 1066, Edward commended the queen to the care of her brother Harold. Edith then retired to Winchester, and was not among those who approved of Harold taking the crown soon afterwards, though she was present at his coronation. With Harold’s death at Hastings several months later, Edith remained in the city of Winchester and in 1067 offerred the submission of the city to William the Conqueror. Her offer was significant, for the collapse of the ancient seat of the West-Saxon kings signalled the end to potential resistance to William in many parts of the south. Out of respect for the queen, William left the city in peace, and marched instead upon London.
In May, 1068 Edith attended the coronation of Queen Matilda, and continued her patronage of English abbeys such as Wilton, and several foreign houses, such as that of St Riquier in Picardy. According to the Domesday Book, Edith had most extensive possessions, though it is difficult to distinguish what came to her as queen from that which she received from her late father. Queen Edith died at Winchester Palace (Dec 19, 1075) and was interred beside Edward in Westminster Abbey, London.

Edith of Wilton (Eadgyth) – (961 – 984)
Anglo-Saxon princess
Edith was born at Kemsing, Kent, the daughter of King Edgar I and his first wife, Wulfthryth. Her parents were seperated after her birth, and she accompanied her mother to the abbey of Wilton, where she was trained to be a nun, and received the veil from Bishop Ethelwold. King Edgar later offerred to appoint Edith as an abbess, but she did not wish to leave her mother, and instead he appointed her abbess of Wilton, where she built an oratory dedicated to St Dionysius. With the murder of her half-brother, Edward the Martyr (979), Edith was briefly considered as a possible successor instead of her younger half-brother, Aethelred II. With her early death, her mother succeeded her as abbess. The church regarded her as a saint.

Edith Swan-Neck (Swanneshals)     see    Ealdgyth Swan-Neck

Edith Matilda    see    Matilda of Scotland

Editha Charlotte Wilhelmine – (1905 – 1986)
German princess and last duchess consort of the former reigning family of Anhalt-Dessau (1930 – 1948)
Editha Marwitz was born (Aug 20, 1905) in Dusseldorf, Westphalia, the natural daughter of Wilhelm Horn and Irmgard Marwitz. As a child she bore her mother’s surname, to which was later added the surname of her adopted mother, Bertha von Stephani, and she became Edda Marwitz von Stephani. Edda was married firstly to Maximilian Edler von Rogister, from whom she was later divorced. She was married secondly at Dessau, Germany (1929), when she became the second wife of Duke Joachim Ernst of Anhalt-Dessau (1901 – 1948). Edda was accorded the royal titles, unlike her predecessor, Countess von Askanien. During WW II the duke was captured by the Russians and died a prisoner at Buchenwald (Feb 18, 1948). Duchess Editha never remarried and survived her husband almost forty years as Dowager Duchess (1948 – 1986). Duchess Editha died (Feb 22, 1986) at Garmisch-Partenkirche, aged eighty, having borne five children,

• Princess Alexandra of Anhalt-Dessau (1930 – 1993). She married firstly Karl Heinz Guttmann (divorced 1968), and secondly Max Riederer (divorced 1976).
• Princess Anna Luise of Anhalt-Dessau (1933 – 2003). She was married to Thomas Beverley Birch (divorced 1970).
• Hereditary Prince Friedrich of Anhalt-Dessau (1938 – 1963). He died unmarried.
• Princess Edda of Anhalt-Dessau (born 1940). She was married to Johann Albrecht Darboven.
• Hereditary Prince Eduard of Anhalt-Dessau (born 1941). He was married to Corina Kronlein and left descendants.

Editna (Dediva) – (fl. c540 – c590)
Irish saint
Sometimes called by the Latin name, Dediva, she was of royal ancestry, married four husbands, and became the mother of a large family, all noted for their religious piety. Long venerated as a saint, the date of her feast is now lost. By her first husband, Fintan, Editna was the mother of saint Senan. By her second, Collan, she was the mother of Manchlin and of Callin, who was a follower of St Columba of Iona, and saint Fedilimid of Kilmore, whose sex remains uncertain. By her third husband Carill, Editna left a son Dagius, and a daughter Femia, both venerated as saints. By her last husband Tren, the son of Dubtach O’Lugair, whose ancestry appears to have been famous, Editna was the mother of a daughter, saint Diermait of Tnis Clothrann.

Edla, Countess von     see    Hensler, Elise Frederica

Edla of Mecklenburg – (c976 – c1008)
Slav concubine
Edla was princess of the Wends from Mecklenburg, the daughter of Prince Mieceslas and his wife Sophia. She was taken captive by Olaf II Skotkonnung, King of Sweden (980 – 1022) and became his mistress. Her children by Olaf were raised in the royal household, and included,

• Ealdgyth of Sweden (c995 – c1028). She was married firstly to the Viking jarl Sigehere, and secondly to the English king, Edmund II Ironside (984 – 1016), leaving descendants from her second marriage.
• Edmund the Old (c998 – 1056). He became King of Sweden, and left descendants.
• Astrid of Sweden (c1005 – c1050). She became first wife of Olaf II (995 – 1030), King of Norway.

Through her eldest daughter Edla was the great-grandmother of St Margaret, queen of Scotland, and ancestress through the Plantagenets of all the successive ruling dynasties of Great Britain, as well as ancestress of many of the royal houses of Europe.

Edling, Roxanda Stourdza, Countess von – (fl. 1796 – c1830)
Wallachian-Russian aristocrat and courtier
Roxanda Sturdza was born into a princely family, and later became attached to the Russian Imperial court, where she served as lady-in-waiting to the Tsarina Elizabeth Alexievna, wife of Tsar Alexander I (1801 – 1825). Countess von Edling’s period of service ended with the empress’s death (1826), and her personal reminiscences, Memoires de la Comtesse Edling (nee Stourdza) (1888), were published posthumously in Moscow.

Edmead, Elizabeth – (fl. 1786 – 1832)
British actress
Edmead was possibly the illegitinate daughter of the actor, Thomas Hull, and first performed with Tate Wilkinson’s troupe in Doncaster, appearing in the role of Belvidera in, Venice Preserv’d (1786). From 1787 she was attached to Covent Garden Theatre, in London, and also appeared at the Haymarket Theatre, sometimes performing under the name of Eccles. Elizabeth Edmead also appeared in Skakespearean roles, performing as Imogen in Cymbeline (1788). She performed in the Crow Stree Theatre in Dublin and in Norwich, where she was the first female to appear in the role of the Danish prince in Hamlet (1791). Edmead also played the title role in Alexander the Great (1793). Left a monetary bequest by Lord Chedworth (1804), who was a staunch patron of the theatre, she was still living in 1832, having by then been retired from the stage for several years.

Edmond, Lauris – (1924 – 2000) 
New Zealand poet and author
Lauris Edmond was born in Hawles Bay, and became the wife of a schoolteacher to whom she bore six children. The couple travelled around New Zealand following her husband’s various teaching posts. She wrote letters and poems, and kept diaries, but due to the necessities of rasing a family and the needs of domestic life, she did not publish anything until the age of fifty-five, when, with the encouragement of the poet Dennis Glover, she edited, Selected Letters of Ard Fairbairn (1981). She was also co-founder of the periodical, New Zealand Books (1990).
Awarded the Katherine Mansfield Memorial fellowship, she received the Commonwealth Poetry Prize for her, Selected Poems (1985) and was awarded the OBE (1986) by Queen Elizabeth II. The death of a daughter (1975) and her divorce from her husband (whom she nursed till his death) several years later created problems within her family due to their exposure to facets of the media, but the familial themes of which she wrote, and dealt with in her work, were held to represent the feminine view of life. Other works included, High Weather Country (1984), Seasons and Creatures (1986), and, New and Selected Poems (1991).

Edmonds, Caddie – (1900 – 1960)
Australian barmaid
Catherine Beatrice Edmonds was born (Nov 11, 1900) in Penrith, New South Wales, the daughter of a labourer. Influenced by author Dymphna Cusack, she recorded her life during the period (1924 – 1939), which was edited and published in London as, Caddie, A Sydney Barmaid (1953), which was enthusiastically acclaimed. Caddie eschewed all publicity, and died (April 16, 1960) at Regentville, aged fifty-nine. She was portrayed by Helen Morse in the film, Caddie (1978), produced by Anthony Buckley, which loosely portrayed her life.

Edmonds, Rosemary – (1905 – 1998) 
British literary translator
Edmonds was educated in England and at the Sorbonne in Paris.She was employed by the British government as official translator to French president Charles de Gaulle in London during WW II, and he paid for her to learn Russian at the Sorbonne. Though de Gaulle wished to retain her services after the war, this would have meant giving up her British citizenship, and Rosemary resigned. The foremost British translator of Leo Tolstoy, she first translated, Anna Karenin (1954), and then, War and Peace (1957) which was later revised (1978) and remained the standard English text. Other Russian literary texts she translated included, The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1960), Childhood, Boyhood, Youth (1964), and, Resurrection (1966), as well as Alexander Pushkin’s The Queen of Spades and Other Stories (1962), Turgenev’s, Fathers and Sons (1965), and works by Gogol.

Edmonds, Sarah Emma Evelyn     see    Edwards, Sarah Emma Evelyn

Edmonston, Catherine Ann Devereux – (fl. 1860 – 1866)
Southern American civil war diarist and soldier’s wife
Edmonds was a resident of Halifax County, North Carolina. She was a supporter of the secession advocated by the southern states, and kept a private journal during the war years. This was edited and published in the following century as The Journal of a Secesh Lady: The Diary of Catherine Ann Devereux Edmonston, 1860 – 1866 (1954).

Edmonstone, Ida Agnes Eleanor Forbes, Lady – (1870 – 1946)
British courtier
Ida Forbes was the only daughter of George Edward Forbes (1844 – 1894), of Aslown, and his wife Henrietta Maria, daughter of Hon.(Honourable) Humble Dudley Ward (1821 – 1870). She was married (1895) to Sir Archibald Edmonstone (1867 – 1954), fifth baronet, CVO (1909), to whom she bore three children. She was Lady Edmonstone for over five decades (1895 – 1946) and served as woman of the Bedchamber to HRH Princess Christian (Helena Augusta Victoria), third daughter of Queen Victoria. Lady Edmonstone died (Dec 21, 1946) aged seventy-six, leaving issue,

• Lieutenant William George Edmonstone (1896 – 1916). He joined the Coldstream Guards and was killed in action at the Battle of the Somme. He was unmarried.
• Sir Archibald Charles Edmonstone (1898 – 1954). He succeeded his father briefly as sixth baronet. He married and left descendants.
• Commander Edward St John Edmonstone (1901 – 1983), of the Royal Navy, served WW II. Edward VII stood sponsor in person at his christening. He held the estate of Barcombe Old Priory, near Lewes in Sussex, and married and left descendants.

Edmunda Maria Theresa – (1652 – 1737)
German princess consort of Liechtenstein (1684 – 1712).
Countess Edmunda von Dietrichstein-Nikolsburg was born (April 17, 1652), the daughter of Prince Ferdinand Joseph von Dietrichstein-Nikolsburg, and his wife Countess Elisabeth von Eggenburg. Edmunda became the wife (1681) of Johann Adam Andreas (1662 – 1712), Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein, and became HSH (Her Serene Highness) the Hereditary Princess (1681 – 1684) until her husband succeeded his father, Prince Karl Eusebius, as the reigining sovereign prince of Liechtenstein (1684 – 1712). She survived her husband for twenty-five years as Princess Dowager of Liechtenstein. Princess Edmunda died (March 15, 1737) aged eighty-four. Her first son died young (1682) as did five others of her thirteen children. Her seven surviving children were,

• Princess Marie Elisabeth of Liechtenstein (1683 – 1744). She became the third wife of her kinsman, Prince Maximilian II of Liechtenstein (1641 – 1709), and then remarried to Leopold (1674 – 1722), Duke of Schleswig-Holstein.
• Karl Joseph (1684 – 1704). Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein. He died unmarried, predeceasing his father.
• Princess Marie Antoinette of Liechtenstein (1687 – 1750). She was married firstly to Count Marcus von Zobor (died 1728), and secondly to Count Karl Hrznan von Harras (died 1750).
• Prince Franz Dominikus (1689 – 1711). He succeeded his elder brother as the Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein (1704 – 1711). He died unmarried, predeceasing his father.
• Princess Gabrielle of Liechtenstein (1692 – 1713). She became the first wife of her cousin, Prince Joseph Johann of Liechtenstein (1690 – 1732).
• Princess Maria Theresa of Liechtenstein (1694 – 1772). She became the wife of Prince Emanuele of Savoy (1687 – 1729), Count of Soissons.
• Princess Dominika Magdalena of Liechtenstein (1698 – 1724). She became the wife of Heinrich Joseph, Duke von Auerspurg-Munsterberg (1697 – 1783).

Edmunds, Christiana – (1829 – 1907)
British poisoner
Edmunds was a resident of Brighton, near London, and her family had a history of mental illness. When, having passed the age of forty, she became enamoured of the family physician, Dr Beard. He refused her advances and she became determined upon revenge. Edmunds purchased chocolates to which she added strychnine, and sent them to the doctor’s wife, but the servants ate them and became ill instead. Edmunds then used the same method to poison the errand boy who she used to purchase the sweets for her. Dr Beard realized what was afoot, went to the police, who had Edmunds arrested (1872). Taken to trial, where her mental condition became obvious, she was convicted and imprisoned within an asylum till her death.

Edmunds, Nellie Hepburn – (1881 – 1953)
British portrait painter and miniaturist
Nellie Edmunds was the daughter of Henry Chase Edmunds, and studied art under Fred Brown at the Slade School, and with Mouat Loudan at the Westminster School of Art. She specialized as a painter of miniatures and began exhibiting her work at the Royal Academy whilst a student at Slade, and her career as an exhibitor spanned five decades. Her work was also exhibited in several prestigious international exhibitions, and one of her miniatures is preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum, in Kensington, London. Edmunds served as the vice-president of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters from 1912. Nellie Hepburn Edmunds died (Feb 14, 1953) at Bexhill, Sussex.

Edmunds, Rosette Mary (Rosina) – (1900 – 1956)
Australian architect
Edmunds was born (May 31, 1900) in Strathfield, Sydney, New South Wales, the daughter of a barrister, and was educated at the Dominican Convent School there and the University of Sydney. Edmunds began her career working for the noted architect Clement Grancey and designed naval installations during WW II, after which she was appointed as a field-officer with the Commonwealth Department of Post-war Reconstruction (1944). She was later appointed a survey officer by the Cumberland County Council (1946), and designed extensions for the Catholic presbytery in Parkes in the ACT (Australian Capital Territory). Edmunds was made an associate of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (1950) and became president (1956) of the Canberra area committee. She was the author of Architecture: An Introductory Survey (1938), and wrote articles for the journal, Twentieth Century. She remained unmarried. Rosette Edmunds died (April 23, 1956) in Canberra, ACT aged fifty-five.

Ednam, Rosemary Millicent Sutherland, Lady – (1893 – 1930)
British socialite
Lady Rosemary Sutherland was the daughter of Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1851 – 1913), the fourth Duke of Sutherland (1892 – 1913), and his famous hostess wife, Millicent Fanny St Clair-Erskine. During her youth, after making her debut at the court of George V and Queen Mary, her name was romantically linked to that of their eldest son, the Prince of Wales (Edward VIII).  Lady Rosemary was married instead (1919) to William Humble Eric Ward (1894 – 1969), Viscount Ednam, the eldest son and heir of the second Earl of Dudley, as his second wife. Lady Ednam was a patron of the R.R.C. (Royal Red Cross) and was tragically killed in an air crash, her remains being identified by the string of pearls she was known to have been wearing. She was the mother of William Humble David Ward (born 1920), who succeeded his father as the fourth Earl of Dudley (1969). He was married and left children.

Edonne   see    Ermenechildis

Edson, Katherine Phillips – (1870 – 1933)
American feminist and social reformer
Edson was born in the Midwest region and came to Antelope Valley, California before settling in Los Angeles in 1900. Edson worked tirelessly to reform the wages, hours, and conditions for female workers, and was later appointed chief of the Division of Industrial Welfare (1927). In Los Angeles Katherine Edson had a long and notable career as a prominent women’s suffrage campaigner.

Edstrom, Livia – (1876 – 1971)
Swedish soprano
Edstrom was born (March 18, 1876) in Vanersborg, and became the second wife (1910) of the noted conductor and composer, Edvard Armas Jarnefelt (1869 – 1958) whom she survived. Livia Edstrom died (June 24, 1971) in Stockholm, aged ninety-five.

Eduardovna, Evgenia Platonovna – (1882 – 1960)
Russian ballerina and teacher
Eduardovna was born in St Petersburg. Eduardovna received intensive training in St Petersburg. After the 1917 revolution she went abroad and she lived in Paris (1935 – 1947). After WW II she immigrated to the USA. Madame Eduardovna died in New York (Dec 10, 1960), aged seventy-eight.

Edvina, Marie Louise – (1878 – 1948)
French Canadian soprano
Born Marie Louise Martin in Quebec, and was educated in the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Montreal. She trained as a singer in Paris under Jean Reszke (1906 – 1908), and made her stage debut at Covent Garden in London as Margeurite in Gounod’s Faust (1908). Marie Edvina appeared at the Opera Comique in Paris, and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Her second husband (1901) was the Hon. (Honourable) Cecil Edwardes, a younger son of the fourth Baron Kensington, to whom she bore two daughters, and who was killed in action during WW I (1917). Her third husband (1919) was Nicholas Stuart-Wortley (died 1926). Madame Edvina died (Nov 13, 1948)

Edwardes, Emma Sidney, Lady – (1825 – 1904)
British author
Emma Sidney was born at Richmond Hill, Surrey, the daughter of James Sidney, and was married firstly (1850) to the famous Anglo-Indian general, Sir Hebert Benjamin Edwardes (1819 – 1868). After his death she produced, Memorials of the Life and Letters of General Herbert Edwardes (1886). She later remarried (1875) to William Tollemache. Lady Edwardes died aged seventy-nine (Aug 28, 1904).

Edwards, Amelia Ann Blandford – (1831 – 1892)
British Egyptologist, traveller, and novelist
Edwards was born in London, the daughter of an army officer who later became a banker, and was educated at home. Due to financial necessity, she worked as a journalist and published stories in several periodicals such as the Saturday Review and Charles Dickens’s, Household Words. Blandford’s first literary success, the novel, My Brother’s Wife (1855) was followed by historical works such as, The History of France (1856), novels such as, Barbara’s History (1864), Hand and Glove (1865), Debenham’s Vow (1869), and, Lord Brackenbury (1880). She also wrote numerous ghost stories which were published in various journals and periodicals. Blandford founded the Egyptian Exploration Fund, and herself contributed articles on Egyptology to the most prestigious European and American journals. Her later works were travelogues of her trips throughout Egypt, A Thousand Miles up the Nile (1877), and, Pharaohs, Fellahs, and Explorers (1891). She left funds to establish an Egyptology chair at the University College, London.

Edwards, Clara – (1880 – 1974)
American vocalist, composer and pianist
Born Clara Gerlich (March 18, 1887) in Mankato, Minnesota she is said to have taught herself the piano. She attended secondary school in Mankato and later went to attend the Cosmopolitan School of Music in Chicago, Illinois. Clara left her formal education unfinished in order to marry a phsyician, John Milton Edwards, and the couple moved to reside in Vienna, Austria, where she resumed her musical studies. She declined an invitationextended by the Queen of Sweden to join the Royal Opera and she toured Europe, performing in London, Paris, and Stockholm, before returning to the USA to tour at home (1914). With the death of her husband she moved to New York City where she later established her own Chautauqua Concert Company (1934). She wrote several songs and sometimes used the pseudonym ‘Bernhard Haig.’ Clara Edwards died aged ninety-three (Jan 17, 1974).

Edwards, Dorothy – (1903 – 1934)
Welsh poet and nationalist
Edwards was born near Cardiff, the daughter of a socialist schoolmaster, and was educated at her father’s boy’s school, at secondary school in Cardiff, and finally at the University College Cardiff.  Edwards became a talented linguist, and studied abroad in Vienna and in Florence, Italy, before returning to live with her widowed mother in Cardiff, being determined to make her own living by writing. She published a collection of short stories, Rhapsody (1927) which was extremely well received by the critics, and this was followed by the novel, Winter Sonata (1928).
Edwards became known to David Garnett, the noted literary figure, who introduced her to the Bloomsbury set in London, where she also met Dora de Houghton Carrington. However, her involvement with the group did not remain cordial. Dorothy returned to Cardiff where she burnt her papers and letters, the committed suicide (Jan 6, 1934) by throwing herself under a train. Her short stories included, The Spirit of Music and, The True Comedian.

Edwards, Evangeline Dora – (1888 – 1957)
British oriental scholar and author
Edwards was born (Aug 13, 1888), the daughter of Reverend John Edwards, and was educated at the University of London. Specializing in eastern languages, Evangeline was appointed as a lecturer in Chinese at the School of Oriental Studies at the University of London (1921 – 1931), and later became a reader (1931 – 1939). Her last academic appointment was as the acting head of the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art (1951 – 1955). Her published works included Chinese Prose Literature of the T’ang Period, in two volumes (1937 – 1938), and Bamboo, Palm and Lotus: An Anthology of South-East Asia, the Far East and the Pacific (1947). Evangeline Edwards died (Sept 29, 1957) aged sixty-nine.

Edwards, India – (1895 – 1990)
American journalist and political activist
Edwards was born in Chicago, Illinois, and was educated in St Louis, Missouri. Edwards began her journalistic career (1919) as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, working as the women’s editor till 1942. She gradually became more closely involved with the Democratic Party, becoming a campaigner from 1944, and then a speechwriter and scriptwriter at Democratic Party headquarters.  An especial friend to President Harry S. Truman, Edwards was appointed executive secretary of the women’s division of the Democratic National Committee, she was later executive director (1948 – 1950) and vice chairwoman (1950) and dedicated her political life to getting women into positions of power in the American political scene, including Perle Mesta, as minister to Luxemburg and Eugenia Anderson as the first female ambassador, to Denmark. Edwards left political memoirs Pulling No Punches (1977), and later served as democratic delegate for presidential candidate Gary Hart (1984). India Edwards died in Sebastopol, California, aged ninety-four (Jan 14, 1990).

Edwards, Jeillo – (1942 – 2004)
Sierra Leonean actress
Edwards was born in Freetown (Sept 23, 1942) and began to perform on stage in early childhood and through the church. She came to Britain where she studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and was with the BBC World Service for Africa which was broadcast in Britain, and became particularly known for her strong voice and manner of pronunciation. Edwards became the first black woman to appear on British television, as well as on the popular series, The Bill. Her roles inckuded cameo appearances in many popular British comedies such as, Absolutely Fabulous (1992 – 1995) with Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders, Red Dwarf, Black Books with Dylan Moran and Tamsin Greig, and the enormously popular, Little Britain. Jeillo Edwards died in London (July 9, 2004), aged sixty-one.

Edwards, Kathleen Ermyntrude Corfield, Lady – (1890 – 1975)
British baronetess (1921 – 1922)
Kathleen Corfield was the daughter of John Corfield, a Member of Parliament. She was married (1911) to John Bryn Edwards (1889 – 1922) who was ennobled by George V as Sir John Edwards, first baronet, of Treforis, county Glamorgan (1921). Widowed the following year, she never remarried and was known as the Dowager Lady Edwards for over five decades (1922 – 1975). She resided mainly at Hendrefoilan, near Sketty in Glamorganshire during her long widowhood. Lady Edwards left two children,

• Margaret Kathleen Valerie Edwards (born 1912). She was married (1935) to Eric Davan Wetton, CBE (Commander of the British Empire), of Putney, London, and left descendants.
• Sir John Clive Leighton Edwards (born 1916). He succeeded his father as second baronet, and remained unmarried.

Edwards, Maria Churchill Coster, Lady – (1815 – 1906)
British baronetess (1866 – 1886)
Maria Coster was the daughter of Thomas Coster, of Regent’s Park, London. She was married (1838) to Henry Edwards (1812 – 1886), Member of Parliament for Halifax and Beverley, who was ennobled by Queen Victoria as Sir Henry Edwards, first baronet, of Pye Nest, York (1866). With her husband’s death she was the Dowager Lady Edwards for twenty years (1886 – 1906). Lady Edwards died (March 5, 1906) aged ninety. She left three children,

• Sir Henry Coster Lea Edwards (1840 – 1896). He succeeded his father as the second baronet (1886 – 1896). He was divorced from his first wife, Agnes Harcourt Clark, and left descendants by his second marriage with Laura Selina Clark.
• Colonel Charles Grove Edwards (1843 – 1904) of Wicklesham, Faringdon, and Lamborne Place, Berkshire. He was married to Beatrix Hippisley but died childless.
• Major Arthur Hancock Edwards (1847 – 1924) of Pye Nest, York. He was married to Eleanor Louisa Pease and left descendants.

Edwards, Mary Ellen – (1839 – 1900)
British painter
Mary Ellen Edwards was born in Kingston-on-Thames, and married firstly John Freer and secondly Jon Staples. Mary produced flower and still-life paintings, and showed her work under her maiden, and under both her married names. Ten of her paintings were on display at the Royal Academy, and nearly two dozen more were viewed at various other exhibitions during the latter part of her career (1874 – 1888).

Edwards, Matilda Betham     see    Betham-Edwards, Matilda Barbara

Edwards, Penny – (1928 – 1998)
American actress
Popular during the 1940’s she appeared in films such as, That Hagen Girl (1947), Two Guys from Texas (1948), and, Powder River (1953). Three decades later she returned to the screen to appear in the movie, Lady Beware (1987).

Edwards, Sarah Emma Evelyn – (1841 – 1898) 
American Civil War soldier
Edwards was born in Nova Scotia, and had grown up an incorrigible tom-boy, who quickly realized the freedom of activity that donning male attire could bring her, and did not hesitate to practice, passing herself off successfully as a door to door Bible salesman before eventually enlisting as a soldier with the Michigan regiment of the Union Army during the Civil War.
Because of her natural talent for subterfuge, Edwards was highly successful as an espionage agent, and one infiltrated the Confederate camp in the disguise of a young black male cook. She retained male disguise even when nursing wounded soldiers, and fearlessly shot a Confederate captain at point blank range. She was the author of a best-selling autobiography, Nurse and Spy in the Union Army (1865).

Edwards, Sarah Pierpont – (1710 – 1758)
American letter writer and devotional author
Sarah Pierpont was the daughter of Rev. James Pierpont, of New Haven, and his wife Mary Hooker. Sarah was married to the Calvinist minister Jonathon Edwards (1727) and was the mother of Esther Edwards Burr and Mary Edwards Dwight. Her granddaughter was Theodosia Burr Alston. Edwards experienced a major religious conversion, and left a narrative of this which was included in the, Memoirs of Jonathon Edwards (1742). Her elegantly written correspondence with her daughters survives.

Edwards, Susanne Kathleen – (1958 – 2000)
Australian socialite
Susanne Bond she was the eldest daughter of the famous entrepeneur, sports figure and later, corporate criminal, Alan Bond by his first marriage. She was married firstly (1985) in Perth, Western Australia, to Armand Leone, an American radiologist and showjumper. Her wedding dress reportedly cost fifty thousand dollars and the wedding itself was covered in every tabloid in the country. The marriage remained childless and, after a few years the couple were divorced (1988). Susanne remarried (1993) to John Edwards, a British physician, from whom she later seperated (1998).  She was then involved in a liasion with a prominent stockbroker, Johnnie Lloyd Jones, to whom she bore a son (1998). Despite her social prominence, Edwards was herself an accomplished equestrienne, with a history of show jumping performances in the USA, Japan, and in Saudi Arabia, and made it to Olympic pre-selection in the Australian showjumping team (1985). Susanne Edwards died suddenly in her sleep (July 6, 2000) in Perth, aged forty-one, the day after returning by plane from London.

Edwell, Bernice – (1880 – 1962)
Anglo-Australian miniaturist and painter
Edwell was born in Newbury, England, and was brought to Sydney, New South Wales, in Australia during her childhood. She received instruction from Henry Fullwood as the Royal Art Society School, and then travelled to Paris for further tuition at Colarossi’s art school there (1903 – 1904).  Edwell specialized in water colour landscapes, and her work was exhibited in Sydney, Melbourne, the Royal Academy in London, and the Beaux Arts in Paris over a period of three decades (1904 – 1934). She was a founding member of the Society of Women Artists in Sydney (1910). Her self-portrait (1919) is preserved in the collection of the Australian National Gallery, in Canberra.

Edwen – (c605 – c650)
Anglo-Saxon virgin saint
Edwen was the daughter of Edwin of Deira, king of Northumbria and his first wife Coenburh, the daughter of Ceorl, king of Mercia. She was the sister of Osfrith and elder half-sister to Eanflaed, queen of Northumbria. Edwen resided the court of Cadfan, king of North Wales, where she fled into exile after her father’s murder (634). She became a nun at the convent of Llanedwen, in Anglesley, which was named for her. With her death she was venerated as a saint (Nov 6).

Edyngton, Maud – (c1345 – 1378)
English mediaeval heiress
Maud was born into the family of Edyngton, who were prominent landowners at South Baddesley in the New Forest, Essex. Maud held the estates if Walton in Northants as her dower lands and became the wife of John, fourth Baron de Lisle (1335 – 1370). She was the mother of John Lisle (1366 – 1407) who succeeded his father as the fifth Baron Lisle (1370 – 1407) and left descendants. Lady Maud survived her husband as the Dowager Baroness Lisle (1370 – 1378) and died (April 8, 1378).

Eells, Elsie Spicer – (1880 – 1963)
American traveller and author
Born Eusebia Spicer (Sept 21, 1880), in West Winfield, New York, she became the wife of Burr Gould Eells. Mrs Eells was the author of several works such as Fairy Tales from Brazil (1917), South America’s Story (1931), and, Tales of Enchantment from Spain (1950). Elsie Spicer Eells died (May 24, 1963) aged eighty-two.

Eells, Myra Fairbanks – (1805 – 1878)
American missionary and journal writer
Eells was a member of the mission led by Marcus Whitman to spread Christianity to the Spokane Indians in Oregon. Eells left a personal account of her trip to Oregon, and included the general hardships faced by pioneer settlers of the period. The work was entitled, Journal of Myra Fairbanks Eells Kept While Passing Through the United States and Over the Rocky Mountains in the Spring and Summer of 1838, which was published posthumously (1889).

Efendi – (fl. c1305 – c1350)
Ottoman sultana
Efendi was one of the chief wives of Sultan Orhan (1324 – 1362), second Ottoman ruler of Turkey. A surviving charter records a land grant that Orhan made her as his wife and in this document her name is given as ‘Effendize.’ She is believed to have been Orhan’s first cousin, and thus the daughter of his uncle Gunduz, brother of the first sultan Osman (c1281 – 1324). If this identification is correct the marriage was a dynastic one arranged to ensure the loyalty of other branches of the dynasty. Efendi was one of the signatories to the land grant made by her husband to a dervish monastery (1324). She may have been the mother of Prince Suleyman Osman (born c1306) who predeceased his father, and was stepmother to Sultan Murad I (1362 – 1389). Efendi appears to be the most obvious choice to be identified as the wife of orhan named Bayalun, who received the famous traveller Ibn Battuta in the city of Iznik, and whom he described as ‘a pious and excellent woman.’ Battuta recorded that the sultana was in command of the soldiers garrisoned within the city, and this would accord with a more mature woman.

Effat     see   ‘Iffat

Effingham, Anne Bristow, Countess of – (c1705 – 1774)
British Hanoverian courtier
Anne Bristow was the daughter of Robert Bristow, and sister to Robert Bristow, one of the commissioners of the Board of the Green Cloth. Anne became the second wife (1728) of Francis Howard (1683 – 1743), first Earl of Effingham, whom she survived for three decades (1743 – 1774) as Dowager Countess. The couple lefe no surviving issue. Lady Effingham attended the court of George II (1727 – 1760) and Queen Caroline, and was appointed to serve as first Lady of the bedchamber to Augusta, Princess of Wales (1736), wife of Prince Frederick Louis, though she voluntarily resigned her post (1737) when the Prince of Wales fell out with his parents (1737). She was later present at the joint coronation and their son, George III, and Queen Charlotte (Sept 22, 1761) at Westminster Abbey.  The countess was in attendance upon the queen at court, and was present at the birth of the Prince of Wales (George IV) (Aug 12, 1762). She was later granted her own apartments in Hampton Court Palace by the king because of her service to his mother. Lady Effingham died of fright (Nov 15, 1774) at Hampton Court, in consequence of a shock received when her clothes caught fire as she sat reading. She was interred at Brockholm.

Effingham, Charlotte Primrose, Countess of – (1776 – 1864)
British Hanoverian peeress (1837 – 1845)
Lady Charlotte Primrose was born (Aug 27, 1776) at Holland House, Kensington, London, the eldest daughter of Neil Primrose, third Earl of Roseberry, and his wife Mary Vincent, the daughter of Sir Francis Vincent. Lady Charlotte fell in love with her kinsman, Colonel Kenneth Alexander Howard (1767 – 1845), the heir to the earldom of Effingham. However, her parents refused to countenance the marriage, and she waited until she reached the legal age of twenty-five, when she could wed without their permission. The marriage took place at St George’s in Hanover Square (1800), and the diarist Lady Frances Jerningham recorded in her journal, “ Lady Charlotte Primrose’s match was not sanctioned by her parents’ consent. He is a near relation of Lady Roseberry’s and may become earl of Effingham, but has, at present only his pay as Colonel in the Guards. Her banns were read over in the parish church, and she walked out of the halldoor and met Colonel Howard at the end of the street. Whence they proceeded to the Altar of Hymen.”
Lady Howard accompanied her husband to Portsmouth when he was appointed as lieutenant governor, and both attended the coronation of George IV in Westminster Abbey (1821), where Colonel Howard acted as deputy court marshal of England. Howard finally succeeded to the earldom of Effingham nearly forty years after the couple had been married (1837), the title being recreated in his favour, and Lady Charlotte became the Countess of Effingham. With Lord Effingham’s death (1845) he was interred within the Howard vault at All Saints’ Church at Rotherham, in Yorkshire, where Countess Charlotte caused a monument to be erected to his memory. Lady Charlotte survived her husband for almost two decades (1845 – 1864) as the Dowager Countess of Effingham. She scandalized Victorian society by remarrying at the late age of eighty-two (1858) to Thomas Holmes (born 1828), a scripture reader of Brighton, who was fifty years her junior. The Countess of Effingham died (Sept 17, 1864) aged eighty-eight, at Brighton. Her nine children from her first marriage included,

• Lady Charlotte Howard (1803 – 1886). She remained unmarried.
• Henry Howard (1806 – 1889). He succeeded his father as second Earl of Effingham (1845 – 1889) and was married to Eliza Drummond (1810 – 1894) by whom he left descendants.
• Hon. (Honourable) Charles Howard (1807 – 1882). He became an officer with the Foot Guards and remained unmarried.
• Lady Arabella Georgiana Howard (1809 – 1884). She became the second wife of Francis Thornhill Baring (1796 – 1866), first Baron Northbrook, and left issue.
• Hon. William Howard (1815 – 1881). He became Canon and Rural Dean of York, and was appointed as rector of Whiston, York. He was married but his only daughter died young.

Effingham, Elizabeth Beckford, Countess of – (1725 – 1791)
British Hanoverian peeress, courtier and society figure
Elizabeth Beckford was married firstly (1745) to Thomas Howard, second Earl of Effingham, and secondly to Field Marshal Sir George Howard. Lady Effingham was mentioned in the correspondence of the noted antiquarian Horace Walpole.

Effingham, Victoria Francisca Boyer, Countess of – (1841 – 1899)
British Victorian peeress
Victoria Boyer was born (June 12, 1841) in Paris, the eldest daughter of a Frenchman. She became the wife (1865) of Henry Howard (1837 – 1898), the heir of the second Earl of Effingham, and became Lady Howard. She became the Countess of Effingham (1889 – 1898) when Lord Howard succeeded as the third Earl of Effingham. Victoria survived her husband as the Dowager Countess of Effingham (1898 – 1899). Lady Effingham died (June 20, 1899) aged fifty-eight. She was interred with her husband in Kensal Green Cemetery in London, where a monument remains to their memory. Her only child Lord Henry Alexander Gordon Howard (1866 – 1927) succeeded his father as the fourth Earl of Effingham but died unmarried.

Eficia (Esitia) – (d. c303 AD)
Roman Christian martyr
Eficia perished in Antioch, Syria during the persecutions instigated by the emperors Diocletian and Maximian Daia. Her feast was recorded in the Acta Sanctorum (May 30).

Efron, Ariadna Sergievna – (1912 – 1975)
Russian author
Ariadna Efron was born in Moscow, the daughter of Sergei Efron and the poet Marina Tsvetayeva. Efron was the guardian and editor of her mother’s work, and edited several biographies of her. She was later exiled to Siberia (1949 – 1955) by Josef Stalin. She survived this horror and was later rehabilitated.

Ega, Francoise – (1924 – 1976)
Haitian novelist
Ega was born (Nov 27, 1924) at Case-Pilote, in Martinique. Educated at the Perrinon School in Fort-de-France, she later travelled to France (1946), where she married Saint-Francois Xavier. Whilst in France, Ega joined the French Air Force, and served in Indochina, Djibouti, and in Madagascar. She was the author of the biographical narrative, Le Temps des Madras(1967) (Days of Madras), which dealt with her childhood spent in the shadow of the famous volcano, Mt Pelee. Her epistolary novel Lettres a’ une Noire (Letters to a Woman of Colour) was published posthumously (1978). Francoise Ega died (March, 1976) aged fifty-one, in Marseilles, France.

Egan, Catherine   see   Achmet, Catherine

Egan, Elizabeth – (c1745 – 1807)
British costume designer and wardrobe mistress
Elizabeth was married (1766) to the actor William Egan, to whom she bore a daughter. With her husband’s death (1785) she was employed as wardrobe mistress at Covent Garden Theatre, in London. Egan received a salary as a mantua maker, but also managed the wardrobe at the theatre, and paid the women dressers. She first recieves mention as designer of the costumes for the production of Windsor Castle (1795), and she designed costumes and stage sets for many other productions such as Merry Sherwood and Harlequin’s Treasure (1795 – 1796) and Olympus in an Uproar and Raymond and Agnes (1797 – 1797).  Egan performed the same services for the Haymarket Theatre, notably for the productions of Cambo-Britons (1797 – 1798), Obi (1799 – 1800) and Corsair (1801). Elizabeth Egan died in London, aged about sixty-one (April 27, 1807).

Egatracia – (d. c251 AD)
Roman Christian martyr
Egatracia perished in Romania (Dacia) during the persecutions instigated by the Emperor Traianus Decius (249 – 251 AD). Sometimes called Hegetrax, her feast was recorded in the Acta Sanctorum (March 26).

Egburga (Egburh) – (c620 – c670)
Anglo-Saxon virgin saint
Egburga was one of the younger daughters of Cynegils, King of Wessex (611 – 643). She was baptised a Christian with her father and siblings by St Botolph (c637), at the instigation of King Oswald of Northumbria. She never married and became a nun under her sister at Winnington, later succeeding her as abbess.

Ege, Julie – (1943 – 2008)  
Norwegian film actress
Julie Ege was born (Nov 12, 1943) in Hoyland, Sandnes, and became a well known model, being selected as ‘Miss Norway’ and becoming a contestant in the ‘Miss Universe’ beauty pageant.
After appearing in a minor Norwegian movie, Ege went to England to study the langauge. There she made her screen debut in the James Bond film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), and then went on to appear in several British films such as, The Creatures the World Forgot (1971) and, The Legend of 7 Golden Vampires (1974), produced by the Hammer Film Studios. She also appeared in such sexually comical soft porn flicks like, Rentadick (1972) and, Not Now Darling (1973). Julie Ege died (April 29, 2008) aged sixty-four.

Egeberg, Fredrikke – (1815 – 1861)
Norwegian composer
Egeberg was born (Nov 23, 1815) in Christiania (now Oslo), where she received her musical education. She produced many piano pieces and well over four dozen songs, most of which have survived, being especially admired for her talent with melody. Her works included 3 Norwegian Songs (1849), Springdans (1850), 3 English Poems (1852), and, Lyksalig Pintse (Blissful Whitsun) (1855). She remained unmarried. Fredrikke Egeberg died (May 6, 1861) in Tonsberg, aged forty-five.

‘Egeria’    see   Hemans, Felicia Dorothea

Egeria (1) – (fl. c700 BC)
Roman priestess
Egeria was associated with King Numa Pompilius (reigned 715 – 673 BC). Legend made her a mythical nymph, and Livy states that she gave the king counsel and advice, aiding him in the ruling of his kingdom. Like the king, her name is probably authentic. But legend has almost wholly obscured the facts. In Aricia, the goddess Diana was associated with her, as was an obscure male deity named Vibius.

Egeria (2) (Aetheria, Aiheria, Etheria) – (fl. 381 – 384 AD)
Roman nun and traveller
Egeria was nun or abbess, possibly from Spain, who went of a three years pilgrimage to various Christian holy places throughout Palestine, Egypt, Constantinople, and Asia Minor. Egeria kept a written account of her journey, which whilst not particularly interesting reading, is the earliest recording of a religious pilgrimage written by a woman, which has survived. Despite the fact that her travel account is quite laconic, the document provides interesting details concerning the early Christian observances in this period. A manuscript dated to the eleventh century and discovered in 1884 revealed the extent of her travels.

Egerton, Anne – (1734 – 1803)
British Hanoverian heiress and society figure
Anne Egerton was the daughter of Dr Henry Egerton, Bishop of Hereford, and his wife Lady Elizabeth Ariana Bentinck, the daughter of Hans Willem Bentinck, first Earl of Portland, and his second wife, Jane Martha Temple, the widow of Baron Berkeley of Stratton. She was sister to John Egerton, Bishop of Durham, and was the paternal niece of Scroop Egerton, first Duke of Bridgewater, and thus great-niece to the famous general, John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, the father of Scroop’s first wife, Lady Elizabeth Churchill. Anne remained unmarried and resided for most of her life in Berkeley Square, London. With the death of her kinsman, John, the fifth and last Baron Berkeley of Stratton (1773), Anne was left the property of Berkeley Square for life. With her own death, she bequeathed theses valuable estates to her cousin, Frederick Augustus, fifth Earl of Berkeley (1745 – 1810).

Egerton, Charlotte Elizabeth Loftus, Lady – (1811 – 1878)
British aristocrat
Lady Charlotte Loftus was born (April 22, 1811), the daughter of Sir John Loftus, second Marquess of Ely and his wife Anna Maria, the daughter of Sir Henry Watkin Dashwood. Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III stood godmother at her christening. Lady Charlotte was married (1830) to Wilbraham Tatton Egerton (1806 – 1883), who was created first Baron Egerton of Tatton, to whom she bore five children including Wilbraham Egerton (1832 – 1909), who was created first Earl of Egerton. Lady Egerton attended the courts of William IV and Queen Victoria, and Lady St Helier left astute observations of her character in her recollections entitled Memoirs of Fifty Years (1909) when she wrote, “She was a god-child of Queen Charlotte. She was an extraordinary woman in her way, and said out loud everything she thought, and as she had a sharp tongue and a vivid manner of expressing herself, she was one of the most entertaining people I ever knew … She was not a person who had many friends, because people were afraid of what she might possibly say.” Lady Egerton died (Sept 11, 1878) at Harbury, aged sixty-seven.

Egerton, Elizabeth Ariana Bentinck, Lady – (1703 – 1765)
British Hanoverian society figure
Lady Elizabeth Bentinck was the second daughter of Hans Willem Bentinck, first Earl of Portland, the favourite of King William III, and of his second wife Jane Martha Temple, the widow of John, Baron Berkeley of Stratton. Lady Elizabeth eloped and married (1720) Dr Henry Egerton (c1684 – 1746), the younger brother of Scroop Egerton, the first Duke of Bridgewater. Her husband later became the Anglican Bishop of Durham. Lady Egerton attended the court of George II and his wife Caroline of Ansbach, her mother, the Dowager Lady Portland, being the governess to their elder daughters. Her children were,

• John Egerton (1721 – 1787). He was appointed as the Anglican Bishop of Durham.
• Anne Egerton (1734 – 1803). She remained unmarried.

Egerton, Lady Francis    see   Ellesmere, Harriet Catherine Greville, Countess of

Egerton, George – (1859 – 1945)
British novelist
Pseudonym of Mary Chavelita Dunne, she was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Dec 14, 1859), of Irish and Welsh parentage. Her father was a captain in the Queen’s Company, whilst her mother was the daughter of George Bynon, of Glamorganshire. Originally intending to become a painter, she trained as a nurse, but eloped to Norway with Henry Higginson, a married friend of her father’s (1888). She later married the Canadian novelist, George Egerton Clairmonte, from whom she was divorced, and then the theatrical agent, Reginald Golding Bright. Influenced by the work of Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen and novelist Knut Hamsun, whose novel Hunger she translated (1899), Egerton produced bleak and darkly shocking novels concerning women trapped in brutal, loveless marriages or other relationships such as, Keynotes (1893), Discords (1894), Symphonies (1897), and, Fantasies (1898). Other works included the novel, The Wheel of God (1898), about a struggling female Irish journalist in New York, and several plays, His Wife’s Family (1908), Backsliders (1910), and, Camilla States Her Case (1925). Her other published work included The Daughter of Heaven (1912), an adaptation of the play written by Judtih Gautier and Pierre Loti. George Egerton died (Aug 12, 1945) aged eighty-five.

Egerton, Mary Georgina Ormsby-Gore, Lady – (1851 – 1937)
British courtier
Hon. (Honourable Mary Ormsby-Gore was the eldest daughter of William Richard Ormsby-Gore, second Baron Harlech (1819 – 1904), and his wife Lady Emily Charlotte Seymour, the eldest daughter of Admiral Sir George Francis Seymour (1787 – 1870), and sister to the fifth Marquess of Hertford (1812 – 1884). Lady Mary was married (1878) to Colonel Sir Alfred Mordaunt Egerton, who died in 1908, to whom she bore several children. She was a widow for almost three decades as the Dowager Lady Egerton (1908 – 1937). She served at court as lady-in-waiting to HRH the Duchess Louise Margaret of Connaught, daughter-in-law to Queen Victoria, and to her daughter Princess Patricia from 1917. The Dowager Lady Egerton died (Aug 28, 1937), aged eighty-six.

Egerton, Sarah – (1782 – 1847)
British actress
Egerton was born in Little Torrington, Devonshire, the daughter of a clergyman named Fisher. With her father’s death (1803) she appeared on the stage in Bath for the first time, as Emma in the play The Marriage Promise by John Till Allingham. She later married the actor Daniel Egerton. Mrs Egerton appeared in Birmingham, Lancashire in such classic roles as Juliet, Marcia, Luciana in Comedy of Errors and Emilia, and though not a particularly talented as a tragic actress, she was particularly suited to melodramatic roles in which she excelled. She appeared in several roles adapted from the Waverley Novels, but achieved lasting fame in the role of Meg Merrilies from the play, Guy Mannering, or the Gypsy’s Prophecy, by Daniel Terry at Drury Lane. Other roles included Queen Gertrude in, Hamlet, Volumnia in, Coriolanus, and Alicia in, Jane Shore, amongst many others, and she achieved notable success in the role of Joan of Arc (1821) at Sadler’s Wells. With her husband’s death (1835) Mrs Egerton retired from the stage with a pension provided by the Covent Garden Fund. Sarah Egerton died (Aug 3, 1847) at Chelsea, aged sixty-five.

Egerton, Sarah Fyge – (1670 – 1723)
English poet
Sarah Fyge was born in London the daughter of a wealthy physician, and the granddaughter of Valentine Fyge, the friend of Sir Samuel Pepys. She was forced to leave her father’s roof in disgrace after penning the feminist polemic, The Female Advocate, or an Answere to a late Satur against the Pride, Lust and Inconstancy etc., of Women (1686) in response to the misogynistic, Love Given O’re (1682), by Robert Gould. Her first marriage to an attorney, Edward Field, ended with his early death, and her second marriage, contracted with the widowed Thomas Egerton, rector of Adstock, Buckinghamshire, was unhappy. Egerton wrote elegies on the poet John Dryden entitled, The Nine Muses (1700) and produced, Poems on Several Occasions (1703), which contained a chronicle of her unhappy married life, and satirized domineering husbands. Egerton’s death (1720) left her a childless widow in comfortable circumstances. Sarah Egerton died at Winslow aged fifty-two (Feb 13, 1723).

Eggan, Dorothy Way – (1901 – 1965)
American anthropologist and author
Dorothy Way was born (Oct 31, 1901) in Dover Hill, Indiana. After her first marriage she resided in Santa Fe, New Mexico, her first contact with the Pueblo peoples, whose culture and traditions would dominate her research. She studied archaeology at the University of Chicago, and was then employed as a secretary in the anthropology department. Dorothy was divorced from her first husband, Jean Harrington and was remarried to Fred Eggan (1906 – 1991), the noted anthropologist. Having been associated with the famous anthropologists Robert Redfield (1897 – 1958) and Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown (1881 – 1955) who had worked with Daisy Bates amongst the Aboriginal peoples of Australia, she performed valuable psychoanalytical research concerning the Hopi Indian tribe and their culture in Arizona. Eggan published several articles on this subject, some of which were published in the American Anthropologist (1949) and (1952). Dorothy Eggan died (July, 1965) aged sixty-three.

Eggar, Katharine Emily – (1874 – 1961)
British pianist and composer
Eggar was born in London (Jan 5, 1874). She received her musical education at the Royal Academy of Music in London, under the guidance of Frederick Corder, and abroad in Brussels, Belgium, and in Berlin, Prussia. Eggar was one of the founding members of the Society of Women Musicians (1911). She produced mainly chamber music such as the, Piano Quintet and String Quartet, and she composed the song, Wolfram’s Dirge for voice with piano and cello accompaniment (1906), as well as, My Soul is an Enchanted Boat for voice and string quartet. Katharine Eggar died in London (Aug 15, 1961) aged eighty-seven.

Eggleston, Elizabeth Moulton – (1934 – 1976)
Australian academic lawyer
Eggleston was born (Nov 6, 1934) at Armadale in Melbourne, Victoria, the daughter of Sir Richard Moulton Eggleston, the chancellor of Monash University. She was educated at Presbyterian Ladies’ College and the University of Melbourne. She continued her studies at the University of California at Berkeley, and then travelled abroad to Europe and Britain. Eggleston became the first doctoral candidate in the faculty of law at Monash University, and was appointed as a lecturer (1969). She established new courses at Monash in industrial law and legal aid, and was co-author of, Cases and Materials on Industrial Law in Australia (1973). An advisor to the Aboriginal community, Eggleston founded the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (1972) and worked for governmental recognition of Aboriginal land rights and cultural heritage. She was the author of, Fear, Favour or Affection (1976). Elizabeth Eggleston died of cancer in Melbourne, aged forty-one (March 24, 1976).

Eggleston, Margaret – (1864 – after 1926)
American diarist and editor
Eggleston was raised in Ohio and kept a personal diary from the early age of twelve. During the later part of her life, she edited this work for publication. Adopting the pseudonym ‘Kathie Gray’ she published Kathie’s Diary: Leaves from an Old, Old Diary (1926).

Egidia Stuart – (c1363 – before 1407)
Scottish princess
Princess Egidia Stuart was the youngest daughter of King Robert II (1371 – 1390) and his second wife Euphemia Ross, the widow of John Randolph, earl of Moray. Well educated she was her father’s favourite child, and the solace of his old age. Such were the stories of her wit and beauty that the French king, Charles VI (1380 – 1422) despatched a painter to the Scottish court to obtain her portrait. Egidia was married by her father (1387) to Sir William Douglas, the illegitimate son of Archibald Douglas, third Earl of Angus, a young man of admirable knightly valour. With this advantageous marriage with a royal princcess, Douglas received the lordship of Nithsdale, and from King Robert, an annual pension and the barony of Herbertshire, near Stirling, probably as a wedding gift. Widowed in 1392, the princess died sometime prior to November, 1407. She left two children,

• Egidia Douglas (1388 – after 1438). She was married firstly Henry Sinclair, second Earl of Orkney, and secondly, Sir Alexander Stewart (c1399 – 1425).
• Sir William Douglas (c1389 – c1407). He held the lordship of Nithsdale and died young.

Egilona – (c690 – after 717)
Visigothic queen
The daughter of an unidentified Andalusian king, Egilona was the wife (710) of King Roderick (Rodrigo) the Great (710 – 711), the last of the Visigothic rulers, and was the mother of his daughter Egilona, whom later married a Muslim emir. When Roderick was killed in the Battle of the Guadelete (711), Egilona was captured by the Moorish leader Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa, the governor of Seville. He fell in love with her, though the marriage would certainly have had serious political overtones, and Egilona was eventually married to him (713) and restored to her former rank.
Her husband’s Moslem subjects called her Umm ‘Asim and she was referred to as Omm al-Yassam in the chronicles of Ibn Abd-el-Hakem and Ibn-el Kouthya. The queen’s influence over Musa which extended to his sympathy for Christian captives and her persuading him that he should adopt wearing a crown, which was an offence in the Islamic religion, angered the Ummayad caliph Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik of Damscus, who then caused Musa to be assassinated (717). Egilona’s fate remains unknown. She is said to have remonstrated with Musa that his subjects did not show him the correct respect, as they did not bow down before him as the Gothic leaders had done before her first husband King Roderick. To satisfy her, Musa ordered that the doorway opposite his throne be lowered so that all men would have to bow to pass under it.

Eglinton, Elizabeth – (c1340 – 1387)
Scottish heiress
Elizabeth Eglinton was the daughter of Sir Hugh Eglinton, of Eglinton, and his wife Egidia Stewart, the widow of Sir James Lindsay, of Crawford, and half-sister to King Robert II. Elizabeth was married (c1355) to John Montgomery, of Eaglesham, and brought the ancient baronies of Eglinton and Ardrossan to the Montgomery family. At her death, Elizabeth left her second son Alexander as heir to her lands at Bonnington, and the barony of Ratho. Through her eldest son Sir John Montgomery, called ‘of Ardrossan,’ Elizabeth was the direct ancestress of the present earls of Eglinton.

Eglinton, Susanna Kennedy, Countess of – (1689 – 1780)
Scottish society figure
Susanna Kennedy was the daughter of Sir Archibald Kennedy, of Culzean, Ayrshire, and his wife Elizabeth Leslie, daughter of David, first Lord Newark. She became the third wife (1709) of Alexander Montgomerie, ninth earl of Eglinton, to whom she bore twelve children. Unusually tall in stature, possessed of perfect figure and elegant manners, Lady Eglinton was a woman of great personal accomplishments. Her surviving letters portray her as a wise and tender mother, and the countess carefully managed her many children and their public affairs after the death of her husband (1729). With her daughters, the countess was celebrated for a characteristic gracefulness of feature and bearing known as the ‘Eglinton air.’ Allan Ramsay dedicated to her his Gentle Shelherd, and to the dedication Hamilton of Bangor added a poetic address to the countess, written in heroic couplets. Subsequently Ramsay presented her with the original manuscript of the poem, which was given to her by James Boswell. Lady Eglinton received Samuel Johnson at Auchars when she was eighty-four (1773) and he remained impressed by her majestic bearing and elegant conversation. Lady Eglinton died at Auchars House, Ayrshire, aged ninety-one (March 18, 1780).

Egloffstein, Countess Julie von – (1792 – 1869)
German amateur painter
Countess Egloffstein specialized in Italian rural settings, biblical scenes and portraiture. Examples of her work are preserved in the Goethemuseum in Weimar, and include portraits of Maria Pavlovna, Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar, the patron of composer Franz Liszt, and of Queen Therese, the wife of Ludwig I of Bavaria. Some of her work was later bought by Queen Victoria and the Russian tsar Alexander I.

Egmont, Catherine Cecil, Countess of – (1719 – 1752)
British peeress (1748 – 1752)
Lady Catherine Cecil was the second daughter of James Cecil, fifth Earl of Salisbury and his wife, Lady Anne Tufton, daughter to the sixth Earl of Thanet. She was married (1737) to John Perceval (1711 – 1770), who succeeded (1748) as second Earl of Egmont. Engravings of the countess and her husband, by Faber, after Zinck, are found in the second volume of the, General History of the House of Yvery. Lady Egmont died (Aug 16, 1752) aged thirty-three. She left seven children,

• John James Perceval, third Earl of Egmont (1738 – 1822). He married and left descendants.
• Hon. (Honourable) Cecil Perceval (1739 – 1753). He died whilst at school at Eton College.
• Captain Hon. Philip Tufton Perceval (1742 – 1795). He died unmarried.
• Captain Hon. Edward Perceval (1744 – 1824). He was married and left three daughters.
• Lady Catherine Perceval (1746 – 1782). She became the first wife of Sir Thomas Wynn, later first Baron Newborough.
• Lady Margaret Perceval (1748 – 1750). She died young.
• Hon. Frederick Augustus Perceval (1749 – 1757). He died aged eight.

Egmont, Septimanie Vignerot du Plessis-Richelieu, Comtesse d’ – (1740 – 1773)
French courtier and society figure
Jeanne Sophie Elisabeth Louise Armande Septimanie du Vignerot du Plessis-Richelieu was born (March, 1740) at Montpellier in Languedoc, the daughter of the infamous rake Louis Armand du Vignerot du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu (1696 – 1788) and his second wife Marie Elisabeth Sophie de Guise-Lorraine. Her name Septimanie, the ancient name for the province of Langeudic, was bestowed upon her by the Etats (civil government) of Langeudoc who acted as godparents at her christening. Her mother died at her birth and Septimanie was raised by her paternal aunt the Abbess of Tresor, who oversaw her education.
Septimanie and her brother the Duc de Fronsac were brought to Versailles by their father to be presented at court to Louis XV and Queen Marie Leszsczynska (1750). After this she remained in Paris where her education was placed in the hands of her relative, the Dowager Duchesse d’Aiguillon. As she grew older Septimanie developed her mother’s elegant figure, and possessed a sharp and witty nature. She became the wife of Casimir Pignatelli, Comte d’Egmont (1727 – 1801). The union was not a success as the bride disliked the groom on first sight at their wedding (Feb 10, 1756) at her father’s Paris residence the Hotel d’Antin. This marriage also caused a rift between Richelieu and the Duc de Belle-Isle who had for many years expected that Septimanie would marry his son Louis, Duc de Gisors, whom she had known since early childhood. Septimanie and Gisors had apparently wished for the marriage to be but she was forced to obey her father who rather callously observed ‘If they are in love they can find each other in society.’
At court Madame d’Egmont remained under the influence of the Duchesse d’Aiguillon and shared the older lady’s dislike of the royal mistress Madame DuBarry, whom her own father and the duchesse’s son had brought to power. Septimanie and two of her friends, the Comtesse de Brionne and the Comtesse de Gramont revealed their hostility to Madame DuBarry openly (1769) and were refused invitation to join the royal party at Compeigne. The two women persistently refused to call upon Madame DuBarry which caused a scandal at Versailles and a rift between father and daughter that was never healed.
When King Gustavus III of Sweden visited the French court, Madame d’Egmont formed an attachment to him that only ended in disappointment. She was mentioned in the letters of the British antiquarian Horace Walpole. Madame d’Egmont died of tuberculosis (Oct, 1773) aged thirty-three, her brother the Duc de Fronsac attending her on her deathbed.

Egorovna, Liubov Nikolaievna – (1880 – 1972)
Russian ballet dancer and choreographer
Egorovna was born (Aug 8, 1880) in St Petersburg. She attended the Petersburg Theatre School, and studied under Cecchetti before joining the troupe at the Marinskii Theatre. Egorovna soon became one of the theatre’s leading dancers and performers, and later joined Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes (1917). Liubov was best remembered for her appearance in The Sleeping Princess in London (1921). She later organized her won private ballet school and then founded the Ballet de la Jeunesse (1937). Madame Liubov died (Aug 18, 1972) in Paris, aged ninety-two.

Egremont, Alicia Maria Carpenter, Countess of – (1729 – 1794)
British peeress and courtier of George III
The Hon. (Honourable) Alicia Carpenter was the daughter of George, second Baron Carpenter, of Killaghy, and his wife Elizabeth Petty, the daughter of David Petty, of London, and of Wanstead, Essex. Renowned for her excellent looks, and acknowledged as a reigning beauty, Alicia was married firstly (1751), in Hanover Square, London, to Sir Charles Wyndham, second Earl of Egremont (1710 – 1763). The couple resided at Petworth House in Sussex, and at Egremont House in Piccadilly, London, and Lady Egremont bore four sons and three daughters. The countess was appointed as lady-in-waiting to Queen Charlotte (1761), and some verses were written in her honour by Lord Lyttelton and Lord Hardwicke. After the death of Lord Egremont after an attack of apoplexy, Lady Egremont remarried to the Saxon diplomat Hans Moritz, Count von Bruhl (1736 – 1809), the Saxon envoy to England (1764 – 1809), to whom she bore a daughter, Harriet Bruhl (1767 – 1853), who was married to the Scottish peer, Hugh Hepburne-Scott, sixth Baron Polwarth (1758 – 1841). Despite her remarriage, she was Countess Dowager of Egremont for over three decades (1763 – 1794). Lady Egremont died at Harefield, Middlesex, London, aged sixty-three (June 1, 1794), and was buried there. Lady Egremont’s seven children by her first marriage included,

• George Wyndham, third Earl of Egremont (1751 – 1837). He was married Elizabeth Ilive (1768 – 1822), but left no male issue.
• Lady Elizabeth Alicia Maria Wyndham (1752 – 1826). She became the wife of Henry Herbert, first Earl of Carnarvon (1741 – 1811).
• Lady Frances Wyndham (1755 – 1795). She became the wife of Charles Marsham, first Earl of Romney (1744 – 1811).
• Hon. (Honourable) Percy Charles Wyndham (1757 – 1833). He was appointed secretary and clerk of the courts of Barbados.
• Hon. Charles William (1760 – 1828). He married firstly, Frances Mary Harford, and secondly, Julia Smorzewska, Countess Dowager de Spytterki, and was the father of George Wyndham, fourth Earl of Egremont (1785 – 1847).

Egual, Maria – (1698 – 1735)
Spanish poet
Egual was born in Castellon into a patrician family. Egual was the author of two popular comic farces set to music, Los prodigios de Thesalia (The Prodigies of Thesalia) and, Triunfo de amor en el aire (Triumph of Love in the Air). Maria Egual died at Valencia, in Aragon.

Ehnn-Sand, Bertha – (1847 – 1932)
Hungarian dramatic soprano
Ehnn-Sand was born (Nov 30, 1847) in Budapest, and received her vocal training under Madame Andriessen. Bertha Ehnn-Sand died (March 2, 1932) at Aschberg, near Munster, Germany, aged eighty-four.

Ehre, Ida – (1900 – 1989)
Jewish-Austrian actress and theatrical manager
Ehre was born at Prerau and received her training at the Austro-Hungarian Academy of Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna. She made her debut in the title role of Goethe’s Iphigenie at Bielitz, in Silesia (1918). Following several years employment at the Mannheim National Theatre, amongst others, Ehre joined the Berlin Lessing-Theater (1930), but was later banned from acting by the Nazis because of her Jewish origins (1933). She made several attempts to immigrate to Chile, in South America, but was unable to obtain passage. She survived incarceration in prison camps, and returned to the stage after the war.
Ehre established the Hamburg Kammerspiele (1945), where she remained for the next forty years, active as an author, stage director, actress, and theatre manager. She produced stageworks such as Thornton-Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth and Giraudoux’s La Guerre de Troie n’aura pas lieu, whilst as an actress she drew serious acclaim for her performance in the roles of Mother Courage and George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs Warren. Her lifetime efforts in the theatre were recognized when she was granted the Schiller Prize (1971) by the city of Hamburg, and the grant of an honorary professorship (1975). She left memoirs Gott hat einem grossen Kopf, mein Kind (1985). Ida Ehre died in Hamburg, aged eighty-eight (Feb 16, 1989).

Ehrentraud     see    Erentrude of Salzburg

Ehrlich, Karen – (1952 – 1996)
Australian environmental lawyer
Ehrlich was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, and attended Randwick Girls High School and studied law at Sydney University, being employed as a researcher to a barrister. Whilst raising her young family she became involved with volunteer work at the Environmental Defender’s Office. Returning to full time work she established her own environmental legal practice, and was soon working for large corporations which recognized the importance that environmental relations were playing in securing institutional investors over a lengthy period. Ehrlich was co-founder and chairwoman of the National Enterprising Women in Business Organization (NEWIB). Karen Ehrlich died in Sydney, aged forty-three (July 18, 1996).

Eibenschutz, Riza – (1870 – 1947)
Austrian vocalist and teacher
Eibenschutz was born in Budapest, Hungary, and received vocal training under Josef Gansbacher and Marianne Brandt in Vienna. She made her debut in the role of Selika in Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine (1894) at the Leipzig opera house, Saxony, and her expansive vocal range ensured that she could take soprano or alto roles. Eibenschutz toured northern America (1899) with the Damrosch Opera Company, before joining the cast of the Dresden Court Opera, where she sang in the premieres of Richard Strauss’s, Salome, Elektra, and, Der Rosenkavalier (1905 – 1911). She was best remembered in for the roles of Brunnhilde in Der Ringe des Niebelungen and Senta in Der fliegende Hollander (The Flying Dutchman). Riza Eibenschutz died at Perchtoldsdorf, Lower Austria, aged seventy-six (Jan 16, 1947).

Eichner, Adelheid Maria – (1762 – 1787)
German pianist, vocalist, and composer
Eichner was born at Mannheim (before Sept 1, 1762), the only child of the musician and composer Ernst Eichner. She was raised at the court of Count Christian IV of Zweibrucken-Birkenfeld, where her father was a member of the royal chapel (1762 – 1773). Eichner later accompanied her parents to the court of Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia in Berlin (1773) and became a singer attached to the court, and gave public performances at the Berlin Opera (1777 – 1781). Though her acting was considered uninspired, Madamoiselle Eichner was praised for her vocal attainments and her piano skills. She composed mainly songs such as the collection, 12 Lieder mit Melodien furs Clavier (1780), and was engaged to the Dutch General von Stamford some of whose verses she set to music. Adelheid Eichner died (April 5, 1787) at Potsdam, aged twenty-four.

Eifert, Virginia Snider – (1911 – 1966)
American author
Eifert was born (Jan 23, 1911) in Springfield, Illinois. Her published works included With a Task Before Me (1956), Journeys in Green Places (1963), and the biographical works Louis Jolliet, Explorer of Rivers (1961), and George Shannon: Young Explorer with Lewis and Clark (1963). Virginia Snider Eifert died (June 17, 1966) aged fifty-five.

Eikhenvald, Ida – (1842 – 1917)
Russian musician
Eikhenvald specialized in performing with the harp, and gave successful public recitals. She was the mother of singer Margarita Eikhenvald.

Eikhenvald, Margarita Alexandrovna – (1866 – after 1948)
Russian vocalist
Eikhenvald was born (Dec 2, 1866) in Moscow, the daughter of the noted harpisy Ida Eikhenvald. She worked with the Bolshoi Theatre (1899 – 1901) and with the Tiflis Opera in Georgia (1901 – 1917). She immigrated to France after the 1917 revolution, and was living there three decades later.

Eilika of Saxony – (c1080 – 1142)
German princess and dynastic heiress
Eilika was the younger daughter of Magnus Billung, Duke of Saxony and his wife Sophia of Hungary, the widow of count Ulric of Istria. She was married (before 1095) to Count Otto of Anhalt-Ballenstadt (1075 – 1123). Eilika bore Otto two children, Albert I the Bear (1100 – 1170), Margrave of Brandenburg and Duke of Saxony, and Adelaide, the wife of Henry II, margrave of Nordmark and Werner von Veltheim. The extensive lands she brought to her husband that she inherited upon her father’s death (1106), later made up the margraviate of Brandenburg, which title was taken by her son. Her sister’s male issue died out in 1138, and her son Albert inherited, in her right, as her father’s surviving heiress, the duchy of Saxony, which he held till his death. Countess Eilika died (Jan 16, 1142), aged sixty-one.

Eiluned (Almedha, Elevetha) – (c450 – c490 AD)
Welsh virgin saint
Eiluned was the daughter of Brychan, king of Brecknock in Wales, and his wife Ribrawst. She rejected all offers of marriage and lived as a recluse, and was eventually martyred. The church honoured her as a saint (Aug 1)

Eimmart, Maria Clara    see    Muller, Maria Clara

Eimilde    see    Emilde of Gevaudan

Einsiedel, Beatrice    see    Day, Beatrice

Eirc – (c455 AD – after 500) 
Irish queen of Ailech
Eirc was the daughter of Loarn, king of the Scots in Argyll. She was married to three husbands, leaving issue by all marriages. Her first marriage was to a British king called Saran, but eloped with Muiredach of Ailech, to whom she bore several children including,

• Muircheartach (c465 AD – 534), king of Ireland (512 – 534). He was surnamed Mac Earca (Eirc’s son), and was married and left descendants.
• Prince Moen. He was ancestor of the Cenel Moen (Clan Moen). His descendants included, Domnall O’Gairmleadhaigh, King of Cenel Eoghain (died 1145).
• Prince Feradach. He was ancestor of the Cenel Fearadhaigh.
• Prince Eogan. He left descendants.

King Muiredach died c480 AD, and the queen took a third husband, Fergus Cennfeda (Long-head), the cousin to her previous husband, who was a member of the royal Ui Neill clan. By this marriage she left two sons, Sehna and Feidhlimidh, through whom she was the grandmother to the famous St Columba, Abbot of Iona (521 – 597)

Eis, Maria Theresia – (1896 – 1954)
Austrian actress
Eis was born in Prague, Bohemia, and was employed as a bank teller and legal assistant before she was discovered by theatrical agent Max Wolff. Eis received theatre training at the Academy of Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna, and made her debut at the Neue Wiener Buhne (1918). She performed with great success in Hamburg (1925 – 1932) and established herself as a leading tragic actress. During her period period at the Burgtheater, Eis specialized in classical roles, such as Medea and Lady Macbeth, but was best remembered in the title role of Grillparzer’s, Sappho (1945). Maria Theresia died in Vienna, aged fifty-eight (Dec 18, 1954).

Eisenberg, Cunigunde von – (c1245 – 1286)
German courtier and royal mistress
Cunigunde was the daughter of Count Otto von Eisenberg, and his wife Anna von Kottwotz. She attended the Thuringian court as lady-in-waiting to Margaret of Germany, the first wife of Albert I the Froward, Landgrave of Thuringia (1240 – 1314). Beautiful and ambitious, Cunigunde attracted the attention of the landgrave and became his mistress, bearing him an illegitimate son Apitz (Albert) (c1269 – 1301), and a daughter Elisabeth, wife of Count Heinrich II of Frankenstein. Cunigonde is said to have attempted, with her lover’s knowledge, the murder of Landgravine Margaret so that she could usurp her position and honours. After some attempts to poison the lady failed, Cunigunde finally managed to so frighten her mistress (1270), that Margaret fled the court by night to Frankfurt, fearing for her life, and died there soon afterwards.
Cunigunde’s marriage with Albert took place soon afterwards (1272), and she concealed Apitz under her robe, as this was supposed to procure for natural children, the priveliges of legitimacy. However this marriage brought baneful consequences for Thuringia. Estranged from his legitimate sons, the landgrave disinherited them and proclaimed Cunigunde’s son to be his heir. The Thuringian nobility resisted this, which led to a long succession of military hostilities. The affair was only able to be settled peaceably when Cunigunde died (before May 31, 1286), aged about forty. At this time Albert divided his territories amongst his legitimate sons.

Eisenhart, Louise – (c1827 – 1901)
German author
Born Franziska Maria Louise Karoline von Kobell, in Munich, Bavaria, she was the daughter of Franz von Kobell, and was privately educated in art and linguistics at home. Louise accompanied her father to Greece, where he joined the entourage of the Bavarian born king of Greece, Otho I, and married August von Eisenhart, the Bavarian cabinet secretary, and frequented the literary salons that encircled scholars and artists like Justus von Liebig and Wilhelm von Kaulbach. She wrote articles for periodicals and newspapers, and then produced the popularly acclaimed biographical work Konig Ludwig II  und Bismarck (1899). Louise Eisenhart died in Munich (Dec 28, 1901).

Eisenhower, Mamie Geneva Doud – (1896 – 1979)
American First Lady
Mamie Doud was born in Boone, Iowa, the daughter of John Sheldon Doud and Elivera Mathilda Carlson, but later settled with her family in Denver, Colorado. She became the wife (1916) of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the thirty-fourth President of the Unites States (1953 – 1961), and was mother of noted author and dilpomat John S.D. Eisenhower. During her husband’s earlier career, Mamie accompanied him on his military postings, which included the Panama Canal, Kansas, Georgia, Maryland, and Manila, in the Philippines (1936 – 1939). During the war when Eisenhower was acting as Supreme Commander of the armed forces in Europe, Mamie entertained in style at the villa of Marnes-la-Coquette, near Paris. Mrs Eisenhower was honorary president of the Girl Scouts of America, and received the Order of Malta (1952).
Durinng her husband’s presidency she sufferred from unfounded gossip that she was an alcoholic because she was noticed to sometimes walk unsteadily, which was actually caused by a carotid sinus problem, and that her husband had desired to divorce her in order to marry his secretary and driver, Kay Summersby. These rumoured were countered by her son who published a collection of over three hundred letters written by Dwight to Mamie during the war (1942 – 1945) entitled, Letters to Mamie (1978). Mamie Eisenhower died in Washington, D.C., aged eighty-two after sufferring a stroke (Nov 1, 1979).

Eisgruber, Elsa – (1887 – 1968)
German painter and illustrator
Eisgruber was born in Nuremburg and studied sculpture at the West Municipal School of Arts and Crafts under Hans Perathoner, at Charlottenburg, Prussia. Most of her paintings were of religious themes, and featured the Virgin Mary. She illustrated the children’s book, Die Elfen (1922) based on the fairy tales of Ludwig Tieck. Twenty years later she produced a second children’s book, the popular Liebe Sonne, liebe Erde (1943). Elsa Eisgruber died in Berlin, aged eighty-one (Dec 1, 1968).

Eisho – (1834 – 1897)
Japanese empress consort
Originally named Kujo Asako, she was born (Jan 1, 1834). She was married to the emperor Komei (1831 – 1867) and was the adoptive mother of the emperor Meiji (1867 – 1912). Her husband died young, of smallpox, and the Dowager Empress survived her him for three decades (1867 – 1897). She was the first Japanese empress to be photographed. Empress Eisho died (Jan 11, 1897) aged sixty-three, receiving the posthumous title Eisho Koteigo.

Eisner, Lotte Henriette – (1896 – 1983)
German film critic
Lotte Eisner was born in Berlin, Prussia to a Jewish family. She studied art history and archaeology at Rostock, and began her career as a literary journalist and art critic. Eisner joined the staff of the daily publication Film Kurier (1927) and thus became the first female art critic in Germany. Eisner wrote many articles concerning Expressionist film producers in the German cinema, but left to work under Henri Langlois at the Cinematheque Francaise in Paris. During WW II she remained in Paris, concealing her identity and her Jewish origins, and managed to hide many films from the Nazi authorities which had been banned before the war. After the war she became a French citizen (1952) and served for over twenty-five years as the curator of the Cinematheque Francaise and wrote a study of German cinema entitled L’Ecran demoniaque (1952), as well as biographies of the famous German directors Friedrich Murnau (1888 – 1931) and Fritz Lang (1890 – 1976).

Ejagayehu – (1934 – 1977)
Ethiopian princess
Ejagayehu was born at Dessie, the only child of the Crown Prince Asfa Wossen and his first wife Walatta Israel. She was married to Prince Fikre Sellassie Habte Maryam of Wollega, to whom she bore six children. With the deposition of her grandfather, the emperor Haile Sellassie (March, 1975), the princess, with other members of her family, was arrested and detained without trial. The princess died in prison in Addis Ababa as a result of the harshness of her confinement (Jan 31, 1977), aged forty-two.

Ejercito, Maria – (1905 – 2009)
Filippino presidential figure
Maria Marcelo was born (May 2, 1905), and studied at the Colegio de Santa Rosa. She then studied the piano at the Philippines Faculty of Music. She became the wife of of Emilio Ejercito (1898 – 1977) later appointed as the first sanitary engineer for the city of Manila. They produced ten children including Joseph Ejercito Estrada who served as the thirteenth President of the Philippines (1998 – 2001).
Madame Ejercito was present at the inauguration ceremonies held for her son Joseph and received the Ulirang Ina Award from the Philippines’ Elderly Persons Foundation (1998) but otherwise remained out of the public eye herself. Estrada was later impeached for criminal activities during his time in office and spent several years in custody (2001 – 2007). When Madame Ejercito became ill in 2007 her son withdrew his appeal against the charges against him and was granted a pardon by President Gloria Arroyo, partly on the grounds of his mother’s weakening health. Madame Maria Ejercito died (Jan 13, 2009) aged one hundred and three years

Ekaterina Ivanovna (Catherine) (1) – (1692 – 1733)
Russian grand duchess
Grand Duchess Ekaterina was born (July 25, 1692) in Moscow, the eldest surviving daughter of Tsar Ivan V (1682 – 1696) and his wife Praskovia Feodorovna Saltykova. She was niece to Peter I the Great (1682 – 1725) and was elder sister to the Tsarina Anna (1730 – 1740). Ekaterina was raised with her two younger sisters at the Palace of Ismailovo outside Moscow under the supervision of their mother the Dowager Empress Praskovia. Tsar Peter arranged for Ekaterina’s marriage with Karl Leopold (1678 – 1747), Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, whose second wife she became at Danzig (April 19, 1716). She bore him an only child Duchess Elisabeth Catherine Christina of Mecklneburg-Schwerin, later the wife of Duke Anton Ulrich of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel and regent of Russia as Anna Leopoldovna (1718 – 1746), through whom Ekaterina was the maternal grandmother of the ill-fated Tsar Ivan VI (1740 – 1741).
The marriage proved otherwise disastrous and the Duchess later left her husband’s court in Schwerin and returned to the Imperisl court in Russia (1721), bringing her daughter with her. The duchess took up residence within her mother’s household at Ismailovo. She was present at the Empress Praskovia’s deathbed (1723). With the death of the young Tsar Peter II (1730) Duchess Ekaterina canvassed for the right to be his successor as Tsarina but her marriage with a German princeling caused this claim to be quickly dismissed, for it was feared that her estranged husband would return to her if she were raised to the Imperial throne. As a result of this her next sister Anna Ivanovna was proclaimed empress. During the accession crisis which followed Ekaterina provided her sister with much loyal support, but was largely responsible for the Tsarina’s ill-feelings toward Peter the Great’s daughter Elizabeth, and Ekaterina tried to have her own daughter proclaimed the Tsarina’s heiress. Grand Duchess Ekaterina died (June 25, 1733) aged forty.

Ekaterina Ivanovna (Catherine) (2) – (1915 – 2007)
Russian Imperial princess
Princess Ekaterina Ivanovna was born (July 25, 1915) in Pavlovsk, the only daughter of Prince Joann Konstantinovitch of Russia (1886 – 1918) and his wife Princess Elena Petrovna, the daughter of Peter I, king of Yugoslavia (1903 – 1921). Princess Ekaterina was the last surviving member of the Romanov Imperial family born before the Revolution (1917). Her father was murdered by Bolsheviks when she was three years old, being thrown alive down a mine-shaft at Alapayevsk in Siberia. His companions in death included the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, sister to the Tsarina Alexandra. Ekaterina was raised in exile by her mother, and was later married (1937) in Rome, to the Italian peer, Ruggero, Marchese Farace di Villaforesta (1909 – 1970), from whom she was later legally seperated (1945). After this the princess removed to reside in Uruguay in South America with her children. She survived her husband by almost forty years as the Dowager Marchesa Farace di Villaforesta (1970 – 2007). Princess Ekaterina died (March 13, 2007) at Montevideo in Uruguay, aged ninety-one. Her two elder children were born in Rome, whilst her youngest was born in Budapest, Hungary. They were,

• Nicoletta Farace di Villaforesta (born 1938). She was married to Alberto Grundland (born 1931) of Montevideo, and left children.
• Fiametta Farace di Villaforesta (born 1942). She was married to Victor Arcelus (born 1935) of Montevideo.
• Giovanni (born 1943), Marchese Farace di Villaforesta. He was married and left children.

Ekaterina of Bulgaria – (c1013 – c1080)
Byzantine Augusta (1057 – 1059)
Ekaterina was the daughter of Ivan Vladislav, Tsar of Bulgaria, and his wife Maria. She was married (c1030) to the Byzantine patrician Isaak Komnenus (c1005 – 1061), to whom she bore two children, and who became emperor in 1057, whereupon she was granted Imperial rank. Possessed of a gentle and pious nature, the empress is said to have been much dismayed by her husband’s policy of curtailing funds intended for religious establishments. She encouraged her husband, who had sufferred either illness or accident, to abdicate (1059), and she herself took the veil as a nun, at the convent of Myrelaion, taking the religious name of Helena. With her unmarried daughter Maria, the empress retired from public life to a palace in Constantinople, where they lived a life of monastic discipline. When she died she was interred within the cemetery of the monks of the monastery of Studion.

Ekaterini of Greece    see   Katherine of Greece

Ekeblad, Eva de La Gardie, Countess – (1724 – 1786)
Swedish scientist and agronomist
Countess Eva de La Gardie was the daughter of the noted statesman Count Magnus Julius de La Gardie (1668 – 1741) and his wife Hedvig Katharina Lilje. Her brother Karl Julius de La Gardie was related by marriage to Hedvig Taube, the mistress of King Frederik I of Sweden (1741 – 1751). Eva was married (1740) to the statesman Count Claes Claesson Ekeblad to whom she bore five children who were raised and educated in Stockholm and at the family estate in Vastergotland.
Eva Ekeblad had stulbed across the process of making flour and alcohol from potatoes which resulted in potatoes becoming part of the staple diet in Sweden, and led to a rise in basic nutrition. Wheat, rye and grain, which had formerly been utilized to produce alcohol was then used for the production of bread. She also discovered the means of bleaching cotton textiles and yarn with soap (1752) and also produced face-powder for ladies from potatoes, which led to less death from the use of the dangerous cosmetics which were available at this period. Countess Ekeblad became the first woman to be elected to the Swedish Academy of Science.

Ekert, Anne    see    Seymour, Anne

Ekert Rotholz, Alice Maria Augusta – (1900 – 1995)
German novelist
Bertha Ekert was born (Sept 5, 1900) in Hamburg, the daughter of Maximilian Ekert, an English export dealer, and his German-Jewish wife, Hedwig Mendelssohn. She was married (1920) to the dentist, Ludwig Rotholz. Ekert Rotholz emigrated with her husband to London, but with the outbreak of WW II they went to Bangkok in Thailand where they remained a little over a decade (1939 – 1952) and during which time Alice travelled wideley, and visited Australia. She and her husband returned to Germany where she worked as a journalist until his death (1959), after which she resided in England the remainder of her life. Her first novel, Siam behind the bamboo wall (1953), was followed by the international best-seller, Rice from silver bowls (1954). These were followed by many other works such as, Poppy in the mountains (1961), Five o’clock afternoon (1971), Foxes in Kamakura (1975), Escape from the bamboo gardens (1981), and, Fear and compassion (1987), amonsgt others. Throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s over three million copies of her works were sold. Alice Ekert Rotholz died (June 17, 1995) aged ninety-four, in London.

Ekins, Emily Helen – (1879 – 1964)
British horticulturalist
Ekins was the daughter of a public analyst and was educated at St Albans High School, before attending Birmingham University and Studley College, where she succeeded in becoming a lecturer in horticulture and associated subjects for over a decade (1911 – 1922). Later appointed Acting Warden (1922 – 1924), Ekins was eventually appointed principal of the Studley Horticultural and Agricultural College, a position she fulfilled with distinction for over twenty years (1924 – 1946). Emily Ekins died (June 4, 1964) aged eighty-four, at Sandford Orcas, near Sherborne in Dorset.

Ekster, Alexandra    see    Exter, Alexandra Alexandrovna

Elagina, Avdotia Petrovna – (1789 – 1877)
Russian salonniere
Madame Elagina patronized the intellectual Slavophiles in st Petersburg literary society. Those who attended her circle included the historian Ivan Beliaev, the writer Ivan Asakov, as well as distinguished foreign visitors, sich as the German naturalist von Humboldt, and the poet Goethe. She corresponded with her step-cousin, Maria Protasova and the historian V.A. Zhukovsky (1815 – 1823). Some of her letters have survived.

Elapha – (d. c303 AD)
Graeco-Roman Christian martyr
Elapha was a native of northern Africa, and perished during the persecutions initiated by the emperors Diocletian and Maximian Daia. Her feast was recorded in the Acta Sanctorum (June 23).

Elaw, Zilpha – (c1790 – after 1822)
Black American evangelist and preacher
Zilpha Elaw was born to free parents near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and went into domestic service with a Quaker family (c1802) after the deaths of her parents. Elaw converted to Christianity (1808) and recorded her own experiences of mystical visions. Such was religious zeal that real problems arose in her marriage, and she discovered her calling as a preacher after attending her first religious camp meeting (1817). Elaw travelled the south, pursuing her own religious ministry, and stood in real danger at times of being sold into slavery. She later spent five years in a British Christian community and was the author of Memoirs of Life, Religious Experience, Ministerial Travels and Labours of Mrs Elaw.

Elbe, Lili – (1886 – 1931)
Danish transsexual
Born Einar Wegener, he attended art school in Cophenhagen, and then married a fellow artist, Gerda. The couple worked as illustrators, Elbe of landscape paintings, Gerda of fashion books and magazines. Possibly a sufferrer of Klinefelter’s Syndrome, as medical tests revealed a large amount of femal hormones, which may have accounted for his feminine looks, Wegender adopted the name of Lili Elbe, and lived as  a woman, entertaining guests, and refusing several offers of marriage. Her true identity remained the secret of a small handful of close friends, and Elbe was introduced by his wife, as the sister of her husband Einar.
Elbe went to Germany to under go experimental surgery under Magnus Hirschfeld in Berlin (1930), and Dr Warnekros at the Dresden Women’s Clinic in Saxony. Transplanted ovaries had to be removed due to serious complications. Elbe became a celebrity when her case was revealed publicly and King Christian X had her marriage invalidated (Oct, 1930). Her sex was changed legally and she received a female passport, but she died soon afterwards, due to complication after a fifth and final operation.

Elboeuf, Anne Elisabeth de Lannoy, Marquise d’ – (1626 – 1654)
French aristocrat
Anne de Lannoy was the daughter of Charles, Comte de Lannoy, and became the first wife (1648) of Charles III de Lorraine (1620 – 1692), Marquis and later (1657) third Duc d’Elboeuf. She was marquise consort (1648 – 1654) and died at Amiens (Oct 3, 1654) aged twenty-seven. Madame d’Elboeuf left two children,

• Anne Elisabeth de Lorraine d’Elboeuf (1649 – 1714). She was married to Henri de Lorraine, Duc de Vaudement (1642 – 1723).
• Charles de Lorraine, Prince d’Elboeuf (1650 – 1690). He died unmarried.

Elboeuf, Charlotte de Rochechouart-Mortemart, Duchesse d’ – (1660 – 1729)
French aristocrat
The last duchesse consort (1692 – 1729) of the d’Elboeuf line of the royal house of Lorraine, and courtier of Louis XIV at the Palace of Versailles., she was the daughter of Louis Victor de Rochechouart, second Duc de Mortemart and Duc de Vivonne, and his wife Antoinette Louise de Mesmes. Charlotte was kinswoman to the king’s famous mistress, the beautiful and fascinating Athenais, Marquise de Montespan. Athenais’s powerful position at the court ensured that Charlotte would make a marriage of social distinction. She was married (1677) at the Palace of St Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, to Henri de Lorraine, Duc d’Elboeuf (1661 – 1748), who long survived her and died at Elboeuf. Duchesse Charlotte died in Paris (April 18, 1729) aged sixty-eight. She left three children, who all predeceased her,

• Philip de Lorraine, Prince d’Elboeuf (1678 – 1705). He died unmarried.
• Armande Charlotte de Lorraine, Mlle d’Elboeuf (1683 – 1701). She died unmarried.
• Charles de Lorraine, Prince d’Elboeuf (1685 – 1705). She died unmarried.

Elboeuf, Francoise de Montault de Navailles, Duchesse d’ – (1665 – 1717)
French Bourbon aristocrat
A prominent courtier of Louis XIV at Versailles, she was the daughter of Philippe de Montault, Duc de Navailles, and his wife Suzanne de Beaudean. She attended Madame de Maintenon at the court and was married (1684) to a prince of the blood, Charles III de Lorraine, Duc d’Elboeuf (1620 – 1692) whom she survived tweny-five years as Dowager Duchesse (1692 – 1717). Duchess Francoise died (June 11, 1717).

Elcho, Mary Constance Wyndham, Lady – (1862 – 1937)
British salon hostess and diarist
Mary Wyndham was born (Aug 3, 1862) the eldest daughter of Percy Scawen Wyndham of Clouds, Wiltshire, and his wife Madeleine Caroline Frances Eden Campbell, the daughter of Major General Sir Guy Campbell, first baronet. She was the niece of Henry Wyndham (1830 – 1901), second Baron Leconfield. Mary was married (1883) to Hugo Richard Charteris (1857 – 1937), Viscount Elcho, who later succeeded (1914) as Earl of Wemyss.
An accredited Victorian and Edwardian beauty Mary Elcho and her sisters Lady Grey of Falloden and Mrs Adeane were The Three Graces of John Singer Sargent’s well known portrait. The same year she was married Lady Elcho met Arthur Balfour (later Earl Balfour) and there ensued between them a platonic romantic attachment which lasted until Balfour’s death nearly fifty years later (1930). Despite this relationship Lady Mary remained closely involved with her husband’s political career.
Lady Elcho and her husband were members of the fashionable literary set known collectively as ‘the Souls’ and Lady Elcho was friend to such figures as Margot Asquith and Violet, Duchess of Rutland. Priot to WW I Lord and Lady Elcho entertained regularly at their home at Gosford, and she became renowned as a talented political hostess. Her correspondence between family members and courtiers has survived and Lady Mary published her private diary as A Family Record (1932). Her husband succeeded his father as the ninth earl of Wemyss (1914 – 1937) and Lady Elcho finally succeeded as Countess of Wemyss. Despite this it was as Lady Elcho that she is best remembered. Lady Wemyss died (April 29, 1937) in a nursing home at Cheltenham, aged seventy-five. She was buried at Stanway in Gloucestershire. Her children included Hugo Francis Charteris (1884 – 1916), Viscount Elcho from 1914, who was killed in action during the war and was the father of Francis Charteris (born 1912), who succeeded his grandfather as twelfth Earl of Wemyss (1937) and left issue. Of her three daughters Lady Cynthia Mary Charteris (1887 – 1960) became the wife of Herbert Asquith (1881 – 1947), the second Earl of Oxford and Asquith, and Lady Irene Corona Charteris (1902 – 1989) the wife of Ivor Miles Windsor-Clive (1889 – 1943), second Earl of Plymouth.

Elcho, Violet Catherine Manners, Lady – (1888 – 1971)
British aristocrat and salon figure
Lady Violet Manners was born (April 24, 1888), the second daughter of John Brinsley Manners, eighth Duke of Rutland, and his wife Violet the daughter of Colonel Charles Lindsay. She was married firstly (1911) to Hugo Francis Charteris (1884 – 1916), Viscount Elcho, the son and heir of Hugo Charteris, eleventh Earl of Wemyss. He was killed in action during WW I and their son Francis succeeded his grandfather as the twelfth Earl (1937).  Violet was the daughter-in-law of the the more prominent Mary, Lady Elcho, though, like her, Lady Violet was a member of the literary group popularly known as the ‘Souls.’ Lady Violet’s younger son by her first marriage, was Sir Martin Charteris (born 1913), who served Queen Elizabeth II from 1956 as assistant private secretary. Lady Violet later remarried (1921) to Guy Holford Benson, to whom she bore three sons.

Eldegarde (Alaidis) – (c900 – after 965)
Carolingian noblewoman
Eldegarde was the daughter or niece of Ermenfrid, Count of Valois and Amiens (901 – 919). Her mother may have been a member of the Nibelung dynasty descended from Charles Martel, Duke of Austrasia (717 – 737). She has also been variously connected with the family of Arnulf I, count of Flanders (918 – 964) and that of Duke William I of Normandy (933 – 942) but the chronology remains unsound. Eldegarde was married firstly (c910) to Raoul I of Cambrai (Raoul de Gouy) (c874 – 926), who had inherited the counties of Valois, Vexin, and Amiens at Count Ermenfrid’s death (919).
With Raoul’s death her sons were still young children and Eldegarde was unable to prevent the loss of their inheritance. She remarried to a French lord named Waleran, from the Valois region, whose family has not been identified. In a charter dated (c960 – c987) the countess gave some of the lands at Gondreville that she had received as her dower from her second husband, as a monastic endowment. The charter was drawn up at Pontoise in the Vexin, and was witnessed by her son Walter and dux Hugh (Hugh Capet). Through her sons she was ancestress of the ancient medieval family of Tracy of Toddington in England which survives to the present. Her two sons were,

• Raoul II (c918 – 943). He succeeded his father as count of Valois (926) but was later killed trying to recover his patrimony.
• Walter I (Gautier) (c921 – c998). He succeeded his brother as Count of Valois and Vexin. He was married to Adela, the daughter of Fulk I, count of Anjou, and left issue.

Elder, Anne Josephine Chloe – (1918 – 1976) 
Australian poet and ballerina
Born Anne MacIntosh (Jan 4, 1918) in Auckland, New Zealand, she came to Australia with her family during early childhood (1921). Ultimately Anne achieved an impressive career with the Borovansky Ballet Company. She was the author of two highly regarded collections of poetry entitled, For the Record (1972), and, Crazy Woman and Other Poems (1976).  Anne Elder died in Melbourne, Victoria, aged fifty-eight (Oct 23, 1976) and the Anne Elder Trust Fund award was established in her memory by the Fellowship of Australian Writers in Victoria, for first works of poetry.

Elder, Susan Blanchard – (1835 – 1923)
American author, biographer, and poet
Elder was born (April 19, 1835) in Fort Jessup, Louisiana. Her published works included James the Second (1874), Savonarola (1875), Life of the Abbe Adrien Rouquette (1913), and the collection of verse entitled Elder Flowers (1912). Susan Blanchard Elder died (Nov 3, 1923) aged eighty-eight.

Eldershaw, Flora Sydney Patricia – (1897 – 1956)
Australian novelist and historian
Edlershaw was born (March 16, 1897) in Darlinghurst, Sydney, but was raised on a sheep station at Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. She graduated from Sydney University, and was employed as a tutor in a private girls’ school in Croydon for almost twenty years (1923 – 1940).  Eldershaw later teamed up with fellow university student and author, Marjorie Barnard to produce five novels and a collection of essays, and was the more publicly prominent of the literary partnership. She was president of the Sydney branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers in 1935 and 1943, and was a member of the Commonwealth Literary Fund Advisory Board (1939 – 1953). During the war years Eldershaw was employed by the Department of Reconstruction and later became a private industrial consultant. Her written works included, Contemporary Australian Women Writers (1931) and a selection of writings of Australian women entitled The Peaceful Army (1938). Flora Eldershaw died near Wagga Wagga, aged fifty-nine (Sept 20, 1956).

Eldershaw, M. Barnard     see    Barnard, Marjorie Faith

Elderton, Ethel Mary – (1878 – 1954)
British scientific writer and eugenicist
Ethel Elderton was born (Dec 31, 1878) in London. She attended secondary school at Streatham before going on to study science at Bedford College. Elderton was first appointed as the secretary of the Eugenics Records Office at London University (1906) where she later became an assistant professor and then Reader (1931 – 1935). Elderton remained unmarried and was the author of several papers such as Report on English Birth Rate (1914) and Primer on Statistics. Ethel Elderton died (May 5, 1954) aged seventy-five, in London.

Eldon, Magdalen Mary Charlotte Fraser, Countess of – (1913 – 1969)
British activist and peeress
Hon. (Honourable) Magdalen Fraser was born (Aug 1, 1913), the eldest daughter of Simon Joseph Fraser, sixteenth Baron Lovat and his wife Laura Lister. She was married (1934) to Sir John Scott, fourth Earl of Eldon (1899 – 1976). Lady Eldon was a lifetime supporter of the British Red Cross and during WW II she assisted with the organization and administration of hospitals and staff in Europe. After the war she continued to serve the Red Cross at home and was appointed as deputy president of the Devon branch. Her work was recognized when she appointed OBE (Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II (1953). Her two surviving children were John Joseph Nicholas Scott, fifth Earl of Eldon (born 1937) and the Hon. Simon Peter Scott (born 1939) who served at court during childhood as page boy to Queen Elizabeth (1953 – 1956). Both sons married and left descendants.

Eldridge, Florence – (1901 – 1988) 
American actress
Born Florence McKechnie in Brooklyn, New York, from 1919 she appeared on the stage in New York, and became renowned as one of the most celebrated performers on the Broadway circuit.
Florence was married (1927) to fellow actor Frederic March (1897 – 1975) to whom she remained married for nearly fifty years. Rather than honeymoon the couple toured as performers with the first travelling company of the Theatre Guild. Florence’s stage career was often intertwined with that of her husband, and they appeared in several films together. Florence Eldridge’s greatest personal film triumph was as best actress in Eugene O’Neill’s Long Days Journey Into Night, in which her husband appeared and also gave a much admired performance. For this role, Florence received the New York Critics Award (1956 – 1957). Some of her film credits included, Six Cylinder Love (1923), The Greene Murder Case and Charming Sinners (both 1929), Thirteen Women (1932), A Modern Hero and The Great Jasper (both 1934), Les Miserables (1935), Mary of Scotland (1936), Christopher Columbus (1949), and her last film, Inherit the Wind (1960). Florence Eldridge died in hospital in Santa Barbara, California.

Eldridge, Marian Favel Clair – (1936 – 1997)
Australian writer
Born Marian Stockfeld in Melbourne, Victoria, she was the daughter of a farmer. She was raised in the Gippsland region, and graduated from the University of Melbourne, where she assisted with the establishment of ABSCHOL, a scheme to provided tertiary education for Aboriginal students. She married Kenneth Eldrige, to whom she bore four children. Eldridge worked as a schoolteacher and began writing full time in 1980, her work appearing in magazines and anthologies, in Australia and overseas. She was awarded the Canberra Times National Short Story Award (1981), before publishing her first collection of short stories Walking the Dog (1984), which was acclaimed by international critics. This was followed be a second collection, The Woman at the Window (1989), and the novel, Springfield (1992), which centred on the moving theme of human redemption. Her last published volume was, The Wild Sweet Flowers (1994), which won the 1994 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award for the International Year of the Family. Marian Eldridge died of cancer at her home in Canberrra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), aged sixty-one (Feb 14, 1997).

Eleanor of Anjou (Leonor) – (1289 – 1341)
Queen consort of Naples (1309 – 1339)
Princess Eleanor was born (Aug, 1289) the daughter and heiress of Charles II of Anjou, King of Naples, and his wife Maria of Hungary, the daughter of Stephen V, King of Hungary. Through her father she was a descendant of Louis VIII of France (1223 – 1226) and his famous wife, Blanche of Castile, the parents of St Louis IX (1226 – 1270). Princess Eleanor became the wife (1302) of the Infante Frederick of Aragon (1271 – 1336) who succeeded to the Neapolitan throne as Frederick II, in Eleanor’s right, after the death of her father, King Charles (1309). The couple produced nine children and Eleanor survived her husband as Queen Dowager of Naples (1336 – 1341). Queen Eleanor died (Aug 9, 1341) at Arene. She was interred at Catania in Sicily. Her children were,

• Princess Constanza of Naples (Constance) (1303 – after 1344). She was married firstly to Henry II (1271 – 1324), King of Cyprus, secondly to Leo V (1310 – 1341), King of Armenia, and thirdly to Jean de Lusignan.
• Pietro II (Peter) (1304 – 1342). He succeeded his father as King of Naples (1336 – 1342) and left descendants.
• Prince Ruggiero of Naples (born 1305). He died young.
• Prince Manfred of Naples (1306 – 1317). He was created Duke of Athens and Neopatras, and died young at Trapani.
• Princess Isabella of Naples (Elisabeth) (1310 – 1349). She became the wife of Stephen II (1317 – 1375), Duke of Bavaria.
• Prince Guglielmo of Naples (1312 – 1338). He was Prince of Taranto and Duke of Athens and Neopatras. He was married to Maria of Aragon but died childless.
• Prince Giovanni of Naples (1317 – 1348). He became Duke of Athens and Neopatras (1338 – 1348) and Count of Randazzo, and served as Regent of Naples (1338 – 1348). He was married and left descendants.
• Princess Caterina of Naples (1320 – after 1342). She remained unmarried and became a Clarissan nun at the convent of Santa Chiara in Messina.
• Princess Margaret of Naples (1331 – 1349). She became the wife of Rudolf II (1306 – 1353), Elector Palatine of the Rhine.

Eleanor of Aquitaine – (1122 – 1204) 
Queen consort of England (1154 – 1189)
Eleanor was born either at the Ombriere Palace in Bordeaux or at Belin Castle in Guienne, the elder daughter of William X, Duke of Aquitaine, and his wife Aenor, the daughter of Aimery I, Viscount of Chatellerault. In 1137 Eleanor succeeded her father to the duchy of Aquitaine, and inherited the counties of Saintonge, Angouleme, Limousin and Agen. She was married only a month later at Bordeaux Cathedral (July 25) to the young Louis VII, King of France (1120 – 1180) as his first wife. The couple had two daughters, Marie Capet (1145) and Alix Capet (1150), but no male heir.
In 1147 the beautiful young queen accompanied Louis on the Second Crusade to the Holy Land (1147 – 1149) and she created lasting fame and scandal for herself by dressing herself and her ladies as Amazonian warriors. Whilst in Antioch scandal connected her name with that of Prince Raymond, who was her paternal uncle. These scandals, together with the lack of a male heir, and her refusal to heed the admonitions of Bernard of Clairvaux, whose interference in court matters she resented, made the king’s ardour for her begin to cool.
Eventually, in 1152, the marriage was annulled in the grounds of consanguinity, but several weeks later (May 18) at Bordeaux Eleanor quickly remarried to Henry Plantagenet, Count of Anjou (1133 – 1189), ten years her junior, who succeeded Stephen of Blois as King of England (1154). A patron of the poets and troubadours of the period, Queen Eleanor’s court at Poitiers became the epitome of the courtly ideal espoused by the poets, and she travelled continuously between Poitiers and England for the next twenty years, administering to the affairs of Aquitaine, and holding her own courts.
Eleanor and Henry ultimately had five sons and three daughters, but as a result of Henry’s numerous infidelities, notably with Rosamond Clifford, the couple drew apart. Eventually, Eleanor supported her elder sons Henry and Richard in a rebellion against him. Attempring to flee on horseback dressed in male attire, the queen was captured and imprisoned in Salisbury Tower in 1174. She would remain there, apart from several visits to the court, and amidst rumours that Henry was going to divorce her, until the king’s death in 1189.
With the accession of her son Richard I, the queen was immediately released from captivity, and she was appointed regent during the time of his campaigns abroad in the Holy Land (1189 – 1194), and she successfully raised the large ransom needed to buy his release from Austrian captivity. In 1200, aged nearly eighty, Queen Eleanor personally led the army which crushed a rebellion in Anjou against her surviving son King John, and that same year travelled to the court of Castile to bring back her granddaughter Blanche for her marriage to the French dauphin Louis (VIII). Soon afterwards, the old queen retired (1203) to the Abbey of St Marie at Fontevrault, where she died (April 1, 1204), wearing the habit of the nuns there, and was interred beside her second husband and their son Richard. Her tomb at Fontevrault has survived.

Eleanor of Aragon (Leonor) – (1333 – 1417)
Queen consort of Cyprus (1358 – 1369)
Eleanor was the daughter of Infante Pedro of Aragon, Count of Ribagorza, and his French wife Jeanne de Foix. She was married (1353) to Crown Prince Peter of Cyprus (1329 – 1369) as his second wife. He was crowned king as Peter I with his father (Nov 24, 1358), and Eleanor was crowned with them. She was the mother of King Peter II (1358 – 1382).
Despite being romantically attached to Queen Eleanor, her husband’s infidelities caused much disruption to court life. When he was absent in Europe (1368) the queen caused his heavily pregnant mistress to be tortured in order to make the woman miscarry. When this failed she allowed the child to be born and then taken away and killed. The court chamberlain wrote to the king to accuse the queen of infidelity with jean de Morphou, Comte de Racha. With Peter’s return to Cyprus, Eleanor was sent to trial for adultery and her rival was installed in the palace in her place. However, Queen Eleanor was proved innocent of the charges, and her accuser arrested and left to starve to death at Buffavento. Her husband was assassinated in a plot hatched by dissaffected nobles (Jan 18, 1369). It was only due to the efforts of the queen, who had safely hidden her son that the boy’s life was saved, and he was proclaimed King Peter II by the people. The boy’s uncle Prince John of Antioch ruled for him as regent, but Eleanor despised him as he had been privy to her husband’s murder. She succeeded in having her son crowned king at Nicosia (Jan, 1372), despite the efforts of the regent to have the ceremony postponed.
Though she attained great influence over her son, after his marriage with Valentina Visconti (1378) this situation changed, and Queen Eleanor returned to Aragon in Spain (1380) with a large pension, with the proviso that the payment of this pension would cease if she left the kingdom of Aragon. Pope Urban VI later granted the queen a pension (1383) and she also received a grant from Martin I of Aragon (1397). Apart from her son Eleanor also bore Peter I two daughters, Maria Eschiva, who died young before 1376, and Margaret (c1361 – c1400), who became the wife of her first cousin, James of Cyprus, Count of Tripoli (1358 – 1382). Queen Eleanor survived her husband almost fifty years, and died (Dec 26, 1417) at Barcelona, aged eighty-four.

Eleanor of Brittany – (1184 – 1241)
Heiress and titular duchess
Eleanor was the surviving daughter of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Duke of Brittany, the son of Henry II of England, and his wife Constance, the daughter and heiress of Conan IV, Duke of Brittany. When her uncle Richard failed to gain papal consent for the proposed marriage of her sister Johanna of Sicily with the Saracen leader Saladin (1190), he then proposed that Eleanor should take her aunt’s place, but the negotiations came to nothing. Eleanor was then proposed as a bride for Leopold (VI), the heir of Leopold V of Austria (1192) and then for the Dauphin Louis (VIII) but none of these dynastic plans eventuated.
Eleanor was captured by her uncle, King John, together with her brother Duke Arthur, and a group of rebellious barons at Mirabeau (1202). Arthur was imprisoned within the castle of Falaise, and Eleanor at Bristol Castle, but their fate remained a mystery to the French for many years. Treaties made more than a decade later were based upon the contingency of her survival. With the murder of her brother at the hands of King John (1203), Eleanor became the legal heiress of the duchy of Brittany. With the death of King John (1216), his successor, Henry III, fearful that someone would take up her claims to Brittany and the throne of England, kept Eleanor in semi-captivity at Bristol. Though closely watched, King Henry saw that she lived as befitted her royal rank, and household records show that Eleanor received generous gifts from the royal family. There is an old legend, of unknown origin, which stated that King Henry once gave Eleanor a gold crown to wear, but that she returned it after only wearing it for one day. Eleanor of Brittany died at Bristol Castle, aged fifty-seven (Aug 10, 1241) and was interred at Amesbury Abbey, in Wiltshire.

Eleanor of Castile – (1241 – 1290)
Queen of England (1272 – 1290)
Eleanor was the daughter of Ferdinando II, King of Castile and his second wife, Johanna of Ponthieu. She inherited the iomportant fiefs of Ponthieu and Montreuil in France from her mother, and when she was married to the future Edward I (1254) at Las Huelgas, Burgos, her brother, King Alfonso X, signed over to her his claims to the province of Gascony. Queen Eleanor was devoted to her husband, to whom she bore seventeen children, though only a handful survived infancy. She accompanied Edward to Palestine whilst he was engaged upon the crusades (1270 – 1273), and is said to have saved his life at Acre, by sucking out the poison from his wound. Queen Eleanor died (Nov 28, 1290) at Harby in Nottinghamshire, aged forty-nine. King Edward was stricken with grief, and as her funeral cortege travelled to London, he erected nine ‘Eleanor Crosses’ to commemorate the places where the cortege halted on its journey to London. There are surviving crosses at Northampton, Geddington, and Waltham, and a replica of one of the originals remains at Charing Cross in London.

Eleanor of Lancaster – (1318 – 1372)
English Plantagenet princess
Eleanor was the fifth daughter of Henry of Grosmont (Plantagenet) (1281 – 1345), Earl of Lancaster, a descendant of Henry III (1216 – 1272), and his first wife Matilda (Maud), the daughter of Sir Patrick de Chaworth, of Mottisfont. Eleanor was married (1337) to John de Beaumont (1318 – 1342), second Baron Beaumont. Their son and heir was born in Brabant (1340) when Lady Beaumont was in attendance upon Queen Philippa, wife of Edward III. Her children by Lord Beaumont were,

• Joan de Beaumont (c1338 – after 1400). She remained unmarried.
• Henry de Beaumont (1340 – 1369). He succeeded his father as the third Baron Beaumont (1342 – 1369) and married, leaving issue.

Sometime prior to her husband’s death Lady Eleanor had become involved in a liasion with Richard Fitzalan (1313 – 1376), the third Earl of Arundel. With the death of John de Beaumont, Lady Eleanor left his house in order to cohabit with Lord Arundel as his common law wife. She received the estate of Little Grendon in Essex as her dower. Their liasion was not long tolerated by Edward III, who forced the couple to regularize their union. As a result she became Arundel’s second wife (1345) at Ditton Church, Stoke Poges, in Buckinghamshire. As countess of Arundel Eleanor was an important figure at the court of King Edward and Queen Philippa, and she was amongst those peeresses who attended the funeral ceremonies of Queen Philippa (1369).
Countess Eleanor died (Jan 11, 1372) aged fifty-three, at Arundel Castle, Sussex, and was interred in Lewes Priory. Her children by Lord Arundel were,

• Edmund Fitzalan (1343 – c1366). He died unmarried.
• Lady Joan Fitzalan (1344 – 1419). She became the wife of Humphrey de Bohun (1342 – 1372), seventh Earl of Hereford and Essex. The younger of their two daughters, Mary de Bohun, was the first wife of Henry IV (1399 – 1413) and mother of Henry V (1413 – 1422).
• Richard Fitzalan (1346 – 1397). He succeeded his father as fourth Earl of Arundel (1376 – 1397) and was executed by order of Richard II. He married twice and left issue.
• Lady Eleanor Fitzalan (1348 – 1372). She became the wife of Sir Ralph de Clifford (died 1375).
• John Fitzalan (1350 – 1379). He was created first Baron Arundel and was married to Eleanor, Baroness Maultravers, leaving issue. He was drowned.
• Thomas Fitzalan (1353 – 1414). He took holy orders and was appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury.
• Lady Alice Fitzalan (1354 – 1416). She became the wife of Sir Thomas de Holland (1355 – 1397), second Earl of Kent, and left descendants.
• Lady Mary Fitzalan (1356 – before 1366). She died young.

Eleanor of Normandy – (c1007 – c1071)
French countess
Eleanor was born at Rouen Castle, the second daughter of Richard II, Duke of Normandy (996 – 1026) and his first wife Judith of Rennes, the daughter of Conan le Tort (the Red), Duke of Brittany. She was raised mainly in Rouen, and with the early death of her mother (1017) her education was probably supervised by her paternal grandmother the Dowager Duchess Gunnora. Eleanor became the second wife (c1031) of Baldwin IV (c980 – 1036), Count of Flanders, thirty-five years her senior, and became countess consort of Flanders (1031 – 1036).
Her marriage with Baldwin was recorded in the Genealogica Comitum Flandriae Bertiniana and by the Norman historian William of Jumieges, though neither source named her, styling her only filiam secundi Ricardi ducis Normanorum. The Annalista Saxo stressed Eleanor’s relationship with the royal Anglo-Saxon house of England, when recording the marriage of her daughter Judith, but again her name was not given. Eleanor survived Baldwin for over thirty years as the Dowager Countess of Flanders (1036 – c1071) having borne him an only child, Judith of Flanders (1033 – 1094), who married firstly to Tostig Godwinsson, Earl of Northumberland, the brother of King Harold II (1066), and secondly to Welf I (1037 – 1101), Duke of Bavaria, leaving issue from both marriages.

Eleanor of Provence – (1223 – 1291) 
Queen consort of England (1236 – 1272)
Eleanor was born at Aix-en-Provence, the daughter of Raymond Berengar IV, Count of Provence, and his wife Beatrice, the daughter of Tommaso I, Count of Savoy. She was married (Jan, 1236) at Canterbury Cathedral, Kent, to King Henry III (1207 – 1272) becoming the mother of Edward I (1239 – 1307), amongst other children.
Though a devoted wife and mother, and greatly loved by her family, during her husband’s reign, Queen Eleanor maintained a reputation for greed and avarice, and was highly unpopular with the people. The arrival in England of many of her Savoyard relatives, whom she assisted to gain livelihoods or marriages with English heiresses also helped to maintain her popular dislike. During the Baron’s War (1264), when King Henry was taken prisoner, Eleanor managed to raise an army of French mercenaries to support him, but her fleet was wrecked by contrary weather. Despite this setback, the rebel forces were defeated and Eleanor managed to return to England.  In her last years Eleanor retired to the Abbey of Amesbury, Wiltshire, where she brought up her granddaughter Mary (1278 – 1332). Despite taking religious vows, the queen managed to retain the control and use of her considerable personal estates. Several of her letters survive. Queen Eleanor died (June 24, 1291) at Amesbury, and was interred there.

Eleanor of Woodstock    see    Eleanor Plantagenet (4)

Eleanor Plantagenet (Leonor) (1) – (1161 – 1214)
Queen consort of Castile (1170 – 1214), she was born (Oct 13, 1161) at Domfront Castle in Rouen, Normandy, the second daughter of Henry II, King of England (1154 – 1189), and his famous wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, the daughter of Duke William X. Eleanor was married (Sept, 1170) at Burgos Cathedral in Castile, to King Alfonso VIII (1155 – 1214). The couple remained devotedly, and famously attached throughout their married life, and her death at Burgos, only weeks after Alfonso’s (Oct 31, 1214), at the age of fifty-three, was said to have been caused by her excessive grief. She had briefly ruled as regent during this brief period for their son, Enrique I (1214 – 1217) who died childless. She was interred within the Cistercian abbey of Las Huelgas, of which she had been patron, and where her daughter the Infanta Constanza served as abbess.
Eleanor, who received her mother, Queen Eleanor at her court (1199 – 1200), and on several previous occasions, celebrated the cult of courtly love at her court, which was frequented by troubadours and poets.  Her eldest surviving daughter, Queen Berengaria I (Berenguela) (1180 – 1246), was married to Alfonso of Aragon, and were the parents of Ferdinando III, king of Castile – (1199 – 1252). Of her other daughters, Urraca became the wife of Alfonso II, king of Portugal, whilst Blanche (Blanca) became the wife of Louis VIII, king of France, and mother of St Louis IX (1214 – 1270).

Eleanor Plantagenet (2) – (1215 – 1275)
English princess
Eleanor was the third daughter of King John (1199 – 1216) and his second wife Isabella of Angouleme, and youngest sister of Henry III (1216 – 1272). She was married firstly (1224) to William Marshal, second Earl of Pembroke (c1190 – 1231). His death left her a childless widow and the princess made a vow of perpetual chastity. Despite her vows the princess later remarried secretly (1238) to Simon de Montfort (1208 – 1265), who later led the rebel barons against the Crown and was killed at the battle of Evesham. With Simon’s death Eleanor retired to France, where she became a nun at the abbey of Montargis. Princess Eleanor died (April 13, 1275) at Montargis aged fifty-nine, and was buried there. Eleanor and Simon left six children,

• Sir Henry de Montfort (1238 – 1265). He was killed with his father at the battle of Evesham, and died unmarried.
• Simon de Montfort (1240 – 1271). He died childless.
• Sir Guy de Montfort (1243 – 1288). He became Count of Nola in Italy. He married Margarita Aldobrandeschi and left descendants.
• Sir Amaury de Montfort (died after 1301). Earlier in life he was a canon at York.
• Richard de Montfort (died after 1266). He died unmarried.
• Eleanor de Montfort (1252 – 1282). She was married Llewellyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales (died 1282) and left an only daughter, Princess Gwendoline ferch Llewellyn (1282 – 1337) who died a nun at the convent of Sempringham, the last of her line in Wales.

Eleanor Plantagenet (3) – (1264 – 1297)
Queen consort of Aragon (1290 – 1291) and Countess consort of Bar in France
Princess Eleanor was born (cJune 17, 1264) at Windsor Castle, Berkshire, the eldest daughter of Edward I, King of England (1272 – 1307) and his first wife Eleanor, the daughter of Ferdinando II, King of Castile. She was educated at Westminster Palace, London. Possessed of considerable personal beauty, the princess came under the care of her paternal grandmother, Eleanor of Provence from 1271, and she attended the coronation of her parents at Westminster (1273). Her father came to an agreement in Gascony with Pedro IV of Aragon, that his eldest son Alfonso (1264 – 1291) should eventually be married to Eleanor (1273). Several years afterwards (1275) it was agreed that this alliance being doubly strengthened, and King Pedro suggested that in addition, his eldest daughter Isabella should marry Eleanor’s brother and heir, Alfonso, Earl of Chester.
Despite these arrangements King Edward remained suspicious of Pedro’s political motives, and he remained slow to conclude the union. Eventually Pedro sent the Archbishop of Tarragona and the Bishop of Valencia to smooth the final preperations, but these were shelved when Pope Martin IV declared the proposed union unlawful (1283). When Alfonso succeeded to the throne (1285) he reopened the negotiations, and he and Eleanor were finally married by proxy in Westminster Abbey (1290). She was then proclaimed as queen but the young king died soon afterwards (June 18, 1291) before the young queen had even left England.
Queen Eleanor was then married secondly (1293) at Bristol in England, to Henry III (c1266 – 1302), Count of Bar-le-Duc, and was accompanied to France by William de Montfort, Dean of St Paul’s. Edward I paid Husson de Thornville, valet to Count Henry, the enormous sum of fifty pounds, for bringing him the news of the birth of Eleanor’s eldest son (1294). With the birth of her second son (1296) her father settled the English succession upon the Countess of Bar and her children, after the issue of her brother, Edward II. Queen Eleanor died (Oct 12, 1297) aged thirty-three, at Ghent, Flanders, from the effects of childbirth. Her body was brought back to England and she was interred in Westminster Abbey, London. Her children from her second marriage were,

• Edward I (1294 – 1336). He succeeded his father as Count of Bar (1302 – 1336). He was drowned in a shipwreck and left descendants including the later Dukes of Bar as they became (1355).
• Evrard (1296 – 1337). He briefly succeeded his brother as Count of Bar (1336 – 1337) but left no children.
• Johanna of Bar (1297 – 1361). She became the wife of John de Warenne (1286 – 1347), eighth Earl of Surrey. Their marriage remained unhappy and childless.

Eleanor Plantagenet (4) – (1306 – 1311)
Princess of England
Eleanor was the youngest child of King Edward I (1272 – 1307), being the only daughter by his second wife, Margaret of Valois, the daughter of Philip III, King of France (1270 – 1285). She was born (May 4, 1306) at Winchester Palace. She died young at the Abbey of Amesbury, and was interred within Beaulieu Abbey, Hants.

Eleanor Plantagenet (5) – (1318 – 1355)
Duchess consort of Gueldres
Eleanor was born at Woodstock Palace (June 18, 1318), the eldest daughter of Edward II, King of England (1307 – 1327) and his wife Isabella of Valois, daughter of Philip IV, King of France (1285 – 1314), and was sometimes known as Eleanor of Woodstock, from her place of birth. With her sister Joan (later queen of Scotland), Eleanor resided in the custody of Sir Ralph de Monthermer, their uncle by marriage, for several years until she was removed to the care of the elder Hugh le Despenser, whose ultimate execution she witnessed (1326).
It was originally planned to marry Eleanor to Alfonso XI of Castile, but these negotiations were broken off after a quarrel concerning dowries. The future Jean II of France, son of Philip VI, was the next husband touted for her, but this likewise fell through. With the downfall of her mother and Roger Mortimer (1330), she entered the household of her sister-in-law Queen Philippa and was raised at court, being granted the manor of Shireton in Wiltshire for her personal use. Rainald II, Duke of Gueldres (1291 – 1343) successfully sued for her hand as his second wife (1332). The couple had two sons, dukes Rainald III (1334 – 1371) and Edward (1336 – 1371) who ruled jointly. Rainald married but died childless, and Edward died unmarried. The marriage provided Rainald with great personal and dynastic prestige in the Netherlands, which led to his playing a role in the Hundred Years’ War between England and France.
With Rainald’s death (Oct, 1343), Duchess Eleanor was co-regent for her sons with Count Adolf of the Mark, with assistance from her brother Edward III. She ruled diligently for seven years, but sufferred much from the ingratitude of her sons when they grew older (1350). They quarrelled with each other and with her, and when the duchess remonstrated with them, they seized her dower estates and left her almost penniless. During this bitter time she was supported by the monks of Harderwyck, who furnished her with everyday necessities. Eventually the Duchess Eleanor retired completely to the convent of Deventer, where she died (April 22, 1355), aged thirty-five, where her tombstone survived into the seventeenth century. She financed and founded the Cistercian convent of Rosenthal, near Malines, but her death prevented its completion.

Eleanora of Aragon – (1426 – 1479)
Queen regnant of Navarre (Jan – Feb 1479)
Eleanora was born (Feb 2, 1426), the third daughter of Juan II, King of Aragon, and his first wife Blanche, daughter and heiress of Carlos II, King of Navarre. She was acclaimed by the Cortes (parliament) in Pamplona, Navarre (1427), as the legitimate heir of her elder siblings, Carlos, Prince of Viana and the Infanta Blanche. Eleanor was married (1436) to Gaston IV, Comte de Foix, to whom she bore ten children, including Gaston de Foix, Prince of Viana (1441 – 1470) and Pierre de Foix (1449 – 1490), Cardinal and archbishop of Arles. With the death of her brother Carlos, Prince of Viana (1462), the eventual succession to Navarre devolved upon Eleanora’s elder childless sister, Blanche, divorced wife of Henry IV of Castile. This lady was poisoned at Ortes, in Bearn (1464) whilst in the custody of Eleanora. She was widowed when her husband was killed at the battle of Roncesvalles (1472). From 1464 Eleanor ruled Navarre as joint regent with her father, but their relationship was far from stable. Having previously threatened rebellion against her aged father, at his death Eleanora succeeded as queen of Navarre (Jan 19, 1479), but her reign lasted barely four weeks. The queen died at Tudela (Feb 12, 1479), whereupon the crown of Navarre passed to her grandson, Francois Phoebus de Foix, whose mother, Madeleine de Valois, ruled as regent.

Eleanora Charlotte of Kurland – (1686 – 1748)
German duchess consort of Brunswick-Bevern
Princess Eleanora Charlotte was born (June 11, 1686), the daughter of Friedrich Kasimir, Duke of Kurland. She was married (1714) to Ernst Ferdinand (1682 – 1746), Duke of Brunswick-Bevern (1682 – 1746), and was duchess consort (1735 – 1746). She survived her husband for two years as the Dowager Duchess of Brunswick-Bevern (1746 – 1748). Duchess Eleanora Charlotte died (July 28, 1748) aged sixty-two, and left a large family of thirteen children,

• Augustus Wilhelm (1715 – 1781). He succeeded his father as Duke of Brunswick-Bevern (1746 – 1781), but died unmarried.
• Princess Christiana Sophia of Brunswick-Bevern (1717 – 1779). She was married to Friedrich Ernst (1703 – 1762), Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth.
• Princess Frederica Albertina of Brunswick-Bevern (1719 – 1772). She remained unmarried, and was appointed as Abbess of Stederburg.
• Prince George Friedrich Ludwig of Brunswick-Bevern (1721 – 1747). He died unmarried.
• Stillborn daughter (Nov 7, 1721).
• Princess Ernestine of Brunswick-Bevern (1721). She was a twin with her sister, and died the same day as she was born.
• Prince Friedrich George of brunswick-Bevern (1723 – 1766). He died unmarried.
• Princess Amalia Christina of Brunswick-Bevern (1724 – 1726). She died young.
• Prince Karl Wilhelm of Brunswick-Bevern (1725). He died in infancy.
• Prince Friedrich Augustus of Brunswick-Bevern (1726 – 1729). He died young.
• Princess Maria Anna of Brunswick-Bevern (1728 – 1754). She remained unmarried.
• Friedrich Karl Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Bevern (1729 – 1809). He was married but died childless.
• Princess Johann Anthony of Brunswick-Bevern (1731 – 1732). He died in infancy.

Eleanora Erdmuthe Louisa – (1662 – 1696)
Electress consort of Saxony
Princess Eleanora was born (April 13, 1662) at Friedenwald, Saxony, the daughter of Johann George I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, and his wife Johanetta von Sayn-Wittgenstein. She married firstly (1681) to Johann Frederick, margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, to whom she bore three children, including margrave Wilhelm Friedrich (1703 – 1723) and Caroline, later the wife of George II, King of Great Britain (1727 – 1760).
With her husband’s death (1686) her relationship with her stepson deteriorated, and the margravine was forced to retire from the court, and took her children to her father’s court at Eisenach. The elector of Brandenburg arranged for her remarriage (1692) to Johann George IV, elector of Saxony, six years her junior, the marriage being intended as a wedge to break the alliance between Saxony and Austria, in favour of Brandenburg. However, the union proved disastrous, mainly due to the youthful elector’s infatuation with his mistress, Madame von Rochlitz.
The couple met only in public, and there were attempts to poison the electress, almost certainly instigated by Madame von Rochlitz, that seriously damaged her health. The great gossip, Count Pollnitz, dined out for years with the story of a quarrel in which the elector would have murdered his wife, but for the timely arrival of his brother Prince Augustus. The prince forcibly wrenched the sword from his brother’s hand, then loosed his grip from his wife’s throat, and carried the struggling man from the chamber, leaving the electress fainting into the arms of her women.
With the deaths of both her husband and his mistress from smallpox (1694), the electress retired with her daughter Caroline, to the dower castle of Pretsch, and was treated with kindly consideration by her brother-in-law, Augustus. Electress Eleanora died there aged only thirty-four (Sept 9, 1696), her health destroyed by her late husband’s cruelty.

Eleanore of Austria – (1498 – 1558)
Queen consort of France (1530 – 1547)
Archduchess Eleanore was born in Brussels, Louvain (Nov 15, 1498), the eldest daughter of Philip I of Austria and his wife Juana of Aragon. Her father was son and heir of the emperor Maximilian I, whilst her mother was the eldest daughter of Ferdinand V of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. Her younger brothers were the emperors Charles V (1519 – 1555) and Ferdinand I (1555 – 1564), and she was aunt to Philip II of Spain (1555 – 1598). Her lavish baptismal ceremony in the Cathedral of Sainte-Gudule in Brussels was recorded in detail by Jean Molinet.
As a child she was proposed as a bride for the youthful Henry VIII (1506) but this came to nothing, and her brother later intervened to prevent the fruition of a romantic attachment with the Count Palatine Frederick II (1516). Likewise proposed marriages with Louis XII of France and Sigismund I of Poland came to nothing. Instead she became the third wife of Manuel I, King of Portugal (1469 – 1521) to whom she bore a son Carlos (1520 – 1521) who died in infancy, and an only daughter, the Infanta Maria (1521 – 1577) who remained unmarried and died a nun.
With Manuels’s death she returned to Austria and was remarried (1530) to Francois I, King of France (1494 – 1547) as his second wife, after the terms agreed between him and Eleanore’s brother in the Treaty of Madrid (1526). The new queen arrived in France at Monte-de-Marsan, where King Francois officially greeted her. Her arrival in an ornate coach, of which the egg-shaped body was suspended by great leather straps, excited much comment. She was crowned queen at the Abbey of St Denis, at Rheims, near Paris (March 5, 1531). Their marriage remained childless.
Queen Eleanore played little part personally in politics, though she was instrumental in bringing about the reconciliation of her husband and brother at Aigues-Mortes in Camargue (July, 1538), which ended with a ten year truce being negotiated, much to her own personal happiness. Francois on his deathbed asked his son Henry II to treat his stepmother kindly as he himself had neglected her. Eleanore managed to force his current mistress, Marie de Canaples into entering a convent. At the invitation of the emperor, Queen Eleanore retired to the Imperial court in Vienna and Brussels, though she made continual visits to Spain, mainly to visit her daughter. Queen Eleanore died in Spain (Feb 18, 1558) aged fifty-nine. Her nephew later caused her remains and those of her brother Charles, who had survived her only seven months, to be reintombed within the monastery of the Escorial in Madrid (1574).

Eleanore of Stolberg – (1835 – 1903)
German writer
Princess Eleanore von Stolberg was born at Gedern in Upper Hesse, the daughter of the Prince of Stolberg-Wenigerode. With the death of her father she was raised as a pietist in the household of her grandfather in Wernigerode, and later married Prince Heinrich LXXIV of Reuss-Koestritz. She wrote devotional works such as, Die sieben Sendschreiben (1872), and the choral piece ‘Das Jahr geht still zu Ende,’ and several biographies including, Friederike, Grafin von Redern (1888), and, Adolf von Thadden-Trieglaff (1890). Princess Eleanore died at Ilsenburg in the Harz Mountains, aged sixty-eight (Sept 18, 1903).

Electa – (d. c303 AD)
Celtic saint
Electa was revered in Cornwall where a dedication to her was discovered. She was recorded by Stanton in his, Menology of England and Wales. Described as a companion of St Ursula, her feast date is now lost, and she may have been mythical.

Eleizegi Maiz, Katalina – (1889 – 1963)
Spanish dramatist
Eleizegi was a native of Catalonia in Aragon, she was the author of the three-act play, Garbine (1917), which was set in the thirteenth century, and was awarded the prestigious Aynutamiento de San Sebastian prize (1916). Katalija Eleizegi won the same award a second time for her second historical drama, Loreti (1918), which dealt with the battles which took place between the Cantabrians and the invading Romans. Her two-act play Yatsu (1934) dealt with the original conquest of the kingdom of Navarre, and at her death was working on a play which dealt with the career of the famous seventeenth century female soldier, Catalina Erauso.

Elen    see also    Helen, Aelia

Elen – (c890 – 928)
Welsh queen
Elen ferch Llywarch was the wife (904) of King Howel Dda (c887 – 950), the most famous of the early Welsh kings. She was the daughter of Llywarch ap Hyfaidd, the son of Hymeid, who may possibly be identified with the king of Dyved who, in fear of the uncles and father of Howel became a vassall of the Anglo-Saxon king Alfred of Wessex.
According to ancient traditional genealogies, Elen’s ancestors included the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine I, and King Arthur. Her marriage was dynastically important as it enabled Howel on the death of his uncle, King Anarawd (916), to form the united south-west Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth and proclaim himself ‘king of all Wales.’ Her husband rebelled against the rule of the Lady Aelthelflaed, daughter of King Alfred (916) but she defeated Howel at Brecknock, taking thirty-five prisoners, chief of whom was Queen Elen. After a short period of detainment at Aethelflaed’s court at Tamworth, Elen was restored to her husband, who later became subservient to her brother, Edward the Elder (918). The queen died before she was forty, the same year Howel made a pilgrimage to Rome. Her four sons included Owain ap Howel (c908 – 988), King of Wales

Elena Argyra – (c1015 – 1034)
Queen consort of Georgia
Elena Argyra was the daughter of the Byzantine prince Michael Argyrus, and was niece to the Emperor Romanus III Argyrus. She was married (1032) at Kutais, Bagrat IV, King of Georgia (1018 – 1072) as his first wife. The marriage had been arranged through the joint efforts of the queen mother Mariam Artsruni and the Georgian patriarch Melkisidek. Elena brought with her as part of her wedding gifts, one of the nails used on Christ on the cross, and the holy icon of Okona. Her death, childless, heralded the end of the much desired alliance of the Bagratid family with Imperial Byzantium. Some of the talented byzantine artists and crafstmen Elena brought to Georgia with her in her retinue later assisted with the building of the Cathedral of Kutais, begun in 1003. Frescoes depicting the queen and her husband survived at Gelati in Imereti.

Elena del Busco – (c1153 – c1184)
Italian marchesa of Montferrato
Sometime prior to 1171 Elena became the first wife of Marchese Bonofacio I of Montferrato (1150 – 1207) (later King of Thessalonika). Marchesa Elean was living (1179) but had died before late 1186 when Bonofacio took a second wife Jeanne de Chatillon. Her three children were,

• Guglielmo VI (c1171 – 1225). He succeeded his father as Marchese of Montferrato (1207 – 1225) and left descendants.
• Agnes of montferrato (c1180 – 1208). She became the first wife of Henry of Flanders (1176 – 1216), the Emperor of Constantinople.
• Beatrice of Montferrato (died after 1207). She became the wife of Enrico di Caretto.

Elena Ivanovna (Jelena) – (1476 – 1513) 
Queen consort of Poland (1501 – 1506)
Princess Elena Ivanovna was born in Moscow (May 19, 1476) the daughter of Ivan III Vassilievitch, Grand Prince of Moscow, and his second wife Sophia Palaeologina, Princess of Achaia (Zoe). She was married (1495) at Vilna, Alexander Jagiello (1461 – 1506) who succeeded as king of Poland (1501). The marriage on a political level proved a failure, as Queen Elena was unable to permanently influence her husband in favour of Russia’s political interests, as her father had wished, but on a personal level, it appears to have been successful, as Alexander accorded her considerable respect and dignity, and eventually, her husband’s loyalties became her own.
The marital troubles that did beset the couple stemmed instead from religion. Alexander was a Roman Catholic, and Elena Greek Orthodox. Despite great pressures from the Catholic church Elena refused to change her religion, and her father used this excuse to begin the Lithuanian War in 1500, as in their marriage contract, Alexander had promised to allow Elena religious freedom of worship, and had agreed not to pressure her in any way towards Catholicism. The Lithuanian Catholic church, urged on by Pope Alexander VI, put pressure upon the princess to change, and Greek Orthodox followers in Lithuania became subject to persecution.
At the battle of Verdosha, Alexander was defeated by his father-in-law, who won the large territories of eastern Lithuania he had always hoped to gain. In 1501 Alexander succeeded as king of Poland upon the death of his unmarried brother. The war dragged on until Alexander sued for peace (1503). Queen Elena supported her husband in this regard, and pleaded with her father to end the war, denying that she had been persecuted for her religion, and saying that in Alexander she had the perfect husband, who had always treated her with great tolerance and kindness. Widowed in 1506, the queen was childless, and survived him only six years as Queen Dowager. Queen Elena died (Jan 20, 1513) at the early age of thirty-six.

Elena of Gallura – (c1187 – 1218)
Italian heiress and ruler
Elena was the daughter of Barisone II, judge of Gallura, in Sardinia, whilst her mother was a member of the noble Lacon family. With the death of her father (1202) Elena was left under the especial protection of Pope Innocent III, who entrusted the decision of her husband to Archbishop Biagio of Torres. The pope sent a letter preventing Guglielmo di Malaspina from importuning for Elena’s hand and ordered him from Gallura (1203). He then wrote to Elena (1204) commending her for following papal advice, but when she found out she was going to be married to Trasimondo, a cousin of Innocent III, she refused to consent to the union and married instead (1206) to Lamberto Visconti di Eldizio of Pisa. Her husband ruled in her name and remarried after her death. Elena was the mother of Ubaldo VII Visconti, judge of Gallura.

Elena of Greece    see    Helen of Greece

Elena of Montenegro – (1873 – 1952)
Queen consort of Italy (1900 – 1946)
Princess Elena was born at Cettinje (Jan 8, 1873), the fifth daughter of Nicholas I, King of Montenegro, and his wife Milena Vukotica. She was married (1896) to Crown Prince Vittorio Emmanuele (1869 – 1947), who became king after the assassination of his father (1900) as Vittorio Emmanuele III. The couple had five children and Elena converted from Greek Orthodoxy to Roman Catholicism. Despite the disparity in size, Queen Elena being of a statuesque figure, who towered over her husband, they remained devoted to each other until the ling’s death five decades later. The people loved the queen but the aristocracy disapproved of her, and spread nasty rumours concerning her height. The couple visited England to attend the coronation of Edward VII and Queen Alexandra (1902), and this was the famous occasion where Queen Elena’s hat was nearly shot off during a hunting party, by a courtier who mistook her hat for a bird.
During WW I the queen established a nursing hospital at the Quirinal Palace. She later disapproved of the marriage of her elder daughter with the Roman patrician, Conte Calvi di Bergolo (1925). With the threat of Nazi invasion (1943), the royal family fled to Brindisi by sea. Her husband later abdicated (May 9, 1946), and the king and queen sailed from Naples into exile at Alexandria in Egypt. With Vittorio Emmanuele’s death (1947), Elena retired to Montpellier in the south of France, where she resided as Queen Dowager (1947 – 1952). Queen Elena died of cancer, aged seventy-nine (Nov 28, 1952). Her children were,

• Princess Yolanda Margerita of Savoy (1901 – 1986). She became the wife of Giorgio Carlo, Conte Calvi di Bergolo (1887 – 1977), by whom she left issue.
• Princess Mafalda of Savoy (1902 – 1944). She became the wife of Phillip, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (1896 – 1980), by whom she left issue.
• Umberto II, King of Italy (1946). He ruled only briefly for six weeks before resigning the crown, and retiring into exile. He married and left children.
• Princess Giovanna of Savoy (1907 – 2000). She became the wife of Boris III, Tsar of Bulgaria (1894 – 1943), by whom she left children.
• Princess Maria of Savoy (1914 – 2001). She became the wife of Prince Louis of Bourbon-Parma (1899 – 1967), by whom she left issue.

Elena of Padua      see     Enselmini, Elena

Elena of Romania   see  Lupescu, Magda

Elena of Savoy (Eleanor) – (c1154 – c1192)
Italian marchesa of Montferrat
Elena was the daughter of Umberto III, Count of Savoy and his first wife Faydide of Toulouse. She was married firstly to Comte Guy de vintimille. With his death she became the first wife (c1172) of Bonifacio I, marquis of Montferrat (1150 – 1207), later King of Thessalonika. Some genealogies refer to her as ‘Elena di Busca.’ She left at least four children,

• Guglielmo VIII (William) (c1173 – 1225). He succeeded his father as Marquis of Montferrat (1207 – 1225), was married twice and left descendants.
• Eleanor of Montferrat (c1175 – after 1207). She became the wife of Robert I, seigneur de Gueidan, and left children.
• Isabella of Montferrat (born c1180). She achieved fame as a trobairitz.
• Agnes of Montferrat (1190 – 1208). She became the first wife of Henry I (1174 – 1216), the Latin emperor of Constantinople.

Elena Petrovna – (1807 – 1873) 
Russian grand duchess
Born Princess Frederica Charlotte Marie of Wurttemburg, at Stuttgart, she was the eldest daughter of Paul, Duke of Wurttemburg and his wife Charlotte of Saxe-Hildburghausen, the great-niece of Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III of England. She married (1824) the Russian grand duke Mikhail Pavlovitch (1798 – 1849) youngest son of Tsar Paul I, and took the name of Elena Feodorovna. The couple had five daughters, of whom Catharina Mikhailovna (1827 – 1894) married her cousin Duke George of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1824 – 1876).
Noted for her grace and intelligence, Grand duchess Elena patronized music and the arts, and ran the most avant-garde salon in St Petersburg society. Though many of the intellectuals that gathered in her salon were under the surveillance of the secret police, Tsar Nicholas smiled on her caprices, referring to Elena as the ‘scholar of the family.’ A patron of the dramatist Gogol she persuaded Nicholas to allow his play, The Government Inspector (1836), which satirised the Imperial bureaucracy, to be performed at the Alexandrinsky Theatre (1836). During her widowhood she founded the St Petersburg Conservatory of Music (1862). Grand Duchess Elena Petrovna died at Stuttgart, Wurttemburg, aged sixty-six (Feb 2, 1873).

Elena of Romania    see     Lupescu, Magda

Elena Vasilievna – (1508 – 1538)
Russian ruler
Elena Glinkskaia was the daughter of PrinceVassili Lvovich Glinsky, a Lithuanian refugee of Catholic extraction, and his Serbian wife, Anna. Well educated and raised in the German fashion, Elena became the second wife (1527) of Grand Prince Vassily III Ivanovitch after his divorce from his first wife, Solomoniya Saburova. Elena became the mother of two sons, of whom the elder was Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible (1530 – 1584).
Elena was appointed by her husband on his deathbed (1533), to rule as regent for Ivan until he came of age, and she challenged the claims to the throne made by her husband’s brothers, Yuri of Dmitrov and Andrei of Staritsa, which resulted in their both being imprisoned.  Her relationship with the Metropolitan Daniel and Ivan Feodorovich Ovchina-Telepnev-Obolensky caused conflicts within her government. The regent instituted a reform of the Russian currency, which resulted in the introduction of a unified monetary system (1535) and made a successful peace treaty with Lithuania (1536) which succeeded in neutralizing the threatening power of Sweden.
Grand Princess Elena died at the age of twenty-nine (April 3, 1538). She was said to have been poisoned by boyars, led by the Shuisky brothers, who resented her power. Elena was interred within the Upensly Cathedral in Moscow. Although Tsar Ivan never subsequently aacused anyone of murdering his mother, her favourite Obolensky, was thrown into prison, whilst his sister, Ivan’s own nurse Agatha, was forced into a convent.

Eleni – (c1453 – 1522)
Ethiopian empress
Eleni was the wife of the emperor Ba’eda Maryam (1468 – 1478). With her husband’s early death she retained an important position at the imperial court, and when her stepgrandson, Lebna Dengel succeeded to the throne as a young child (1508), Eleni was appointed as one of his regents. The empress was particularly remembered for her part in assisting to establish foreign relations with the Portugese when she formally received the two envoys, Joao Gomes and Joao Sanchez (1508), who presented her with letters from King Manuel, who sought Ethiopia as an ally against Egypt. She promised the king help via a messenger she sent back to the court in Lisbon with expensive gifts. However when Lebna Dengel assumed full power, the regency had ended and Empress Eleni was unable to fulfill the terms of the alliance. A devout and pious Christian, she had received an excellent education and was the author of two theological treatises, Praise Ye with Organs, which dealt with the Trinity and the Virgin Mary, and Rays of the Sun which dealt with divine laws. The empress died (April, 1522) aged about seventy.

Eleonora Gonzaga – (1630 – 1686)
Holy Roman empress (1651 – 1657)
Princess Eleonora Gonzaga was born in Mantua (Nov 18, 1630), the sister of Carlo II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. She became the third wife (1651) of the Emperor Ferdinand III (1608 – 1657), to whom she bore two surivivng daughters, the elder of whom Eleonore married firstly Michael Wisnowecki, King of Poland, and secondly Charles V, Duke of Lorraine.
The empress was a vivacious and intelligent woman, with literary and musical interests, and the emperor founded an academy for her on the Italian model. She herself wrote Italian poems, mainly of a devotional nature. A supporter of religious orders within Vienna, she founded the Ursuline convent there (1663) and was elected the patron of the Carmelite order founded in Wiener Neustadt (1662). She was invloved with the formation of the ‘stenkreuzordern’ (1668) an Imperial decoration mainly reserved for Austrian patrician women. She wrote devotional verse in Italian. During her thirty year widowhood (1657 – 1686) the Empress Dowager remained on amicable terms with her stepson emperor Leopold I, and maintained her own court and salon. A suggested plan for her remarriage to Charles II of England (1661) came to nothing. She was instrumental in placing Wenzel Lobkowicz at the Imperial court as grand chamberlain to Leopold I, and one of her relatives, Hannibal Gonzaga, was made president of the war council. Empress Eleonora died in Vienna (Dec 6, 1686) aged fifty-six.

Eleonora of Anhalt-Zerbst – (1608 – 1681)
German duchess consort of Schleswig-Holstein-Norburg (1632 – 1658)
Princess Eleonora of Anhalt was born (Nov 10, 1608) the daughter of Rudolf I, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst (1603 – 1621), and his first wife Dorothea Hedwig, the daughter of Heinrich Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel. She was married (1632) to Duke Friedrich of Holstein-Norburg (1581 – 1658), as his second wife.  She survived him for over two decades as Dowager Duchess of Holstein-Norburg (1658 – 1681). Duchess Eleonora died (Nov 2, 1681) aged seventy-three. The duchess left five children,

• Princess Elisabeth Juliana of Holstein-Norburg (1634 – 1704). She became the first wife of Duke Antony Ulrich of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel (1633 – 1714) by whom she left descendants.
• Princess Dorothea Hedwig of Holstein-Norburg (1636 – 1692). She was appointed as Abbess of Gandersheim before resigning this post, in order to marry Count Christopher von Rantzau-Hohenfelds (1625 – 1696). They supposedly left a son, whose true parentage has never been established.
• Prince Christian August of Holstein-Norburg (1639 – 1687). He died unmarried in London, England as an admiral of the British fleet.
• Princess Louise Amona of Holstein-Norburg (1642 – 1685). She was married (1665) to Johann Friedrich I, Count von Hohenlohe-Oehringen (1617 – 1702).
• Prince Rudolf Friedrich of Holstein-Norburg (1645 – 1688), He was married and left descendants.

Eleonora of Aragon – (1450 – 1493)
Duchess consort of Ferrara
Eleonora of Aragon was born (June 23, 1450) in Naples, Campania, the daughter of Ferrante I of Aragon, King of Naples. She was married in Rome (1473) to Ercole I d’Este, Duke of Ferrara and Modena (1431 – 1505) and was the mother of Duke Alfonso I d’Este (1476 – 1534), Duke of Ferrara and Modena (1505 – 1534). Her daughter-in-law was the infamous Lucrezia Borgia. A famous beauty, she was the patron of scholars, painters, and poets. Duchess Eleonora died (Oct 11, 1493) aged forty-three, at Ferrara in Emilia Romagna.

Eleonora of Arborea – (1350 – 1404)
Sardinan ruler
Eleonora was the elder daughter of Marianus de Baux, Conte di Goceano and Vicomte de Baux. She was married to Brancaleone Doria, Conte di Monteleone, whilst her younger sister, Beatrice de Baux, was the wife of Aymar IX, Vicomte de Narbonne. Eleonora succeeded her brother Ugo as hereditary ‘judge’ of Arborea, the central territorial division of the island, after his assasination (1384).
Eleonora became renowned in local legend as a successful ‘warrior queen,’ asserting herself as regent for her infant son Frederick, being regarded as the country’s national heroine. She was forced to defend her small kingdom from the invading Pisans, and then from the forces of Alfonso V of Aragon (1383), who drove out the Pisans, but whose forces remained on Sardinia, despite the queen’s brave attempts to regain control of the island. The queen is best remembered as the codifier of Sardinia’s laws the, Carta di Logu, which was adopted by the Sardinian Parliament after her death (1421), and remained intact for the next three hundred years, until the Treaty of Utrecht (1713). She also gave special protection to hawks and falcons, the symbols of aristocratic hunting and leisure. Her statue remains in the Piazza Eleanora in Oristano.

Eleonora of Austria (Eleonore) – (1582 – 1620)
Hapsburg archduchess
Archduchess Eleonora was born (Sept 25, 1582) at Gratz, Styria, the sixth daughter if the Archduke Karl, younger son of the Emperor Ferdinand I (1555 – 1564), and his wife Maria, the daughter of Albert V, Duke of Bavaria (1550 – 1579). Eleonora was sister to the emperor Ferdinand II (1619 – 1637), and remained unmarried. Archduchess Eleonora died (Jan 28, 1620) at Hall in Tyrol, aged thirty-seven.

Eleonora of Portugal – (1434 – 1467)
Holy Roman empress (1452 – 1467)
Infanta Eleonora was born in Torres Vedras, the daughter of Duarte I (Edward), King of Portugal, and his wife Eleonore, daughter of Ferdinando I, King of Aragon. She married in Rome (1452) the newly elected emperor Frederick III (1415 – 1493) and they were crowned together by Pope Calixtus III three days later (March 19). She became the mother of the emperor Maximilian II (1459 – 1519).
Eleonora’s marriage had been negotiated by her brother Alfonso V of Portugal (1451), and she had been escorted to Italy in great state, accompanied by Albert, Duke of Austria and King Wladyslaw of Hungary and Bohemia. The famous portrait which commemorated the first meeting of Eleonora and Frederick, painted by Pinturicchio, remains in the library of the Duomo in Siena. The empress had reveived an excellent education, and was possessed of literary and artistic ability, as well as being of a lively temperament, though possessed of a deeply religious nature, and ardently supported the efforts of Pope Pius II to regain Constantinople from the hands of the Turks. In 1462 the empress and her son were beseiged in Vienna by the forces of Albert of Austria, and only rescued from harm through the efforts of George Podebradie, King of Bohemia. The empress died at Wiener Neustadt (Sept 3, 1467), five days before her thirty-third birthday.

Eleonora Dorothea of Anhalt – (1602 – 1664)
German duchess consort of Saxe-Weimar (1625 – 1662)
Princess Eleonora Dorothea of Anhalt was born (Feb 6, 1602) the daughter of Johann George I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (1603 – 1618), and his second wife Dorothea, the daughter of Johann Kasimir, Count Palatine of Simmern in Bavaria. She was married (1625) to Duke Wilhelm of Saxe-Weimar (1598 – 1662), whom she survived as Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Weimar (1662 – 1664). Duchess Eleonora Dorothea died (Dec 26, 1664) aged sixty-two. She left nine children, of whom two sons died in infancy,

• Johann Ernst II (1627 – 1683), Duke of Saxe-Weimar (1662 – 1683). He was married and left descendants.
• Adolf Wilhelm (1635 – 1668), Duke of Saxe-Eisenach (1662 – 1668). He was married to Maria Elisabeth of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel (1638 – 1687) but left no surviving children.
• Johann George I (1636 – 1686), Duke of Saxe-Marksruhl-Eisenach (1662 – 1686). He was married and left descendants.
• Princess Wilhelmina Eleonora of Saxe-Weimar (1636 – 1653). She died unmarried.
• Bernard (1638 – 1678), Duke of Saxe-Jena (1662 – 1678). He was married and left two children.
• Prince Friedrich of Saxe-Weimar (1640 – 1656). He died unmarried.
• Princess Dorothea Maria of Saxe-Weimar (1641 – 1675). She was married Maurice, Duke of Saxe-Zeitz (1619 – 1681) as his second wife, and left descendants.

Eleonora Juliana of Ansbach – (1663 – 1724)
German duchess consort of Wurttemburg-Winnental (1682 – 1698)
Princess Eleonora Juliana was born (Oct 23, 1663) the youngest daughter of Albrecht, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1634 – 1667) and his second wife Sophia Margaret, the daughter of Joachim Ernst, Count von Oettingen. She was married (1682) to Friedrick Karl of Wurttemburg (1652 – 1698), Duke of Winnental (1674 – 1698) and survived him as Dowager Duchess of Winnental for over twenty-five years (1698 – 1724). For the first two years of her widowhood she ruled the small dukedom of Winnental as regent for their eldest son Karl Alexander.
Duchess Eleonora Juliana died (March 4, 1724) aged sixty, leaving seven children, of whom two died in infancy,

• Duke Karl Alexander of Winnental (1684 – 1737). He succeeded as Duke of Wurttemburg as Karl I Alexander (1733 – 1737). He was married and left descendants.
• Duke Heinrich Friedrich of Wurttemburg-Winnental (1687 – 1734). He died unmarried.
• Duke Maximilian Emanuel of Wurttemburg-Winnental (1687 – 1709). He died unmarried.
• Duke Friedrich Ludwig of Wurttemburg-Winnental (1690 – 1734). He was killed in battle at Guastalla in Italy. His marriage with the famous Princess von Teschen, the former mistress of Augustus II of Saxony, remained childless.
• Princess Christiana Charlotte of Wurttemburg-Winnental (1694 – 1729). She was married (1709) Wilhelm Friedrich of Brandenburg, Margrave of Ansbach (1686 – 1723), the brother of Queen Caroline, wife of George II, King of Great Britain (1727 – 1760).

Eleonora Magdalena Theresa – (1655 – 1720)
Holy Roman empress (1676 – 1705)
Princess Eleonora Magdalena was born (Jan 6, 1655) in Dusseldorf, Westphalia the daughter of Philip Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuberg in Bavaria, and his wife Elisabeth Amalia of Hesse-Darmstadt. Fair-haired, and with light-coloured eyes, Eleonora Magdalena was once sought by James, Duke of York, the brother of Charles II of England, for his second wife (1672), but these negotiations never fully proceeded. She later made a far grander marriage when she became the third wife (1676) of the emperor Leopold I (1640 – 1705). She was crowned empress at Augsburg in Bavaria (1690) the ceremonies being delayed by disruptions caused by the Turkish incursions.
Though not particularly talented or accomplished, the empress quickly won her husband’s affection and tender concern by proving herself a capable mother to Leopold’s young daughter, and as a strong bearer of healthy children to whom she proved a devoted mother. The empress avidly supported the career of Theodor Stratmann (1637 – 1693), whom she had brought to Vienna in her entourage, and who was later installed as Leopold’s chancellor. When the Turks threatened Vienna (1683), the empress and her children were forced to flee the city for greater safety.
Empress Eleonora Magdalena bore Leopold nine children, including the emperor Joseph I (1705 – 1711) and emperor Charles VI (1711 – 1740). She was the paternal grandmother of Empress Maria Theresa and the great-grandmother of Queen Marie Antoinette. Of her daughters, Maria Elisabeth remained unmarried and ruled as Regent of the Netherlands whilst Archduchess Maria Anna became the wife of Joao V, King of Portugal. The empress was present with Leopold at Pressburg (Oct 30, 1687) when their elder son Joseph was recognized officially as future king of Hungary. She was present at the emperor’s deathbed (1705) and became Dowager Empress. With the marriage of her son Charles with Elisabeth Christina of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, the Dowager Empress retired from court. Empress Eleonora Magdalena died in Vienna (Jan 19, 1720), aged sixty-five.

Eleonora Maria of Anhalt – (1600 – 1657)
German duchess and ruler
Princess Eleonora Maria of Anhalt was born (Aug 7, 1600), the eldest surviving daughter of Prince Christian I of Anhalt-Bernburg and his wife Anna of Bentheim-Tecklenburg. The princess became the third wife (1626) to Duke Johann Albrecht II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1590 – 1636), to whom she bore five children. With her husband’s early death (1636), the duchess ruled Schwerin for twelve years as regent for her minor son, Duke Gustav Adolf (1633 – 1695). She resigned the government to her son (1649) and retired permenently as Dowager Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Her only other surviving child was Anna Sophia of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1628 – 1669), who became the wife of the Duke Ludwig IV of Silesia-Leignitz (1616 – 1663). Duchess Eleonora Maria died (July 7, 1657) aged fifty-six.

Eleonora Maria Teresa – (1728 – 1781)
Italian princess of Savoy and Sardinia
Princess Eleonora was born (Feb 28, 1728) at Turin, Piedmont, the eldest daughter of King Carlo Emanuele III of Sardinia (1730 – 1773) and his second wife Polissena of Hesse-Rheinsfeld-Rothemburg. Eleonora was the sister of King Vittorio Amadeo III (1773 – 1796). She remained unmarried. Princess Eleonora died (Aug 15, 1781) at Moncalieri, aged fifty-three. She was interred in Turin Cathedral but her remains were later translated to the abbey of Superga.

Eleonora Sophia of Saxe-Weimar – (1660 – 1687)
German duchess consort
Princess Eleonora Sophia was born (March 22, 1660) the daughter of Johann Ernst, Duke of Saxe-Weimar. She was married (1684) to Philip, Duke of Saxe-Lauchstadt (1657 – 1690), as his first wife, and was duchess consort (1684 – 1687). Her two children, Christiana Ernestina (1685 – 1689), and Johann Wilhelm (1687), both died in infancy. Duchess Eleonora Sophia died (Feb 4, 1687) aged tweny-six, from the effects of childbirth.

Eleonore of Blois-Champagne – (1104 – after 1148)
French religious patron
Eleonore was the daughter of William of Blois-Champagne, Count of Sully, and his wife Agnes de Sully. Her father was the eldest, but feeble-minded son, of Stephen I, count of Blois-Chartres, and his wife Adela, the daughter of William the conqueror. Stephen and Adela are sometimes cited as Eleonore’s parents, but the chronology remains unsound. Eleonore was married (1120) to Count Raoul I of Vermandois (1090 – 1152), nephew to Philip I of France (1060 – 1108), and was the mother of his only son and heir, count Hugh II (1127 – 1212), who became a monk for the last fifty years of his life (1160 – 1212). Her marriage with Raoul was later illegally dissolved (1141) by a convocation led by the bishops of Laon, Senlis, and Noyon, at the request of the then French queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose sister Petronilla was in love with Eleonore’s husband. The countess fled to the court of her paternal uncle, Theobald II of Champagne, who appealed to Pope Innocent II on her behalf, whilst Raoul married Petronilla in the prescence of the king and queen. The divorce led to a war with Theobald II, which lasted for two years (1142 – 1144), and ended with the successful occupation of Champagne by the army of Louis VII (1137 – 1180).
However, the struggle with the church continued until the countess presented herself before Pope Eugenius III at his consistory council at Rheims (March 21, 1148). The pope spoke to her personally, and promised Eleonore that her claims would be fairly heard. It appeared that she had no desire to return to Raoul, and the divorce was pronounced valid, with both parties free to remarry. Raoul was forced to return her dowry, and her uncle, Theobald of Champagne, received financial compensation. Eleonore founded at least two nunneries, and supported many other convents, notably those at Saint Quentin and Peronne in Vermandois, and in Picardy.

Eleonore of Geneva – (c1255 – before 1314)
French mediaeval noblewoman and princess
Eleonore was the younger daughter of Count Heinrich of Geneva (died 1272). She was the granddaughter of William II, the reigning Count of Geneva (1219 – 1252) and his wife Alice de La Tour du Pin. She was the niece of Count Rudolph of Geneva (1252 – c1268) and of Amadeus, Bishop of Die. Through her father Eleonore was a direct descendant of Konrad I the Peaceful, King of Burgundy (937 – 993). Eleonore was married (1273) to the Burgundian nobleman, Bertrand IV de Baux (c1245 – 1314) who succeeded his father Raymond I de Baux as the reigning Prince of Orange (1282) (now part of the departement of Vaucluse) making Eleonore the princess consort of Orange. Princess Eleonore predeceased her husband, and was buried at Orange, near Avignon in Provence, where Prince Bertrand was later interred with her. Her children were,

• Bertrande de Baux (1274 – after 1309). She remained unmarried and became a nun at Aix in Provence.
• Isabelle de Baux (c1275 – after 1314). She became the wife of Raymond d’Agoult (died 1321).
• Guillaume de Baux (c1276 – 1312). He was married to Tiburge d’Anduze but left no children.
• Raymond IV de Baux (c1280 – 1340). He succeeded his father as Prince of Orange (1314 – 1340) and left issue.
• Tiburge de Baux (c1281 – c1314). She became the wife of Guiraud Amic, Seigneur du Thor.
• Henry de Baux (c1283 – c1340). He became a canon at Autun in Burgundy.
• Beatrix de Baux (c1287 – after 1331). She became the wife of Guillaume de Polignc (died after 1314), Seigneur de Randan and de Luc.
• Catherine de Baux (c1288 – c1340). She became the wife of Raymond de Ceva, Seigneur de Venasque.
• Stephanie de Baux (c1294 – after 1369). She became the wife of Hugh d’Adhemar, Seigneur de Monteil.
• Margeurite de Baux (c1295 – after 1332). She became the wife of Bertrand V de Baux (c1290 – 1345), Seigneur de Courthezon.

Eleonore of Savoy – (1275 – 1324)
Italian mediaeval princess
Eleonore was the second daughter of Amadeo V, Count of Savoy (1285 – 1323) and his first wife, Sibylla of Bage, Dame of Bresse and Mirabeau. Eleonore was married firstly (1292) to William of Auxerre (c1272 – 1304), Count of Tonnerre, and became countess consort (1292 – 1304). She survived William as the Dowager Countess of Tonnerre (1304 – 1324) when he was killed in battle, though she remarried twice more to prominent feudal lords, secondly (1305) to Dreux IV, Seigneur de Mello (died 1311), and lastly (1311) to Jean I, Count of Forez (died 1334). The children of her first marriage were,

• Jean II of Auxerre (1292 – 1362). He succeeded his father as Count of Tonnerre (1304 – 1362). He was married but died childless.
• Jeanne of Auxerre (1294 – after 1362). She became countess of Tonnerre, her husband, Robert of Burgundy (died 1334), becoming count of Tonnerre in her right (1321 – 1334).

Eleonore of Semur (Helie) – (1016 – 1109)
French duchess consort of Burgundy
Eleonore was the daughter of Dalmas I, count of Semur and his wife Aremburga, the daughter of Henry Capet, Duke of Burgundy. Eleonore became the first wife (1033) of Robert I, Duke of Burgundy (1011 – 1076), younger son of King Robert II the Pious (987 – 1032) and brother to Henry I (1032 – 1060). Despite bearing Robert a son and heir, Eleonore was later divorced (1048) for dynastic reasons. She survived her divorce six decades (1048 – 1109). Duchess Eleonore died (April 22, 1109) aged ninety-two.

Eleonore of Stolberg (Anna Eleonore) – (1651 – 1690)
German princess and regent
Countess Eleonore of Stolberg was born (March 26, 1651) the daughter of Count Heinrich Ernst of Stolberg. She became the wife (1670) of Emanuel (1631 – 1670), reigning Prince of Anhalt-Kothen (1669 – 1670). Eleonore’s husband died only eight months afterwards (Nov 8, 1670), leaving her pregnant with their only child. Her son Emanuel Lebrecht (1671 – 1704) was born posthumously (May 20, 1671) during which time the government of the principality was continued by the royal council until the Princess’s child was born. Eleonore served as regent for her son (1671 – 1689) until he came of age. Princess Eleonore died (Jan 26, 1690) aged only thirty-eight.

Eleonore of Vermandois – (1152 – 1223)
French feudal heiress
Eleonore was successively countess of Nevers, Boulogne, and Beaumont. She was born (Nov/Dec, 1152) the second daughter and coheiress of Raoul I, Count of Vermandois, Seneschal of France, and his wife Petronilla of Aquitaine, younger daughter of William X, Duke of Aquitaine (1127 – 1137), and sister to Eleanor of Aquitaine, the wife of Louis VII, King of France (1137 – 1180) and Henry II, King of England (1154 – 1189). Eleonore was married firstly (1167) to Count William IV of Nevers, who died the following year (1168). She was then married secondly to Matthew of Flanders, Count of Boulogne (c1132 – 1173) as his second wife. Their children Philip and Agnes both died in infancy. He was killed at the siege of Driancourt (July 25, 1173), and Eleonore was then married (1175) to her third husband, Count Matthew of Beaumont (c1140 – 1208) as his first wife. Her husband was Grand Chamberlain of France. Their marriage remained childless and ended in divorce (1192).
With the death (April, 1183) of Eleonore’s childless elder sister, Isabella (Mabile), the wife of Philip I, Count of Flanders, she became heiress to the succession of the provinces of Vermandois, Amienois, and Valois, which Isabella had alienated to her husband Philip. Eleonore refused to recognize this gift, which had robbed her of her inheritance, but she eventually came to an agreement with Philip by which she received the county of Valois and an annual rent from Roye. King Philip II then intervened in the matter, refusing to recognize the gift made to Count Philip, as he claimed to be Eleonore’s heir. His main motive was the retention of Artois, the dowry of his own wife, Isabella of Hainault, given to her by Count Philip, which depended on the existence of an heir. Eventually the king and Count Philip came to an agreement (1186) by which the king became owner of Vermandois and Amiens, Count Philip received the counties of Saint-Quentin and Peronne, and Eleonore received the rents from sixty-five castles in Vermandois. With Count Philip’s death whilst on crusade in the Holy Land (1191) most of his lands were ceded to the French crown (1200). However, soon after his death, the king had come to another agreement with Countess Eleonore by which she was confirmed in her possession of Valois, Chauncey, Ribemont, Ressones, Lassigny, Origny, the county of Saint-Quentin, and the annual rents from Peronne and Roye, for a payment to the king of five thousand gold marks (1192). In return for a payment of thirteen thousand livres from the king, Eleonore renounces any claims to the counties of Vermandois and Amiens. Eleonore of Vermandois retained in possession of these lands until her death. She later took a fourth husband (1210) in Stephen (died after 1219), Seigneur de Sancerre-Chatillon. Countess Eleonore died aged sixty.

Eleonore of Wurttemburg – (1552 – 1618)
German landgravine consort of Hesse-Darmstadt (1589 – 1596)
Princess Eleonore was born at Tubingen (March 22, 1552), the daughter of Christopher, Duke of Wurttemburg (1515 – 1568) and his wife Anna Maria of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (1526 – 1589). She was married firstly (1571) at Stuttgart, to Prince Joachim Ernst of Anhalt-Zerbst (1536 – 1586) as his second wife. She was princess consort (1571 – 1586), and bore him ten children, two of whom died in infancy,

• Prince Bernhard of Anhalt-Zerbst (1571 – 1596). He died unmarried.
• Princess Agnes Hedwig of Anhalt-Zerbst (1573 – 1616). He was married firstly to Augustus I, elector of Saxony, and secondly to Johann, Duke of Holstein-Sonderburg, leaving descendants from her second marriage.
• Princess Dorothea Maria of Anhalt-Zerbst (1574 – 1617). She was married to Johann, Duke of Saxe-Weimar (1570 – 1605), and left descendants.
• Prince Augustus of Anhalt-Kothen (1575 – 1653). He was married and left descendants.
• Prince Rudolf of Anhalt-Zerbst (1576 – 1621). He was married and left descendants.
• Prince Johann Ernst of Anhalt-Zerbst (1578 – 1601). He died unmarried.
• Princess Sabina of Anhalt-Zerbst (1580 – 1599). She died unmarried.
• Princess Anna Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst (1584 – 1652). She was married Karl Gunther, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudostadt (1576 – 1630)

With the death of her first husband at Dessau (Dec 16, 1586), Eleonore remarried at Darmstadt (1589) to George I, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1547 – 1596) as his second wife. Their only child died young. She was Dowager Landgravine for over two decades (1596 – 1618). Landgravine Eleonore died at Darmstadt (Jan 12, 1618) aged sixty-five.

Eleonore Stuart – (1427 – 1480) 
Scottish princess and author
Princess Eleonore Stuart was born at Dunfermline Castle, the daughter of King James I and his wife Joan Beaufort, the daughter of John, first Marquess of Somerset. Through her mother she was the granddaughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and great-granddaughter of Edward III (1327 – 1377). Raised at Stirling Castle, Eleonore spent some time at the court of Charles VII of France after 1445. She married (1449) the Austrian archduke Sigismund (1426 – 1496). With her marriage, Eleonore became an active patron of the arts. In the 1450’s she transcribed the French chanson de geste, Pontius et la belle Sidonie into the didactic German novel Pontius and Sidonia, which achieved immense popularity in the seventeenth century. Archduchess Eleonore died childless at Innsbruck.

Eleonore Caroline Gasparine Louise – (1860 – 1917)
Tsarina consort of Bulgaria (1908 – 1918)
Princess Eleonore was born in Trebschen, the daughter of Henry IV, Prince of Reuss-Kostritz, and his wife Louise of Saxe-Altenburg. Brought up a Lutheran, Eleonore had never married after the early death of her mother (1875) and remained the companion of her younger sister, Elisabeth, who remained unmarried. Surprisingly she agreed to become the second wife of Tsar Ferdinand I (1861 – 1948) in 1908, when already aged nearly fifty, the match being sanctioned by the German emperor Wilhelm II. As Eleonore was a Lutheran, Ferdinand a Catholic, and the state religion of Bulgaria Greek Orthodox, three marriage ceremonies took place, the Catholic ceremony at the Cathedral of St Augustine in Coburg, Thuringia (Feb 28, 1908). They were crowned king and queen at the Cathedral of St Sophia, in the capital, Sofia (Oct, 1908).
Having formerly served as a nurse during the Russo-Japanese war, Queen Eleonore championed the cause of the Red Cross in Bulgaria during WW I. A devoted and kindly stepmother to the king’s children by his first marriage, her stepdaughters Eudoxia and Nadejda were actively involved with Queen Eleonore’s work with the Red Cross. Queen Eleonore died at Euxinograd (Sept 12, 1917), aged fifty-seven, the year before Ferdinand abdicated and was exiled to Germany, and was interred at Boynara, near Sofia.

Eleonore Charlotte of Mompelgard – (1656 – 1743)
German duchess consort of Wurttemburg-Oels (1672 – 1697)
Princess Eleonore Charlotte was born (Nov 30, 1656) at Horbourg, Alsace, the daughter of George II, Duke of Wurttemburg-Mompelgard (1626 – 1684) and his French wife Anne de Coligny.
Princess Eleonore Charlotte was married (1672) to Sylvius Friedrich (1651 – 1697), duke of Wurttemburg-Oels, whom she survived over forty-five years as Dowager Duchess of Oels (1697 – 1743). Their marriage remained childless. The duchess died (April 13, 1743) in Breslau, Silesia, aged eighty-six.

Eleonore Ernestine Marie – (1871 – 1937)
Grand duchess consort of Hesse-Darmstadt (1908 – 1918)
Princess Eleonore of Solms was born (Sept 17, 1871), the daughter of Herman, fifth Prince of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich, and his wife Countess Agnes von Stolberg. Plain and of a gentle, retiring by nature, when she over thirty, her hand was requested by Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse-Darmstadt (1868 – 1937), who had divorced his first wife (1901) and had no male heir. The married in 1905, and Eleonore bore him two sons, Hereditary Grand George Donatus (1906 – 1937) and Grand Duke Ludwig (1908 – 1968).
Known as ‘Onor’ by her relatives, her gentle and kindly nature insured her welcome within Queen Victoria’s family. During the crisis of Nov, 1918, when the Neue Palais was threatened by revolutionaries, the grand ducal couple both exhibited great courage. The Grand Duke completely disarmed the angry crowd by receiving them in his throne room, dressed in full ceremonial regalia, and then politely inviting them to tea, which was then served by the Grand Duchess and her lady-in-waiting, both women attired in full court dress. Hesse was declared a republic (Jan, 1919) but Ernst Ludwig never formally abdicated. The family lost some properties, but otherwise they were permitted to retire into comfortable private life.
Ernst Ludwig died nearly two decades later (Oct 9, 1937). Only two months afterwards, whilst still in full mourning, the grand duchess, together with her eldest son George, his wife Cecilia of Greece, (sister-in-law to Elizabeth II of England), their own two young sons, Ludwig and Alexander, and two courtiers, were all killed in an air crash at Steene, near Ostend (Nov 16, 1937), whilst travelling to England to attend the marriage of Eleonore’s younger son son Ludwig to Margaret Geddes. The Grand duchess was aged sixty-six. The joint family funeral took place at the royal mausoleum of Rosenhohe in Darmstadt (Nov 23).

Eleonore Marie Josephe – (1653 – 1697)
Queen consort of Poland (1670 – 1673) and Duchess consort of Lorraine (1690 – 1697)
Archduchess Eleonore was the daughter of the Emperor Ferdinand III, and was half-sister to Emperor Leopold I. She was married firstly to Michael Korybut Wisniowecki, King of Poland, and it was due to her exertions that civil war in Poland was averted (1673). Queen Eleonore remarried to Duke Charles IV Leopold of Lorraine, to whom she bore five children, and worked consistently to recover the dukedom for her children. She presented an offer for the restoration of Lorraine, to the German Reichstag in Regensburg, Bavaria, and her desires were finally achieved with the Treaty of Rijswijk (1697), which made her son Leopold Joseph, reigning Duke of Lorraine. Her grandson was the Holy Roman emperor Francis I (1745 – 1765), husband to the empress Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary. Her great-granddaughters included, Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples and Marie Antoinette, Queen of France.

Elephantis – (fl. c250 BC)
Greek writer of erotic verse
No personal details of her life survive neither do any of her works. The second century Roman writers Martial and Suetonius refer to her. The famous physician Galen refers to a work entitled On Cosmetics, written by Elephantis, but it remains uncertain whether the two women are the same.

Eleru Mevhibe – (1835 – 1936)
Ottoman sultana (1876)
Eleru was born (Aug 6, 1835) in Tiflis, Georgia. She was married (1857) at Bechiktache to the Turkish sultan Murad V (1840 – 1904) as his first wife. He was later deposed and the couple lived in retirement. Princess Eleru died at Chichli (Feb 21, 1936) aged one hundred.

Eleutheria    see    Liceria

Elevetha    see    Eiluned

Elfled, Elfleda     see    Aelflaed

Elfrida of Devonshire (Aelfthryth) – (945 – 1000)
Anglo-Saxon queen consort (964 – 975)
Elfrida was born at Lydford in Devon, the daughter of Ordgar, Earl of Devonshire, and his wife Wulfthryth Redburch (Wulfrida), who was herself a descendant of King Alfred (871 – 899). She was married firstly (961) to Aethelwold, Earl of East-Anglia (c933 – 962) as his second wife. Their only son Edgar died in infancy. Possessed of great beauty, physical attractions and ambition, Elfrida disobeyed her husband and encouraged the attentions of the youhtful King Edgar. Aethelwold met his death whilst hunting in the forest of Wherwell in Hampshire, and there always remained rumours of murder. Edgar dismissed his second wife, Queen Aethelflaeda (Eneda) who retired to Wilton Abbey and married Elfrida (964). Their first son Edmund of Romsey (965 – 971) died during childhood, whilst their second was King Aethelred II ‘the Redeless’ (967 – 1016). Elfrida was crowned beside her husband at Bath Abbey (May 11, 973), making her the second English queen to be crowned since the coronation of Queen Judith (858), the second wife of Aethelwulf of Wessex.
After her husband’s early death (975) Queen Elfrida was said to have been involved in the murder of her stepson, King Edward the Martyr, whilst he was visiting her at her dower residence at Corfe Castle in Dorset (979). This brought her son Aethelred to the throne as king. According to ancient tradition repeated by Henry of Huntingdon, the queen stabbed Edward with a dagger whilst she was offerring him a cup to drink from. That Edward died from such a wound remains undeniable, though it would appear extremely unlikely that the queen mother herself would have committed so public an act of murder. It was at this time that Queen Elfrida founded the Benedictine abbey of St Mary and St Melor near Amesbury in Wiltshire (979). As Aethelred grew older the queen’s influence lessened and she finally decided to retire from the court altogether. Elfrida established the Benedictine monastery at Wherwell in Hampshire and was then veiled as a nun herself (986). Several of her grandchildren, notably her eldest grandson, the aetheling Aethelstan (c981 – c1014) were raised in her household. Queen Elfrida died at Wherwell (Nov 17, 1000), aged fifty-five.

Elfrida of Flanders (Elstrude) – (c936 – c980)
French countess and heiress
Elfrida was the second daughter of Arnulf I the Old, Count of Flanders (916 – 965) and his second wife Adela of Vermandois, the daughter of Herbert II, Count of Vermandois (902 – 943). Through her father she was the great-granddaughter of the famous English king, Alfred the Great (871 – 899). Named for her English grandmother Countess Elfrida of Flanders, she was the sister of Count Baldwin III (958 – 962).
Elfrida was married firstly (c952) to the Danish leader Sifrid, who was created count of Guines in Picardy, and was the mother of his son Count Adolf of Guines (c955 – c996) who married and left descendants. The Historia Comitum Ghisnensium recorded the marriage of comes Balduinus soroem … Elstrudem with Sifrid. After the marriage Sifrid rendered homage to Elfrida’s father for the county of Guines. When Sifrid was killed (965) Elfrida then became the second wife of Count Walter II of Valois-Vexin.

Elfrida of Wessex (Eltrudis) – (877 – 929)
Countess consort of Flanders (893 – 918)
Princess Elfrida was born at Wantage Palace in Berkshire, the third daughter of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex (871 – 899) and his wife Eahlswith, the daughter of Aethelred Mucil, earldorman of Gainas. Her education was supervised by her maternal grandmother, Countess Eadburh of Mercia, who caused her to be instructed in the psalms, English books, and Saxon songs and poetry. She was married (893) to Baldwin II (865 – 918), Count of Flanders (879 – 918), a man of cruel and selfish nature. With her father’s death (899) the countess received the English properties of Chippenham and other estates in Wiltshire, The countess later made a gift of Lewisham and its dependancies, Greenwich and Woolwich to the abbey of St Peter in Ghent (912). She later caused Count Baldwin’s remains to be removed from the abbey of St Bertin and reinterred within the abbey of St Peter (919). The countess died (June 27, 929) aged fifty-two and was interred beside her husband in the abbey of St Peter. The couple had four children,

• Arnulf I the Great or the Old (894 – 965). He succeeded his father as Count of Flanders (918 – 965). He was married and left descendants including Queen Matilda, the wife of William the Conqueror.
• Adelulf of Flanders (896 – 934). He became Count of Boulogne, and married and left descendants.
• Ermentrude of Flanders (died after 918).
• Eahlswith of Flanders (Elswith) (died after 918). She was married to an unidentified member of the countly family of Boulogne, and became the mother of Hildebrand of Boulogne, abbot of St Bertin and St Vaast.

Elgar, Caroline Alice Roberts, Lady – (1848 – 1928)
British musical inspiration
Caroline Roberts was the wife (1889) of the famous composer Sir Edward Elgar (1857 – 1934), she was the daughter of Major-General Sir Henry Gee Roberts. Lady Elgar was said to have been the quiet inspiration behind many of her husband’s compositions. Their correspondence survives.

Elgar, Sybil – (1914 – 2007)
British champion of the handicapped, particularly autistic children and adults
Elgar was born (June 10, 1914). Sybil was married and produced a daughter, and had originally trained as a teacher of children following the famous Montessori Method. She later ran a nursery school for disdvantaged children in the basement of her home in St John’s Wood, London. During the 1950’s and onwards Elgar was the first British teacher who pioneered training to educate those adults and children who sufferred from autism. She formed the British National Autistic Society (NAS) in the early 1960’s, and then established the Society’s School for Austistic Children in Florence St, Ealing, which was later renamed the Sybil Elgar School in her honour. She established a home for autistic children in a mansion at Brent Knoll in Somerset (1974) and retired a decade later (1984). Her contribution and pioneer work with the handicapped was publicly recognized when she was appointed MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II (1975). Sybil Elgar died aged ninety-two (Jan 8, 2007).

Elgin, Diana Cecil, Countess of – (1596 – 1658)
English aristocrat and courtier
Lady Diana Cecil was the second daughter and coheir of William Cecil, second Earl of Exeter (1566 – 1640) and his second wife Elizabeth (1579 – 1654), the daughter of Sir William Drury, of Hawsted, Suffolk. Her paternal grandfather was Sir William Cecil, Baron Burghley, the trusted adviser of Queen Elizabeth I. Possessed of great personal attractions as well as a large dowry of thirty thousand pounds, Lady Diana was married firstly (1623) to Sir Henry de Vere (1593 – 1625), eighteenth Earl of Oxford (1604 – 1625). His death at The Hague in the Netherlands (June, 1625), left her a childless widow and she was remarried to Thomas Bruce (1599 – 1663), third Earl of Elgin (1633 – 1663), as his second wife, but their marriage also remained childless. Countess Diana died (Feb 26, 1658) aged sixty-one.

Elgin, Diana Grey, Countess of – (c1627 – 1690)
English aristocrat
A prominent courtier of Charles II (1660 – 1685), Lady Diana Grey was the daughter of Henry Grey (1599 – 1673), first Earl of Stamford and his wife Lady Anne Cecil (1602 – 1676), the daughter of William Cecil, second Earl of Exeter. She was the maternal niece to Diana Cecil, wife of Thomas Bruce, third Earl of Elgin. Lady Diana was married (1646) to Robert Bruce, fourth Earl of Elgin (1663 – 1685) who was also created first Earl of Ailesbury by Charles II (1664). With his death she was Countess Dowager of Elgin (1685 – 1690). Through her daughters the Countess Diana was ancestress of the royal houses of Belgium and Romania. Her children included,

• Lady Diana Bruce (c1649 – 1672). She was married firstly to Sir Seymour Shirley (1647 – 1667), fifth baronet, of Stanton Harold, Leicester, and secondly to John Manners, Lord Ross (1638 – 1711), later ninth Earl and first Duke of Rutland, as his second wife. She left descendants through both marriages.
• Lady Anne Bruce (c1651 – after 1690). She was married Sir William Rich, baronet, of Sunning, Berkshire.
• Lady Christian Bruce (c1654 – 1720). She was married firstly John Rolle, and secondly Sir Robert Gayer, of Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire.
• Thomas Bruce (1656 – 1741). He succeeded as third Earl of Elgin and second Earl of Ailesbury (1685 – 1741) married twice and left descendants.
• Lady Mary Bruce (died after 1690). She was married Sir William Walters, baronet, of Saresden.
• Lady Annie Charlotte Bruce (died after 1690). She was married Nicholas Bagenal, of Newry.

Elgin, Martha Whyte, Countess of – (c1737 – 1810)
British courtier
Lady Elgin was the governess to Princess Charlotte Augusta, the only child and heiress of George IV, and granddaughter to George III. The countess was the only child of Thomas Whyte, a wealthy London banker, and was married (1759) to the Scottish peer, Charles Bruce, fifth Earl of Elgin and ninth Earl of Kincardine (1732 – 1771), whom she survived for forty years as the Dowager Countess of Elgin (1771 – 1810). She filled with great credit to herself, the important office of royal governess. Lady Elgin died (June 21, 1810), aged about seventy-two. She left five children,

• William Robert Bruce, sixth Earl of Elgin and tenth of Kincardine (1764 – 1771). He died young a few months after his father.
• Thomas Bruce, seventh Earl of Elgin and eleventh of Kincardine (1766 – 1841). He succeeded his elder brother, and was married twice and left descendants.
• Hon. (Honourable) Charles Andrew Bruce (1768 – 1810). He was appointed as governor of Prince of Wales’s Island, married twice and left descendants.
• Hon. (Honourable) James Bruce (1769 – 1798). He became a Member of Parliament, and died unmarried, being drowned whilst crossing the Don River at Barnby Down, York.
• Lady Charlotte Bruce (1770 – 1816). She was married to Admiral Sir Philip Charles Durham.

Elgin, Mary Nisbet, Countess of – (1777 – 1855)
British traveller and letter writer
Mary Nisbet was the only child of William Hamilton Nisbet, of Dirleton and Belhaven, Haddington, Scotland. She was married (1799) to Thomas Bruce (1766 – 1841), seventh Earl of Elgin and eleventh Earl of Kincardine, as his first wife, and to whom she bore a son, George Charles Constantine, Lord Bruce (1800 – 1840), who died unmarried and childless before his father, and three daughters. Mary was countess for less than a decade (1799 – 1808), the marriage proved uncongenial and they were eventually divorced by Act of Parliament. She travelled much abroad, particulalry in Italy, and her correspondence has survived. Lady Elgin died (July 9, 1855), aged seventy-eight.

Elgiva   see also    Aelfgifu  and  Aelfgyva

Elgiva – (fl. 1035 – 1040)
Anglo-Saxon queen of England
Elgiva was the wife of King Haraold I (c1008 – 1040), who succeeded his father Canute (Knud) (1035). Her antecedents remain unknown, though it is probable that she was a member of the old royal house. She was perhaps the daughter of the aetheling Athelstan (c981 – c1014), the eldest son of King Aethelred II the Redeless (978 – 1016). Queen Elgiva was the mother of Harold’s only known child, Prince Elfwine, who was born in London. Some sources infer that her son was illegitimate, but they are unreliable. Elfwine was alive during the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042 – 1066) when he left England for exile in France, where he became a monk at the abbey of Saint-Foi in Conques, Aquitaine, which he had founded.

Elgiva of Wessex – (c900 – c952)
Anglo-Saxon royal widow of uncertain antecedents
Elgiva was probably the daughter of Aethelfrith (Ethelfrith), earl of Wessex and Mercia, the brother to Queen Eahlswith, wife of Alfred the Great. She was the supporter and early patron of St Dunstan (909 – 988), later Archbishop of Canterbury.

Elianoff, Luba – (1902 – 1998)
Latvian-American linen designer
Born Luba Levitt in Riga, she was the daughter of a businessman. She studied drama in Moscow under Stanislavsky and was married to a lawyer, Martin Elianoff. Assisted by a friend to immigrate to the Philippines, Madame Elianoff established and successfully ran a fashionable clothes boutique in Manila. She established herself as a designer of some talent when she incorporated the indigenous pineapple fibre known as pina, into her embroidery designs. Her work was even recognized by the Philippine Government who awarded her a series of medals. Due to WW II she immigrated to the USA with her daughter. Luba then seperated from her husband who died four decades later (1982).
Elianoff worked in Manhattan fashion shops before establishing her own business in luxury linens, which she purchased wholesale and then re-embroidered before selling them on. They proved immensely popular and were extremely elegant and expensive, so that she became popularly known as ‘Queen of the Linens.’ She eventually controlled over twenty stores and contracted most of the manufacturing to factories in Switzerland. Elianoff was recognized world-wide as one of the finest designers of decorative linens. Luba Elianoff died in Manhattan (Nov 17, 1998) aged ninety-six.

Elias, Annette – (fl. c1870 – 1897)
British painter
Probably born in London, Annette Elias produced landscapes and flower paintings. A member of the Society of Lady Artists, her work was exhibited at the Royal Academy, the New Water Colour Society and the New Gallery (established 1888), as well as at various exhibitions held in London, including Suffolk Street, where over a dozen of her works were displayed.

Elibank, Isabella Mackenzie, Baroness – (1735 – 1801)
Scottish heiress and peeress
Isabella Mackenzie was the first daughter of George Mackenzie (1703 – 1766), third Earl of Cromartie and his wife Isabel Gordon, the daughter of Sir William Gordon, baronet, of Dalpholly. She was married (1760) to George Hay Murray (1706 – 1785) who later succeeded as sixth Baron Elibank, and Isabella became the Baroness Elibank (1778 – 1785). She survived him as the Dowager Baroness Elibank (1785 – 1801) and was mentioned in the correspondence of the antiquarian Sir Horace Walpole.
Her brother John Mackenzie (1727 – 1789), styled Lord Macleod had married but left no issue. He had been involved in the 1745 rebellion and was later created Count Cromartie in Sweden, this distinction later being recognized by George III (1778). At her brother’s death Lady Elibank became heir at line to her father. Lady Elibank inherited (1796) the estate of the Cromartie family from her cousin Kenneth Mackenzie of Cromartie (c1730 – 1796), who, but for the attainder of 1746, would have succeeded as fifth Earl of Cromartie. Her two daughters Mary and Isabella inherited the Cromartie estates and assumed the additional surname of Mackenzie. Mary Murray-Mackenzie became the wife of Edward Hay of Newhall and was the grandmother of Anne Hay-Mackenzie, Countess of Cromartie, wife of the Duke of Sutherland, whilst Isabella Murray-Mackenzie died unmarried. Lady Elibank died (Dec 28, 1801) aged seventy-six.

Elicie – (fl. c500 – c600)
Merovingian saint
Elicie became a nun of the Benedictine order. Comte Thomas de Mas Latrie recorded her feast date (Aug 24) in his Tresor de Chronologie.

Elie de Beaumont, Anne Louise – (1730 – 1783)
French novelist
Born Anne Morin-Dumesnil at Caen in Normandy, she is best known for the popular novel, Lettres du Marquis de Roselle (Letters of The Marquis de Roselle) (1764), which dealt with the career of an opera girl. She later completed the Anecdotes de la cour et du regne d’Edouard II (Anecdotes from the Court and Reign of Edward II) (1776), begun by Madame de Tencin.

Elin of Skovde (Helena) – (c1065 – 1135)
Queen of Sweden
Elin was born of noble parentage and became the second wife (c1080) of King Inge I, to whom she bore a son Rognvald, who predeceased his father, and three daughters, including Catherine Ingesdotter, the wife of the Danish prince Bjorn Jarnsida and Margaret Ingesdotter (1085 – 1130), who married successively to Magnus III of Norway and then to King Niels of Denmark. After her husband’s death (1112) Elin never remarried. She devoted herself to the care of the poor, built the church at Skovde (Skofde) at her own expense, and made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. According to tradition, Queen Elin was wrongfully accused of trying to arrange the murder of her son-in-law, Bjorn Jarnsida. Because of this she was killed by his adherents at the church of Gotene, where she was stabbed to death as she left the building. She was interred at Skovde. Bishop Stephen of Uppsala reported her miracles to the Vatican and Queen Elin was later canonized as a saint by Pope Alexander III. Her feast was observed (July 31).

Elinhast – (fl. c700 – c720)
German duchess consort of Bavaria
Elinhast was the wife to Duke Theodebert (c680 – 724), who succeeded his father Theodo V of the Aigolfing dynasty. Her own natal family remains unknown though her marriage took place at Botzen in Rhaetia. She and her husband produced one surviving child, an only daughter, Guntrude of Bavaria who was married (715) to Luitprand, King of Lombardy. It remains unknown whether or not the duchess survived her husband.

Elion, Gertrude Belle – (1918 – 1999)
American chemist and pharmacological scientist
Elion was born in New York City and was educated at Hunter’s College and at New York University. She was trained as a schoolteacher, then became a member of the staff of the Burroughs Wellcome Research Company for over twenty-two years (1944 – 1967), and was assisstant to scientist and researcher George H. Hitchings. Appointed head of the company’s experimental therapy department, Elion worked with Hitchings and detected important differences between the biochemistry of normal and diseased cells, discovering a method of removal which did not harm the normal cells. She developed drugs which were used effectively against leukaemia, gout and herpes, and her research spearheaded the successful transplant of human organs. She officially retired (1983) but continued to oversee scientific production of the drug AZT, perfected for use against AIDS. Elion shared the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine with her colleague Hitchings, and withn the British scientist Sir James Black (1988). Gertrude Elion died at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, aged eighty-one (Feb 21, 1999).

Eliot, Constance Rhiannon – (1844 – 1916)
British courtier
Constance Guest was the daughter of Sir Josiah John Guest, of Dowlais, the famous Welsh iron magnate and his wife Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Bertie (later Lady Schreiber), the daughter of Albemarle Bertie, ninth Earl of Lindsey. Her mother achieved fame as the translator of Welsh folk-tales in, The Mabinogion (1849). Sister to the first Baron Wimborne, Constance was married (1865) to Hon. Charles George Cornwallis (1839 – 1901), CVO (Commander of the Victorian Order), gentleman of the Privy Chamber and equerry to Prince Christian of Schleswig Holstein and his wife Helena (HRH Princess Christian), the daughter of Queen Victoria. Mrs Eliot also served at court, and was appointed to serve both Princess Christian and also her cousin, Princess Frederica of Hanover, as lady-in-waiting at the court. She survived her husband fifteen years (1901 – 1916). Mrs Eliot died (March 22, 1916) aged seventy-one. Her children were,

• Lady Blanche Elizabeth Eliot (1866 – 1929). She was married (1909) Stephen Ormston Eaton, of Tolethorpe Hall, Rutland. He died in 1911. Mrs Eaton obtained the courtesy title of Lady only in 1923 several motnsh after her brother inherited the earldom of St Germans, and was styled the Dowager Lady Eaton (1923 – 1929).
• Granville John Eliot (1867 – 1942). He succeeded his childless cousin as seventh Earl of St Germans (1922 – 1942). He remained unmarried and childless.
• Evelyn Radigund Eliot (1869 – 1920). She died unmarried.
• Montague Charles Eliot (1870 – 1960). He succeeded his brother as eighth Earl of St Germans (1942 – 1960). He married (1910) the American heiress Helen Agnes Post and left descendants.
• Lieutenant – Colonel Hon. (Honourable) Christian Edward Cornwallis Eliot (1872 – 1940), OBE (Order of the British Empire) (1919). Received the courtesy title of ‘Honourable’ after his eldest brother inherited the earldom of St Germans (1923). He married twice and elft descendants.
• Captain Hon. Arthur Ernest Henry Eliot (1874 – 1936). He served with the army in South Africa (1900 – 1901) and in WW I. Declared ‘Honourable’ by royal warrant (1923). Married four times but died childless.
• Captain Hon. Edward Granville Eliot (1878 – 1952), served in the navy and the army, later a solicitor with the firm of Kennedy, Ponsonby and Prideaux. He was married and left descendants.

Eliot, George – (1819 – 1880) 
British novelist
Born Mary Anne Evans, at Astley, near Nunneaton in Warwickshire, she was the daughter of an estate manager and land agent, and was educated in boarding schools in Warwickshire. Eliot became her father’s housekeepr in 1837 and removed with him to reside at Coventry several years later (1841). Her friendship in Coventry with Charles Bray and his family exposed Eliot to liberal ideals, and she seriously questioned conventional religious belief. This led to her translation of, The Life of Jesus by David Strauss (1846) which was followed by Ludwig Feuerbach’s The Essence of Christianity (1854). After her father’s death, and a brief residence in Geneva, Switzerland, Eliot returned to London, and acted as editor of the Westminster Review, then owned by John Chapman. There she began writing a series of essays and short stories, and her literary career flourished under the guidance of the author and scientist, G.H. Lewes, with whom Eliot resided for twenty-four years until his death (1854 – 1878).
Eliot had sufferred social ostracism because of her lover’s married status, but her later novels, Middlemarch (1871 – 1872), and, Daniel Deronda (1876), confirmed her as thegreatest nineteenth century British writer of the realist genre. Her other novels included, Scenes of Clerical Life (1858), Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), Silas Marner (1861), Romola (1863), and, Felix Holt (1866). Eliot also produced several volumes of poetry, The Spanish Gypsy (1868), and, The Legend of Jubal (1874), besides a collection of character sketches, Impressions of Theophrastus Such (1879).

Eliot, Henrietta Robins – (1845 – 1940)
American novelist
Born Henrietta Robins (June 12, 1845) in Amherst, Massachusett, she married as her second husband, Thomas Lamb Eliot (1841 – 1936). Husband and wife corresponded with Dorothea Lynde Dix, and their letters survive. She was the author of several novels for juvenile girls such as Laura’s Holiday (1898), and Laura in the Mountains (1905). Henrietta Eliot died (Jan 13, 1940) aged ninety-four.

Eliot, Martha May – (1891 – 1978)
American paediatrician
Eliot had an impressive twenty-five year career with Yale University (1921 – 1946) and was the first woman to be appointed president of the American Public Health Association (1947 – 1948). Eliot was an official of the Unites States Children’s Bureau for over thirty years (1924 – 1956), and became heavily involved with social work and reform within the World Health Organization and with UNICEF. Martha Eliot died in Cambridge, Massachusetts eighty-six (Feb, 1978).

Eliot, Lady Rosemary Alexandra – (1919 – 1963)
British aristocrat and heiress
Lady Rosemary Eliot was born (Feb 26, 1919) the elder daughter of John Granville Cornwallis Eliot, sixth Earl of St Germans (1890 – 1922), and his wife, Lady Blanche Linnie Somerset (1897 – 1968), the daughter of Henry Adelbert Wellington Somerset, ninth Duke of Beaufort (1847 – 1924). Lady Rosemary was married firstly (1939) to Captain Edward Nutting (1917 – 1943) who was killed in action in the Middle East during WW II, secondly (1945 – 1949) she was married to Lieutenant-Commander David Frederick Hew Dunn, which union was annulled several years later. Her last marriage was to (1949) to Ralph Alexander (Sasha) Rubens and last till her death (April 20, 1963) at the early age of forty-four. She left children by her first and her last marriages.
Rosemary became a considerable propertied heiress. With the death of her father during her early childhood, she and her younger sister, Lady Cathleen Blanche Lilly (born 1921), became coheirs to the ancient medieval baronies of Botetourt and Herbert. With the death of the tenth Duke of Beaufort (1984), these baronies fell into abeyance between the descendants of his sister, Lady Blanche Linnie Somerset. These coheirs included the granddaughter of Lady Rosemary, Samantha Mary Cope (born 1963) who became a quarter owner of the Botetourt and Herbert estates (1990). Another co-heir was Alexandra Louise Rubens (born 1951), Rosemary’s daughter by Sasha Rubens, who later married Daniel Augusto Peyronel, by whom she left issue. The half-share of the estates was held (1990) by Rosemary’s surviving sister, Lady Cathleen Blanche Eliot, whose second husband was Sir Havelock Trevor Hudson, of Reading, Berkshire.

Elisa – (c400 – c427 AD)
Vandal queen
A native of the city of Granada, Elisa became the wife of Gunderic (c395 – 427 AD), King of the Vandals (406 – 427 AD), who had settled his people in the region of Galicia. Her marriage was probably a political union designed to secure the Vandals standing in this region of Spain, so Elisa was most probably the daughter of a local king or chieftain. King Gunderic died after conquering the city of Seville. Soon afterwards her husband’s brother Gaiseric caused Queen Elisa to be murdered.
The Victoris Vitensis Historia states that Gaiseric killed his sister-in-law by having her weighed down with a stone and thrown into the Cirtensis River at Amsaga. He then killed her elder sons to prevent any rivals for the throne, and only her youngest, Prince Gelimer, survived and later married Eurica, the daughter of the Gothic king Adulphus.

Elisa, Henriqueta – (c1820 – 1885)
Portugese poet
Elisa was best known for one collection of romantic verse entitled Lagrimas e Saudades (Tears and Longings) (1864).

Elisabeth    see also    Elizabeth and Elzbieta

Elisabeth I (Eliska Premyslavna) – (1292 – 1330)
Queen regnant of Bohemia (1310 – 1330)
Elisabeth was born (Jan 20, 1292), the younger daughter of King Wenceslas II, and his wife Judith of Austria, daughter of the German king Rudolf I of Hapsburg (1273 – 1291). With the death of her childless brother, Wenceslas III (1306), Elizabeth, who considered herself the heiress of Bohemia, in opposition to the superior claims of her elder sister Anna, the wife of Duke Henry of Carinthia, who had assumed the title of king of Bohemia, offerred her hand to John of Luxemburg (1296 – 1346), son of the Emperor Henry VII. She then influenced the nobility and intrigued against Henry in Prague, her faction succeeding in taking control of the city. A Czech deputation impeached Henry before the emperor at Frankfurt, who declared his kingship forfeit, and consented to the marriage of his son to Elizabeth (1310). They were crowned at Prague (Feb, 1311).
However, the Bohemians despised John as a foreigner and the marriage proved a failure, the long growing estrangement of the king and queen widening into an irrepairable breach. The hostility between the two court factions resulted in armed encounters and mutual pillaging, and eventually a rebellion of the nobles almost dethroned the king (1318). Eventually, persuaded that Queen Elizabeth was plotting to seize possession of the government and the guardianship of their son Charles, the king had mother and child seperated by violent means, and the queen was briefly imprisoned at the fortress of Loket (Elbogen). Elizabeth was soon released, but until her death at the age of thirty-eight (Sept 28, 1330), relations between the couple remained estranged. Queen Elisabeth left seven children,

• Margaret of Luxemburg, Princess of Bohemia (1313 – 1341). She was married to Heinrich II (1305 – 1339), Duke of North Bavaria (1310 – 1339). Their only child, Duke Johann I (1329 – 1340) succeeded his father, but died aged eleven.
• Bonne of Luxemburg, Princess of Bohemia (called Judith until till her marriage) (1315 – 1349). She became the first wife of Jean, Duc de Normandie (1319 – 1364), King of France after her death as Jean II (1350 – 1364). They left descendants and she was the mother of King Charles V the Wise (1364 – 1380).
• Charles IV of Luxemburg (1316 – 1378), King of Bohemia (1346 – 1378) and later Holy Roman emperor. He was married four times and left descendants. His daughter, Anne of Bohemia was the first wife of Richard II, king of England (1377 – 1399).
• Ottokar of Luxemburg, Prince of Bohemia (1318 – 1320). He died young.
• Johann Henry of Luxemburg, Prince of Bohemia (1322 – 1375). He was appointed as margrave of Moravia and his subjects called him Jan Jindrich.
• Anna of Luxemburg, Princess of Bohemia (1323 – 1338) twin with her sister Elisabeth. She was married (1335) to Duke Otto of Austria (1301 – 1339) as his second wife but died childless.
• Elisabeth of Luxemburg, Princess of Bohemia (1323 – 1324), twin with her sister Anna, died young.

Elisabeth II – (1409 – 1442)
Queen regnant of Bohemia (1437 – 1442)
Elisabeth was born (Feb 28, 1409) in Prague, Bohemia, the daughter and heiress of the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund I, king of Bohemia and his second wife Barbara of Cilly. Elisabeth was married (1421) at Esztergom, to Albert II, King of Hungary and Bohemia (1397 – 1439) and became the mother of Ladislas IV of Hungary and Bohemia (1440 – 1457).
Her father died in Dec, 1437, and Albert was elected as king of Bohemia and Hungary in Elisabeth’s right, as her father’s only heiress at Frankfurt (1438). Elisabeth and Albert were then crowned together soon afterwards. She was granted the right to recover the dukedom of Luxemburg to her eldest daughter’s fiance Wilhelm of Saxony (Dec 23, 1439), on the condition that if her then unborn child should be a son, then he would have the right to recover Luxemburg from Wilhelm.
With the sudden death of Albert the queen attempted to secure the throne for her, as yet unborn son, Ladislas IV. She took possession of the crown of St Stephen through trickery and had her three month old son crowned in 1440. This caused political enmity with Vladislav III of Poland, who had been elected king by the Hungarian estates. The queen entered into negotiations with Vladislav but died (Dec 25, 1442) at Ofen, near Buda, aged only thirty-three, several days later. The memoirist Helene Kottanner was her lady-in-waiting. Her four children were,

• Anna of Austria, Princess of Bohemia (1432 – 1462). She was married Wilhelm III the Brave, Duke of Saxony (1425 – 1482) and left descendants.
• George of Austria, Prince of Bohemia (born Feb 16, 1435 – died same day).
• Elisabeth of Austria, Princess of Bohemia (1437 – 1505). She was married Kasimir IV Jagiellon, King of Poland (1427 – 1492) and left descendants.
• Ladislas IV (1440 – 1457), King of Hungary and Bohemia (1453 – 1457). He died unmarried and childless.

Elisabeth de Valois (Isabel) – (1545 – 1568)
Queen consort of Spain (1559 – 1568)
Elisabeth was born (April 2, 1545) at the Palace of Fontainebleau, the daughter of Henry II, King of France (1547 – 1559) and his wife Catherine de Medici, the daughter of Lorenzo de Medici, Duke of Florence. Elisabeth was married (1559) to Philip II (1527 – 1598), king of Spain (1554 – 1598) as his third wife, having been previously betrothed to her stepson Don Carlos. She assisted her Protestant cousin, Jeanne III d’Albret to reach safety in Navarre from the Inquisition. Queen Elisabeth died (Oct 3, 1568) aged only twenty-three, and left two daughters, the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, later regent of the Netherlands and Catalina Michaela Francesca, wife of Duke Carlos Emmanuele I of Savoy, who left many descendants.

Elisabeth Farnese (Isabella) – (1692 – 1766)
Queen consort of Spain
Elisabeth was born in Paris, France, the daughter of Odoardo Farnese, hereditary Prince of Parma and his wife Dorothea Sophia of Palatine-Neuberg. She became the second wife (1714) of Philip V of Spain (1683 – 1746), abruptly dismissing and exiling his chief political advisor, the Princesse de Ursins at their first meeting in Spain. Elisabeth bore Philip seven children, and established a lasting influence over him, eventually exerting greater influence than his confessor.
Queen Elisabeth quickly became involved in politics and warmly supported the aggressive foreign policy of the Prime Minister, Cardinal Alberoni, which was mainly aimed at removing the Austrians from Italy. She is credited with influencing his decision to violate the Treaty of Utecht by invading Sardinia (1717) and Sicily (1718), which lead led to confrontation by the Quadruple Alliance of England, France, Austria and Holland, which led to the annihilation of the Spanish fleet. During Philip’s illness the queen was his constant companion, advising him on all state matters. Ill health influenced his abdication in favour of their son Luis I, and the royal couple’s retirement to the Palace of San Ildefonso, but when Luis died of smallpox a few months later, Elisabeth successfully prevailed upon Philip to resume the crown (1724). Her ability to choose wise and devoted ministers greatly advanced Spain’s economy and internal administration.
The queen used her dominance over Philip to secure the futures of her sons, the future Charles III of Spain, who succeeded his half-brother Ferdinand VI, and ruled Spain (1759 – 1788), and Philip (1720 – 1765), who married Louise Elisabeth de Bourbon, the eldest daughter (Madame Premiere) of Louis XV, and received the duchies of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), which resulted from the War of the Austrian Succession. With Philip’s death she received the palace of San Ildefonso and the guardianship of her younger children. Her stepson Ferdinand VI treated her kindly, but allowed her no influence over matters of state. With the acession of her son Charles (1759), the queen mother headed the regency till his arrival in Spain, and afterwards appeared at his court, where, though honoured, she was never permitted to regain the importance and influence she had known during the lifetime of her husband. Queen Elisabeth died at Aranjuez Castle, near Madrid, aged seventy-three (July 11, 1766).

Elisabeth Kotromanica (Jelisaveta) – (1340 – 1387)
Queen consort of Poland and regent of Hungary
Elisabeth Kortomanica was the only child of Stephen II Kotromanic, duke of Bosnia and Syrmia, and a claimant to the throne of Serbia, and his wife Elzbieta (Elisabeth), who was the daughter of Kazimierz of Kujavia, Prince of Inovraclav and Gnesen. Elisabeth was married (1353) to Louis I, King of Poland and Hungary as his second wife, the union achieving considerable political prestige for her father. Pope Innocent IV granted the couple a dispensation because they were related within the prohibited degrees. She left four daughters, of whom two survived infancy, Maria (1371 – 1395) who inherited the crown of Hungary and married Sigismund of Luxemburg (1368 – 1437) and Jadwiga (1374 – 1399), the sainted queen of Poland.
With her husband’s death (1382) Queen Elisabeth retained the guardianship of her two daughters, and ruled Hungary as regent for Maria with the assistance of the Palatine Miklos Garay and Nikola I Gorjanski Stariji. Their rule was unpopular and she was opposed by Sigismund of Luxemburg, Wenceslav IV of Bohemia and several important Hungarian nobles, and the Poles finally rejected her dominion and regency. When some members of the Hungarian nobility assisted Charles of Durazzo to be elected as king of Hungary (1385), Elisabeth and Garay arranged to have him assassinated. Finally the queen and her daughter were captured by the powerful Horvat brothers (1386), and imprisoned in Dalmatia. Queen Elisabeth was then strangled before her daughter (before Jan 16, 1387) aged forty-six. Queen Maria daughter bitterly accused Sigismund I of the crime and seperated from him till her death. The Horvats were later murdered on Sigismund’s order at Dobor.

Elisabeth of Anhalt – (1563 – 1607)
German electress consort of Brandenburg (1577 – 1598)
Elisabeth was born (Sept 25, 1563) the second surviving daughter of Joachim Ernst, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst (1551 – 1586) and his first wife Countess Agnes von Barby-Muhlingen, daughter of Wolfgang II, Count von Barby-Muhlingen. She was married (1577) to Johann George (1525 – 1598), Elector of Brandenburg (1571 – 1598) as his third wife. Elisabeth was pregant at the time of her husband’s death and gave birth to her eleventh and posthumous child, eight months afterwards. Elisabeth survived her husband as the Dowager Electress of Brandenburg (1598 – 1607). Electress Elisabeth died (Sept 28, 1607) aged forty-four. Her children were,

• Prince Christian of Brandenburg (1581 – 1655). He was the first Margrave of Bayreuth (1603 – 1655) and left descendants.
• Princess Magdalena of Brandenburg (1582 – 1616). She became the wife of Ludwig I (1577 – 1626), Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt.
• Prince Joachim Ernst of Brandenburg (1583 – 1625). He became the first Margrave of Ansbach (1603 – 1625) and left issue.
• Princess Agnes of Brandenburg (1584 – 1629). She was marriedf firstly to Philip Julius (1585 – 1625), Duke of Pomerania, and secondly to Franz Karl (1594 – 1660), Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg.
• Prince Friedrich Karl of Brandenburg (1588 – 1611). He died unmarried.
• Princess Elisabeth Sophia of Brandenburg (1589 – 1629). She married firstly Prince Janusz I Radziwill (died 1620), and secondly to Julius Heinrich (1586 – 1665), Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg.
• Princess Dorothea Sybilla of Brandenburg (1590 – 1625). She became the wife of Johann Christian (1591 – 1639), Duke of Silesia-Leignitz.
• Prince George Albrecht of Brandenburg (1591 – 1615). He died unmarried.
• Prince Sigismund of Brandenburg (1592 – 1640). He died unmarried.
• Prince Johann of Brandenburg (1597 – 1627). He died unmarried.
• Prince Johann George of Brandenburg (1598 – 1637). He was born posthumously eight months after his father’s death. He remained unmarried.

Elisabeth of Aragon    see    Isabella of Aragon

Elisabeth of Austria (1) – (1293 – 1352)
Hapsburg archduchess
Elisabeth was born in Vienna, the third daughter of Albert I of Austria, King of Germany (1291 – 1308) and his wife Elisabeth, the daughter of Meinhard V, Count of Gorz-Tyrol. She was the sister of Rudolf II of Austria, King of Bohemia (1306 – 1307). Archduchess Elisabeth was married (1304) to Prince Frederick of Lorraine (1282 – 1328), and became Duchess consort of Lorraine (1312 – 1328) when her husband succeeded to the ducal throne as Frederick IV. Elisabeth survived her husband as the Dowager Duchess of Lorraine for over two decades (1328 – 1352) and ruled as regent for several years, carrying on the government in the name of her son until he reached his majority (1334). Duchess Elisabeth died (May 19, 1352) aged fifty-eight, at Nancy. Her children eight were,

• Rudolph (1318 – 1346). He succeeded his father as Duke of Lorraine (1328 – 1346) and was married twice, leaving issue.
• Frederick of Lorraine. He became Count of Luneville.
• Theobald of Lorraine. He became a canon in Trier.
• Albert of Lorraine. He became a canon in Liege in Brabant.
• Anne of Lorraine.
• Margaret of Lorraine (died after 1364). She became the wife of Count Ulrich IX von Rappoltstein (died 1377).
• Elisabeth of Lorraine.
• Blanche of Lorraine (died after 1340). She became a nun at the Abbey of Andlau.

Elisabeth of Austria (2) – (1437 – 1505)
Queen consort of Poland (1454 – 1492)
Elisabeth was born in Vienna, the second daughter of Albert V of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia and Holy Roman emperor elect, and his wife Elisabeth II of Bohemia, daughter of the Holy Roman emperor Sigismund I. Elisabeth was married (1454) at Krakow in Poland, to King Kasimir IV Jagiellon (Kazimierz) (1427 – 1492). With the death of her childless brother, Ladislas V (1457), Elisabeth and Kasimir advanced their claims to the thrones of Bohemia and Hungary, and eventually their eldest son Vladislav was elected king of both countries. All the rights to the Piast properties of her mother, Queen Elisabeth II, fell to Queen Elisabeth and her children, and thus passed into the Jagiellon family. The queen later renounced her rights to the dukedom of Luxemburg in favour of Charles ‘the Bold,’ Duke of Burgundy (1467), whose father, Duke Philip III had originally purchased the territory from Elisabeth of Bohemia, Duchess of Gorlitz (1441). She survived for over a decade as Queen Dowager (1492 – 1505). Queen Elisabeth died in Krakow (Aug 30, 1505) aged sixty-eight. She left thirteen children,

• Vladislav Jagiellon (1456 – 1516). He succeeded as King of Bohemia (1471 – 1516) and King of Hungary (1490 – 1516). He married twice and left descendants.
• Jadwiga Jagiella, Princess of Poland (Hedwig) (1457 – 1501). She was married to George, Duke of Bavaria-Landshut, and left descendants.
• Kasimir Jagiellon, Prince of Poland (Kazimierz) (1458 – 1483). He died unmarried.
• Jan I Olbracht Jagiellon (1459 – 1501). He became King of Poland (1492 – 1501), but died unmarried.
• Alexander Jagiellon (1461 – 1506). He succeeded his brother as King of Poland (1501 – 1506). He was married to the Russian princess, Elena Ivanovna, but died childless.
• Sophia Jagiella, Princess of Poland (1464 – 1512). She was married to Friedrich VI, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1460 – 1536), and left descendants.
• Elzbieta Jagiella, Princess of Poland (Elisabeth) (1465 – 1466). She died in infancy.
• Sigismund I Jagiellon (1467 – 1548). He succeeded his brother as King of Poland (1506 – 1548). Hmarried twice and left descendants.
• Fryderyk Jagiellon, Prince of Poland (Friedrich) (1468 – 1503). He remained unmarried and took holy orders, becoming Cardinal, Bishop of Krakow and Archbishop of Gnesen.
• Elzbieta Jagiella, Princess of Poland (Elisabeth) (1472 – after 1480). She died young.
• Anna Jagiella, Princess of Poland (1476 – 1503). She was married to Bogislav X the Great, Duke of Pomerania (1454 – 1523), and left descendants.
• Barbara Jagiella, Princess of Poland (1478 – 1534). She was married to George, Duke of Saxony (1471 – 1539), and left descendants.
• Elzbieta Jagiella, Princess of Poland (Elisabeth) (1482 – 1517). She became the wife of Friedrich II, Duke of Silesia-Leignitz (1480 – 1547).

Elisabeth of Austria (3) – (1526 – 1545)
Hapsburg archduchess
Archduchess Elisabeth was born (June 9, 1526) at Linz, near Wels, Upper Austria, the daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand V (1555 – 1564) and his wife Anna of Hungary, heiress to King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia (died 1526). The archduchess was married (1543) to Crown Prince Zygmunt of Poland (1520 – 1572), the son and heir of King Zygmunt I, to whom she had been betrothed in early childhood. The marriage had been designed to bind closer together the two dynasties of Hapsburg and Jagiellon, but proved a failure on a personal level. Zygmunt had been forced to marry Elisabeth, who sufferred from periodic epileptic fits, but had been in love with Barbara Radziwill, who later became his second wife. Princess Elisabeth was subjected to insults and humilations from the hands of her mother-in-law, Queen Bona Sforza, an enemy of the Hapsburgs, and from her disinterested huband, but bore her trials with honour and quiet fortitude. The marriage remained childless. Crown Princess Elisabeth died (June 15, 1545) aged nineteen, at Vilna, Lithuania. Only after her death did the prince succeed to the Polish throne as Zygmunt II August (1548 – 1572).

Elisabeth of Austria (4) – (1554 – 1592)
Queen consort of France (1570 – 1574)
Archduchess Elisabeth was born (July 5, 1554) in Vienna, the second daughter of the Hapsburg Emperor Maximilian II (1564 – 1576), and his wife Maria of Spain, sister to King Philip II, and daughter to the emperor Charles V. Elisabeth was betrothed (1561) to King Charles IX of France (1571 – 1574) but it was later proposed that she should marry the young King Sebastian of Portugal, and she was said to have preferred this match herself. However, Philip II of Spain intervened in the Portugese negotiations, and the marriage plans, which had almost been finalized, were quickly dropped. Elisabeth was married instead to her former intended at Mezieres (1570). She bore him a son who died at birth (1572) and an only daughter, Louise Marie Elisabeth, who died aged five (1578) and to whom Elizabeth I of England stood godmother. When her husband was sufferring his last illness, the queen walked barefoot in a pilgrimage from Vincennes to Sainte Chapelle to pray for his recovery. At his deathbed (May 30, 1574), the king commended Elisabeth to the protection of Henry of Navarre (Henry IV). Queen Elisabeth was respected for her religious piety and gentle nature, but after the death of the king, she refused the suit of her uncle, Philip II (1580), and instead became a nun of the Third Order of the Franciscans at the convent of St Clara, in Vienna. Queen Elisabeth died there aged thirty-seven (Jan 22, 1592).

Elisabeth of Austria (5) – (1743 – 1808)
Hapsburg archduchess
Born the Archduchess Maria Elizabeth Josepha Johanna Antonia in Vienna (Aug 13, 1743), she was the fifth daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Franz I and his wife Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, the eldest daughter and heiress of the Emperor Karl VI (1711 – 1740). She bore the additional titles of Princess of Hungary and Bohemia and Princess of Lorraine and Tuscany. When Queen Marie, the wife of Louis XV of France became ill and it was believed that she would not survive (1766), the Duc de Choiseul, having despaired of making his sister the Duchesse de Gramont, mistress to the aging king, began searching for a dutiful and pliant foreign princess he could marry to the king, and the Archduchess Elisabeth was put forward as a possible favourable bride.
In the following year (1767) Choiseul suggested the archduchess as a bride for the king’s grandson and heir, the Dauphin Louis Auguste (Louis XVI) despite the fact that Elisabeth was ten years the senior of her [roposed bridegroom. This proposal enraged the prince’s mother, the Dauphine Marie Josepha of Saxony, whose family had been badly treated by the Austrians, and she angrily denounced the alliance. With the death of the Dauphine soon afterwards the proposed marriage went ahead, but instead Elisabeth was substituted by her younger sister Maria Antonia (Marie Antoinette) who was of a more suitable age. Archduchess Elisabeth never married and remained at Schonnbrunn in Vienna in attendance upon her widowed mother. With Maria Theresa’s death (1780) Elisabeth’s brother the Emperor Joseph II was anxious to provide for her. Not wishing to pay out a dowry he caused Elisabeth to be elected abbess of the royal convent in Innsbruck which brought with it suitable revenues for the maintenance of the archduchess and her household. Archduchess Elisabeth died (Sept 22, 1808) aged sixty-five.

Elisabeth of Baden – (1620 – 1692)
German princess and poet
Princess Elisabeth was born at Durlach, near Karlsruhe, the younger daughter of George Frederick, Margrave of Baden-Durlach (1604 – 1622), and his second wife Agatha, the daughter of George III, Count of Erbach. Because of the social upheavals caused by the Thirty Years’ War, Elisabeth grew up and was educated in Strasbourg by Josias Rompler von Lowehalt. Elisabeth remained unmarried and removed to Basel to reside with her elder sister Anna (1617 – 1672), and the sisters began a personal collection of hand written poetry. She was the author of a collection of aphorisms, written in alexandrines for the moral edification of young women entitled Tausendt merckwurdige Gedenck-Spruch aus unterschiedlichen Authoren zusammengezogen und in teutsche Verse ubertragen (1685) which was immensely popular. She was also the author of a drama concerning the Peace of Westphalia (1648). Princess Elisabeth died at Basel (Oct 13, 1692).

Elisabeth of Bavaria – (1306 – 1330)
Duchess consort of Austria (1325 – 1330)
Elisabeth was the daughter of Stephen I, Duke of Northern Bavaria (1290 – 1310), and his wife Judith, the daughter of Bolko III, Duke of Silesia-Leignitz. She was the sister to dukes Heinrich II (1310 – 1339) and Otto IV of Bavaria (1310 – 1334). Elisabeth was married to Duke Otto of Austria (1301 – 1339) a younger son of Albert I, King of Germany (1298 – 1308), as his first wife. She bore him two sons, dukes Friedrich II (1327 – 1344) and Leopold II (1328 – 1344), who both died young and childless. Duchess Elisabeth died (March 25, 1330) aged twenty-three, in Vienna.

Elisabeth of Bohemia – (1390 – 1451)
Duchess of Gorlitz and Luxembourg
Princess Elisabeth was born (Oct, 1390) at Horsewitz, the only child of Prince Johann of Bohemia (1370 – 1396), Duke of Gorlitz and Elector of Brandenburg, and his second wife Richarda of Mecklenburg-Schwerin the daughter of Albert II of Mecklenburg (1340 – 1412), King of Sweden. She was married firstly (1409) in Brussels to Anthony of Burgundy (1384 – 1415), Duke of Brabant and Limburg who was killed at the Battle of Agincourt, and secondly (1418) to Johann III, Duke of Bavaria-Straubing and Count of Holland, and left no surviving heirs.
Through her mother Elisabeth inherited a claim to the thrones of Sweden, Denmark and Norway as a descendant of Princess Euphemia Eriksdotter, the granddaughter of Magnus I, King of Sweden, and Duke Heinrich II of Mecklenburg. With her death this claim became extinct. Elisabeth was granted the duchy of Luxemburg for her lifetime by her uncle, Duke Wenceslas II, in lieu of a dowry, on condition that Wenceslas could recover it for a payment of one hundred and twenty thousand Rhenish florins. Her second husband ruled Luxemburg in her name (1419 – 1425). Philip II of Burgundy later occupied Luxemburg and was made heir by the childless duchess (1441), and he succeeded her at her death (Aug 3, 1451).

Elisabeth of Bosnia    see    Elisabeth Kotromanica

Elisabeth of Brabant – (1243 – 1261)
German duchess consort of Brunswick-Luneburg (1254 – 1261), she was the daughter of Henry II, Duke of Brabant and his wife Sophia, the daughter of Ludwig IV, Landgrave of Thuringia and his wife St Elizabeth of Hungary. Elisabeth was married (1254 at Brunswick) to Albert I (1236 – 1279), duke of Brunswick-Luneburg (1252 – 1279) as his first wife. Elisabeth was mentioned in the Cronica Principum Saxonie and by the Chronica Principium Brunsvicensium, which called her Elyzabet filiam ducis Brabancie, and stated that she remained childless. Duchess Elisabeth died (April 17 or Oct 9, 1261), aged only eighteen. She was interred within the Church of St Blasius in Brunswick.

Elisabeth of Brandenburg – (1510 – 1558)
German ruler, writer and poet
Princess Elisabeth was born (Aug 24, 1510) the second daughter of Joachim I, Elector of Brandenburg (1499 – 1525) and his wife Princess Elisabeth of Denmark, the daughter of King Hans I. She received an excellent education and was married (1525) to Duke Eric I of Brunswick-Kalenberg (1470 – 1540) forty years her senior, as his second wife, and bore him four children. With Eric’s death Duchess Elisabeth ruled Kalenberg as regent for her son Eric II (1540 – 1544).
Duchess Elisabeth was a strong supporter of the Reformation in Hanover, and published the Christian Epistle (Christliche Sendebrieff) (1545) in which she intoruced the Protestant faith and doctrine to her formerly Catholic subjects. As a result of this her memory was long revered in Brunswick. Elisabeth produced a written governmental manual to assist her son as duke, as well as a book of consolation for widows. Despite this her son Eric II remained Catholic and Elisabeth spent some time exiled from Hanover, together with her daughter. She survived her first husband as the Dowager Duchess of Brunswick-Luneberg (1540 – 1558) and remarried secondly (1546) to Poppo XVIII (1513 – 1574), Count of Henneberg, though she retained her ducal rank. She was said to have suffered from a mental disorder some time prior to her death.
Duchess Elisabeth died (May 25, 1558) aged forty-seven, and was interred at Vesra in Henneberg, where her tomb inscription has also survived. Another surviving inscription at Schleusingen also commemorated her death. The duchess had made a gift of a cup and a wafer plate to the Church of St George and St Jacob (the Markt Church) in Hanover, and an inscription put up to honour her memory has survived. Her effigy remains upon the tomb of her first husband Duke Eric, together with that of his first wife Catherine of Saxony, in the Church of St Blasius at Munden. Her second marriage produced no issue. The children of her first marriage were,

• Eric II (1528 – 1584). He succeeded his father as Duke of Brunswick-Kalenberg and Wolfenbuttel (1540 – 1584). He married twice but left no legitimate issue.
• Sidonia of Brunswick-Kalenberg (1529 – 1566). She became the second wife of her step-uncle George Ernst (1511 – 1583), Count of Henneberg.
• Anna Maria of Brunswick-Kalenberg (1532 – 1568). She became the second wife of Duke Albert of Prussia (1490 – 1568).
• Catherine of Brunswick-Luneberg (1534 – 1559). She became the wife of Count Wilhelm von Rosenborg of Bohemia (1535 – 1592).

Elisabeth of Brunswick (1) – (1233 – 1266)
Queen consort of Germany (1252 – 1256)
Elisabeth was born in Luneburg, the third daughter of Otto I the Infant, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg (1235 – 1252), and his wife Matilda of Brandenburg, the daughter of Albert I, Margrave of Brandenburg. Her parentage was confirmed by the Cronica Principum Saxonie, which also recorded her first marriage (1252 at Brunswick) with William of Holland (1227 – 1256), King of Germany (1247 – 1256). The marriage had been arranged by Pope Innocent IV in order to attract papal allies from amongst the northern Germanm princes. The marriage was also recorded by the Annales Erohordenses. King William was killed in battle (Jan 28, 1256) near Hoogwoude. Elisabeth was then installed as regent in Holland for her young son Floris V (1254 – 1296), count of Holland (1256 – 1296). Queen Elisabeth died (May 27, 1266) and was interred in Middelburg Abbey with her husband. Her death was recorded by the Chronologia Johannes de Beke, which styled her matrona Elisabeth Romanorum regina.

Elisabeth of Brunswick (2) – (c1332 – 1384)
German princess and heiress
Elisabeth was the only child of Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg and his first wife, Countess Hedwig von Ravensberg. She was married during her early childhood (1339) to Duke Otto V of Saxe-Wittenberg (c1315 – 1350). Elisabeth bore him a son and heir, Duke Albert of Saxe-Wittenberg (c1349 – 1385). After Otto’s death the duchess remarried (1354) to Count Nicholas of Holstein-Rendsborg (1321 – 1397) by whom she left a daughter Elisabeth (c1359 – 1416), who married firstly Duke Albert III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1366 – 1388) and secondly to Duke Eric V of Saxe-Lauenburg (c1377 – 1435). Duchess Elisabeth died (April 17, 1384), aged about fifty-one.
Her father’s two successive marriages had produced only two daughters, and with Duke Wilhelm’s death (1369) her son Albert was pretender to the duchies of Brunswick and Luneberg, which he claimed in his mother’s right, as her father’s elder heiress. This was the beginning of the two decade conflict known as the Luneberg War of Succession (1369 – 1388), in which young Albert and his uncle, the elector Wenceslas ruled the dukedom together, until Albert was killed at the battle of Ricklingen (June, 1385), whereupon Wenceslas ruled alone till his death (1388).

Elisabeth of Burgundy – (1437 – 1483)
French-Flemish duchess consort of Cleves (1455 – 1481)
Elisabeth was the only daughter of Jean of Burgundy, Comte d’Etampes, and his first wife, Jacqueline d’Ailly, the daughter of Raoul d’Ailly. She was married (April 22, 1455) to Johann I (1419 – 1481), Duke of Cleves (1448 – 1481), to whom she bore six children. She survived her husband as the Dowager Duchess of Cleves (1481 – 1483). Duchess Elisabeth died (June 21, 1483) aged forty-five. Elisabeth was to have inherited the county of Nevers, but she predeceased her father, and the county eventually passed to her third son Engelbert in her right (1491). Her great-granddaughter was Anne of Cleves (1515 – 1557), the fourth wife (1540) of Henry VIII, King of England (1509 – 1547). Her children were,

• Johann II (John) (1458 – 1521). He succeeded his father as Duke of Cleves (1481 – 1521) and was married to Matilda of Hesse, the daughter of Heinrich III, Landgrave of Hesse-Marburg, and left issue.
• Prince Adolf of Cleves (1461 – 1498). He entered the church and became a monk in Liege, Brabant.
• Princess Engelbert of Cleves (1462 – 1506). He became Count of Auxerre (1490) and then Count of Nevers, by right of his mother, and was appointed as governor of Burgundy. He left issue.
• Prince Theobald of Cleves (Dietrich) (born 1464). He died in infancy.
• Princess Maria of Cleves (1465 – 1513). She remained unmarried.
• Prince Philip of Cleves (1467 – 1505). He became a priest and was appointed as Bishop of Amiens (1501) and then Bishop of Antin (1503).

Elisabeth of Gorz (Isabella) – (c1306 – 1352)
Queen consort of Sicily (1337 – 1342)
Elisabeth was born in Gorizia, the daughter of Otto II of Gorz, Duke of Carinthia, and his wife Euphemia, the daughter of Henry V, Duke of Silesia-Leignitz. Through her father she was a descendant of Bela IV, King of Hungary and of Theodore I Laskaris, Emperor of Byzantium. Elisabeth was married (1322) in Catania, to Pedro II, king of Sicily (1304 – 1342), to whom she bore a large family of children. She later ruled as regent for her son (1348 – 1352) and died in office. Her eldest daughter Leonor of Sicily (1325 – 1375) became the wife of Pedro IV, King of Aragon, whilst her younger daughters Caterina and Euphemia also acted as regents for their young brothers.

Elisabeth of Hesse – (1915 – 2003)
German princess
Elisabeth was born (Nov 2, 1915) in Berlin, Prussia, the daughter of Prince Christian of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld, and his first wife, Elisabeth Reid Rogers. Her parents’ marriage was considered to be morganatic, and her mother was accorded the title and rank of Baroness von Barchfeld. Elisabeth and her siblings were accorded the style and titles of princes and princesses of Hesse. She was married (1949 – 1956) to Jacques Olivetti, from whom she was later divorced. The marriage was childless and the princess never remarried. Princess Elisabeth died (May 10, 2003) in Paris, France, aged eighty-seven.

Elisabeth of Hesse-Kassel (1) – (1325 – 1390)
German princess and duchess consort
Elisabeth was the daughter of Heinrich II the Iron, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, and of his wife Elisabeth, the daughter of Friedrich I, Margrave of Meissen. Elisabeth was married (1339) to Ernst I (1305 – 1367), Duke of Brunswick-Gottingen (1345 – 1367), to whom she bore six children. Duke Ernst died at Horste (April 24, 1367) and Elisabeth survived him as Dowager Duchess of Brunswick-Gottingen (1367 – 1390). Duchess Elisabeth died (March 7, 1390) aged sixty-four, and was buried in the Church of the Franciscans at Gottingen. Her tomb inscription read “Anno MCCCXC in Testa Petronellae et Feliciani obiit Illsutris Dominae Elisabeth, Ducissa in Brunswc.” Her children were,

• Otto I (1340 – 1394). He succeeded his father as Duke of Brunswick-Gottingen (1367 – 1394). He was married twice and left issue.
• Adelaide of Brunswick-Gottingen (1341 – after 1379). She became the wife of Count Henry X of Hohenstein-Lohra-Klettenberg (died 1430).
• Ernst of Brunswick-Gottingen (c1343 – 1363). He remained unmarried, and was co-ruler with his father (1355 – 1363).
• Albert of Brunswick-Gottingen (died after 1363). He remained unmarried.
• Rixa of Brunswick-Gottingen (c1346 – after 1406). She never married and became a nun, being appointed as Abbess of Mariengarten (1366).
• Agnes of Brunswick-Gottingen (c1348 – after 1416). She became the wife of Godfrey VIII (died 1394), Count of Zeigerhain-Nidda.

Elisabeth of Hesse-Kassel (2) – (1539 – 1582)
German electress Palatine of Simmern in Bavaria (1576 – 1582)
Elisabeth was born (Feb 13, 1539) at Kassel, the fourth daughter of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (1509 – 1567), and his wife Christina of Saxony, the daughter of George, Duke of Saxony. She was sister to Landgrave Wilhelm IV (1567 – 1592). Elisabeth was married (1560) at Marburg, to the electoral prince, Ludwig of Simmern (1539 – 1583), as his first wife, and bore him twelve children. When her husband succeeded his father Friedrich III on the throne as Elector Ludwig VI she became electress consort (1576). Electress Elisabeth died (March 14, 1582) aged forty-three, at Heidelburg, Kraichgau. Only four of her children survived infancy,

• Princess Anna Maria of Simmern (1561 – 1589). She became the first wife of Duke Karl of Sweden, Duke of Sodermanland (1550 – 1611), and left an only surviving daughter. After her death the duke succeeded as King Karl IX of Sweden (1604 – 1611).
• Princess Katharina of Simmern (1572 – 1586). She died young.
• Princess Christina of Simmern (1573 – 1619). She remained unmarried.
• Friedrich V (1574 – 1610). He succeeded his father as Elector Palatine of Simmern (1583 – 1610). He was married to Louisa Juliana of Nassau, the daughter of Wilhelm I, Prince of Orange, and left issue.

Through her grandson, Friedrich V, King of Bohemia (1619 – 1621) and his English Stuart queen Elizabeth, sister to Charles I, Elisabeth of Hesse became the ancestress of the Hanoverian royal dynasty in England, and their descendants, of the royal house of Hohenzollern in Prussia, and their descendats, and of the royal line of Bourbon-Orleans in France, amongst others.

Elisabeth of Hesse-Kassel (3) – (1623 – 1683)
German princess and abbess
Elisabeth was born (June 23, 1623) the third daughter of Wilhelm V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (1627 – 1637), and his wife, Countess Amalia Elisabeth von Hanau-Munzenburg. She remained unmarried and was appointed as abbess of Herford in Westphalia (1686 – 1688). Princess Elisabeth died (Feb 22, 1688) aged fifty-nine.

Elisabeth of Hungary – (1236 – 1271)
Princess and duchess consort
Elisabeth was the daughter of Bela IV, King of Hungary (1235 – 1270) and his wife Maria Laskarina (1206 – 1270), the daughter of Theodore I Laskaris, emperor of Nikaia (1204 – 1222). Elisabeth was married (1250) to Henry I, Duke of North Bavaria (1235 – 1290) and was duchess consort (1250 – 1271). Princess Elisabeth died (Oct 24, 1271) aged thirty-five leaving two children,

• Princess Katharina of Bavaria (1267 – 1310). She was married to Friedrich Tuta of Meissen, Margrave of Landsberg, but died childless.
• Stephen I (1271 – 1310). He succeeded his father as Duke of North Bavaria (1290 – 1310), and was married and left descendants.

Elisabeth of Juliers – (c1334 – 1411)
Flemish noblewoman
Elisabeth was the daughter of William, Duke of Juliers and his wife Johanna (Jeanne), the daughter of William III, Count of Hainault. She was the maternal niece of Philippa of Hainault, the wife of Edward III, King of England (1312 – 1377). She was married (1348) to her English kinsman, Prince John Plantagenet (1330 – 1352), second Earl of Kent (1331 – 1352), the grandson of King Edward I and his second wife, Margaret of Valois. The papal dispensation received to permit the marruage recorded that the union had been arranged in order to settle a feud between Elisabeth’s father and Dyke Reinald of Gueldres, the Earl of Kent’s kinsman. There were no children.
Her husband died young (Dec 26 – 27, 1352) and was interred within the Church of the Grey Friars, at Winchester. Her coat of arms and those of her husband were portrayed in stained glass in Lichfield Cathedral. Countess Elisabeth received her dower estates by order of Edward III, and took a vow of chastity at Waverley Abbey. However, she broke this vow and was remarried (1360) at Wingham, Kent to Sir Eustace d’Aubricourt (c1320 – 1372), who had fought at the Battle of Auray (1364), and did penance for this, though they retained the royal favour, and were the joint recipients of several crown grants (1364 – 1372). Aubricourt had fallen deeply in love with Elisabeth, and had ravaged the territories of Champagne and Brie for love of her. She herself had encouraged his daring adventures by sending him horses and love letters.
Their son, William d’Aubricourt was interred within Bridport Church. The historian Jean Froissart recorded the death of d’Aubricourt in Evreux in France (Dec, 1372). Lady d’Aubricourt survived her second husband almost forty years (1372 – 1411) during which time she retired to Waverley Abbey and was veiled as a nun. Countess Elisabeth died (June 6, 1411) at Bedhampton, Portsmouth, and was interred with her husband in the Church of the Grey Friars.

Elisabeth of Kiuavia (Elzbieta) – (c1310 – 1373)
Queen consort of Bosnia (c1330 – 1353)
Elisabeth was the only daughter and eldest child of Kaszimir III of Kiuavia, Duke of Inovraclaw and Gnesen, and sister to Vladislav, the last duke of Kiuavia, who died without issue (1388). Elisabeth was cousin to Kaszimir III, King of Poland, and niece to Queen Fennena, the first wife of Andrew III, King of Hungary. Princess Elisabeth was married (1324) to Prince Stephen Kotromanic of Bosnia (1312 – 1353) who succeeded as King Stephen III (c1330). She survived her husband as Queen Dowager of Bosnia for two decades (1353 – 1373). Her only surviving child, Princess Elisabeth Kotromanica of Bosnia (Jelisaveta) (1340 – 1387), became the second wife of Louis I (1326 – 1382), King of Hungary and Poland, and left issue.

Elisabeth of Nassau-Saarsbrucken (Isabella) – (1397 – 1456)
Flemish-German ruler, translator and letter writer
Elisabeth of Lorraine was the daughter of Frederick V, Duke of Lorraine and Margaret of Vaudement. Elisabeth was married (1412) to Count Philip I of Nassau-Saarsbrucken (1368 – 1429). She ruled Saarsbrucken as regent for their son (1429 – 1438) and translated into German several French chansons de geste.

Elisabeth of Pilicza (Elzbieta Granowska) – (1372 – 1420)
Queen consort of Poland, and Grand Duchess consort of Lithuania (1417 – 1420)
Elisabeth was the daughter of Sandomierz Otton, Voivode of Pilicza and his wife Jadwiga Melsztynska. With the death of her father (1382) she inherited his considerable estates which included Pilicza and Lancut. Elisabeth was married firstly to Wisel Czambor, secondly to Janczyk Janczykowicz Hinczynski and thirdly to Vincenty Granowski, to whom she bore five children before his death (1410). She finally became the third wife at Sanok (1417) of Vladyslav I Jagiello of Lithuania (1351 – 1434), king of Poland (1387 – 1434). Elisabeth was crowned queen at Wawel Castle (May 19, 1417), but the marriage remained childless. Towards the end of 1419 the queen fell ill, and she died in Krakow a few months later, aged forty-seven. She was interred with regal honours in Wawel Cathedral. This marriage had caused considerable speculation because of the advanced age of the bride (forty-five). King Vladyslav was criticized for his choice of queen, as it was believed that he should have married a younger bride to ensure the succession. It would appear that instead, Sigismund had followed his own personal inclinations.

Elisabeth of Poland – (1300 – 1381)
Queen consort of Hungary (1320 – 1342) and later queen regent
Elisabeth was the daughter of Vladyslav I of Kujavia, King of Poland, and was the sister of Kasimir III the Great, the last ruler of the Piast dynasty. She was married (1320) to King Charles II Robert (Carobert II) of Hungary (1288 – 1342) as this third wife, and was the mother of,

• Prince Charles of Hungary (1321). He was born and died the same year.
• Princess Catherine of Hungary (1322 – 1355). She became the wife of Henry III (c1310 – 1343), Duke of Schweidnitz-Jauer, and left descendants.
• Prince Ladislas of Hungary (1324 – 1329). He died young.
• Louis I (1326 – 1382), who succeeded his father Carobert as King of Hungary (1342 – 1382). He succeeded his half-brother Kasimierz as king of Poland (1370). He married twice and was the father of the Queen regnant Jadwiga.
• Prince Andrew of Hungary (1327 – 1345), Duke of Calabria. He was the first husband of Giovnna I, Queen of Naples. He was murdered with the connivance of his wife and died childless.
• Prince Stephen of Hungary (133 – 1354), Duke of Slavonia (1332 – 1354). He was married to Margaret of Bavaria and left descendants.

Elisabeth was queen dowager of Hungary for almost forty years (1342 – 1381), and was a powerful and influential political figure in Poland in her own right. Arrangements for Louis’s succession to Poland had been organized by the family sometime warlier (1355). With Louis’s accession, he and Queen Elisabeth ruled together. She acted as queen regent during her son’s abscences in Hungary, and much of the real power in government in Poland remained in her hands. Queen Elizabeth died aged eighty-one (Dec 29, 1381).

Elisabeth of Pomerania – (1345 – 1393)
Holy Roman empress (1363 – 1378)
Elisabeth was the only daughter of Bogislav V, Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast and his first wife Elisabeth, the eldest daughter of Kazimierz III, King of Poland. She was the twin of her brother Duke Kazimierz IV. She became the fourth and last wife (1363) of the emperor, Charles IV of Luxemburg (1316 – 1378), and her grandfather, King Kazimierz provided her with the immense dowry of one hundred thousand gold florins. The marriage had been arranged for political reasons, the emperor wishing to break the anti-Czech faction at the court which was headed by Rudolf IV of Austria, who supported the causes of the Polish and Hungarian rulers. She was crowned queen of Bohemia in Prague (June 18, 1363) and then empress in Rome (1368) by Pope Urban V. With the death of her husband, her stepson Wenceslas IV ascended the throne, whilst Elisabeth became empress dowager. She supported Sigismund in his efforts to become king of Hungary, where she ruled as regent in his name (1378 – 1386). During this time she successfully arranged the marriage of her daughter with Richard II of England (1382), and the letter sent by the empress with her ambassador, Duke Primislaus (1380) is preserved in the Foedera. With Sigismund’s coming of age he assumed full power (1386) and Elisabeth retired from political life as empress-dowager. She survived Charles IV for fifteen years as Empress Dowager (1378 – 1393). The Empress Elisabeth died (Feb 14, 1393) at Hradec Kralove. She was interred beside her husband in the Cathedral of St Vitus. Elisabeth left six children,

• Princess Anna of Bohemia (Anne) – (1366 – 1394). She became the first wife of Richard II, King of England (1377 – 1399). She remained childless and died of the plague.
• Sigismund I (1368 – 1437). He succeeded as King of Bohemia and Hungary, and Holy Roman emperor. He married twice and left descendants.
• Johann of Bohemia (1370 – 1396). He became Duke of Gorlitz. He married twice and died childless.
• Charles, Prince of Bohemia (1372 – 1373). He died in infancy.
• Princess Margaret of Bohemia (1373 – 1410). She was married Johann III, Burgrave of Nuremburg (Nurnberg) (1369 – 1420).
• Heinrich, Prince of Bohemia (1377 – 1378). He died in infancy.

Elisabeth of Saxony – (1862 – 1863)
German princess
HRH (Her Royal Highness) Princess Elisabeth Albertine Caroline Sidonie Ferdinande Leopoldine Antonia Augusta Clementine was born (Feb 14, 1862) in Dresden, the second daughter of George, King of Saxony (1902 – 1904) and his wife the Infanta Maria Anna of Portugal, the daughter of Ferdinando II, King of Portugal and Queen Maria II da Gloria. She bore the additional title of Duchess of Saxony. Princess Elisabeth died (May 18, 1863) aged fifteen months in Dresden.

Elisabeth of Schonau – (c1123 – 1164)
German mystic and saint
Elisabeth was of weak health, and became a nun at the age of twelve. She mortified her body with severe ascetism in order to experience religious visions. Her brother, who was abbot of the community in which they lived, recorded accounts of her visions in, The Book of the Ways of God. Elisabeth became a friend of the revered abbess of Bingen, Hildegard, and her brother appointed her as mother superior seven years prior to her death (1157). Her prophecies innocently contributed to the confabulation of the legend attached to St Ursula, patron of the Ursuline Order (1535). Elisabeth of Schonau died aged about forty (June 18, 1164).

Elisabeth of Simmern – (1540 – 1594)
Electress consort of Saxony
Elisabeth was born (June 30, 1540) at Birkenfeld, Bavaria, the daughter of elector Palatine Frederick III and his wife Maria of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. She married (1558) elector Johann Friedrich II (1529 – 1595), to whom she bore two sons, Johann Kasimir, Duke of Saxe-Coburg, and Johann Ernst, Duke of Saxe-Weimar. The elector was defeated at Gotha by the forces of Augustus I of Saxony (1567), and was then relegated to perpetual imprisonment at Neustadt. The electress took her children to the court at Dresden, and delivered them to the care of their uncle, Johann Ernst of Saxony, and was present at the Imperial diet at Spire (1570), where they were formally restored to the possessions of their deposed father. She continued to oversee their education until they reached adulthood (1580), whereupon, with the permission of the elector Augustus, Elisabeth joined her husband at Neustadt, and shared his captivity until her death (Feb 8, 1594), aged fifty-three.

Elisabeth of Vendome – (c975 – 1000)
French heiress and ruler
Elisabeth was the daughter of Bouchard I, Count of Vendome and his wife Elisabeth, the widow of Aymar, Seigneur de Corbeuil. She married (985) Fulk III Nerra, Count of Anjou (c971 – 1040) as his first wife. As Elisabeth’s only brother Rainald was a cleric, and would thus remain childless, her marriage to Fulk of Anjou had strong political overtones, as Anjou would eventually receive rights over the county of Vendome through her. However, Elisabeth produced an only daughter Adela, and no male heir, and had taken a lover by 999. When she realized her husband had found out about her affair, Elisabeth, fearing his wrath, seized the citadel of Angers with the help of some supporters, and held it against Fulk. The count beseiged the city, but Elisabeth fell from the ramparts and was captured. Fulk caused her to be burnt alive for adultery then set fire to the city itself, and dislodged her supporters. Her daughter Adela later married Eudes of Nevers, and her children held the county of Vendome under the overlordship of Count Fulk till 1040.

Elisabeth of Vermandois (Isabel) – (1084 – 1147)
French Capetian princess
Elisabeth was born in Vermandois, the daughter of Prince Hugh Capet, count of Vermandois, and his wife Adelaide of Vermandois, the sole heiress to that county. She was the paternal niece of Philip I, king of France (1060 – 1108). Elisabeth was married firstly to the Norman nobleman, Robert de Beaumont (1046 – 1118), Count of Meulan, and secondly (1118) to William de Warenne (c1088 – 1138), earl of Surrey, and left children by both husbands. The countess was a particular patron of Lewes Priory in Sussex. Countess Elisabeth died (Feb 17, 1147).

Elisabeth Vasa – (1549 – 1597)
Princess of Sweden
Princess Elisabeth was born (April 5, 1549) at Kungsor, the fifth daughter of King Gustavus I Vasa (1523 – 1560) and his second wife Margareta Leihonhufvud, the daughter of Erik Abrahamsson Leihonhufvud pa Loholmen, the Governor of Vastergotland. She was the younger half-sister to King Erik XIV (1560 – 1568) and sister to King Johann III (1568 – 1592). Elisabeth was married (1581) in Stockholm, when aged over thirty, to the German prince Duke Christopher of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1537 – 1592), the son of Duke Albert VII der Schone (1519 – 1547) and his wife Anna of Brandenburg.
Elisabeth was duchess consort of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1581 – 1592) though her husband was not the reigning duke. She survived Christopher as the Dowager Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1592 – 1597). Princess Elisabeth died (Nov 20, 1597) aged forty-eight, in Stockholm. She left an only daughter Duchess Margareta Elisabeth of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1584 – 1616) named for her maternal grandmother and her mother, who became the wife of Johann Albert II (1590 – 1636), the reigining Duke of Mecklenburg-Gustrow (1611 – 1628) and left issue.

Elisabeth Albertina of Anhalt-Dessau – (1665 – 1706)
German duchess consort of Saxe-Weissenfels (1686 – 1706)
Elisabeth Albertina was the wife of Duke Heinrich (1657 – 1728), though her husband was not a reigning prince. She was born (May 1, 1665) the daughter of Johann George II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (1660 – 1693) and his wife Henrietta Catharine, the daughter of Henry Frederick, Prince of Orange. She was married in 1686, and died (Oct 5, 1706) from the effects if childbirth, aged forty-one. The duchess left five children,

• Duke Johann August of Saxe-Weissenfels (1687 – 1688). He died in infancy.
• Duke Johann August of Saxe-Weissenfels (1692 – 1711). He died unmarried aged eighteen.
• Duke George Albert of Saxe-Weissenfels (1695 – 1739). He was married to Augusta Louisa (1698 – 1739), the daughter of Christian Ulrich, Duke of Wurttemburg-Bernstadt, but died childless.
• Duchess Henrietta Maria of Saxe-Weissenfels (1697 – 1719). She died unmarried.
• Stillborn daughter (Oct, 1706).

Elisabeth Albertina of Saxe-Hildburghausen – (1713 – 1761)
German duchess consort
Elisabeth Albertina was born (Aug 4, 1713) at Hildburghausen, near Sonneberg, Thuringia, the daughter of Ernst Friedrich I, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1681 – 1724) and his wife Sophia Albertina of Erbach (1683 – 1742), the daughter of George Ludwig I, Count von Erbach (1597 – 1649). She bore the additional title of Duchess of Saxony. Her father recognized her as his own but gossip claimed Elisabeth Albertina to have been fathered by her mother’s African lover, the former slave Abram Petrovich Gannibal (1696 – 1781), who rose to become a major-general in the Russian army and was great-grandfather to the famous novelist Alexander Sergeyevitch Pushkin (1799 – 1837). The princess was married (1735) at Eisfeld to Karl Ludwig Friedrich, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1708 – 1752) to whom she bore many children, the most important of whom was Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1744 – 1818), the wife of George III, King of Great Britain (1760 – 1820). Thus she was maternal grandmother to the Hanoverian kings George IV (1820 – 1830) and William IV (1830 – 1837), and great-grandmother to Queen Victoria (1837 – 1901).
Her maternity may have been questioned by genealogists, but her maternal ancestry can be certainly traced to a fifteen century Portugese noblewoman, Margarita de Castro e Sousa, the wife of Jean II, count de Neufchatel, who was herself a descendant of Alfonso III, King of Portugal, and his Muslim concubine, Madragana, the daughter of Aloandro Ben Bekar, governor of Faro.
With the early death of her husband (1752) the duchess retired to Mirow to raise her surviving children. Her eldest son Adolf Friedrich IV (1738 – 1794) succeeded as duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1738 – 1794) whilst her younger son, Karl (1741 – 1816) was later made Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1806). He married twice and left descendants. One of her last acts was the signing of her daughter’s marriage contract with the king of England. Duchess Elisabeth Albertina died (June 29, 1761) at her palace of Neustrelitz, aged forty-seven.

Elisabeth Amalia of Hesse – (1635 – 1709)
Electress Palatine consort of Bavaria-Neuberg (1685 – 1690)
Elisabeth Amalia was born (March 20, 1635) the third daughter of George II, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1626 – 1661) and his wife Sophia Eleonora, the daughter of Johann George, Elector of Saxony. She had once been briefly considered as a possible bride for the exiled Charles II of England, but was married (1653) to Count Philip Wilhelm of Neuberg in Bavaria (1615 – 1690) as his second wife, and was countess consort (1653 – 1685) until her husband was raised to the rank of an elector of the empire by the emperor Leopold I (1685). With his death she was Electress Dowager of Neuburg for almost two decades at the court of her son, the elector Johann Wilhelm (1690 – 1709). Electress Elisabeth Amalia died (Aug 4, 1709) aged seventy-four, having borne seventeen children,

• Princess Eleonora Magdalena of Neuberg (1655 – 1720). She became the third wife of the Holy Roman emperor Leopold I (1640 – 1705) and was mother to the emperors Joseph I (1705 – 1711) and Karl VI (1711 – 1740).
• Princess Marie Adelaide of Neuberg (Jan – Dec, 1656). She died young.
• Princess Sophia Elisabeth of Neuberg (1657 – 1658). She died young.
• Johann Wilhelm (1658 – 1716), Elector Palatine of Neuberg (1690 – 1716). He was married twice, secondly to Anna Maria Ludovica de Medici, but left no surviving children.
• Prince Wolfgang George Friedrich of Neuberg (1659 – 1683). He took holy orders and was appointed Bishop of Breslau in Silesia, Poland (1682 – 1683).
• Prince Ludwig Anton of Neuberg (1660 – 1694). He took holy orders and was appointed Bishop of Worms (1691 – 1694).
• Karl III Philip (1661 – 1742), Elector Palatine of Neuberg (1716 – 1742). He married three times and left descendants.
• Prince Alexander Sigismund of Neuberg (1663 – 1737). He took holy orders and was appointed as Bishop of Augsburg in Bavaria (1690 – 1737).
• Prince Francis Ludwig of Neuberg (1664 – 1732). He took holy orders and served as Bishop of Breslau and Worms after the deaths of his two elder brothers. He was later made Elector of Trier (1716 – 1732) and of Mainz (1729 – 1732).
• Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Neuberg (1665 – 1689). He died unmarried, being killed whilst serving in the war against the Turks.
• Princess Maria Sophia of Neuberg (1666 – 1699). She became the second wife of Pedro II, King of Portugal (1648 – 1706) and left descendants.
• Princess Maria Anna of Neuberg (1667 – 1740). She became the second wife of Charles II, King of Spain (1661 – 1700) but died childless.
• Prince Philip Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuberg (1668 – 1693). He was married and left children who died young.
• Princess Dorothea Sophia of Neuberg (1670 – 1748). She was married firstly Odoardo Farnese, hereditary Prince of Parma, and secondly to Francesco Maria Farnese, Duke of Parma. By her first husband she was the mother of Elisabeth Farnese, the second wife of Philip V, King of Spain (1683 – 1746).
• Princess Hedwig Elisabeth of Neuberg (1673 – 1722). She became the wife of James Louis Sobieski, Prince of Poland (1667 – 1737) and was the mother of Queen Maria Clementina Kazimiera, the wife of the Stuart pretender, James Edward Francis (1688 – 1766). Thus she was the maternal grandmother of ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie.’
• Prince Johann of Neuberg (b. & d. Feb, 1675). He died in infancy.
• Princess Leopoldine Eleonore of Neuberg (1679 – 1693). She died young.

Elisabeth Amelie Eugenie – (1837 – 1898) 
Holy Roman empress
Elisabeth was born at Possenhofen Castle, near Munich, the daughter of Maximilian Joseph, Duke in Bavaria, and his wife Ludovica, the daughter of Maximilian I, King of Bavaria. Known as ‘Sisi’ to her family, she married (1854) at Vienna, the Emperor Franz Joseph (1830 – 1916) to whom she bore a son and heir, Crown Prince Rudolph (1858 – 1889) and three daughters, Sophie who died young, and the archduchesses Gisela and Marie Valerie. Elisabeth took little interest in public affairs, excepting in matters concerning the Magyars and their political aspirations, especially in 1867, at the time of the disastrous compromise of Augsleich, by which Hungary was raised to equal status with Austria in the empire.
Popular because of her charm and exquisite beauty, the empress could not adapt herself to the implacable etiquette of the Imperial court at the Hofburg Palace, and in 1862 she had managed a trip to Madeira on the pretext of her health. From then on she cultivated ill-health with neurotic intensity. Happiest at Godollo, an estate near Budapest, or at her neo-Greek palace the Achiteon, on the island of Corfu, the empress remained obsessed with herself, and the Achiteon became a monument to escapism and bad taste. It was the empress herself who introduced the emperor to the actress Katharina Schratt, who would become his mistress and the companion of his old age, and it was one of the few kind things Elisabeth ever did for her husband. After the suicides of her only son Rudolph, and that of her cousin Ludwig II of Bavaria (1889), and the tragic death in a fire of her sister the Duchesse d’Alencon (1897), the empress became afflicted with melancholia. For relief she turned to medical quackery and travel, though her husband repreatedly warned her against travelling without adequate protection. Of these warnings the empress took no heed. The empress was assasinated (Sept 10, 1898) by Luigi Luccheni, an Italian anarchist, who stabbed her with a shoemaker’s awl in Geneva, Switzerland, as she was about to step aboard a paddle steamer. She was interred in the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

Elisabeth Augusta Sophia – (1693 – 1728)
German hereditary princess consort of Sulzbach in Bavaria (1717 – 1728)
Elizabeth was born (March 17, 1693), the daughter of Karl III Philip, Elector Palatine of Neuberg in Bavaria (1716 – 1742) and his first wife, Louise Charlotte, the daughter of Prince Bogislav Radziwill. Elisabeth was married (1717) to the hereditary prince of Sulzbach, Joseph Karl (Nov 2, 1694 – July 18, 1729), the eldest son and heir of Theodore, Count Palatine of Sulzbach (1708 – 1733). Princess Elisabeth Augusta Sophia died (Jan 1, 1728) from the effects of childbirth, aged thirty-four. Her husband survived her barely eighteen months. She had borne him nine children,

• Prince Francis Karl of Sulzbach (1718 – 1724). He died young.
• Prince Joseph of Sulzbach (b. & d. May, 1719). He died in infancy.
• Princess Innocentia of Sulzbach (b. & d. May, 1719). She died in infancy, being a twin with her brother Joseph.
• Stillborn daughter (Nov, 1719).
• Princess Maria Elisabeth Augusta of Sulzbach (1721 – 1794). She became the first wife of Karl Theodore, Elector Palatine of Bavaria (1724 – 1799), and left descendants.
• Princess Maria Anna Charlotte of Sulzbach (1722 – 1790). She was married to Duke Klemens of Bavaria (1722 – 1770) and left descendants.
• Princess Maria Francisca Dorothea of Sulzbach (1724 – 1794). She became the wife of Friedrich Michael, Count Palatine of Zweibrucken-Birkenfeld in Bavaria (1724 – 1767).
• Prince Karl Philip of Sulzbach (1725 – 1727). He died young.
• Stillborn child (Jan, 1728).

Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatine    see    Orleans, Duchesse d’

Elisabeth Charlotte of the Rhine – (1597 – 1660)
Electress consort of Brandenburg (1619 – 1640)
Elisabeth Charlotte was born in Heidelburg, Kraichgau, the daughter of Frederick IV, Elector Palatine of the Rhine, and his wife Countess Louisa Juliana of Nassau, the daughter of William I the Silent, Prince of Orange. Her brother was Frederick V, elector Palatine (1610 – 1632) and King of Bohemia (1619 – 1621). The princess was married (1616) to George Wilhelm (1595 – 1640), the electoral prince of Brandenburg, to whom she bore several children. Her husband succeeded his father as elector (1619) and she became electress consort. Through her son Friedrich Wilhelm, she was the grandmother of Freidrich I, King of Prussia and ancestress of the Hohenzollern kings and emperors and their descendants. The marriage had been designed to draw the Lutheran state of Brandenburg into a closer alliance with the Calvinist Palatine region. However these promising links did not eventate mainly due to the pro-Hapsburg stance taken by the electress’s son. She survived her husband as Electress Dowager of Brandenburg (1640 – 1660). Elisabeth Charlotte died (April 26, 1660) aged sixty-two, at Crossen an der Oder. Her children were,

• Princess Louise Charlotte of Brandenburg (1617 – 1676). She became the wife of Jakob, Duke of Kurland (died 1681).
• Friedrich Wilhelm (1620 – 1688). He succeeded his father as elector (1640 – 1688), was married twice, and left many descendants.
• Princess Hedwig Sophia of Brandenburg (1623 – 1683). She became the wife of Wilhlem VI (1629 – 1663), Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (1637 – 1663), and left issue.

Elisabeth Charlotte Josephine Victoria Alexandra – (1894 – 1956)
Queen consort of Greece
Elisabeth was born at Pelesh Castle, Siniaia, in the Carpathian Mountains, the daughter of Ferdinand I, King of Romania and his wife Marie of Edinburgh-Coburg, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Extremely beautiful, she was raised in the upper class British manner, and was known as ‘Elisabetta’ within the family. She married (1921) King Giorgios II of Greece. During the height of the Greek campaign against Turkey, she was persuaded to remove to Smyrna for greater safety. An accident there whilst she was pregnant resulted in the loss of the child, and the queen was forced to undergo an operation, from which her health never fully recovered. The couple drifted apart, and her marriage was eventually dissolved (1935), and Queen Elisabeth retired to Romania, several months before her husband was restored to the Greek throne. She took on Romanian nationality in order to own an estate in her favourite Transylvania, and later established a hospital for children in Bucharest. She retired to Cannes, in France (1952). Queen Elisabeth died aged sixty-two (Nov 14, 1956) at Cannes.

Elisabeth Christina of Brunswick-Bevern – (1715 – 1797) 
Queen consort of Prussia, she was born at Wolfenbuttel, the daughter of Ferdinand Albert II, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel-Bevern, and his wife Antoinette Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel. She married (1733) at Castle Salzalum, near Wolfenbuttel, Frederick II the Great (1712 – 1786), King of Prussia from 1740. Their marriage remained childless. Of a shy and retiring disposition, the queen resided mainly at the palace of Schonhausen, near Berlin and at Rheinsberg. From the time of Frederick’s accession they resided mainly apart, but foreign diplomats observed that Frederick was pleased when the queen was treated with the courtesies due to her rank. From 1756 onwards the couple saw each other but rarely, and Frederick politely refused to see her on his deathbed. During her widowhood, Queen Elisabeth Christina resided mainly at Schonhausen, but held her own small court in Berlin as queen-dowager during the reign of her nephew Frederick William II. His wedding to Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, niece to Queen Charlotte of England, was one of her last public appearances. Queen Elisabeth Christina died in Berlin aged eighty-one (Jan 13, 1797). Her portrait by Antoine Pesne portrays her as blonde-haired and attractive.

Elisabeth Christina Ulrica – (1746 – 1840) 
German princess
Elisabeth Christina was born at Wolfenbuttel, the daughter of Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, and his wife Charlotte Philippina, the daughter of Frederick William I, King of Prussia. With her elder sister Sophia Caroline, Elisabeth Christina was unsuccessfully canvassed as a possible bride for George III of England (1760). Instead, she married (1765) Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia (later Frederick William I) to whom she bore an only child Frederica (1767 – 1820), later the wife (1791) of her British cousin Frederick, Duke of York. Beautiful and high-spirited the princess was a favourite at the court of Berlin with her uncle, Frederick the Great. Elisabeth Christina refused to accept her husband’s infidelities, and after the birth of their only child, she became to entertain lovers herself. This led to such tremendous quarrels between husband and wife that all hope of a reconciliation and a male heir disappeared. As King Frederick himself noted, ‘…the princess, who was in the bloom of her beauty felt herself much injured by such a neglect of her charms, her lively temperament, and the good opinion she had of herself, brought her to the determination of revenging her wrongs by paying him out in the same coin. She fell into excesses that were little inferior to his. Family quarrels broke out and soon became publicly known.’
The marriage was terminated by divorce (1769), the princess and her family agreeing to the terms put forward. Elisabeth Christina retired to Castle Jasenitz, near Stettin, in Pomerania, where she established her own court with generous funds provided by the Prussian government. With King Frederick’s death (1786) her former husband increased her allowance, and permitted her to reside wherever, but she chose to maintain her residence at Jasenitz. Famous for her imperious manner and cheerful disposition, Elisabeth Christina resided in Pomerania for seventy years. Princess Elisabeth Christina died at Stettin (Feb 18, 1840) aged in her ninety-fourth year.

Elisabeth Dorothea of Saxe-Gotha – (1640 – 1709)
German landgravine and ruler
Elisabeth Dorothea was born (Jan 8, 1640), the daughter of Ernst, Duke of Saxe-Gotha and Altenburg. She became the second wife of Ludwig VI (1630 – 1678), landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt to whom she bore eight children, of whom one son died in infancy. Her husband died in 1678, and with the death eighteen weeks afterwards, of her childless stepson, Ludwig VII, the Landgravine ruled Darmstadt as regent (1678 – 1683) for her son Ernst Ludwig. The imperial court had ordered that the landgravine should rule Darmstadt jointly with a board of chosen councillors, but she managed to prevent them from taking their oaths of office, so that they always remained subordinate to her. When her son assumed full control of the government he refused her any role in his council, and she retired from court as Dowager Landgravine. She was granted the castle of Butzback for her dower estate, which she ruled as official administrator in her son’s name. The landgravine was a patron of the arts and of music. Landgravine Elisabeth Dorothea died (Aug 24, 1709) aged sixty-nine. Her children were,

• Ernst Ludwig (1667 – 1739), Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1678 – 1739). He was married and left descendants.
• Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt (1669 – 1705). He died unmarried.
• Princess Sophia Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt (1670 – 1758). She was married to Albrecht Ernst II, Prince of Oettingen (1669 – 1731).
• Prince Philip of Hesse-Darsmtadt (1671 – 1736). He died unmarried.
• Prince Heinrich of Hesse-Darmstadt (1674 – 1741). He ddied unmarried.
• Princess Elisabeth Dorothea of Hesse-Darmstadt (1676 – 1721). She was married to Friedrich Jakob, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg (1673 – 1746).
• Prince Friedrich of Hesse-Darmstadt (1677 – 1708). He was married morganatically.

Elisabeth Eleonore of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel – (1658 – 1729)
German princess and ruler, duchess consort of Saxe-Meiningen (1681 – 1706)
Elisabeth Eleonore was born in Brunwick (Sept 30, 1658) the eldest daughter of Antony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel and his wife Elisabeth Juliana of Holstein-Norburg. She was married firstly (1675) to Johann George, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1629 – 1675) who died six months later leaving her a childless widow. Elisabeth Eleonore was remarried (1681) to Duke Bernhard I of Saxe-Meiningen (1649 – 1706) as his second wife, and bore him five children, of whom one son died in infancy,

• Princess Elisabeth Ernestine of Saxe-Meiningen (1681 – 1766). She was unmarried and was appointed as Abbess of Gandersheim.
• Princess Eleonore Frederica of Saxe-Meiningen (1683 – 1739). She remained unmarried and resided at Gandersheim.
• Princess Wilhelmina Louisa of Saxe-Meiningen (1686 – 1753). She was married to Duke Karl of Wurttemburg-Bernstadt (1682 – 1745).
• Antony Ulrich (1687 – 1763). He succeeded his father as Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (1706 – 1763). He was married and left descendants.

With the death of Bernhard the duchess became allied with her stepson Ernst Ludwig and his minister von Wolzogen, against her own son. Her actions ensured a following three decades of dynastic disputes within the ruling dynasty. Towards the end of her life she retired from court and devoted her time to composing religious poetry, some of which was included in the local hymn books in Meiningen and Gotha. Duchess Elisabeth Eleonore died (March 15, 1729) at Meiningen, aged seventy.

Elisabeth Ernestine of Saxe-Meiningen – (1681 – 1766)
German princess and abbess
Elisabeth Ernestine was born (Dec 3, 1681) the eldest daughter of Duke Bernhard I of Saxe-Meiningen (1649 – 1709), and his second wife Elisabeth Eleonore, the daughter of Antony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel. She never married and was appointed as superior of the Protestant abbey of Gandersheim for over five decades (1713 – 1766). Princess Elisabeth Ernestine died in office (Dec 24, 1766), aged eighty-five.

Elisabeth Flandrina of Nassau – (1577 – 1642)
Flemish-French princess
Countess Elisabeth Flandrina of Nassau, Princess of Orange was born (April 26, 1577) at Middelburg, the daughter of Wilhelm I the Silent of Nassau, Prince of Orange and his fourth wife Charlotte de Bourbon. Elisabeth Flandrina was married (1595) at The Hague, to Henri de La Tour d’Auvergne (1555 – 1623), Duc de Bouillon, and became the Duchesse de Bouillon. She survived her husband for two decades as the Dowager Duchesse de Bouillon (1623 – 1642).
Duchess Elisabeth Flandrina died (Sept 3, 1642) aged sixty-five, at Sedan. Her children included Marie de La Tour d’Auvergne (c1599 – 1665) who became the wife of Henri de La Tremoille, third Duc de Thouars, Frederic Maurice de La Tour d’Auvergne (1605 – 1652), Duc de Bouillon, and Henri de La Tour d’Auvergne (1611 – 1675), Vicomte de Turenne and Marshal of France.

Elisabeth Franziska Maria – (1831 – 1903)
Hapsburg archduchess of Austria
Archduchess Elisabeth was born in Buda, Hungary (Jan 17, 1831), the daughter of Archduke Joseph and his wife Maria Dorothea of Wurttemburg. Her father was a younger son of the Holy Roman emperor Leopold II (1790 – 1792) and brother to the Emperor Francis II (1792 – 1835). Elisabeth was married firstly (1847) in Vienna, to Archduke Karl Viktor of Austria-Este (1821 – 1849) to whom she bore an only surviving child, Archduchess Maria Theresia (1849 – 1919), wife to Ludwig III, King of Bavaria, and Jacobite pretender to the thrones of England and Scotland as Mary IV. Elisabeth remarried secondly (1854), in Vienna, to Archduke Karl Ferdinand of Austria (1818 – 1874). She survived her husband as Archduchess Dowager for almost three decades (1874 – 1903), Her six children by her second marriage included Archduke Friedrich Albrecht, Duke of Teschen (1856 – 1936), Maria Christina (1858 – 1929), second wife of Alfonso XII of Spain, and archdukes Stephen (1860 – 1933) and Eugen Ferdinand (1863 – 1954). Archduchess Elisabeth died in Vienna, aged seventy-two (Feb 14, 1903) and was buried in Baden bei Wien, where a street was named in her honour.

Elisabeth Gabrielle Valerie Marie – (1876 – 1965)
Queen consort of the Belgians
Elisabeth was born at Possenhofen, the daughter of Karl Theodor, Duke in Bavaria, and his second wife Marie Jose of Braganza. She married (1900) Prince Albert of Belgium (1875 – 1934), who succeeded as Albert I (1909), and was the mother of King Leopold III (1901 – 1989) and Marie Jose, the wife of Umberto II, King of Italy.The patron of the violinist Eugene Ysaye, the Flemish poet Emil Verhaeren, and the composer Saint-Saens, Elizabeth was possessed of considerable musical skills on the piano and violin. During her youth she had been closely involved with hospital work, an interest she retained for the rest of her life. Devoted to social reform, she established a home for the blind, and founded the National Defense League to fight against tuberculosis. When the Germans entered Brussels during World War I, the queen withdrew to Scheldt with her children, who were later sent to safety in England (1915) and converted a wing of the royal palace at Laeken into hospital. During 1919 – 1928 the royal couple travelled widely, visiting the United States, Brazil, and Portugal, Italy, and India.
With her husband’s death in a mountain climbing accident (1934) Queen Elisabeth retired to the Pavilion des Palmiers, in the grounds of Laeken Palace, but the tragic death of her daughter-in-law Queen Astrid (1935) she emerged to care for her grandchildren. She established the ‘Councours Reine Elisabeth,’ a vast annual competition for performers and composers (1937), and worked tirelessly during World War II for the Belgian people, establishing refugee camps, first-aid offices and a missing person bureau. With the Nazi invasion of Brussels, the queen mother and her two sons were kept under house arrest at Laeken Palace, being later removed to Strobl, near Salzburg in Austria, until the end of the war brought about their release (Nov, 1945).
The queen’s interest in music never waned and she visited Poland for a Chopin festival (1955) and attended a Tchaikovsky competition in Russia (1958). She even attended the Chinese National Day celebrations in Peking (Beijing) (1961). Queen Elisabeth died at the Chateau de Stuyvenberg (Nov 23, 1965) aged in her nintieth year.

Elisabeth Henrietta of Hesse – (1661 – 1683)
German electoral princess consort of Brandenburg (1679 – 1683)
Elisabeth Henrietta was born (Nov 8, 1661) the daughter of Wilhelm VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel and his wife Hedwig Sophia of Brandenburg. She became the first wife (1679) of the electoral prince, Friedrich of Brandenburg (1657 – 1713), who became elector of Brandenburg (1688), and then first King of Prussia, only after Elisabeth’s death. Elisabeth Henrietta died (June 27, 1683) aged twenty-one, from smallpox. She left an only child,

1) Princess Louisa Henrietta of Prussia (1680 – 1705). She became the first wife of Langdrave Friedrich I of Hesse-Kassel, who later became King Frederik I of Sweden.

Elisabeth Juliana of Holstein-Norburg – (1634 – 1704)
German philanthropist
Elisabeth Juliana was born (May 24, 1634), the eldest daughter of Friedrich, Duke of schleswig-Holstein-Norburg, and his second wife Eleonore of Anhalt-Zerbst. She was married (1656) to Antony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel (1633 – 1714), to whom she bore thirteen children. Of a noble and generous disposition, the duchess was much loved and respected by the people of Wolfenbuttel, in which city she founded a chapel for poor widows and orphans, as well as a convent. Two of her sons, Duke Augustus Wilhelm (1662 – 1731) and Duke Ludwig Rudolf (1671 – 1735), were successive rulers of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel. The duchess died (Feb 4, 1704), aged sixty-nine, buried interred within the ducal vault of the Church of St Maria in Wolfenbuttel.

Elisabeth Ludovica of Bavaria – (1801 – 1873)
Queen consort of Prussia (1840 – 1861)
Elisabeth was born in Munich (Nov 13, 1801), the daughter of Maximilian I, King of Bavaria and his second wife Caroline of Baden. She was the twin sister of Amalia, queen consort of Saxony, and was the maternal aunt of the Holy Roman emperor Franz Josef I of Austria (1848 – 1916). Princess Elisabeth was married (1823) to Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia (1795 – 1861), who succeeded his father as Freidrich Wilhelm IV (1840). As queen consort Elisabeth was well known for her patronage of music and the arts, as was her husband. Concerning politics her main aim was to preserve the close alliance between Prussia and the Austrian empire. Queen Elisabeth nursed her husband devotedly during his last illness, and as queen dowager divided her time between her various dower estates at Sans Souci, Charlottenburg and Stolzenfels. Queen Elisabeth died (Dec 14, 1873) at Dresden, aged seventy-two, whilst visiting her sister, the Queen Dowager of Saxony, and left her jewels to the Crown Princess Victoria, wife to her nephew Friedrich, eldest son of Kaiser Wilhelm I.

Elisabeth Magdalena of Leignitz – (1562 – 1630)
German duchess consort of Munsterberg-Oels (1585 – 1617)
Elisabeth Magdalena was born (Nov 17, 1562) the fifth daughter of George II, Duke of Leignitz and Ohlau in Silesia, Poland, and his wife Barbara, the daughter of Joachim II, Elector of Brandenburg. Princess Elisabeth Magdalena was married (1585) to Duke Karl II of Munsterberg-Oels (1545 – 1617) as his second wife. She survived him as Dowager Duchess of Munsterberg-Oels (1617 – 1630). The duchess died (Feb 1, 1630) aged sixty-seven, having borne eight children,

• Prince George of Munsterberg (Aug 31 – Nov 14, 1587). He died in infancy.
• Prince Karl of Munsterberg (Jan 8 – May 20, 1590). He died in infancy.
• Heinrich Wenzel (1592 – 1639). He succeeded as Duke of Munsterberg-Bernstadt (1617 – 1639). He married twice but left no surviving children.
• Karl Friedrich (1593 – 1647). The last male ruler of Munsterberg, he succeeded as Duke of Munsterberg-Oels (1617 – 1647), and of Bernstadt (1639 – 1647). He was married twice and left an only surviving daughter, Elisabeth Maria (1625 – 1686), who became duchess consort of Wurttemburg-Oels.
• Princess Barbara Margareta of Munsterberg (1595 – 1652). She remained unmarried.
• Prince George Joachim of Munsterberg (1597 – 1598). He died in infancy.
• Princess Elisabeth Magdalena of Munsterberg (1599 – 1631). She became the wife of George Rudolf, Duke of Leignitz in Silesia (1595 – 1653) but died childless.
• Princess Sophia Katharina of Munsterberg (1601 – 1659). She became the first wife of George III, Duke of Brieg in Silesia (1611 – 1664) but died childless.

Elisabeth Maria of Portugal – (1648 – 1717)
Infanta
Elisabeth Maria was born (Nov 20, 1648) in Delft, Holland, the daughter of the Infante Emanuel II of Portugal, Duke of Beja, and his German wife, Countess Johanna von Hanau-Munzenberg.
Due to the needy financial situation of her family, the princess made an unsuitable match when aged almost thirty (1678) with Baron Adriaan van Gendt (1645 – 1708) a lieutenant-colonel with the Dutch army. The marriage was not well recived by the Infanta’s royal relatives, and as she bore van Gendt a large family of nine children, their household sufferred considerable financial problems.  The marriage ended in divorce (1702) when the Infanta suspected her husband of adultery with a servant girl, and she retired to live in poverty in The Hague. Beset by debts of all kinds she was only able to survive due to an allowance she received from the ‘pension of Portugal’ legacy instituted by Prince Maurits. Infanta Elisabeth Maria died (Oct 15, 1717) aged sixty-eight, in Vianen.

Elisabeth Marie Alice Victoria – (1895 – 1903)
German princess
Elisabeth was born (March 11, 1895) the only surviving child of Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt and the Rhine, and his first wife, Victoria Melita, the daughter of Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. She was the great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. The princess held the title and style of Her Grand Ducal Highness. Her death occurred when she climbed upon the desk of her uncle, the Tsar, whilst visiting the Romanov court, and drank a glass of clear liquid which she found there. The liquid was feared to have been poison, and the child had consumed what had been intended to kill her uncle. Princess Elisabeth died (Nov 16, 1903) aged eight years. She was interred within the family mausoelum at Rosenhohe in Darmstadt.

Elisabeth Marie Henriette Stephanie Gisela – (1883 – 1963)
Hapsburg archduchess
Archduchess Elisabeth was born at Laxenburg Castle, the only child of the Archduke Rudolf and his wife Stephanie, the daughter of Leopold II, King of the Belgians, and granddaughter of the emperor Franz Josef, who became her official guardian after her father’s tragic death (1889). Elisabeth, known by the pet name ‘Erzsi’ in the family, married (1902) Prince Otto von Windisch-Graetz (1873 – 1952). By 1909 she had born him four children but the marriage proved unhappy, and both partners conducted private and scandalous affairs of their own, which resulted in her being ostracized from the Imperial court by the Empress Zita. With the end of the monarchy (1919), Elisabeth, who was permitted to retain her Imperial inheritance, began divorce proceedings which took five years to complete (1924). Her children were then abducted by their father who wanted custody, and only police intervention sanctioned by the new republican government restored them to her.
The archduchess then lived openly with the social democrat leader, Leopold Petzneck (1881 – 1956), and his political circle treated her with great respect. The couple finally married in Vienna (1948) after Leopold had survived internment in the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau. With his death Elisabeth became a recluse, and ill-health soon confined her to a wheelchair. Archduchess Elisabeth died at Wien-Huetteldorf, aged seventy-nine (March 22, 1963). She left her inheritance to the Wiener Gemeinde.

Elisabeth Marie Wilhelmine – (1901 – 1950)
Princess of Luxemburg and Nassau
Princess Elisabeth was born (March 7, 1901) the fifth daughter of William IV, Grand Duke of Luxemburg (1905 – 1912) and his wife, the Infanta Maria Anna of Braganza, the daughter of King Miguel I of Portugal (1828 – 1834), later the Duke of Braganza. She was the younger sister to the Grand duchesses, Marie Adelaide (1912 – 1919) and Charlotte (1919 – 1964). Her Grand Ducal Highness was married (1922) to His Serene Highness Prince Ludwig Philipp von Thurn und Taxis (1901 – 1933), to whom she bore two children. She survived her husband as the Dowager Princess von Thurn und Taxis (1933 – 1950) and never remarried. Princess Elisabeth died (Aug 2, 1950) aged forty-nine. Her children were,

• Prince Anselm von Thurn und Taxis (1924 – 1944). He died unmarried, being killed in action during WW II.
• Princess Inga von Thurn Taxis (born 1925). She became the wife of Eberhard of Wurttemburg (1907 – 1969), fourth Duke of Urach, and left issue.

Elisabeth Pauline Ottilie Louise – (1843 – 1916) 
Queen consort of Romania (1881 – 1914)
Elisabeth was born at Neuwied, Prussia, the daughter of Herman, Prince of Wied and his wife Marie of Nassau. Her childhood was overshadowed by family illnesses, and in 1861 she was unsuccessfully suggested as a bride for the Prince of Wales (Edward VII).  After travelling abroad in Russia and to England, she was married (1869) to Prince Karl of Hohenzollern (1839 – 1914), who was prince, and from 1881, King of Romania as Carol I. Their only child Marie died in childhood (1874) of scarlet fever, and partly as a form of consolation for this bereavement, Elisabeth immersed herself in the culture of Romania, learning the language, establishing schools, for which she herself translated suitable schoolbooks, and devoting herself to nursing the war wounded
Adopting the literary name of ‘Carmen Sylva’ the queen began a career as an author, publishing translations and poems, short stories, novels, and aphorisms, all collected in Les Pensee’s d’une reine (1888), translated in 1891 as, A Red Queen’s Fairy Book, in which she revealed her identity. Her collections of fairy stories, Fairy Tales of Pilesh, proved exceptionally popular, and sold over one million copies. Widowed in 1914, the queen retired to the bishop’s palace at Curtea de Arges, to be near his grave. She died in Bucharest during WW I, being interred beside her husband.  As ‘Carmen Sylva’ the queen wrote nearly two dozen books in English, French, German and Romanian. With Alma Strettel Elisabeth produced a collection of Romanian folksongs, previously written by Helene Vacarescu, which she translated into English as The Bard of Dimbovitza (1891). She also left personal remiscences From Memory’s Shrine (1911).

Elisabeth Philippine Marie Helene de Bourbon – (1764 – 1794) 
Princess of France
Better known as ‘Madame Elisabeth,’ she was born (May 3, 1764) at the Palace of Versailles, near Paris, the daughter of the Dauphin Louis (son of Louis XV) and his second wife Marie Josephe of Saxony. She was the younger sister of French kings Louis XVI, Louis XVIII and Charles X.Of a pious and charitable nature, the princess seems to have refused to marry, preferring to remain in France with King Louis and his wife Marie Antoinette, with whom she always maintained perfectly amicable relations. With the outbreak of the Revolution (1789), the princess realized the true nature and gravity of the events that were unfolding, but bravely refused to leave her brother and his family. She accompanied the royal family on their ill-fated flight to Varennes, where she was arrested with them (June 20, 1792). She was present at the legislative assembly when Louis and the monarchy was suspended, and was imprisoned with the family in the Temple.
With the execution of King Louis (Jan, 1793) and the removal of the queen to the prison of the Conciergerie, she remained in the Temple with her niece, Madame Royale, whose daily life and education she continued to supervise. On May 9, 1794, Elisabeth was herself removed to the Conciergerie. Condemned to death by the Revolutionary tribunal, she was guillotined in Paris (May 10). As a refinement in cruelty, she was forced to wait till the last so that she would have to witness the deaths of all her companions, but she remained a model of Christian courage and fortitude until the end.

Elisabeth Rykssa – (1288 – 1335)
Queen consort of Bohemia (1300 – 1305) and (1306 – 1307)
Elisabeth was born (Sept 1, 1288) with the name Rykssa (Richeza) and was the daughter of Przemysl II, King of Poland and his wife Richeza, the daughter of Valdemar I, King of Sweden. She became the second wife (1300) of Vaclav II, King of Bohemia (1271 – 1305) when she adopted the name of Elisabeth. To Vaclav she bore an only daughter Agnes (1305 – 1337), later married to Henry, Duke of Silesia-Jauer, but died childless. She was stepmother to King Vaclav III (1305 – 1306). Her father was murdered when she was a child (1296) and Elisabeth rykssa became an important claimant and heiress in disputes concerning the Polish throne and succession. After the death of Vaclav II Queen Elisabeth quickly remarried (1306) to Rudolf II of Hapsburg, who was chosen as king of Bohemia (1306 – 1307). He soon died of dysentery and left the young queen well provided for in his will, confirming her dower estates and securing her an enormous income.
Queen Elisabeth never remarried and finally left Prague to settle at Hradec Kralove (Koniggratz), which formed the centre of her private domains. She became involved in a long standing romantic liasion with Henry von Lippe, the governor of Bohemia which lasted till his death (1329). During her last years the queen dowager devoted herself to religious endowments, the stablishment of convents, and the patronage of the arts. Queen Elisabeth Rykssa died (Oct 18, 1335) at Brno, near Koniggratz, aged forty-seven, and was interred there beside von Lippe.

Elisabeth Sophia of Brandenburg – (1674 – 1748)
German princess
Elisabeth Sophia was born (March 26, 1674), the daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg and his second wife, Dorothea of Holstein-Glucksburg. In her youth she she was considered as a possible bride for Charles XII, King of Sweden (1697), but these negotiations came to nothing. She was married three times, firstly to Duke Friedrich of Kurland, secondly to Christian Ernst, margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, and thirdly to Ernst Ludwig I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (1672 – 1724), whom she survived as Dowager Duchess (1724 – 1748). Duchess Elisabeth Sophia died (Nov 22, 1748) aged seventy-four.

Elisabeth Sophia of Holstein-Gottorp – (1599 – 1627)
German duchess consort of Saxe-Lauenburg (1621 – 1627)
Princess Elisabeth Sophia was born (Oct 12, 1599) the eldest daughter of Johann Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (1590 – 1616), and his wife Augusta, the daughter of Freidrich II, King of Denmark (1559 – 1588). The princess was married (1621) to Augustus (1577 – 1656), Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (1619 – 1656) as his first wife. Of their six children, two sons died in infancy.
Duchess Elisabeth Sophia died (Nov 25, 1627) aged twenty-eight, from the effects of childbirth. Her four surviving children were,

• Princess Sophia Margaret of Saxe-Lauenburg (1622 – 1637). She died aged fourteen.
• Princess Anna Elisabeth of Saxe-Lauenburg (1624 – 1688). She became the wife of Wilhelm Christoper (1625 – 1681), Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg, from whom she was divorced.Princess Sibylla Hedwig of Saxe-Lauenburg (1625 – 1703). She became the wife of her first cousin, Franz Erdmann (1629 – 1666), Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (1665 – 1666), and left issue.
• Duke Johann Adolf of Saxe-Lauenburg (1626 – 1646). He died unmarried before his father.

Elisabeth Sophia of Saxe-Altenburg – (1619 – 1680)
German princess and heiress
Elisabeth Sophia was born (Oct 10, 1619) at Gotha, Thuringia, the only child of John Philip, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg, and his wife Elisabeth, daughter of Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel. With the death of her father (1629), Elisabeth Sophie inherited the Saxon claim to the medieval throne of Jersualem. She married (1636) Duke Ernest I of Saxe-Gotha (1601 – 1675). Her father died when she was twenty (1639), but the Salic Law prevented her inheriting the dukedom. Instead, Elisabeth inherited his property and private wealth, whils the title passed to her uncle, Frederick William. With the death of her childless nephew Frederick William (1672), the last of the male line of the house of Saxe-Altenburg, the dukedom passed to Elisabeth Sophia and her husband.
With her death (Dec 20, 1680), at the age of sixty-one, the ducal estates of Coburg, Romhild, Eisenberg, and Meiningen passed to the House of Saxe-Gotha, and were divided amongst Elisabeth Sophia’s surviving sons, each founding a separate minor dynasty, Bernard (1649 – 1706) becoming duke of Saxe-Meiningen, Henry (1650 – 1710) duke of Saxe-Romhild, Christian (1653 – 1707) duke of Saxe-Eisenberg, and John Ernest (1658 – 1729) became duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Of her nineteen children, ten died in infancy, whilst her eldest surviving daughter Elisabeth Dorothea (1640 – 1709) became the wife of Louis VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine – (1711 – 1741)
Queen consort of Sardinia (1737 – 1741)
Elisabeth was born (Oct 15, 1711) at Luneville, Lorraine, the daughter of Leopold Joseph, Duke of Lorraine, and his wife Elisabeth Charlotte, the daughter of Philippe I, Duc d’Orleans. She was the younger sister to the Holy Roman emperor Franz I, husband of the empress Maria Theresa, and was the paternal aunt to the emperors Joseph II (1765 – 1790) and Leopold II (1790 – 1792) and to Maria Carolina of Naples, and Marie Antoinette of France. She was married (1737) to Carlo Emmanuele III (1701 – 1773), king of Sardinia (1728 – 1773), as his third wife. Queen Elisabeth died (July 3, 1741) at Turin, in Piedmont, from the effects of childbirth, aged twenty-nine. She was the mother of Prince Benedetto of Savoy (1741 – 1808), Duke of Chablais.

Elisabeth Ursula of Brunswick-Celle – (1539 – 1586)
German princess and philanthropist
Elisabeth Ursula was born at Celle, the daughter of Duke Ernest of Brunswick-Celle, and became the wife (1561) of Otto IV, Count of Schaumburg, as his second wife. Benefitting from a humanist education, the countess organized public welfare care for widows and orphans, and promoted and championed the causes of education for women and the propagation of the Lutheran religion. Countess Elisabeth Ursula died at Detmold, near Hom-Bad Meinberg, in the Rhineland, aged forty-seven (Sept 3, 1586), and was interred within the Church of St Martin at Stadthagen.

Elisabeth Wilhelmine Louise – (1767 – 1790)
Princess of Wurttemburg
Elisabeth was born (April 21, 1767) at Treptow, the third daughter of Friedrich II Eugene, Duke of Wurttemburg, and his wife Frederica Charlotte of Schwendt, the daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwendt. Duchess Elisabeth was married (1788) in Vienna, to Archduke Franz (1768 – 1835), eldest son of Archduke Leopold, the brother of the childless Emperor Joseph II, as his first wife. With Joseph’s death (1790) Elisabeth’s father-in-law succeeded as Emperor Leopold II (1790 – 1792) and she became the Crown Princess consort (1790). Her husband only succeeded as Emperor Franz II after her death. Crown Princess Elisabeth died (Feb 18, 1790) aged twenty-two, at Vienna, after giving birth to her only child, Archduchess Ludovica Elisabeth Franziska (1790 – 1791) who died aged eighteen months. Two days later her husband succeeded as Crown Prince of Austria. Elisabeth was interred within the Church of the Capuchins in Vienna.

Elisabetta of Savoy-Carignano – (1800 – 1856)
Italian princess
The princess was born Maria Francesca Elisabetta Carlotta Giuseppina (April 23, 1800) in Paris, France, the only daughter of Carlo Emanuele of Savoy, the reigning prince of Carignano (1780 – 1800), and his wife Maria Christina Albertina Carolina, the only daughter of Karl of Saxony, Duke of Kurland. Elisabetta was sister to Carlo Alberto, King of Sardinia (1831 – 1849). Elisabetta was married (1820) in Prague, Bohemia, to the Hapsburg archduke Rainer of Austria (1783 – 1853), the youngest son of the Emperor Leopold II (1790 – 1792). All their children were born in Milan. The archduchess was vicereine of Venice and Lombardy whilst her husband served as the Imperial viceroy for over three decades (1818 – 1853). She survived Rainer as Dowager Archduchess (1853 – 1856). Archduchess Elisabetta died (Dec 25, 1856) aged fifty-six, in Bolsano, Italy. Her eight children were,

• Archduchess Marie Caroline of Austria (1821 – 1844). She died unmarried.
• Archduchess Maria Adelaide of Austria (1822 – 1855). She became the first wife of Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia (later King of Italy) (1820 – 1878), and left issue.
• Archduke Leopold of Austria (1823 – 1899). He remained unmarried.
• Archduke Ernst of Austria (1824 – 1898). He renounced his claim to the throne in order to marry morganatically (1858) and was then known as Karl von Wallburg. He left children.
• Archduke Sigismund of Austria (1826 – 1891). He remained unmarried.
• Archduke Rainer of Austria (1827 – 1913). He was married to his cousin, Archduchess Caroline of Austria (1825 – 1915) but they remained childless.
• Archduke Heinrich of Austria (1828 – 1891). He was married morganatically and left a daughter.
• Archduke Maximilian of Austria (1830 – 1839). He died during childhood.

Elisaveta – (c1435 – 1462)
Princess of Wallachia
Elisaveta was the daughter of the Magyar prince of Siebenburgen, and became the wife (c1450) of Vlad III Dracul (1431 – 1476), the infamous prince of Wallachia, around whom the vampire stories circulate. Through him she was the mother of Prince Mihnea I ‘the Bad’ of Wallachia (c1457 – 1510). Though the surviving records do not provide her personal name, ancient tradition has accorded her the name of Elisaveta. Her death occurred in the most dramatic and tragic manner. The princess and her household were left in the safety of Poenari Castle, in the Carpathian Mountains, whilst her husband went out to battle the invading Turks. Her husband won the battle, but before he could send word to her, a Turkish arrow was shot into the castle, claiming that he was dead. Believing this, Elisaveta threw herself to her death from the castle window, into the Arges River below (Sept, 1462).

Elisenda de Moncada – (c1302 – 1364)
Queen consort of Aragon (1322 – 1327)
Elisenda de Moncada was the daughter of Don Pedro de Moncada and his wife, Elisenda de Pinos. She was raised at the Aragonese court in the household of Maria of Lusignan, the third wife of King Jaime II (1265 – 1327). With the queen’s death, King Jaime remarried to Elisenda at Tarragona (1322), but the union remained childless. A kind and gentle stepmother, of an age with her stepchildren, the queen successfully intervened in familial disputes caused by the king’s favouritism for his second son, the Infante Pedro. With the king’s death Queen Elisenda retired from the court to the abbey of Santa Maria de Pedralhas, which she had founded a few years earlier (1325). As queen dowager, Elisenda was a leading member of the procession which witnessed the translation of the relics of St Eulalia, patroness of Barcelona, to her cathedral shrine. Queen Elisenda died at Pedralhas, and was buried in the convent church there.

Elisheva – (1888 – 1949)
Jewish poet
Born Elisaveta Ivanovna Zirkowa in Russia, she was raised a Christian until 1907 when she returned to reside within a Jewish community, and rediscovered her Hebrew antecedents and culture.
She married a fellow Jew and the couple immigrated to Palestine (1925). There she began writing verse in Russian, and also made translation of English classics into Russian and Hebrew, whereupon she adopted the pseudonym ‘Elisheva.’ Best known of her works is, Kos Ketana (Small Cup) (1926). Elisheva died at Kinneret.

Elissa     see    Dido

Elizabeth    see also    Elisabeth and Elzbieta

Elizabeth – (c40 BC – c25 AD)
Hebrew biblical character
Elizabeth was the wife of the high priest Zechariah, and became the mother of St John the Baptist after the couple had remained childless for many years. According to the Bible Zechariah received heavenly knowledge that the child his wife would eventually bear, would help to pave the way for the religious message of his kinsman, Jesus Christ. The angel Gabriel is said to have informed Mary that her kinswoman Elizabeth was pregnant at the same time, and the two women visisted each other.

Elizabeth I – (1533 – 1603) 
Queen regnant of England (1558 – 1603)
Elizabeth Tudor was born in Greenwich Palace, London, the only child of Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn, and was recognized as heiress to the crown. However, after her mother’s execution (May, 1536), her position was challenged, and she was finally placed in the succession after her half-brother Edward and her elder half-sister Mary in 1544. She received an extensive classical education under the guidance of the famous scholar Roger Ascham, and was fluent in several languages such as Latin, Hebrew, Greek and Italian, as well as in mathematics and the sciences.
With the death of Edward VI (1553), Elizabeth vigorously supported the claims of her sister Mary against the pretensions of Lady Jane Grey, by which her own title as well as her sister’s was barred. She rode to meet her sister, accompanied by 1,000 horsemen, and this bold preceeding was of no small service in confirming the doubtful in their rightful allegiance to Queen Mary. However, after the rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyatt, Elizabeth’s life was in great danger, and she was confined, firtly in the Tower of London, and then at Woodstock Palace. Later, through the intercession of Mary’s husband Philip II of Spain, she obtained greater liberty, but throughout the whole reign she continued an object of suspicion and surveillance. Despite this, Mary’s reign was not without advantage for Elizabeth. It tried her councillors as well as herself, and gave her the opportunity of selecting them to advantage. Her adviser throughout was William Cecil (Lord Burghley) who had already been minister under Edward VI, and would continue for the rest of his life to be one of the chief councillors and most able ministers of Elizabeth, to whom he was, in many respects, a congenial spirit.
On Nov 17, 1558 Queen Mary died, and her disastrous reign came to a close. Elizabeth was immediately recognized as queen by Parliament. The first great object of her reign was the curtailment of Catholic influences, and in 1559 the queen established herself through the Act of Supremacy as ‘supreme governor’ in spiritual matters within the kingdom. She also brought about parliamentary sanction of Thomas Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer, and the Thirty-Nine Articles, as drafted by Matthew Parker. The Church of England was thus seperated from Rome, and oriented towards Protestantism.
Throughout the large part of Elizabeth’s reign, the question of whether and whom she might marry occupied the attention of the kingdom and her ministers. The unfortunate consequences of Mary Tudor’s marriage to Philip of Spain remained uppermost in the public mind, producing the fear that Elizabeth might imperil the kingdom by marrying a scheming and fanatically Catholic foreign prince. Such fears appear to have been groundless, for although Elizabeth allowed herself to be courted by Philip of Spain, Henry III of France, Henry of Navarre (Henry IV), Archduke Charles of Austria, Emanuel of Portugal, and the Duke de Alencon, amongst others, she did so as part of a torturous national policy, with no real intention of matrimony. Considerations of political security seem to have been principally responsible for the often condemned treatment of the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots, her cousin and fellow sovereign. Mary was imprisoned for nineteen years in England, where she had fled to the supposed protection of Elizabeth. This imprisonment was followed by a series of conspiracies against the throne, which were in most cases at Philip of Spain’s instigation. Mary’s success would have heralded the restoration of Catholicism in England and the political and commercial supremacy of Spain. The famous captive was finally executed at Fotheringhay Castle (1587) at Elizabeth’s order, but with great reluctance on her part.
Queen Elizabeth’s reign marked the flowering of the English Renaissance, notable for the surging nationalistic spirit, dating from the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588), the development of modern English music and literature, the beginning of the English colonisation and world commerce, and the introduction of scientific discoveries. It was not for nothing that she was popularly known as ‘Gloriana’ or the ‘Virgin Queen.’ Queen Elizabeth died (March 24, 1603) aged sixty-nine, and was interred in Westminster Abbey, where she lies with her sister Mary I. She was succeeded by James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England.

Elizabeth Alexievna – (1779 – 1826)
Tsarina consort of Russia (1801 – 1825)
Elizabeth was the daughter of Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden and Amalia, the daughter of Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. She was married (1793) to Grand Duke Alexander (1777 – 1825) who succeede his father as tsar in 1801 as Alexander I, but their two daughter Marie and Elisabeth both died in infancy. Originally named Luise she took the Russian name Elisabeth Alexievna at the time of her marriage. Alexander was fond of his wife, but he had married to please his grandmother Catharine II, and Elizabeth did not physically attract him, being beautiful but fragile in health. He had several liasions, notably with Madame Naryshkina (1803 – 1816) who bore him several children, and which caused her great private torment, but he was always at pains to provide the empress with all public deference due to her rank.  With the death of Alexander’s favourite sister the Grand duchess Catherine (1819) he and Elizabeth drew closer together and shared their former domestic life again. She was present at his deathbed at Taganrog, on the Sea of Azov, and survived him barely a year.

Elizabeth de Burgh      see also      Clare, Elizabeth de

Elizabeth de Burgh – (1280 – 1327)
Queen consort of Scotland (1306 – 1327)
Lady Elizabeth de Burgh was the daughter of Richard de Burgh, earl of Ulster and his wife Margaret. She became the second wife (1302) of King Robert I ‘the Bruce’ (1274 – 1329) and was the mother of King David II (1324 – 1371), born when she was in her forties. Queen Elizabeth was captured by the English forces of Edward I after the Battle of Bannockburn (1314) whilst trying to escape to safety. She was held in captivity until 1321, shen she was finally reunited with her husband. Queen Elizabeth died at Cullen (Oct 26, 1327) aged forty-seven.

Elizabeth Feodorovna – (1864 – 1918)
Russian grand duchess
Elizabeth was the daughter of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, and his wife Alice, second daughter of Queen Victoria. Known to the family as ‘Ella,’ she was raised and educated mainly in England. Classically beautiful, she refused the suit of her cousin, the future Kaiser Wilhelm II, and married instead (1884) the Russian grand duke Sergei Alexandrovitch (1857 – 1905), the younger son of Tsar Alexander II. The marriage proved unhappy, and remained childless.
Elizabeth converted to the Orthodox Church (1891). Her husband was assassinated by an anarchist’s bomb outside the Kremlin Palace (1905), and she herself comforted his dying coachman during his last moments. Her offer to plead for the life of the anarchist Kaliayev was politely refused, and Elizabeth founded the convent of Mary and Martha in Moscow. She also founded a lay order of nursing sisters, and a lay order of deacons and deaconesses, and personally worked as a nurse amongst the worst slums of Petrograd and Moscow.  During the outbreak of the revolution (1917) Elizabeth was accused of harbouring German spies in her convent. She refused to leave Moscow, and eventually the Grand duchess and five Romanov grand dukes were rounded up by the Bolsheviks, and taken to the town of Alapayevsk, in Siberia, where all were thrown alive down a mineshaft (July 17, 1918). Her remains were later interred in Gethsemane, in Jerusalem.

Elizabeth Jaroslavna – (1028 – after 1070)
Scandinavian queen consort
Elizabeth Jaroslavna was the daughter of Jaroslav I Vladimirovitch, Grand Duke of Kiev in the Ukraine, and his second wife Ingegarde of Sweden. Her sisters included Anastasia, the wife Andras I, King of Hungary and, Anna, the third wife of Henry I, King of France. Elizabeth was married firstly to Harald II Haardrada (1015 – 1066), king of Norway. The marriage had taken place in Novgorod, after her father had favoured the Viking raider and gave him his cultured and educated daughter in marriage. The couple then travelled by sea to Siguna in Sweden, where they were met by King Svein II. The entire group then sailed to Denmark, where Elizabeth was recognized formally as the reigning conosrt, and bore two daughters. The king’s mistress Thora Thorbergsdotter had borne him two sons, Magnus (II) and Olaf (III) but Queen Elizabeth’s position remained unchallenged by this.
When her husband sailed with his conquering fleet to England (1066) to wrest the crown from Harold II, the queen and her two daughters accompanied the fleet. When Harald was killed at the battle of Stamford Bridge the royal party retired to Norway, her elder daughter Maria dying unmarried (1066). Queen Elizabeth later remarried (1067) to her kinsman, Svein II Estrithson (1019 – 1076), king of Denmark, as his third and last wife. She was living in 1070 and died after this date. Her only surviving child, Ingegarde Haraldsdotter (1047 – 1120) was married firstly to Olaf Hunger (died 1095), king of Denmark, and secondly to Philip (died 1118), King of Sweden.

Elizabeth of Bavaria – (1227 – 1273)
Queen consort of Germany
Elizabeth was the daughter of Otto II, Duke of Bavaria and his wife Agnes, the daughter of Henry VI, Duke of Saxony. She was married firstly (1246) to Conrad IV, King of Germany (1228 – 1254), son of the Emperor Frederick II. By this marriage Queen Elizabeth was the mother of Conradin (1252 – 1268), the last of the Hohenstaufen Imperial line. Her family last arranged the former queen’s second marriage (1258) to Meinhard IV of Gorz, Duke of Carinthia (1238 – 1295), to whom she bore a large family. Queen Elizabeth died (Oct 9, 1273) aged forty-six, and was buried in the Abbey of Stams, Tyrol, which she had founded.

Elizabeth of Bohemia    see    Elisabeth of Bohemia  or   Elizabeth Stuart

Elizabeth of France     see     Elisabeth Philippine Marie Helene

Elizabeth of Great Britain – (1770 – 1840)
British Hanoverian princess
Elizabeth was born (May 22, 1770) at Buckingham Palace, London, the third daughter of George III, King of Great Britain (1760 – 1820) and his wife Charlotte Sophia, daughter of Karl Ludwig, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. She was sister to kings George IV (1820 – 1830) and William IV (1830 – 1837) and was paternal aunt to Queen Victoria (1837 – 1901). Possessed of a genuine talent for drawing, she designed a series of pictures called The Birth and Triumph of Cupid (1795), which was published by her father at his own expense. They were later re-issued as The Birth and Triumph of Love (1796), and were dedicated to Queen Charlotte, with a petical letter press by Sir James Bland Burgess. Elizabeth later produced Cupid turned Volunteer (1804), with a frontspiece and apoetical description by Thomas Park, which was dedicated to her elder sister, Princess Augusta Sophia. This work was followed The Power and Progress of Genius (1806) in twenty-four sketches, each signed ‘Eliza inut and sculpt.’
The princess, who established a society which provided dowries for poor, but worthy girls, was granted her own residence by her father (1808), but never married until she was forty-eight, when she was finally wed (1818) to Friedrich VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg (1769 – 1829) and presided over his court as landgravine consort (1820 – 1829) and then as Dowager (1829 – 1840) when she resided quietly in Hanover. She twice paid visits to the English court (1831) and (1835 – 1836) consented to a re-issue of her work Genius (1834) in order to benefit the poor of Hanover. Princess Elizabeth died at Frankfurt-am-Main (Jan 10, 1840) aged sixty-nine.

Elizabeth of Greece – (1904 – 1955)
Princess
Elizabeth was born (May 24, 1904) at the Tatoi Palace, near Athens, the second daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and his wife, the Russian grand duchess Helena Vladimirovna. Elizabeth was the sister of Princess Olga of Yugoslavia and of Princess Marina, the Duchess of Kent. The family visited England for the funeral of Edward VII (1910) and later resided in Switzerland (1917 – 1921) before returning to Greece. A striking beauty with a taste for sporting activities, Elizabeth’s clothes were designed by the noted coutourier Jean Patou, and with her younger sister Marina she featured in an advertising campaign with the Ponds cosmetic company (1931). She was married (1934) to Karl Theodor, Count von Toerring-Jettenbach (1900 – 1967), a member of the Wittelsbach family of Bavaria, and the couple resided at Winhorring Castle in Munich, where the count possessed extensive estates. Princess Elizabeth died unexpectedly (Jan 11, 1955) aged fifty, leaving two children.

Elizabeth of Hungary (1) – (1207 – 1231) 
Princess and saint
Elizabeth was born at Pressburg, the eldest daughter of Andrew II, King of Hungary and his first wife Gertrude of Meran. She was betrothed to Louis IV, Landgrave of Thuringia at thage of four (1211) and was sent to his court to be educated for her future role, at the Wartburg Castle, near Eisenach. The marriage took place in 1221, and was to produce four children, of whom Landgrave Herman II (1223 – 1241) died childless, and Gertrude (1227 – 1297) became Franciscan abbess of Altenburg. Elizabeth was known for her ceaseless almsgiving to the poor, and for her religious austerities, she encurred the enmity of members of her husband’s family, who viewed her charities as financial misapropriation. Louis died at Otranto, Italy whilst on crusade (1227), whereupon Elizabeth was deprived of the regency by her brother-in-law Henry Raspe, and evicted from Wartburg Castle, on the grounds that she had mismanaged her late husband’s estates through her wasteful charities.
After making provision for her young children, Elizabeth took refuge in Eisenach, where she entered the Franciscan Third Order, and dedicated the rest of her life to poverty and charity. In 1228, she removed to Marburg in Hesse, where she founded a hospital. Though she sufferred severe and almost sadistic privations at the hands of her spiritual adviser Konrad of Marburg, who had been a successful inquisitor of heretics, she refused to return to Hungary, and died there on (Nov 17, 1231), worn out by her physical exertions, at the early age of twenty-four.
Canonized by Pope Gregory IX (1235), her feast day was celebrated on Nov 17. She is usually represented in religious art holding a jug, a church, or roses, sometimes wearing secular dress, but more often the habit of the Third Order, of which she bcame the patron.

Elizabeth of Hungary (2) – (1295 – 1338)
Princess and saint
Elizabeth was born at Buda, the only child of King Andrew III and his first wife, Fennena of Kiuavia, who died at her birth. With her father’s death (1301), Elizabeth’s stepmother desired to marry her her own brother, Duke Henry of Austria, with a dowry of three hundred thousand pounds, but the match never eventuated. Elizabeth refused the suit of Wenceslas III of Bohemia because she desired to enter the religious life. When her stepmother retired to the abbey of Konigsfelden, Elizabeth became a nun at the Dominican convent at Tosz, near Winterthur, in Turgau. Of a quiet and gentle disposition, she wore the same garments as the ordinary nuns, and was reputed to have experienced mystical visions. During her last years she was much afflicted by painful tertian fever. Princess Elizabeth died at Tosz, aged forty-three (May 6, 1338), the last of the dynasty of St Stephen (1000 – 1038) and was venerated as a saint.

Elizabeth of Lancaster – (1363 – 1425)
English Planatagent princess, she was born (Feb 21, 1363) at Burford, Shropshire, the second daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and his first wife Blanche, the daughter of Henry, Duke of Lancaster. Her elder sister Philippa became the wife of Joao I, king of Portugal, whilst her younger half-sister Catherine became the wife of Enrique II, king of Castile. They were all grandchildren of Edward III (1327 – 1377) and siblings of Henry IV (1399 – 1413).
Elizabeth received revenues from the Lancaster estate of Tutbury for her maintenance, and the clerk John Cheyne was appointed as the receiver of her chamber (1371). The same year her father’s mistress Katherine Swynford was appointed as governess to herself and her sister Philippa. She was married firstly at Kenilworth, Warwickshire (1380) to John Hastings (1372 – 1389), third Earl of Pembroke, almost a decade her junior. This union was later annulled (1383). An attractive and charming woman, she was pursued by John de Holland (1352 – 1400), the elder half-brother of King Richard II (1377 – 1399), who eventually seduced her. Elizabeth became pregnant and they were secretly married at Plymouth in Devon (1386) though King Richard quickly pardoned them for marrying without his permission. Holland was then created Duke of Exeter. She and Holland accompanied Elizabeth’s father and stepmother and their household to Spain and Portugal (1386 – 1387) for the marriages of her two sisters.
With their return to England the couple settled at Putney House in London (1388) which became noted for the sumptuous entertainments held there. The duchess attended the funeral of the queen consort Anne of Bohemia, in London (1394). Her husband was later executed by her brother Henry IV on the charge of treason (Jan 16, 1400). His head was then exposed at Pleshey until the duchess managed to gain her brother’s permission to have it decently interred in Pleshey church. Elizabeth was then married (1401) to Sir John Cornwall (1370 – 1443), whose prowess she had admired as a tournament. He was later created first Baron Fanhope. Henry IV granted them an annuity of one thousand marks for life, which was the first of a series of grants. They both lived to enjoy these benefits into the reign of Henry VI. When she gave birth to a son Henry Cornwall (1405), Henry IV acted as godfather. He was later killed fighting at the battle of Meaux in France (1421). Their daughter Constance Cornwall (c14023 – before 1429) became the wife of John Fitzalan (1408 – 1435), seventh Earl of Arundel. There is record of some unknown dispute between the duchess, her husband, and the Prince of Wales (Henry V) being settled (1404). The duchess and her third husband were both present at the coronation ceremony of Katherine de Valois, the wife of Henry V at Westminster Abbey (1421). Elizabeth of Lancaster died (Nov 24, 1425) aged sixty-two, and was buried at Burford. Her children by John de Holland were,

• Lady Constance de Holland (1387 – 1437). She was married firstly to Thomas Mowbray (1386 – 1405), third Earl of Nottingham, and secondly to Sir John Grey (c1382 – 1439), leaving children by both marriages.
• Richard de Holland (1389 – 1403). He died unmarried before the reversal of his father’s attainder.
• Lady Alice de Holland (c1392 – c1406). She became the first wife of Richard de Vere (1385 – 1417), eleventh Earl of Oxford and died childless.
• John de Holland (1395 – 1447), Earl of Huntingdon. With the reversal of his father’s attainder he was permitted to assume the title of second Duke of Exeter. He married three times and left descendants.
• Sir Edward de Holland (c1397 – after 1413). He was knighted but died young.

Elizabeth of the Trinity     see    Catez, Elisabeth

Elizabeth of York (1) – (1444 – 1503)
English Plantagent princess
Elizabeth was born (April 22, 1444) at Rouen in Normandy, the second daughter of Richard, Duke of York and his wive Cecily Neville, the daughter of Ralph Neville, first Earl of Westmorland, and granddaughter of John of Gaunt. She was sister to Edward IV (1461 – 1483) and Richard III (1483 – 1485). When her father and elder brothers fled to France (1459) Elizabeth remained with her mother and remaining siblings at Ludlow Castle. They were later committed to the care of the duke and duchess of Buckingham. Elizabeth was married (1460) to John de La Pole (1442 – 1491) as his second wife, and bore him a large family of children.
The duchess of Suffolk attended the coronation of her brother Edward (1461) and represented the king at the funerals of the earl of Salisbury and Sir Thomas Neville at Bisham Abbey (1463). She was present at the christening of her niece Elizabeth of York (Feb, 1465) and was present at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth Woodville (May, 1465). She was present at the coronations of Richard III and his wife Anne Neville (July, 1483) and the marriage of her niece with Henry VII (Jan, 1486). The duke of Suffolk had little involvement with politics and after his death (1491) Elizabeth resided mainly at her country estate of Wingfield in Suffolk. The duchess died (Nov 16, 1503) aged fifty-nine, at Wingfield. The effigies of Elizabeth and her husband have been preserved in Wingfield Church. Her eleven children were,

• Lady Catherine de La Pole (1461 – 1490). She became the wife of William, second Baron Stourton (1457 – 1524).
• John de La Pole (1462 – 1487). He was styled Earl of Lincoln, and predeceased his father, being killed at the battle of Stoke. He was married and left issue.
• Lord Edward de La Pole (1464 – 1485). He took holy orders and was archdeacon of Richmond, Yorkshire.
• Lady Elizabeth de La Pole (1466 – 1517). She became the wife of Henry Lovel (1466 – 1489), eighth Baron Morley.
• Lady Anne de La Pole (c1469 – after 1495). She was proposed by Richard III as a bride for James IV of Scotland but the marriage never eventuated. She became a nun at Sion Abbey, Middlesex.
• Lord Edmund de La Pole (1471 – 1513). He succeeded his father as third Duke of Suffolk (1491 – 1513). He was married and left two daughters but no male heir. The duke was executed by order of Henry VIII due to his closeness to the throne.
• Lady Dorothy de La Pole (born c1473). She died unmarried.
• Lord Humphrey de La Pole (1474 – 1513). He became rector of Leverington, Cambridgeshire and of Hingham, Norfolk, and died unmarried.
• Sir William de La Pole (c1478 – 1539). He was married to a wealthy widow much his senior, Catherine Stourton, Dowager Baroness Grey of Codnor (c1452 – 1521). They had no children and Sir William inherited her wealth.
• Lord Geoffrey de La Pole (c1480 – after 1499).
• Lord Richard de La Pole (1481 – 1525). He succeeded his brother Edmund as fourth and last Duke of Suffolk of the de La Pole family (1513 – 1525).

Elizabeth of York (2) – (1465 – 1503)
Queen consort of England (1486 – 1503)
Elizabeth was born at Westminster Palace, London, the eldest daughter of Edward IV, and his wife Elizabeth Woodville, the widow of Sir John Grey, and daughter of Richard, first earl of Rivers. Destined for an important dynastic union from the cradle, Elizabeth was betrothed firstly to her Plantagenet cousin, George Neville, Duke of Bedford, and later (1475) to the Dauphin Charles (Charles VIII), the son and heir of Louis XI of France. However with the death of her father, the proclamation of her unce Richard III, and the disappearance of her two brothers, Edward V and Richard, Duke of York, in the Tower of London, Elizabeth of ‘Lady Bessy,’ as she was popularly known became heiress of the House of York, and her marriage to the exiled Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond was arranged with the collusion of their respective mothers, Margaret Beaufort and Elizabeth Woodville.
Following the defeat of Richard III (1485), Henry VII insisted on delaying the marriage until after his own coronation, because he knew that Elizabeth’s claim to the throne was superior to his own, and she was left at Sherriff Hutton Castle, in York, for some months. They were finally married early in 1486, and Elizabeth produced a son and heir, Arthur, Prince of Wales in the same year, followed by a brother Henry (1491) and two daughters Margaret (1489) and Mary (1495). When the army of the Cornish rebels, led by Perkin Warbeck, advanced on London (June, 1497), the queen removed from Coldharbour with her son Henry, to the safety of the Tower of London. She accompanied the king to Calais (May-June, 1500).
Queen Elizabeth died from the effects of childbirth at the Tower of London, on her thirty-eighth birthday (Feb 11, 1503), and was interred in Westminster Abbey, London. She appears as a main character in the historical novels The Woodville Wench (1972) by Maureen Peters and The King’s Grey Mare (1973) by Rosemary Hawley Jarman.

Elizabeth Petrovna – (1709 – 1762) 
Tsarina of Russia (1741 – 1762)
Grand Duchess Elizabeth was born at the Palace of Kolomenskoe, near Moscow, the second daughter of Tsar Peter I the Great, and his second wife Tsarina Catharine I Alexievna. She was brought up at the palace of Ismailovo, in the household of the empress Praskovia, the widow of Ivan V.
Plans to marry her to Louis XV of France (1717) came to nothing, as did plans to marry her to the Duc de Chatres, son and heir of the regent Duc d’Orleans (1722 – 1723). Other marriage plans came to naught, and due to her outspokeness against foreigners, she earned the distrust of her cousin the empress Anna, and remained at Ismailovo, where her movements were closely watched.
Intelligent, charming and vivacious, Elizabeth was persuaded to stage a palace coup (Nov, 1741) to depose the infant Tsar Ivan VI, and thus remove his unpopular mother, the regent Anna Leopoldovna. After establishing herself upon the throne, Elizabeth abolished the cabinet system of government and reinstated the more democratic senate system, but in actuality, most affairs of state were left in the hands of her advisers. The empress remained officially unmarried, but is believed to have morganatically married her favourite, Count Alexei Razumovsky (1709 – 1771), by whom she is said to have been the mother of the pretender Elizabeth Alexievna Tarakanova (1752 – 1775).
During her reign of twenty years, Elizabeth devoted her energies into making her court a centre of fashion that could compete with other European courts, and was a promoter of education, founding the Academy of Fine Arts in St Petersburg (1755) and the University of Moscow. She encouraged and sustained economic growth through the institution of a system of banking, and encouraged the development of eastern Russia, though these activities led her into conflict with large landowners. Possessed of considerable diplomatic skills, her foreign policy was successful, notably against Sweden in 1741 – 1743, which gained Russia further territory in southern Finland. The empress made alliances with France and Austria against Frederick the Great of Prussia during the Seven Years War (1756 – 1763). Her armies occupied Konigsberg in East Prussia, and she defeated Frederick at the battle of Kunersdorf (1759), though these particular successes were to be reversed by her nephew Peter III, at his accession, due to his admiration for Prussian military prowess.

Elizabeth Plantagenet – (1282 – 1316)
English princess
Elizabeth was born at Rhuddlan Castle at Flintshire in Wales (Aug, 1282), the youngest surviving daughter of King Edward I (1272 – 1307) and his first wife Eleanor, the daughter of Ferdinando III, King of Castile and Leon. Elizabeth was married fistly (1297) at Ipswich in Suffolk to Johann I, Count of Holland and Zeeland (1281 – 1299). His early death left her a childless widow and she was permitted by her father to remaary (1302) to Humohrey de Bohun, fourth Earl of Hereford and Essex (1276 – 1322) to whom she bore a large family a children whoch included William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton (1310 – 1360) and Lady Margaret de Bohun (1311 – 1391), who married Hugh de Courtenay, first Earl of Devon (1303 – 1377) to whom she bore a large family. Princess Elizabeth died in childbirth (cMay 5, 1316) at Quendon in Essex.

Elizabeth Stuart (1) – (c1352 – before 1406)
Princess of Scotland
Elizabeth Stuart was the eldest daughter of King Robert II (1371 – 1390) and his first wife Elizabeth Mure, the daughter of Sir Adam Mure, of Rowallan, Ayrshire. Princess Elizabeth was married (1372) to Sit Thomas de la Haye (died 1406), the seventh feudal baron of Erroll. Lord Erroll’s effigy in armour is preserved in Coupar Angus Abbey, and Elizabeth is thought to have predeceased him. Her children included,

• Sir William Henry de la Haye (c1375 – 1437). He succeeded his father as eighth feudal baron of Erroll and was later created the first Baron Hay by his kinsman King James I (1429). He was married and left descendants.
• Sir Gilbert Hay, of Dronlaw (c1380 – after 1436). He became the ancestor of the Hay family of Delgaty and the Hays of Park, who became baronets.
• Elizabeth Hay. She became the wife of Sir George Leslie, of Rothes (1350 – after 1412) and left descendants.
• Alice Hay. She became the wife of Sir William Hay, of Locharret.

Elizabeth Stuart (2) – (c1373 – before 1411)
Princess of Scotland
Elizabeth Stuart was the fourth daughter of Robert III, king of Scotland (1390 – 1406) and his wife Annabella, the daughter of Sir John Drummond, of Stobhall. She was the granddaughter of Robert II (1371 – 1390). Elizabeth was married (before 1387) to Sir James Douglas (c1369 – 1441) as his first wife. He was created first Earl of Dalkeith long after her death (c1430). Her children were,

• William Douglas (1390 – 1425). He died unmarried in England as a hostage for King James I.
• James Douglas (c1394 – 1458). He succeeded his father as second Earl of Dalkeith (1441 – 1458) but was later delcared mentally incapable of managing his affairs (1441). He left descendants.
• Henry Douglas (c1398 – before 1456), of Dalkeith. He was married and left issue.

Elizabeth Stuart (3) – (1596 – 1662)
Queen consort of Bohemia
Elizabeth Stuart was born at Falkland Castle, Fifeshire, Scotland, the eldest daughter of James VI (I of England 1603 – 1625), and his wife Anne, the daughter of Frederick II, King of Denmark. Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and Philip III of Spain were considered as possible suitors, but she married (1613) Frederick V, elector Palatine of the Rhine (1610 – 1623).
Intelligent and cultured, fluent in French and Italian, her court at Heidelberg was lively, and the princess greatly admired for her beauty and elegance. With Frederick’s championship of the Protestant cause and his brief, unhappy winter as King Frederick I of Bohemia (1619 – 1620), Elizabeth became popularly known as ‘the Winter Queen,’or ‘the Queen of Hearts and became a potent symbol of the Protestant cause in Europe.
Driven from Prague with her family, and deprived of the Palatinate by Maximilian of Bavria, the couple lived in exile at the Wassenaer Hof, in the Hague, continually beset by financial difficulties, with their thirteen children, who included Frederick Henry (1614 – 1629), elector Charles I Louis (1617 – 1680), Elizabeth, Protestant abbess of Herford, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, the famous Cavalier general (1619 – 1682), Louisa Hollandine, Roman Catholic abbess of Maubuisson, and Sophia (1630 – 1714), the mother of King George I (1714 – 1727).
Frederick died in 1632, but Elizabeth outlived him for thirty years. During the Civil War her English pension was stopped and she was forced to pawn her jewels in order to survive. She gained a close friend and supporter in Lord Craven, who placed his immense fortune at her disposal. His devotion was such that rumour hinted at a secret marriage, which was a ridiculous assertion. Her son Charles Louis was later restored to the Palatinate (1648), but the queen remained resident in Holland. She died in England aged sixty-five, at Leicester House, in London (Feb 13, 1662) whilst visiting the court of her nephew Charles II, who was celebrating his recent restoration, having been escorted from the Hague to London by the diarist, Sir Samuel Pepys.

Elizabeth Tudor – (1492 – 1495)
Princess of England
Elizabeth was born (July 2, 1492) at Eltham Palace, Kent, the second daughter of King Henry VII (1485 – 1509) and his wife Elizabeth of York, the daughter of Edward IV (1461 – 1483). She was named in honour of her maternal grandmother Elizabeth Woodville, the widow of Edward IV and was the infant sister to Henry VIII (1509 – 1547).
The princess was raised at Eltham, her nurse being one Cecilia Barbage. She survived for only three short years, falling ill of atrophy, and died (Nov 14, 1495) aged in her fourth year, at Eltham.
Princess Elizabeth was interred with great pomp in the new chapel built by her father in Westminster Abbey. A small altar tomb of black and grey marble was erected to her memory at the foot of the monument of Henry III, and at the left hand of St Edward the Confessor’s altar. Her epitaph was recorded by the English historian and antiquarian, John Stow (c1525 – 1605), “Here after death, lies in this tomb, a descendant of royalty, the young and noble princess Elizabeth, daughter of the illustrious king, Henry VII who sways the flourishing sceptres of two realms. Atrophy, most merciless messenger of death, snatched her away. May she inherit eternal life in Heaven.”

Elizabeth Woodville – (1437 – 1492)
Queen consort of England (1464 – 1483)
Elizabeth Woodville was the eldest daughter of Sir Richard Woodville, first Earl of Rivers, and his wife Jacquetta of Luxemburg, the widow of John, Duke of Bedford, the brother of Henry V. She married firstly (1452) to the Lancastrian, Sir John Grey, of Groby, to whom she bore two sons, Thomas and Richard, before his death at the second Battle of St Albans (1461). Her tall, golden-haired beauty attracted the attentions of Edward IV, but she refused to become his mistress, so he married her secretly at Grafton Regis, in Northamptonshire with only her mother and a couple of other witnesses (1464). She was the first Englishwoman since the Norman Conquest to marry her king. Despite this, the union was a political liability for Edward, as it deprived him of the security of a foreign marriage, and lumbered him with the responsibility of helping to proved for Elizabeth’s numerous and impecunious family.
A superb financial manager, Queen Elizabeth ensured that her sisters were all well proved for marriage wise, which earned her the dislike of the aristocracy. Despite Edward’s well known sexual proclivities, until the end of his life, Elizabeth maintained her pre-eminent influence over him, especially concerning the enrichment of her family, in which she showed herself singularly lacking in scruple. With Edward’s early death (1483), it was Elizabeth’s attempt to secure control of the young Edward V, and control the government with her Woodville relations, that led to the usurpation of her brother-in-law Richard III, the murders of her brother Anthony Woodville and her son Sir Richard Grey, and the mysterious deaths of her two sons in the Tower of London. Richard announded that the king’s pre-contract with the long dead Lady Eleanor Butler invalidated the queen’s marriage, and declared her children bastards, though her later provided a generous pension for herself and her daughters (1484).
Queen Elizabeth later allied herself with Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, the future Henry VII, whom they planned to marry to her eldest daughter, Elizabeth of York. With Henry’s success at Bosworth Field (1485) he married her daughter, and Elizabeth was restored to her rightful position as Queen Dowager, although she did not regain all of her former estates. Henry VII later offered Elizabeth then aged fifty, as a wife for the widowed James III of Scotland, with her daughter Cecily as a bride for his son and heir (James IV), but the match never eventuated. Queen Elizabeth became somehow involved with the claims of the Yorkist pretender Lambert Simnel, and retired, probably reluctantly, to the abbey of Bermondsey (1487), ostensibly sufferring from increasing ill-health (which was probably also true), and surrendered her  property to her daughter, the queen, in return for a pension.
Queen Elizabeth died at Bermondsey (June 8, 1492) aged fifty-five, attended by her stepdaughter, her late husband’s illegitimate daughter Grace Plantagenet, and was interred beside King Edward in St George’s Chapel, Windsor, Berkshire, in the prescence of her daughters. She was the subject of various historical novels including The Woodville Wench (1972) by Maureen Peters and The King’s Grey Mare (1973) by Rosemary Hawley Jarman

Elizabeth Angela Margeurite – (1900 – 2002)
Queen consort of Great Britain and the last Empress consort of India (1936 – 1952)
Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyons was born at St Paul’s Walden Bury, Hertfordshire, the youngest daughter of Claude Bowes-Lyons, fourteenth earl of Strathmore, and his wife Nina Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck. Educated at the family home of Glamis Castle, in Scotland, she assisted with the nursing of soldiers sent there to recuperate during World War I. She met Prince George, then the Duke of York, second son of George V in 1920, and after initial uncertainty on her part, the couple were married, with the approbation of the royal family (1923). They produced two daughters, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, now Elizabeth II (born 1926), and Margaret Rose (1930 – 2002), later the countess of Snowdon.
The duchess accompanied her husband on a lengthy tour of Australasia (1927) and, with the abdication of his elder brother Edward VIII (1936), he ascended the British throne as George VI. The new queen accompanied her husband on state visits to Paris (1938), and then to Canada and the USA (1939), all of which proved great personal successes for her, and she became an intensely popular figure, both at home, and abroad. She was present with the king and their daughters, when Buckingham Palace was bombed by the Germans (1940), and earned the universal respect and admiration of the British people when she accompanied the king on visits to the heavily damaged areas, climbing throught the rubble dressed in furs and high heels, and speaking to victims at first hand. She toured South Africa (1947), becoming the only British queen to do so.
With her husband’s early death (1952), she became the queen mother, a rank she held for five decades. She continued to undertake public duties, flying thousands of miles annually, as a goodwill amabassador for Britain and the Commonwealth. She never fully retired, and eventually bought the Castle of Mey, on the Pentland Firth, in Scotland, as her particular home in Scotland, and spent much time and effort with its restoration. Her daughter later appointed her as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (1978), making her the first woman to hold that ancient office.  Queen Elizabeth survived the marriage and divorce of her favourite grandchild, Prince Charles with Diana Spencer, the subsequent death of Diana (1997), and witnessed the growth of her great-grandsons, William and Harry to adulthood, before her own death. Queen Elizabeth died in London (March 30, 2002), aged in her one hundred and second year, surviving her daughter Margaret by only a few weeks. She was interred within St George’s Chapel, Windsor, Berkshire, with her late husband.

Elizabeth Caroline of Great Britain – (1740 – 1759)
Hanoverian princess
Princess Elizabeth Caroline was born (Dec 30, 1740) at Norfolk House, St James’s Square, London, the second daughter of Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, and his wife Augusta, the daughter of Freiedrich II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. The princess was the paternal granddaughter of King George II (1727 – 1760) and his wife Caroline of Ansbach, and was younger sister to George III (1760 – 1820). Elizabeth Caroline sufferred from ill-health from birth, and was always considered delicate. With the early death of her father (1751) she lived sequestered from both the court and society at Leicester House with all her siblings, under the strict guardianship of her widowed mother. Princess Elizabeth Caroline died (Sept 4, 1759) aged eighteen, at Kew Palace. She was buried in Westminster Abbey, London.

Elizabeth Georgiana Adelaide of Great Britain – (1820 – 1821)
Hanoverian princess
Princess Elizabeth was born (Dec 10, 1820) the second daughter of Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence (later King William IV 1830 – 1837), and his wife Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen. She was born six weeks premature but was expected to survive. Lady Jerningham recorded in her diary that ‘the Duchess of Clarence was delivered of a princess … named after the first Queen Elizabeth – but I trust, not son sanguinary.’ For the length of her short life Elizabeth displaced her first cousin Victoria as the heiress to the British throne. She died unexpectedly (March 4, 1821) at St James’s Palace, of an entanglement of the bowels, a condition for which there was then no surgical operation possible. Princess Elizabeth was interred within St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in Berkshire, where her monument remains.

Elkins, Margreta – (1930 – 2009)
Australian mezzo soprano
Margreta Geater was born (Oct 16, 1930) in Brisbane, and learned the piano and had some vocal instruction at home. She then went on to study the dramatic arts. Geater made her stage debut in 1947 and then toured with the National Opera Company of Australia appearing as Azucena in Il Trovatore and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. She then went to England where she performed under her married name of Margreta Elkins which then retained for the rest of her considerable career.
Margreta Elkins made her debut at Covent Garden in London in Aida (1958). She also appeared as Marina in Boris Godunov and Adalgisa in Norma. She created the role of Helen of Troy in the opera King Priam (1962) by Michael Tippett. Possessed of a dynamic stage prescence Elkins performed with Maria Callas and Dame Joan Sutherland and with her eventual return to Australia (1976) she performed with the Australian Opera. Her roles during this period included Queen Herodias in Salome, Mallika in Lakme and Siegelinde in Die Walkure by Richard Wagner. Elkins later appeared with the Victoria State Opera where she performed the role of Penelope in Monteverdi’s opera Il Ritorno d’Ulisse (1980). She was appointed AM (Member of the Order of Australia) (1984).
Elkins retired in 1986 and became a vocal teacher ay the Queensland Conservatorium at Griffith University where one of her pupils was Amy Wilkinson. She later made a brief return to the stage when she appeared as Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana (2002) for Opera Queensland. Margreta Elkins died (April 1, 2009) aged seventy-eight, in Brisbane.

Ellenberger, Agnes – (1838 – 1906)
German nun
Born Karoline Ellenberger in Wetslar, to a Protestant family, she converted to Roman Catholicism (1863) and joined the Sisters of the Holy Spirit at Koblenz (1864), taking the religious name of Agnes. She was mistress of novices for nearly twenty-five years (1868 – 1891), and was then elected Mother Superior (1891 – 1903). Agnes Ellenberger died at Guls, near Koblenz, aged sixty-one (June 1, 1906). The case for her beatification was opened in 1958.

Ellenborough, Jane Elizabeth Digby, Lady    see   Digby el Mezrab, Jane Elizabeth

Ellenborough, Octavia Stewart, Lady – (1792 – 1819)
British society figure
Lady Octavia Stewart was the daughter of Robert Stewart, first marquess of Londonderry, and sister of the Prime Minister, Lord Castlereagh. Her marriage with Edward Law (1813) was a political match designed to assist his ambitions in the Foreign office, and proved successful. The marriage lasted five years, and though it remained childless, seems to have been mutually satisfactory to both partners. She died at her house in Hertford Street, Mayfair in London, aged only twenty-six (March 15, 1819). Her husband never remarried after his divorce (1830) from his second wife, Jane Digby, and ever afterwards devoted himelf to the memory of Lady Octavia. Lord Ellenborough restored an ancient Anglo-Saxon chapel on his estate at Oxenton, and had an elaborate monument erected there to her memory.

Ellenreider, Anna Maria – (1791 – 1863)
German painter
Ellenreider received early training from Joseph Einsle, the miniaturist. She had the distinction of being the first female to be admitted to the Munich Academy in Bavaria (1813), where she studied painting technique under Peter von Langer. Whilst in Rome (1822 – 1824) she attended the artistic salon that surrounded Friedrich Overbeck. Appointed painter to the royal court at Baden (1829), Ellenreider later retired to Constance, where she resided for the remainder of her life. She used mainly religious themes, and her best remembered piece, was the altar painting, Steinigung des Ll. Stephanus (1828) in the Catholic parish church at Karlsruhe. Anna Ellenreider died at Constanz, aged seventy-one (June 6, 1863).

Ellerman, Annie Winifred    see   Bryher, Annie Winifred

Ellesmere, Harriet Catherine Greville, Countess of – (1801 – 1866)
British traveller and diarist
Harriet Greville was the daughter of Captain Charles Greville. She was married (1822) to Lord Francis Egerton (1800 – 1857), the second son of the second Marquess of Stafford. Lord Francis was later created the first Earl of Ellesmere by Queen Victoria (1846). Together with her husband, Lady Egerton made a trip to Palestine in the Middle East (1840). With her return to England Lady Francis wrote, Journal of a Tour of the Holy Land, in May and June (1841), for which her husband produced the illustrations. This work was privately published and circulated for the benefit of the Ladies Hibernian School Society in London. Lady Ellesmere survived her husband as Dowager Countess of Ellesmere (1857 – 1866). She had borne him seven children including George Granville Francis Egerton (1823 – 1862), the second Earl of Ellesmere (1857 – 1862) and Admiral Francis Egerton (1825 – 1891). Lady Ellesmere died (April 17, 1866) aged sixty-four.

Ellet, Elizabeth Fries – (1818 – 1877)
American author
Born Elizabeth Lummis (Oct, 1818) at Sodus Point, New York, besides works such as Summer Rambles in the West (1853), she produced the historical works Women of the American Revolution (1848) and Pioneer Women of the West (1852). Elizabeth Ellet died (June 3, 1877), aged fifty-eight.

Ellickson, Katherine Pollak – (1905 – 1997)
American Labor economist
Ellickson was born in Yonkers, New York, and was raised in Manhattan, graduating in economics from Vassar College (1926). Ellickson began her long career in advocating education for workers at the Brookwood Labor College, and took part in field study in coal camps in West Virginia and in Southern textile mills. Later employed to perform organizational work for the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), she joined the national office and was appointed associate director of research (1942). She was appointed executive director of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women (1961), reporting directly to Eleanor Roosevelt, and assisted with the establishment of the Federal Equal Employment Opportunities Commission. Ellickson later worked briefly for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and retired in 1967. Katherine Ellickson died in La Jolla, California, aged ninety-one (Dec 28, 1997).

Ellicott, Rosalind Frances – (1857 – 1924)
British composer
Ellicott was born at Cambridge (Nov 14, 1857) the daughter of the Bishop of Gloucester and studied music under Frederick Westlakes and Thomas Wingham at the Royal Academy of Music. Her works included the overture for the Gloucester Festival (1886), the song ‘Bring the Bright Garlands’ and the choral ballad Henry of Navarre (1894). Rosalind Ellicott died in London aged sixty-six (April 5, 1924).

Ellinrata – (c855 – after 914)
Carolingian concubine
Ellinrata was mistress of the Emperor Arnulf (850 – 899) to whom she bore a daughter, also named Ellinrata, the wife of Engelschalk II, margrave of Nordmark. Around 885 the emperor married her off to Ratpot, Count of Norital, to whom she bore further children.

Elliot, Ann – (1743 – 1769)
British actress
Ellis was born at Tunbridge, Kent, the daughter of a sexton. She ran away to London, and probably worked as a prostitute before attracting the attention of the actor and author, Arthur Murphy (1760). Garrick had been unimpressed by her acting abilities, and even advised her against acting as a career, but she persevered, and made her debut as Maria in the popular farce The Citizen (1761), at the Drury Lane Theatre. The performance set the seal on her career, and the role of Maria became one of the popular staples of her repertoire. Edward Thompson recorded her as one of the notorious women of London in his work, The Meretriciad (1761), though he described her as majestic and ‘above the rest.’
Elliot later appeared at the Haymarket Theatre under the direction of Samuel Foote, appearing as Mrs Harlowe in, The Old Maid, and the title role in, Polly Honeycomb (1762). Much admired for her sprightly vivacity, she became involved in a liasion with the Duke of Cumberland, brother of George III, who deserted her shortly before her death. Ann Elliot died in Soho, London (May 30, 1769).

Elliot, Cass (‘Mama Cass’) – (1943 – 1974)
American popular vocalist
Elliot was born in Baltimore, Maryland. With her first husband, John Hendricks, she formed the singing group, Cass Elliot and the Big Three in the mid 1960’s, the group being renamed the Mugwumps. A member of the popular hippie movement in California, she soon reformed the group as The Mamas and the Papas, and they produced very popular and lasting songs, such as ‘California Dreamin’ and ‘Monday, Monday.’ Having long suffered from health problems and increasing obesity, Elliot died suddenly in London of a heart attack, aged only thirty, after supposedly choking on a piece of ham.

Elliot, Charlotte – (1789 – 1871)
British hymn writer
Elliot was born in Clapham, London, and was the granddaughter to the evangelical preacher Henry Venn. Converted in her early twenties (1813), Charlotte embarked upon a forty year correspondence with the Swiss evangelist Cesar Malan. Later struck down by a seriously debilitating illness (1821) Charlotte moved to Brighton with her family (1823) where it was thought that she would benefit from the sea air. During an eight year period (1834 – 1841) Charlotte composed almost one hundred and fifty hymns, many of which were included in The Invalid’s Handbook (1854). The most famous of her religious compositions was the popular, ‘Just as I am, without one plea,’ (1834).

Elliot, Charlotte Carnegie, Lady – (1839 – 1880)
British poet
Charlotte Carnegie was the daughter of Sir James Carnegie, and married firstly, Thomas Fotheringham, and secondly, Sir Frederick Elliot. Lady Elliot published the poetic collection Stella, and Other Poems (1867), shortly after the death of her first husband, they being published under the pseudonym ‘Florenz.’ This collection includes poems concerned with poignant human experiences such as ‘Desolate’ and ‘The Prayer of the Penitent.’ Her second volume of verse Medusa and Other Poems (1876) was dedicated to her second husband, whilst her third, Mary Magdalene and Other Poems (1880), were privately printed after her death.

Elliot, Frances – (1820 – 1898)
British traveller and diarist
Born Frances Minto, she was married twice and travelled extensively throughout Spain, Italy and the Turkish provinces in the East. She published a serious of written accounts of her adventures including Diary of an Idle Woman in Italy (1871), and Diary of an Idle Woman in Constantinople (1892).

Elliot, Jane (Jean) – (1727 – 1805)
Scottish poet
Elliot was born at Minto House, Teviotdale, the daughter of Sir Gilbert Elliot, second Baronet, of Miabo, and the sister of author Gilbert Elliot. She is credited with courageously saving her father from the Jacobites in 1745, but is best rememebered as the author of the lovely ballad, ‘The Flowers of the Forest,’ said to have been produced by her as the result of a wager between herself and her brother Gilbert. She remained unmarried. Jane Elliot died aged seventy-seven (March 29, 1805).

Elliot, Margaret – (c1832 – 1901)
British philanthropist and social worker
Elliot was the daughter of Reverend Gilbert Elliot, the Dean of Bristol. She developed an interest in assisting workhouse girls, as well as other philanthropic interests, and published several pamphlets concerning Poor Law subjects. Margaret Elliot died (Jan 11, 1901), aged about sixty-eight.

Elliot of Harwood, Katharine Tennant, Lady – (1903 – 1994)
British politician and public activist
Katharine Tennant was born (Jan 15, 1903), the second daughter of Sir Charles Tennant, first baronet (1823 – 1906), on Innerleithen, Peeblesshire, Scotland, by his second wife, Margeurite Agaranthe Miles (1868 – 1943), later the wife of Major Geoffrey Lubbock (1873 – 1932). Educated at Hemel Hempstead in London, and abroad in Paris, Katharine was married (1934) to Walter Elliot, a member of parlaiment. She appointed as CBE (Commander of the British Empire) by King George VI (1946) in recognition to her contribution to public life with her involvement during WW II with the National Association of Mixed Clubs and Girls’ Clubs.
Mrs Elliot became actively involved in politics, and was chairman of the Women’s National Advisory Committee of the Conservative Party (1954 – 1957). She twice served as a member of the Women’s Consultative Committee within the department of Employment and Productivity (1941 – 1951) and (1958 – 1970). She was then appointed as DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II (1958) and was created a life peer as Baroness Elliot of Harwood (1958). Lady Elliot received several foreign decorations including the Austrian Order of Merit (1963), and was author of the work, Tennants Stalk (1973). Lady Elliot of Harwood died aged ninety-one.

Elliott, Celeste     see   Celeste, Madame

Elliott, Grace Dalrymple – (1758 – 1823)
Scottish courtesan and traveller
Grace Dalrymple was born in Edinburgh, the daughter of Hew Dalrymple, an advocate. She was married (1771) to Sir John Elliott (1736 – 1786), twenty years her senior, but the marriage proved a disaster, and she was divorced (1774). Elliott was now supported by liasions with the rich and powerful. Her lovers included the Prince of Wales (George IV), Lord Cholmondeley, and George Selwyn, amongst others. She later travelled to France where she became the mistress of the infamous Duc d’Orleans, Philippe Egalite. With the outbreak of the revoltion, Elliott was imprisoned by the authorities, but was eventually released unharmed. She died at Ville d’Avray, near Sevres. Her unreliable memoirs were published over thirty years later by her granddaughter as Journal of My Life during the French Revolution (1859).

Elliott, Madge – (1896 – 1955)
Anglo-Australian actress and dancer
Leah Madeleine Elliott was born (May 12, 1896) at Fulham in London, and educated in Queensland, Australia. She made her stage debut as a child dancer in the production of The Blue Bird, organized by Dame Nellie Melba in Sydney (1912). Elliott quickly established herself as a performer and principal dancer in Australia, and returned to London in 1925, where she made her first appearance on the London stage at the Hippodrome in, Better Days. She then appeared in Bubbly at the Duke of York (1925), and met her future husband the actor Cyril Joseph Ritchard (1897 – 1977) and the two became an acting partnership. They appeared together in The Midnight Follies (1926) at the Metropole and in Lady Luck (1927) at the Carlton.
The couple came to Australia (1932) where they appeared in productions such as Blue Roses, and musical comedies such as, Our Miss Gibbs and, The Quaker Girl. They returned to the Saville, in London to appear in Spread it Abroad (1936) and at the ‘Q’ in The Constant Sinner (1937), and made one more visit to Australia before the outbreak of World War II. Elliot appeared in Ritchard’s production of The New Ambassador’s Review (1941) and partnered him in The Merry Widow (1943 – 1945) to entertain the troops. The couple appeared togther as Berinthia and Sir Novelty Fashion in The Relapse at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith (1947) and in The Country Wife. Madge Elliott died in New York, USA, after a long illness, aged fifty-nine (Aug 8, 1955).

Elliott, Maude Howe – (1854 – 1948)
American author, biographer, lecturer and campaign speaker
Maude Howe was born (Nov 9, 1854) in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Dr Samuel Gridley Howe, and his famous wife, Julia Ward Howe, the noted reformer and composer of the famous song ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’ (1862). Educated in Boston, Maude became the wife (1887) of the British painter, John Elliott. Elliott was best known for her collaboration with her sister, Laura Elizabeth Richards to produce the two volume biography of their mother, The Life of Julia Ward Howe (1916), for which they were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for biography (1917). Her other works included A Newport Aquarelle (1883), Roma Beata (1904), Recollections of the Civil War (1943), This Was My Newport (1944) and What I Saw and Heard in Panama (1947), as well as a biography of her husband, John Elliott, The Story of an Artist (1930). She left the volume of memoirs entitled What I Saw and Heard in Panama, AD 1930 – 1931 (1947). Mrs Elliott was a public speaker in the cause of furthering the cause of female suffrage, and the Greek government awarded her The Golden Cross of the Redeemer. Maude Howe Elliott died at Newport, Rhode Island (March 19, 1948), aged ninety-three.

Elliott, Maxine – (1868 – 1940)
American actress
Ellis born in Maine, and she first appeared on stage after joining the company of E.S. Willard (1890). Later attached to the Rose Coghlan Company, Elliott appeared in plays such as A Woman of No Importance and Diplomacy. She then joined Augustin Daly and appeared in Shakespearean roles for the first time. Elliott appeared in London as Silvia in The Two Gentlemen of Verona and as Hermia (1895). She toured Australia (1896) with her husband, Nat Goodwin, whom she later divorced. She appeared as Portia in London (1901 – 1902), where her name was famously coupled with that of King Edward VII (1901 – 1910). After her return to America, Elliott established the Maxine Elliott Theater (1908), only to retire several years later (1911). She continued to work sporadically in the USA until she retired permanently to reside in Europe (1920).

Elliott, Sarah Barnwell – (1848 – 1928)
American novelist and feminist
Elliott was born in Georgia, the daughter of Stephen Elliott, an Episcopal bishop, and his wife Charlotte Bull Barnwell. Elliott was educated privately at home and in her early twenties she moved with her family to Sewanee, in Tennessee, and most of her life was spent on the Cumberland Plateau there. She spent one year at John Hopkins University (1886) before returning to reside at home, and produced three religiously themed novels, The Felmeres (1879), A Simple Heart (1889), and, John Paget (1893). However, her fame centred on a serial she wrote entitled ‘Jerry,’ which was published in Scribner’s Magazine (1890 – 1891), and which dealt with the life of a Tennessee mountain boy in an unsentimentalized manner.
Elliott later resided in New York for seven years (1895 – 1902), and produced two more novels, The Durket Sperret (1898) and, The Making of Jane (1901). She also wrote a collection of short stories, An Incident and Other Happenings (1899), and a biography of the famous soldier and statesman, Sam Houston (1900). After her return to Sewanee, Elliott became actively involved in the women’ suffrage movement, and was elected president of the Tennesseee State Equal Suffrage Association and vice-president of the Southern States Woman Suffrage Conference. Sarah Barnwell Elliott died (Aug 30, 1928), aged eighty.

Elliott, Susan – (1942 –2007)
American-Anglo actor’s wife and writer
Born Susan Robinson (March 7, 1942) in Cleveland, Ohio, she was the daughter of a book and film critic, and was raised in the Sacred Heart convent in Washington D.C. She obtained work as an actress during the early 1960’s, and she was working as a singing waitress in Manhattan, New York, where she met the British actor Denholm Elliott (1922 – 1992) whom she later married as his second wife (1962). The couple had two children. They resided for three decades at their villa on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza until Elliott’s death from AIDS. The couple had led an open marriage, Denholm having been open concerning his bisexuality. The nearly seperated in 1970 after he made some rather harrowingly frank sexual revelations to her, but the couple remained together. Elliott collaborated with Barry turner to produce the memoir Denholm Elliott – Quest for Love (1994). Her last years were saddened by the suicide of her daughter (2003). Susan Elliott died in London (April 12, 2007) aged sixty-five.

Ellis, Anne – (1875 – 1938)
American pioneer and author
Ellis and her family resided in Colorado, and she published two volumes of rural autobiography entitled The Life of an Ordinary Woman (1929) and “Plain Anne Ellis”: More About the Life of an Ordinary Woman (1931).

Ellis, Catherine Joan – (1935 – 1996)
Australian ethnomusicologist
Born Catherine Caughie at Birregurra in Victoria, she received her education at Melbourne University and at Glasgow University in Scotland. Ellis trained as ateacher and for over twenty years (1962 – 1985) was employed as a lecturer at Adelaide University in South Australia. Her research into aboriginal culture was all encompassing, and Ellis made extensive field trips throughout central Australia to research and study Aboriginal music. She established the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music at Adelaide University (1975). A decade later she was appointed professor of music at the University of New England in New South Wales (1985). Ellis published several works including Aboriginal Music Making: a study of Central Australian music (1964) and Aboriginal Music: Education for living (1985).

Ellis, Constance – (1872 – 1942)
Australian physician
Ellis was born at Carlton in Melbourne, Victoria, the daughter of Jewish parents. She was educated at the Presbyterian Ladies’ College, and studied medicine at the University of Melbourne.
After a stint at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Ellis established her private practice and then joined the honorary staff of the Queen Victoria Hospital, being also appointed as a demonstraor and lecturer in pathology at the University of Melbourne. An active member of the Victorian Council of Women, Ellis later founded the Business and Professional Women’s Association (1925). She lectured on sex education and was especially interested in the care of infants and nursing mothers, being a council member, and later president of the Victorian Baby Health Centres Association. She remained unmarried. Constance Ellis died aged sixty-nine (Sept 10, 1942).

Ellis, Edith – (1876 – 1960)
American dramatist and transcriber
Ellis was born (June, 1876) in Coldwater, Michigan. She was married to C. Becker Furness, and she is sometimes referred to under her married name. Ellis was the author of several notable plays such as, The Wronged Man (1905), Mary Jane’s Pa (1908), Whose Bride Are You ?(1921), and, The Judson’s Entertain (1923), all presented on stage. With the novelist Edward Ellis (1840 – 1916) she wrote the play, The Last Chapter, which was produced for the stage (1930). Ellis transcribed two works by Wilfred Brandon, We Knew These Men (1942), and Love in the Afterlife (1956). Edith Ellis died (April 27, 1960) aged eighty-three.

Ellis, Edith Mary – (1861 – 1916)
British feminist, novelist, and dramatist
Ellis entered into an open marriage with Havelock Ellis (1891) but remained a confirmed lesbian, and was an associate of Olive Schreiner and Eleanor Marx-Aveling. She suffered frrom nervous disorders all her life, though she remained independent by nature. Her works included, the semi-autobiographical, Seaweed: A Cornish Idyll (1898), My Cornish Neighbours (1906), The Subjection of Kezia (1908), Attainment (1909), Love-Acre (1914), and, The Imperishable Wing (1911), which dealt with effects of depression. She made two lecture tours of America, and two collections of her lectures and essays, The New Horizon in Love and Life (1921), and, Stories and Essays (1924) were published posthumously.

Ellis, Ellen Elizabeth – (1829 – 1895)
New Zealand feminist and author
Born Ellen Colebrook, at Great Tangley Manor, near Guildford, Surrey, England, she was the daughter of a Methodist tenant farmer. Educated at Guildford where she became a sewing teacher, she married (1852) a builder named Oliver. Ellis immigrated to Auckland, New Zealand aboard the Whirlwind (1859). The marriage proved unhappy, and Ellis returned to England (1864) to arrange the education of her sons. She was summoned home by her husband’s dire financial situation, and she managed to save him from bankruptcy, producing the autobiographical novel Everything is possible to will (1882) of which her son attempted to destroy as many copies as possible. The novel was feminist in outlook and dealt with the effects of alcoholism on women within marriage, and advocated education and legal freedom for all women, and argued for birth control through sexual abstinence. In later years Ellis pleaded for the use of humanitarian conciliation to settle disputes between the white government and the Maori tribes, and complained of the damage inflicted to the Maori culture by the influence of missionaries. Ellen Ellis died in Auckland aged seventy-six (April 17, 1895).

Ellis, Emelie    see   Polini, Emelie Adeline

Ellis, Juney – (1909 – 1997)
American character actress
Ellis was best known for her appearances as middle aged matrons or maids, and began her film career as a talkative airplane passenger in The Magnetic Monster (1953). Other film credits included The Long, Long Trailer (1954) with Lucille Ball, and Desi Arnaz, where she played a waitress, The Last Wagon (1956), where she played Mrs Clinton, Joe Dakota (1957), where she appeared as Ethel Cook and the biopic Jeanne Eagels (1957) where she played Mrs Davidson. Her last film role before her retirement was the Spy in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977). Throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s Ellis also made many television appearances in such popular sitcoms as, I Love Lucy (1955) where she played a maid, Four Star Playhouse (1956), General Electric Theater (1957), Peter Gunn (1959), Ben Casey (1962), Perry Mason (1962 – 1963) as a chambermaid, Wagon Train (1957 – 1964) as Emma and latterly in, The Streets of San Francisco (1976). Juney Ellis died (July 27, 1997) aged eighty-seven.

Ellis, Mary (1) – (1794 – 1870)
British didactic writer
Born Mary Belson, she wrote several moral works for the instruction of children such as the very popular The Orphan Boy (1812) and, The Adventures of Thomas Two-Shoes (1818), which were published by William Darton. Ellis also wrote several collections of poetic verse such as Simple Truths in Verse (1812), and, The Rose (1824).

Ellis, Mary (2) – (1897 – 2003)
American-Anglo soprano and actress
Born Mary Elsas (June 15, 1897) in New York, USA, having received musical training she appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, making her debut in Puccini’s, Il Trittico (1918), and performed with Enrico Caruso. The role of Genovieffa in, Suor Angelica (1918), by Puccini, was created for her. She then began acting on the Broadway stage, appearing as Nerissa in The Merchant of Venice in New York (1922). Her four husbands included fellow actor Basil Sydney (1894 – 1968).
Ellis was later involved (1926) in a disagreement with her managers, and never performed in America again. She immigrated to Britain where she continued her acting career, and became famous performing in stage musicals written by Ivor Novello. She appeared in films such as, Bella Donna (1934), Paris Love Song (1935), All the King’s Horses (1935), Fatal Lady (1936), and The Three Worlds of Gulliver (1959). Ellis’s last film roles were in the popular television series The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1993 – 1994), when she was ninety-seven. Mary Ellis died (Jan 30, 2003) aged one hundred and five.

Ellis, Mary Baxter – (1892 – 1968)
British ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) director
Ellis was the daughter of Sir Joseph Baxter Ellis of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and was educated at the Central High School there, and at the University College in London. She remained unmarried. With the outbreak of WW I, Ellis joined the FANY Corps (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, and worked with the wounded in Belgium and France (1915 – 1919). She was honoured for her vital work at the front, being awarded the Medaille de la Reine Elisabeth and was appointed a Chevalier of the Ordre de Leopold II. Later appointed as commandant (1932) of the FANY (now the WRAC – Women’s Royal Army Corps), during WW II Ellis was made a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) (1942) and was then appointed as senior controller and deputy director of the ATS (1943 – 1945). She retired in 1947. Mary Baxter Ellis died (April 12, 1968) at West Woodburn, Hexham, Northumberland, aged seventy-five.

Ellis, Patricia – (1916 – 1970) 
American actress
Born Patricia Gene O’Brien in Birmingham, Michigan, she was a blonde leading lady of films of the 1930’s, and was, as she called herself, ‘the Queen of B pictures for Warner Brothers.’ She had three years of stage experience before making her film debut in, Three on a Match (1932) at the age of sixteen. Ellis appeared with Dick Powell and George Arliss in The King’s Vacation (1933), then with James Cagney in, Picture Snatcher (1933) and, The St Louis Kid (1934). Other films included, The Narrow Corner (1933) with Douglas Fairbanks Jr, A Night at the Ritz (1934) and, Melody for Two (1937) with James Melton. She appeared in more than forty films, but retired after her marriage (1941). Patricia Ellis died in Kansas City.

Ellis, Rebecca – (c1681 – c1720) 
British actress
Rebecca Ellis was married (c1697) James Burney (1678 – 1749) and they were the grandparents of the famous novelist Fanny Burney (Comtesse d’Arblay). Originally an actress at the Lincoln’s Inn Field Theatre, no details of her short career have survived. Tradition records that James was disinherited by his father for marrying Rebecca, who bore him fifteen children.

Ellis, Ruth – (1927 – 1955) 
Welsh murderess
Born Ruth Neilson in Rhyl, Clwyd, Wales, she was a very attractive blonde who worked as a barmaid and then nightclub hostess, and had a small daughter. In a jealous rage, she shot and killed her former lover, racing car driver David Blakely, outside a pub in Hampstead, London (April 10, 1955). The case and ensuing trial achieved lasting notoriety as a crime of passion, and it was revealed that Blakely had been trying to end their tempestuous, and often violent, relationship at the time of his death. Ruth Ellis was hanged (July 13, 1955) despite all appeals for leniency, being the last woman in Britain to receive the death penalty in the twentieth century.

Ellis, Sarah Stickney – (1799 – 1872)
British moralist author
Sarah Stickney was born at Holderness, Yorkshire, to a Quaker farmer, and married a Congregationalist missionary, William Ellis (1837). She co-founded the Rawdon House School for Girls.
Already established in her literary career by the time of her late marriage, Ellis produced a collection of short stories with moral themes in her, Pictures of Private Life (1833 – 1837). Her next work The Poetry of Life (1835) was followed by the novel Home or The Iron Rule (1836) which emphasised the importance of the mother in the family unit. Ellis is best remembered for The Women of England, Their Social Duties and Domestic Habits (1839) which went through twenty-four editions, and Family Secrets or Hints To Those Who Would Make Home Happy (1842) which carried a clear temperance message. Her ideas were satirized by William Thackeray, and fellow female novelist, Geraldine Jewsbury.

Ellis-Fermor, Una Mary – (1894 – 1958)
British writer
Una Ellis-Fermor was born (Dec 20, 1894) in London, and attended secondary school at South Hampstead prior to studying English at Somerville College at Oxford. After a stint at Manchester University, Ellis-Fermor became a lecturer (1918 – 1930) and then the Reader in English literature at Bedford College at the University of London (1930 – 1947). She travelled in the USA and studied at Yale and Columbia universities.
Her published works included Christopher Marlowe (1926), Tamburlaine (1930) for which she received the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize for Literature (1930), Jacobean Drama (1936), The Irish Dramatic Movement (1939), Shakespeare the Dramatist (1948). Professor Ellis-Fermor also translated the plays of Henrik Ibsen into English for publication in the Penguin Classics series. She published the collection of verse entitled Twenty-Two Poems (1937) under the pseudonym ‘Christopher Turnley.’

Ellmenreich, Erna – (1885 – 1976)
German soprano
Ellmenreich was born in Stuttgart, Wurttemburg, where she made her stage debut in the role of Margeurite in Gounod’s Faust at the court theatre (1908). She then performed in Stuttgart until 1924, when after a quarrel with the management she appeared only as a guest performer. She was especially remembered for her roles in Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos (1912), in Siegfried Wagner’s An allem ist Hutchen schuld (1917) and in Morder, Hoffnung der Frauen (1921), composed by Paul Hindemith. Erna Ellmenreich died (April, 1976) aged ninety, in Berlin, Prussia.

Ellmenreich, Franziska – (1847 – 1931)
German actress
Franziska Ellmenreich was born (Jan 28, 1847) at Schwerin in Mecklenburg, the daughter of the vocalist and theatrical manager Albert Ellmenreich (1816 – 1905). Franziska made her stage debut in Meiningen in Saxony (1862) and later replaced the actress Maria Seebach in Hanover. Ellmenreich later performed with success in Munich, Bavaria (1880) and then appeared in Britain, America, and Austria. She later established the German Playhouse in Hamburg and worked with that troupe for over a decade (1901 – 1912). She retired in 1915, her last appearance being at the Berlin Court Theatre before the Kaiser and the Empress Augusta Victoria. She was especially remembered in the role of Joan in, Die Jungfrau von Orleans (The Maid of Orleans), written by Johann Christoph Schiller (1881), and as Queen Mary Stuart. Franziska Ellmenreich died (Oct 20, 1931) aged eighty-four, at Herrsching am Ammersee.

Ellsworth, Jane Dewey – (1911 – 1991)
American philanthropist and charitable founder
Jane Dewey was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts, and studied speech and drama at Smith College. After a varied career, which included writing articles for magazines, minor acting on Broadway, and two years with Paramount film studios, she married Irish theatre director, Patrick Farrell. They later divorced and she remarried (1938) to television writer and producer Whitney Ellsworth. Mrs Ellsworth founded the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation in New York (1952) which funded research into this particular nerve disorder, when her own daughter became a victim of the condition at the age of fifteen. The organization headquarters were established in Chicago, Illinois, and within forty years there were fifty-three chapters of the organization throughout America. Jane Ellsworth died at Westlake Village, near Los Angeles, California, aged eighty (Aug 30, 1991).

Ellsworth, Mary Wolcott – (1830 – 1870)
American author
Mary Janvrin was born in Exter, New Hampshire, and attended the female seminary there. She won a prize for a story she submitted to a prominent literary journal in Boston (1848), and this was the beginning of her career. After her marriage Mrs Ellsworth wrote articles which were published in, Godey’s Lady’s Book and in the Boston publication Cypress Leaves (1857). She was the author of Peace; or, The Stolen Will (1857), and the young juveniles work An Hour with the Children (1860). Mary Wolcott Ellsworth died (Aug 19, 1870) at Newton, Masschusetts.

Ellyw – (fl. c480 AD – c520)
Welsh virgin saint
Usually called the daughter of Brychan, king of brecknock, and his wife Ribrawst, the daughter of King Vortigern (c386 – c461 AD), but was more probably their granddaughter. She was niece to St Eiluned (Almedha). Ellyw was patroness of Landelly, and was venerated as a saint on the Sunday before Aug 1. She is thought to be identical with St Elle, to whom a church in East Whitton, Yorkshire was dedicated.

Elmassian, Zari – (1906 – 1990)
American film vocalist
Elmassian was born in Massachusetts and prior to World War II she worked in Hollywood, doing voices for films, though her work remained mostly uncredited. She appeared as Suzette in, Naughty Marietta (1935) and as the singer in, Orchids to You and, Here’s to Romance (both 1935). The solo performer of the ‘Look for the Silver Lining’ montage in The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Elmassian was also the voice of the munchkin in The Wizard of Oz (1939). Elmassian worked as a voice stand-on for singer and actress Jeanette MacDonald in The Girl of the Golden West (1938) and Broadway Serenade (1939). She survived her film career five decades. Zari Elmassian died in Los Angeles, California, aged eighty-five (Feb 6, 1990).

Elmes, Elizabeth – (fl. 1502)
English litigant
Elizabeth Elmes was involved in a legal dispute with William Fermor of Warrington, Nottinghamshire. The case was arbitrated by Lady Margaret Beaufort, the mother of King Henry VII (1485 – 1509), at the king’s own command.

Elmhirst, Dorothy Whitney – (1887 – 1968)
American-Anglo horticulturalist and social activist
Dorothy Whitney was born in Washington, D.C., USA, the daughter of William C. Whitney, and his wife Flora Payne. Whitney was educated in prestigious private schools in New York, and married firstly (1911) Willard Straight, who was killed in action during World War I, and secondly (1925), Leonard Knight Elmhirst. In conjunction with her second husband, she re-organised their estate of Dartington Hall, in Totnes, Devon as an experimental co-educational school.
Mrs Elmhirst later financed the construction of a thirty-eight acre garden surrounding the old medieval hall, employing landscape artists Beatrix Farrand and Percy Cane. To honour her exceptional work in furthering education for children of both sexes, she was granted an honorary degree from the University of Exter (1963). Elmhirst kept an extensive gardening journal for the last twenty-five years of her life (1943 – 1968), which was published as, Gardening Diary (1968) just prior to her death. Dorothy Elmhirst died at Dartington Hall, Totnes in Devon, aged eighty-one (Dec 14, 1968).

Elmhirst, Marian Louisa Montagu-Douglas-Scott, Lady – (1908 – 1996)
British courtier and society figure
Marian Montagu-Douglas-Scott was born (June 16, 1908) the daughter of Colonel Lord Herbert Andrew Montagu-Douglas-Scott (1872 – 1944), brother to the Duke of Buccleuch, and his wife Marie Josephine Agnes (1882 – 1965), the daughter of James Andrew Edwards, of Dovercourt, Essex, a clerk in Customs. Her elder sister Alice was married (1935) to Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, younger son of George V.
Lady Marian was married firstly at the church of St Margaret at Westminster, London (1927) to Colonel Andrew Ferguson (1899 – 1966) to whom she bore two sons, John Andrew Ferguson (1929 – 1939) who died in childhood, and Ronald Ivor Ferguson (1931 – 2005) who married twice and left descendants. Her second marriage (1968) was with Air-Marshal Sir Thomas Walter Elmhirst (1895 – 1982). Through her first marriage she was the paternal grandmother of Sarah Margaret Ferguson, who was married to Prince Andrew, Duke of York, second son of Elizabeth II, and was great-grandmother to the princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. Lady Elmhirst was left a widow in 1982 and was known officially as the Dowager Lady Elmhirst (1982 – 1996). Lady Elmhirst died (Dec 11, 1996) aged eighty-eight at Dummer Down House, at Dummer in Basingstoke, Hants, her dower estate from her first marriage.

Elmore, Belle    see   Crippen, Cora

Elmslie, Christiana Deanes – (1869 – 1961)
British nurse and military matron
Elmslie was born at Carinton, near Kemnay, Aberdeen, in Scotland, the daughter of Benjamin Elmslie. Elmslie served as a nurse with Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service before being appointed matron at the outbreak of World War I. She served with nursing units in France, and was later awarded the CBE (1919) and RRC (Royal Red Cross) from King George V for her hospital work amongst the soldiers at the front. She later retired to the convent of the Holy Cross, at Findon, near Worthing, Sussex. Christiana Deanes Elmslie died aged ninety-one (July 9, 1961).

El-Nadi, Lotfia – (1907 – 2002)
Egyptian aviatrix
El-Nadi was originally employed as an airport receptionist, before she took flying lessons on the quiet, with the assistance of her mother. She later became a friend of the American flyer, Amelia Earhart. Lotfia became the first Egyptian woman to fly solo from Cairo to Alexandria (1933). She was interviewed in the documentary program, Take Off From the Sand (1996) produced by Wageh George. Lotfia remained unmarried, and resided for most of her life at Lausanne in Switzerland. Lotfia El-Nadi died aged ninety-five, in Cairo.

Eloise of Brunswick (Agglesia, Helisia) – (1353 – 1422)
Queen consort of Cyprus
Eloise was the only child of Philip, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen, and his wife Eloise of Dampierre. She married (1365) King James I (c1333 – 1398) and was the mother of King Janus (1375 – 1432) and ten other children, including Maria of Lusignan (1273 – 1321), who became the second wife of Ladislas I, King of Naples. Eloise spent some time as a hostage of the Genoese in the castle fortress of Kyrenia with her family, before being removed to Genoa. She was not imprisoned there, but lived in great poverty, and attempted to ameliorate their financial needs by taking in needlework. Her influence over her husband was so feared by the authorities that she was temporarily seperated from her husband and son, and exiled to Lombardy, but was soon allowed to return to her husband. The couple were kept in captivity until 1383, and then released on condition they left their son Janus as hostage, but he too soon obtained his freedom, and they were then reunited. Queen Eloise held the estate of Selvanesco during her widowhood (1398 – 1422), which Filippo Maria Visconti later ordered to be restored to the monks of the Certosa of Pavia in Lombardy. Queen Eloise died of the plague (Jan 25, 1422), aged sixty-eight, a few days after her daughter-in-law, Charlotte de Bourbon.

Elpheid    see   Alpais

Elphick, Bernice – (1921 – 2008)
Australian Roman Catholic nun and administrator
Born Alice Nolan Elphick in Foster, in the Gippsland region of Victoria, she was the daughter of a railway engineer. After attending school in Parkville, she went on to train as a nurse at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne. Several years later she joined the Order of the Sisters of Charity at Potts Point in Sydney, New South Wales (1943). After working as a ward sister in Hobart, Tasmania, Elphick returned to Melbourne in the same position St St Vincent’s Hospital (1949 – 1956). She was later appointed as rectress at St Vincent’s in Sydney (1963).
Sister Elphick worked with Sir Douglas Miller to establish the Garvan Institute of Medical Research (1963) with a large donation from the Garvan family. She was then appointed as sister in charge of St Vincent’s Private Hospital, and instigated the new rebuilding program, which culminated with the establishment of the St Vincent’s Clinic next to the hospital (1990). She spearheaded the movement to establish the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute (1994), which named a rose after her (2002) in recognition of her valuable fundraising abilities. Sister Bernice Elphick retired in 1997 and died aged eighty-six.

Elphinstone, Mary Frances Bowes-Lyons, Lady – (1883 – 1961)
Scottish aristocrat and courtier
Lady Mary Bowes-Lyons was born (Aug 30, 1883) the second daughter of Claude Bowes-Lyons, Earl of Strathmore and his wife Nina Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck. She was eldest sister to Queen Elizabeth, wife to George VI (1936 – 1952) and mother of Elizabeth II.  Lady Mary was married (1910) to Sidney Herbert (1869 – 1955), sixteenth Baron Elphinstone, whom she survived as Dowager Baroness (1955 – 1961). She was appointed DCVO (Dame Commander of the Victorian Order) by her royal brother-in-law (1939). Lady Elphinstone died (Feb 8, 1961) aged seventy-seven.

Elpinike – (c510 – after 451 BC)
Greek patrician
Elpinike was the daughter of Miltiades and his first wife, an Athenian. She was half-sister to the famous statesman Kimon, and the Thracian princess Hegesipyle was her stepmother. Elpinike possessed a notorious reputation, and was accused during her life, and this is recorded by the Roman historian Plutarch, of incestuous relations with Kimon, and of a liasion with the painter Polygnotus. When Polygnotus was painting his portrait of the Trojan women for the Peisianecteum (Painted Colonnade), Elpinike’s features appear in the person of Laodice. Elpinike was wife to the rich nobleman Kallias, and when he was on trial, she successfully pleaded with Perikles to interced on her brother’s behalf. Despite this, she is later said to have publicly rebuked Perikles for making war on his own countrymen. Her son Hipponikus (c490 – 424 BC) became a general in the Archidamian war, being killed at the battle of Delium.

Elsie, Lily – (1886 – 1962)
British actress and vocalist
Elsie was born at Wortley, near Leeds, and made her first stage appearance at Manchester, in Lancashire at the age of ten (1896) and then in vaudeville halls as ‘Little Elsie.’ Possessed of great beauty and charm, Elsie made her first noteworthy appearance in the West End in the character of Princess Soo-soo in, A Chinese Honeymoon at the Old Strand Theatre, and had great success with the popular American song ‘Egypt.’ She later sang in, The Little Michus at the Daly Theatre, and created the small part of the Chinese maid in, See-See.
Elsie created the male role of ‘Lally’ in, The New Aladdin at the Gaiety theatre because of the illness of actress Gertie Millar, who forcibly encouraged Elsie to learn the role of Sonia in Lehar’s The Merry Widow, which would make her famous and the popular rage of London (1907). Other roles included Alice in the, Dollar Princess, Franzi in A Waltz Dream, and Angele in the Count of Luxembourg, and the Irish costume play, Mavourneen in which she appeared with Sir Beerbohm Tree. She appeared at the Palace Theatre on Pamela (1927) with Owen Nares, and her last stage appearance was as the leading lady in Novello’s, The Truth Game at the Daly Theatre (1929). Elsie then retired from the stage. Lily Elsie died in London aged seventy-six (Dec 16, 1962).

Elsner, Gisela – (1937 – 1992)
German writer
Elsner was born (May 2, 1937) in Nuremburg. She studied in Vienna from 1956, and then resided in various European cities. Gisela Elsner was best known for her novels, Die Riesenzwerge (1964) which satirized bourgeouis life and values, and Abseits (1982). Gisela Elsner committed suicide (May 13, 1992) aged fifty-five, in Munich, Bavaria.

Elsner, Ilse – (1910 – 1996)
German politician
Elsner was born in Berlin, Prussia, the daughter of a wood sculptor. She was originally emplyed as a foreign language secretary before obtaining a doctorate in political science in Hamburg (1936). Elsner served firstly as economic editor of the Hamburger Echo (1946 – 1950), and then as editor of the Die Welt newspaper (1951 – 1961). A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlandes) in the Germany Budestag (1961 – 1970), and a member of the Hamburg senate (1970 – 1974), elsner also served as senator for health. Ilse Elsner died in Hamburg aged eighty-six (Dec 15, 1996).

Elsom, Isobel – (1893 – 1981)
British stage and film actress
Born Isobel Reed, she was later married to the noted director, Maurice Elvey (1887 – 1967). Her film credits included Ladies in Retirement (1941), You Were Never Lovelier (1942), Of Human Bondage (1946), The Ghost and Mrs Muir (1947) with Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney, Desiree (1954), The Miracle (1959), and My Fair Lady (1964) with Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison.

Elssler, Anna – (1794 – 1863)
Austrian dancer
Anna was born (Feb 14, 1794) in Vienna, the sister of Fanny, Therese Elssler. She was cousin to Hermine Elssler. Anna was trained to perform with her sisters, under the instruction of Friedrich Horschedt. Anna performed with the company of the Kartnertortheater in Vienna, but later retired (1832) in order to care for her widowed father. Anna Elssler died (April 7, 1863) aged sixty-nine.

Elssler, Fanny – (1810 – 1884)
Austrian ballerina
Franziska Elssler was born at Gumpendorf near Vienna, the daughter of Johann Elssler (1769 – 1843), a valet who worked as a copyist for the composer Franz Haydn. She was the younger sister of Therese Elssler. Having received formal dance training, she first appeared on stage in the Paris Opera in an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s, Tempest (1834). Her warmth and spontaneous dancing style quickly rivalled the talent of the reigning favourite, Marie Taglioni. Elssler was the first major dancer to incorporate theatrical folk-dance into her performances, dancing the Spanish cachucha in, Le Diable boiteux (1836), and the Polish cracovienne in, La Gypsy (1839). She published her correspondence and diaries as The Letters and Journals of Fanny Elssler. Written Before and after Her Operatic Campaign in the United States. Including Her Letters from New York, London, Paris, Havanna etc. (1845) and retired in 1851. Fanny elssler died in Vienna, aged seventy-four (Nov 27, 1884).

Elssler, Hermine – (1811 – 1895)
Austrian dancer
Hermine was born (April 7, 1811) in Gumpendorf, and was cousin to the more famous Elssler sisters, Anna, Fanny, and Therese. Hermine performed with the company of the Kartertortheater in Vienna (1824 – 1836). She later lived in London, England (1837 – 1849), and established a scholarship at the University of Vienna. Hermine Elssler died (March 17, 1895) aged eighty-three, in Vienna.

Elssler, Therese – (1808 – 1878)
Austrian dancer
Elssler was born in Vienna, the elder sister of Fanny Elssler. Trained as a dancer, she was feted throughout Europe and sometimes performed with her sister. After retiring from the stage herself, Therese established herself as a choreographer, becoming one of the few female teachers at this period. Elssler was later morganatically married (1850) to Prince Adalbert of Prussia (1811 – 1873), the nephew of King Frederick William III (1797 – 1840), and was granted the title of Baroness von Barnim. Therese Elssler died (Nov 19, 1878) aged seventy.

Elstob, Elizabeth – (1683 – 1756) 
British Anglo-Saxon scholar
Elstob was born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Her parents died whilst she was a child and her uncle became her guardian. Despite his discouragement she became proficient in eight languages.
Elstob later went to live with her brother, the cleric William Elstob, who had been educated at Eton, Cambridge, and Oxford. The scholar George Hickes encouraged her to publish her own works An English-Saxon Homily on the birthday of St Gregory (1709), and Rudiments of Grammar for the English Tongue ….. with an Apology for the Study of Northern Antiquities (1712) her scholarly achievements being recognized in her lifetime. With the death of her brother (1715), Elstob failed in an attempt to make a living running a school, and was saved from penury through the intervention of finances provided by several highly placed society ladies. She later took the post of governess to the children of the Duchess of Portland.

Elstorf, Ida von – (fl. c1040 – c1060)
German heiress
Ida was the second daughter of Liudolf of Brunswick, margrave of Friesland, and his wife Gertrude, the daughter of Hugh VI, count of Egisheim and Nordgau. Her elder sister, Matilda of Brunswick, was the first wife of Capetian king of France, Henry I (1032 – 1060). The German chronicle the, Annales Stadenses, refers to her as Ida nobilis femina de Suevia nata, in villa Elsthorpe. The villa referred to was Ida’s dower, which she brought from her father. She was married firstly to Luitpold, count of Stade (died before 1055) to whom she bore several children. Ida remarried secondly (1055) to Count Dedo of Dietmarschen, and then thirdly and lastly (1058) to Dedo’s kinsman Count Etheler of Diethmarschen. Both her last husbands were killed in battle. At her death, her properties and estates were inherited by her kinsman Lothar Udo IV, count of Stade.
Of her children by Liutpold, her daughter Oda of Stade was married twice and left issue, her first husband being the Russian prince, Vladimir Jaroslavitch (1020 – 1052) who ruled briefly as prince of Novogorod. Through this daughter, Ida was ancestress of the Russian princely dynasties ruling in Przemysl, Galicia, Siewersk, and Novgorod. She was also ancestress of the Polish dukes of Poznan and the counts of Brunn. Her son, Ekbert of Stade, was murdered at Wickstade, near Elstorf, and left no posterity. By one of her last two husbands, she was the mother of Burchard von Diethmarschen (died 1130) who was elected as of Treves, but was murdered by Hermann von Winzenburg. Her daughter Richenza of Stade became the wife of Count Egilmar II of Oldenburg, and left issue, making Ida the ancestress of that ancient family.

Elstrude     see    Elfrida of Flanders

Elsuit – (fl. c980 – c1000)
German nun
Elsuit was the sister of Rikdag, Margrave of Meissen (979 – 985), and was aunt of Karl, count of Schwabengau (992 – 1014). With her brother’s death Elsuit founded the abbey of Gerbstedt and had his remains interred there (985). She then became a nun and was appointed as first abbess of that house. The Annalista Saxo refers to her as Ricdagus cum sorore sua nominee Elsuit. Her niece Gerburga of Meissen (c975 – 1022) became abbess of Quedlinburg.

Elswitha     see    Eahlswith of Gainas

Elton, Mary Agnes Elton, Lady – (1847 – 1925)
British baronetess (1883 – 1920)
Mary Elton was the third daughter of Sir Arthur Hallam Elton, seventh baronet, of Somerset, and his first wife Rhoda Susan Willis, the widow of Captain James Baird. Her father, who had inherited the baronetcy in 1853, had no sons, so Mary Agnes was married (1868) to his next male heir, her first cousin, Lieutenant-Colonel Edmund Harry Elton (1846 – 1920), who succeeded her father to the baronetcy (1883) as Sir Edmund Harry Elton, eighth baronet, of Bristol, Somerset (1717). With her husband’s death she became the Dowager Lady Elton (1920 – 1925).
Lady Elton died (Feb 28, 1925) aged seventy-eight. She left five children,

• Sir Ambrose Elton (1869 – 1951). He succeeded his father as the ninth baronet (1920 – 1951). He was a barrister at the Middle Temple, and was married and left descendants.
• Kathleen Agnes Rhoda Elton (1871 – 1950). She was married (1903) to Major Guy Molesworth Kindersley, OBE, and left descendants.
• Winifred Lucy Elton (1873 – 1951). She was married Major Arthur Herbert Platt, of the Dorset Regiment, and left descendants.
• Lieutenant Bernard Arthur Elton (1874 – 1938). He died unmarried.
• Angela Mary Elton – (1877 – 1950). She died unmarried.

Elton, Rhoda Susan Willis, Lady – (1819 – 1873)
British baronetess (1853 – 1873)
Rhoda Willis was the daughter of James Willis, of Atherfield and Freshwater House on the Isle of Wight. She was married firstly to Captain James Charles Baird, of the 15th Hussars, and secondly (1841) to Arthur Hallam Elton (1818 – 1883) as his first wife. Elton succeeded his father (1853) as Sir Arthur Elton, seventh baronet of Bristol, Somerset (1717). Lady Elton died (Nov 1, 1873) aged fifty-four, and left three daughters,

• Laura Beatrice Elton (1842 – 1911). She was married George Louis Monck Gibbs, of Belmont, Somerset, a relative of Lord Aldenham, and left descendants.
• Octavia Maria Elton (born 1842). A twin with her sister, she died in early infancy.
• Mary Agnes Elton (1847 – 1925). She was married her cousin, Sir Edmund Harry Elton, eighth baronet, and left descendants.

Elveden, Lady   see   Iveagh, Gwendolen Florence Mary Onslow, Countess of

Elvey, Isobel   see   Elsom, Isobel

Elvira Alfonsez – (1078 – after 1151)
Spanish Infanta
Elvira Alfonsez was the daughter of Alfonso VI, king of Castile and his mistress Ximena Nunez de Munoz. She was raised at her father’s court and was married firstly (1094) to Raymond VI, count of Toulouse (1042 – 1105), and secondly to Fernando Fernandez. Elvira accompanied her husband to Palestine (1096 – 1105) and William Jordan of Cerdagne ruled Toulouse as regent for her infant son, Alfonso I Jordan (1104 – 1148), who had been born in Palestine.

Elvira Garcia – (c975 – 1028)
Queen consort of Castile
Elvira Garcia was the daughter of Garcia I Fernandez, count of Castile and his wife Ava, the daughter of Ramon II, count of Ribagorza. She was married (Nov, 991) to Vermudo II the Gouty, King of Leon and Castile, to whom she bore three children. With the death of her husband (999), Queen Elvira ruled as regent for their son Alfonso V (994 – 1028), sharing power for almost a decade with the powerful Menendo Gonzales, count of Galicia, whose daughter Elvira Menendez was married to her son. The queen mother later retired from court (1007) and became a nun at the convent of San Isidoro de Leon. Queen Elvira died (after May 1, 1028) in her convent, and was buried there.

Elvira Gutierrez – (c879 – 921)
Queen consort of the Asturias (914 – 921)
Elvira Gutierrez was the daughter of count Hermenegildo Gutierrez and his wife Hermesinda Gatonez, the daughter of Gaton Sanchez, count of Viero. Elvira was married (c895) to Ordono II Alfonsez, King of the Asturias, Leon, and Galicia (c873 – 924), as his first wife. She became queen (914) when her husband succeeded his father Alfonso III. Elvira became the mother of Ramiro II Ordonez, King of Leon (c897 – 951). Queen Elvira died aged in her early forties (Sept/Oct, 921).

Elvira Menendez – (c995 – 1022)
Queen consort of Castile (1013 – 1022)
Elvira Menendez was the daughter of Menendo Gonzales, Count of Galicia. She was married (1013) to Alfonso V Vermudez (994 – 1028), King of Castile and Leon. Her daughter Sanchia (1013 – 1067) became the wife of Ferdinando I, King of Castile, making her the maternal grandmother of the famous Castilian ruler, Alfonso VI (1040 – 1109). Queen Elvira died (Dec, 1022) at Leon, and was interred within the Abbey of San Isidoro.

Elvira of Castile (1) – (1038 – 1101)
Spanish ruler of Toro
Infanta Elvira Fernandez was the younger daughter of Ferdinando I, King of Castile (1035 – 1065) and his wife Infanta Sanchia of Leon, the daughter of King Alfonso V. Her order of birth within the royal family was recorded by the Chronicon Regium Legionensium and by the Historia Silense. She was the sister to kings Sancho II (1065 – 1072) and Alfonso VI (1072 – 1109) of Castile. King Ferdinando had jointly granted his daughters all the monasteries and abbeys of the kingdom together with their revenues, so that neither should have to wed if they did not desire the married state. Both chose to maintain their independence.
With the king’s death Elvira received the appanage of Toro which she ruled as titular queen, though the real extent of her powers remain impossible to determine. She perhaps ruled as a sort of viceroy on behalf of her brothers. Toro later developed into the lordship of Infantado. Together with her brother Sancho domna Elvira germana Regis was present when the assembled bishops of Pamplona, burgos and Castilla la Vieja confirmed the privileges previously granted to the Abbey of San Millan de la Cogolla (1067) and gave their royal assent by charter. With her elder sister Urraca Elvira granted the church of Auca to the Church of Santa Maria del Campo di Gamonara (1074). The two sisters jointly with their brother Alfonso VI consented to donations made to the Abbey of Cluny in France.
Later genealogical sources which claim Elvira as the wife of Garcia Garcias (c1022 – 1087), Seigneur de Aza are incorrect, Elvira lived and died a virgin. Her death (Nov 11, 1101) aged sixty-three as la Ifant Geloira was recorded by the Anales Toldeanos (which mistakes the year of her death as 1099).

Elvira of Castile (2) – (c1102 – 1135)
Queen consort of Sicily (1130 – 1135)
Born the Infanta Elvira Alfonsez, she was the daughter of Alfonso VI, King of Castile and his fifth wife, the Moorish princess Zaida, renamed Isabella, the widow of Al-Mamun, king of Seville. Elvira was married (1117) to Roger II, King of Sicily (1095 – 1154) and bore him five children, including Roger, Duke of Apulia and Count of Leece (1119 – 1148), and King William I (1130 – 1166). She spent most of her time with her children in Palermo, whilst Roger was engaged in business throughout his kingdom, and they saw each other infrequently. Despite this, their marriage apepars to have been a congenial one, and the king went into a reclusive depression for some time after her death (Feb 8, 1135).

Elvira of Hauteville (Albinia) – (c1183 – after 1216)
Norman heiress and titular queen regnant (1197).
Sometimes called ‘Albinia’ in historical sources, this was probably a nickname. Elvira was the second daughter of Tancred of Leece, King of Sicily (1189 – 1194), and his wife Sybilla di Medania, the daughter of Ruggiero di Medania, Count of Acerra. She was sister to the child kings, Roger III (1194) and William III (1194 – 1197). After the emperor Henry VI dispossessed her brother of his kingdom (1194), Elvira was taken to Germany with her mother and sisters, and confined in the convent of Hohenburg in Alsace (1200).
After her elder sister Sybilla retired to become a nun, Princess Elvira became the eldest heiress of the legitimate line of Tancred of Leece with the death of their brother William. Her first marriage with Walter III (Gautier) (died 1205), Count of Brienne, was arranged by Philip II of France (1180 – 1223) so that her husband could lay legitimate claim to the throne of Sicily in the face of the Hohenstaufens. This marriage was also recorded by the chronicler Villehardouin, though he did not name the lady. Brienne was granted the title of Duke of Apulia, and attempted an invasion of Sicily in order to enforce his claim to the principality of Tarento, but died (June, 1205) whilst besieging Sarno Castle. Her second husband (1206) was Giacomo Sanseverino, Count of Triario, and her third was Tegrino Guidi Palatino, Count di Toscana, all her husbands were recorded in the chronicle Thomas Tusci Gesta Imperatorum et Pontificum. Elvira was living in 1216 and died at some unknown date. Her heir was the posthumous child of her first husband, Walter IV the Great (Gautier) (1205 – 1244), Count of Brienne, and Count of Askalon and Jaffa in Palestine. He was married and left descendants. Elvira’s daughter, whose name is not recorded, was said to have been seduced and dishonoured by the Emperor Friedrich II.

Elvira Ramirez – (c937 – c986)
Spanish queen and ruler,
Infanta Elvira was the daughter of Ramiro II, King of Castile and Leon, and his wife Teresa Florentina, daughter of Sancho I, King of Navarre. Elvira never married and took vows of virginity, but remained active in court and political life. From 966 – 975 she was regent of Castile for her nephew Vermudo II, whose guardian she also was. Surviving charters from the abbey of Sahagun reveal that she was granted the royal title and was regarded as queen (regina) whilst exercising the powers of regency. Documents from the period of Elvira’s regency bear the signatures of powerful members of the nobility, which reveals that she had the backing of the aristocratic classes, and that she maintained good relations with the Arab caliphate in Cordoba during her period in power, and also with the adjacent kingdom of Navarre.  Elvira retired from public life in Dec, 975 and King Ramiro granted her the estate of Campos Goticos, which grant was witnessed by several of her former supporters.
Queen Elvira died a nun.

Elwell, Clara Ann – (1869 – 1948)
Australian civic activist
Clara Lancaster was born in Frederickton, New South Wales, the daughter of of James Henry Lancaster. She was married (1914) to Laurence Bedford Elwell. Elwell served with the Red Cross in Egypt and Paris during World War I, being in charge of the Red Cross Hospital ‘Clitherto.’ After the war she became actively involved in social and community activities, becoming president of the Housewives’ Association and a foundation member of the Queensland CWA (Country Women’s Association). She received the Jubilee Medal (1934) in recognition of her services to the community. Clara Elwell died in Brisbane, Queensland, aged eighty-one (Sept 7, 1948).

Elwes, Polly – (1928 – 1987)
British television producer
Elwes was had originally been a journalist and had married to the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) celebrity Peter Dimmock (born 1920), the presenter of the popular sports program Sportsview, and herself hosted the current affairs program Tonight b ecoming the first female television reporter. Polly Elwes produced several works for television as well as appearing herself, most notably as the Storyteller in the five episodes of the, Jackanory series (1970). Prior to this elwes had appeared in an episode of, Thirty-Minute Theatre (1969), and was the presenter in, How We Used to Live (1968).

Elwes, Winefride Mary Elizabeth Fielding, Lady – (1868 – 1959)
British civic leader
Lady Winefride Fielding was the fourth daughter of Rudolph William Basil Fielding (1823 – 1892), the eighth Earl of Denbigh and his second wife Mary Berkeley, the daughter of Robert Berkeley, of Spetchley Park, Worcestershire. She became the wife (1889) of Gervase Henry Elwes (1866 – 1921) of Roxby and Brigg, Lincolnshire, and of Great Billing, Northants, to whom she bore eight children. Her husband was killed in a railway accident in the USA and she survived him forty years as the Dowager Lady Elwes (1921 – 1959). She served as the national president of the Catholic Women’s League and was a member of the National Adoption Society. Lady Elwes died (Feb 24, 1959) aged ninety. Her children were,

• Robert Geoffrey Gervase John Elwes (1890 – 1956). He became lord of the Manor of Roxby and Bigby and was married but died childless.
• Lieutenant-Colonel Philipp Elwes (1892 – 1962). He became a clergyman and left issue.
• Lieutenant-Colonel Guy Robert Elwes (born 1895). He married and left issue.
• Monsignor Aubrey Valentine Denis Elwes (born 1898). He entered the Catholic priesthood.
• Sir Richard Everard Augustine Elwes (1901 – 1968). He became a Judge of the Queen’s Bench and left issue.
• Lieutenant-Colonel Simon Edmund Vincent Paul Elwes (1902 – 1975), the noted artist. He married and left issue.
• Margaret Mary Katherine Clare Elwes (born 1903). She became the wife of Colonel John Eric William Graves Sandars (1906 – 1974) and left issue.
• Clare Mary Alice Elwes (born 1905). She became the wife of Sir John Henry Keswick (1906 – 1982), KCMG (1972), of Portrack House, Holywood, Dumfries, and left issue.

Elwyn-Jones, Lady      see     Binder, Pearl

Ely, Jane Hope-Vere, Marchioness of – (1821 – 1890)
British courtier
Jane Hope-Vere was born (Dec 3, 1821) in Edinburgh, Scotland, the fourth daughter of James Hope-Vere, of Craigie Hall and Blackwood, and his wife Lady Elizabeth Hay, the daughter of James Hay, twelfth Marquess of Tweeddale. A famous society beauty, Jane was married in London (1844) to John Henry Loftus, third marquess of Ely (1814 – 1857) and was the mother of John Henry Wellington Loftus, fourth marquess of Ely (1849 – 1889) who married and left descendants. Lady Ely was prominent at court as the especial friend to Queen Victoria for many decades, as well as becoming a friend to the exiled French empress Eugenie. She served Victoria as lady of the bedchamber for thirty years (1851 – 1889), retiring in 1889 to become an extra lady-in-waiting. For her years of service the queen appointed her to the VA (Royal Order of Victoria & Albert). Lady St Helier in her reminiscences Memoirs of a Vanished Generation recorded Lady Ely as ‘A handsome woman of imperious character and temper. She brooked no contradiction from anyone – husband, child or friend, and in her large family she was an autocrat.’ Lady Ely died (June 11, 1890) at Middlesex, London, aged sixty-eight and was interred in Kensal Green cemetery. Her death greatly upset Queen Victoria who had cherished her friendship and mentioned her frequently in her Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands (1869).

Elzbieta    se also   Elisabeth, Elizabeth

Elzbieta Jagiella (Elisabeth, Elizabeth) – (1482 – 1517)
Princess of Poland
Elzbieta was born (Nov 13, 1482) the seventh and youngest daughter of Kazimierz II Jagiello, King of Poland (1445 – 1492) and his wife Elisabeth, the daughter of Albert V, King of Hungary and Bohemia. Elzbieta was married (1515) at the rather late age of thirty-two, to Duke Friedrich II of Leignitz in Silesia (1480 – 1547) as his first wife. She was duchess consort of Leignitz for barely eighteen months (1515 – 1517). Duchess Elzbieta died (Feb 16, 1517) aged thirty-four, from the effects of childbirth. Her only child, the Duchess Jadwiga of Leignitz (Hedwig) died aged only a few days (Feb, 1517).

Elzer, Margarethe Anna Elisabeth – (1889 – 1966)
German novelist
Born Margarethe Courths (Oct 19, 1889) at Halle, she was the daughter of the popular novelist, Hedwig Courths-Mahler. Over more than a thirty year period (1921 – 1953), Elzner wrote and published over fifty novels, using the same style perfected by her mother, whose plots consisted of bourgeois heroines who achieve happiness after marrying rich, aristocratic husbands. She used various pseudonyms such as Anna Richter and Hanna Dueren. Examples of her work included Die Fahrt ins Gluck (1923), and Der Mann ihres Herzens (1935). Margarethe Elzer died at Tegernsee, aged seventy-six (Aug 26, 1966).

Embriaco, Adelasia – (fl. c1110 – c1135)
French crusader noblewoman
Perhaps of Provencal origins, Adelasia became the wife of Hugh II Embriaco (c1070 – c1135), of Genoese origins, who became the Lord of Jebail (Giblet) in Palestine. She survived her husband. The Cartulaire de Saint-Sepulchre de Jerusalem recorded a donation made by Adalais uxore que fui Hugonis Ebraici and her son Guillaume (1135) to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Adelasia bore her husband several sons but the indentity of only one is known, Guillaume II Embriaco (c1110 – c1159) who succeeded his father as Lord of Jebail (c1135 – c1159) and left issue.

Embriaco, Sancha – (fl. c1135 – after 1157)
French crusader noblewoman
Born into a noble Provencal family which remains unidentified, Sancha became the wife (c1135) of Guillaume II Embriaco (c1110 – c1159), the Lord of Jebail (Giblet) in Palestine (c1135 – c1159). Her origins were recorded in the Lignages d’Outremer which described her as une Provensale … Sanche, and named her five children. A surviving charter (1157) recorded that Guillaume Embriaco sold estates in Tripoli with the consent of Sancha and their eldest son Hugh. Her date of death remains unknown. Sancha’s children were,

• Hugh II Embriaco (c1137 – c1179). He succeeded his father as Lord of Jebail (c1159 – c1179) and was married and left issue.
• Raymond Embriaco (c1140 – after 1204). He became Lord of Biblio and Constable of Tripoli, and was married and left issue.
• Bertrand I Embriaco (c1145 – c1217). He became Lord of Jebail (1193 – c1217) and was married and left issue.
• Guillaume Embriaco (c1150 – after 1204). He was married and left issue including the lords of Besmedin.
• Agnes Embriaco (died after 1179). She became the second wife of Gremont II (died c1220), Seigneur of Bethsan (Bessan) and left issue.

Embury, Emma Catherine – (1806 – 1863)
American poet, essayist, and story writer
Emma Manley was born (Feb 22, 1806) in New York, the daughter of a physician. Shewas married (1828) to Daniel Embury, a banker from Brooklyn.
Emma Embury’s first published work, Guido, a Tale (1828), was published under using the pseudonym ‘Ianthe.’ Her other works included, Constance Latimer; or, The Blind Girl (1838), Love’s Token Flowers (1846), and, Glimpses of Home Life (1848). Her poetic verses were published posthumously as, The Poems (1869), and were her essays as, Selected Prose Writings (1893).
Emma Embury died in Brooklyn (Feb 10, 1863), aged fifty-six.

Emeltrude of Alsace – (fl. c700 – after 737)
Merovingian duchess
Her family of provenance remains unidentified. Emeltrude was the wife of Eberhard (c695 – 747) who succeeded his father Adalbert I as joint Duke of Alsace (722) with his brother Luitfried I. the couple had an only son, name unknown, who died prior to 715 when Duke Eberhard founded the Abbey of Murbach with the consent of his brother Luitfried and et coniugis sue Emeltrudis. A surviving foundation charter (March 23, 737) from the Annales Murbacenses recorded that Eberhard et coniunx mea Chimildrudis granted estates to the royal abbey of Weissenburg.

Emerentiana – (c291 – 304 AD)
Roman Christian martyr
Her mother served as wet-nurse to the famous martyr St Agnes. Emerentiana herself was being trained in the Christian religion. She was apprehended praying at Agnes’s tomb, and reviled the pagans for killing the saint. She was stoned to death by the angry crowd. Emerentiana was venerated as a saint (Jan 23) and was represented in religious art as a young girl with stones in her lap, or with lilies in her hand.

Emerita – (c120 – 178 AD)
Edessan Christian saint
From modern day Urfa, in Turkey, and sometimes called Emerentia, the princess was the sister to King Agbar IX of Emesa, called Lucius after his conversion. She also converted to Christianity and her brother wrote to the Christian pope, Eleutherius, to beg for teachers of the Christian faith to be sent to Edessa. Emerita remained unmarried, and the Christian church honoured her as a saint (May 26 and Dec 8). Worthless legend called Emerita the daughter of Lucius, supposedly the first Christian king of Britain. They are said to have abandoned their toyal rank to become missionaries in Bavaria and Switzerland. Lucius is said to have become Bishop of Chur, in Coire, in the Le Grisons, and to have sufferred martyrdom with Emerita (156 AD). There was a saint named Lucius honoured there as a martyr, but it was a different person altogether.

Emerson, Anita    see   Loos, Anita

Emerson, Ellen Louisa Tucker – (1809 – 1831) 
American literary figure and letter writer
Ellen Tucker the first wife (1829) of the noted philosopher and poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882). Her letters to Emerson prior to their marriage were edited by Edith Gregg, and form the basis of the memoir Our First Love: The Letters of Ellen Louisa Tucker to Ralph Waldo Emerson (1962).

Emerson, Ellen Russell – (1837 – 1907)
American ethnologist and author
Emerson was born (Jan 16, 1837) in New Sharon, Maine. She wrote, Indian Myths (1884), Masks, Heads and Faces (1894), and Nature and Human Nature (1901). Ellen Emerson died (June 12, 1907) aged seventy.

Emerson, Ellen Tucker – (1839 – 1909)
American literary figure and letter writer
Emerson was the daughter of the famous poet and philosopher, and editor, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882) and his second wife, Lidian Jackson.  She began writing letters at the age of seven and continued all her life. During the Civil War she resided in Concord, Massachusetts. Her correspondence was later edited and published posthumously as, The Letters of Ellen Tucker Emerson (1982).

Emerson, Faye Margaret – (1917 – 1983)
American film and television actress
Emerson appeared in films like, Between Two Worlds (1944), Hotel Berlin (1945), and, A Face in the Crowd (1957). She worked in television where she had two of her own programs, The Faye Emerson Show (1950), and, Faye Emerson’s Wonderful Town (1951 – 1952). She was later married (1944 – 1950) to Elliott Roosevelt (born 1910), the son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, as his third wife, and became a prominet social figure.

Emerson, Gladys Anderson – (1903 – 1984)
American biochemist
Emerson was born in Caldwell, Kansas and received her education at the Oklahoma College for Women. After receiving a fellowship, she went on to study biochemistry and nutrition at Berkely University. Herbert Evans had discovered the existence of vitamin E, but in was Emerson who managed to isolate it in its pure form, and she continued to research the role of vitamins in basic nutrition. She joined the staff of the Merck Pharmaceutical Company in New Jersey, and there engendered research into the role of vitamin B complex deficiencies if diseases such as arterio-sclerosis, and also examined the possible connections between diet and cancer. Emerson was later appointed professor of nutrition at the University of California in Los Angeles.

Emerson, Gloria – (1929 – 2004)
American journalist and newspaper correspondent
Emerson was born in New York City, and spent some time during her youth in Saigon, Vietnam, where she first began her journalistic career with The New York Times (1956). After marrying she haf quit her job but later returned to the Times (1964) and successfully persuaded her superiors to let her travel to Vietnam to cover the war. She received many awards for her work including a George Polk award for her foreign coverage, and a Matrix award from the New York Women in Communications organization. This resulted in the publication of Emerson’s famous book which chronicled the Vietnam War entitled Winners and Losers and in her famous interview in London with John Lennon and Yoko Ono concerning the anti-war movement. This was later made into the film, U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006). She had written articles for various popular magazines such as Vogue, Playboy, the Saturday Review and Rolling Stone, and was the author of Gaza, a Year in the Intifada (1991) which described a year spent in Palestine, and the novel, Loving Graham Greene (2000). Gloria Emerson committed suicide (Aug 4, 2004) aged seventy-five, in New York, after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Emerson, Hope – (1897 – 1960)
American film and television actress
Emerson was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in the film Caged (1950). Her other film credits included Casanova’s Big Night (1954), and the television program Peter Gunn (1958 – 1960).

Emerson, Lidian Jackson – (1802 – 1892) 
American literary figure and letter writer
Lidian Jackson was the second wife of the philosopher and essayist, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882), and mother of Ellen Tucker Emerson. Lidian kept a diary for a period of over seven decades (1813 – 1885). She corresponded with such important literary figures as Margaret Fuller and Jane Welsh Carlyle. Her letters were edited posthumously and published as The Selected Letters of Lidian Jackson Emerson (1987).

Emery, Audrey – (1904 – 1971)
American socialite and heiress
Anna Audrey Emery was born (Jan 4, 1904) in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter of John Josiah Emery, a wealthy real estate magnate and his wife Lela Alexander, later the wife of the British nobleman Alfred Anson. Audrey’s sister Lela Emery became the wife of the French Duc de Talleyrand. She became the wife (1926) of the Romanov Grand DukeDmitri Pavlovitch of Russia (1891 – 1941) but the marriage was not recognized by the Imperial family and was regarded as morganatic. Dmitri’s cousin the Grand Duke Kyrill granted Audrey the formal title of Princess Romanovskaia-Ilyinskaia, and she shared her husband’s subsidiary ducal title becoming the Duchess of Schleswig and Holstein-Gottorp.
Princess Romanovskaia-Ilyinskaia produced one child, Prince Paul Dmitrievitch Ilyinsky (1928 – 2004) who was born in London but later became a US citizen and served several termas as Mayor of Palm Beach in Florida. Audrey and Dmitri were divorced a decade afterwards (1937). Her second marriage with the Georgian Prince Dmitri Djordjadze was short-lived and also terminated by divorce. The second union remained childless. After her second divorce the princess resumed her maide name and became Mrs Audrey Emery. She lived at Biarritz in France until she built her own home in Cincinnati. Audrey Emery died (Nov 25, 1971) aged sixty-seven, in Palm Beach.

Emery, Eleanor Jean – (1918 – 2007)
Scottish-Canadian diplomat
Emery was born (Dec 23, 1918), the daughter of Scottish emigrants, and attended the Western Canada High School in Calgary, Alberta, and was a lecturer in constitutional history at Glasgow University in Scotland. During WW II Emery was employed by the Dominions Office (1941 – 1945), and served as assistant private secretary to Clement Attlee and then Lord Cranborne (later the fifth Marquess of Salisbury). After the war she was attached to the British High Commission in Ottawa for three years (1945 – 1948), and was posted to India and Africa, being appointed as high commissioner to Botswana (Bechuanaland) (1973 – 1977), becoming the first British woman to head a foreign diplomatic mission. She was appointed CMG (Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George) by Queen Elizabeth II (1975). During her retirement Emery resided mainly at Cambridge, and served as chairman of the UK-Botswana Society from 1984. She remained unmarried. Eleanor Emery died (June 22, 2007), aged eighty-eight.

Emery, Florence    see   Farr, Florence

Emery, Katherine – (1906 – 1980) 
American actress
Emery attended Sweetbriar College, and worked with the University Players, which included James Stewart and Henry Fonda. Her Broadway career began in 1932, but her most famous role was in 1934 when she played the character of Karen Wright in Lillian Hellman’s, The Children’s Hour. She also performed in the 1944 revival of, The Cherry Orchard, starring with Eva Le Gallienne and Joseph Schildkraut, in the role of Varya. Later in her career, Katherine appeared in films including The Locket, The Private Affairs of Bel Ami, and Isle of the Dead. Married in 1944 to Paul Eaton, later president of the California Institute of Technology, Katherine retired after 1950 to devote herself to family life. Katherine Emery died at Portland, Maine.

Emery, Winifred – (1866 – 1924)
British actress
Born Isabel Winifred Maude Emery, in Manchester, Lancashire, she was the daughter of actor Samuel Anderson Emery, and granddaughter of actor John Emery. Educated in London and at privately at home, she married (1888) Cyril Francis Maude. Emery made her stage debut at Liverpool at the age of eight (1875), and first appeared in London at the Imperial Theatre in Westminster (1879), and then at the Court Theatre under the direction of Wilson Barret. From 1881 she was a member of the company of Henry Irving at the Lyceum Theatre, and toured America and Canada twice with his troupe. She retired in 1905 after a ten year stint at the Haymarket Theatre. Winifred Emery died in Little Common, Sussex, aged fifty-seven (July 15, 1924).

Emes, Rebecca – (fl. c1790 – c1829)
British silversmith and plateworker
Rebecca was the wife of the goldsmith John Emes, who had established his successful business at Amen Corner in London. With her husband’s death Rebecca took over running the business jointly with her brother-in-law, William Emes, the executor of John’s estate, and the couple registered their mark together. Her second mark was registered jointly with Edward Barnard, and the partnership of Emes and Barnard developed into one of the largest and most prestigious silver workshops of the era. She registered her mark jointly with Barnard four more times until Barnard finally registered with his two sons (1829), by which time Rebecca had either retired or died. Examples of her work such as Georgian silver toast racks, sauce tureens, wine coasters, and goblets are preserved at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, in Washington, D.C., USA. An elaborate vase with candelabrum branches, produced by Emes and Barnard (1824) is preserved in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Emilda of Gevaudan (Eimilde) – (c963 – 1002)
French countess consort of Provence (c980 – 1002)
Emilda was the daughter of Stephen I, Count of Gevaudan in the Auvergne, and his wife Adelaide Blanche of Anjou, the daughter of Count Fulk II. Her three stepfathers were the Carolingian ruler Louis V (986 – 987), William II, Count of Provence, and Otto I William of Burgundy, King of Lombardy. Emilda became the wife of Rotbald II, Count of Provence (c953 – 1008), and left three children,

• Rotbald III (c981 – 1014). He succeeded his father as Count of Provence (1008 – 1014) and was married, leaving issue.
• Emilda of Provence (died after 1010). She became a nun.
• Theutberga of Provence (died after 1010). She was married to Armengol I (975 – 1010), Count of Urgel, and left issue.

Emilia of Gaeta – (c980 – 1036)
Italian ruler
Emilia was a member of the famous and powerful Crescenzi of Tusculani family, descendants of Theophylakt, and his daughters, Marozia ‘the Senatrix’ and Theodora the Younger. She was married at the monastery of St Giovanni Nilus the younger in Rome (997), to Duke Giovanni III of Gaeta (984 – 1008) and was the mother of Duke Giovanni IV. With her husband’s death (1008), Emilia ruled Gaeta as regent for their son until his early death (Aug, 1012). Emilia then ruled as regent for her infant grandson, Giovanni V (1012 – 1032). She successfully survived a challenge to her rule made by Leo I, cousin to her late son, whom she had expelled from the city. Until 1025 she was forced to share the regency with her younger son, Leo II, but by Feb, 1025 Emilia was sole ruler and was still organizing public and political affairs in 1029. The exact length of her regency remains unknown, but she may have remained a significant political force until her death (Jan, 1036).
During her long rule she supported the papacy and the Lombards agains the incursions of the Byzantines, and she permitted the Lombard rebel Dattus, to garrison papal troops, provided by Pope Benedict VIII at Garigliano in Gaetan territory (1012). She and her brother-in-law, Bernard II, Bishop of Gaeta, hosted a political forum at the Castel Argento in Gaeta (1014), which was attended by several powerful Italian figures such as Pandulf II of Capua, Sergio IV of Naples, and the archbishop of Capua. She later granted military support to Sergio IV, which resulted in him regaining his duchy (1027), and a treaty with Gaeta which granted Gaetans certain travelling rights within Naples (Feb, 1029).

Emilia Antwerpiana of Nassau – (1569 – 1629)
Infanta of Portugal
Princess Emilia Antwerpiana of Nassau was born (April 10, 1569) at Cologne (Koln), the daughter of William I the Silent of Nassau, Prince of Orange and his second wife, Anna of Saxony, the daughter of Maurice, Elector of Saxony. After the adultery of her mother became known, Emilia and several siblings were sent to be raised and educated in Dillenburg, with the paternal cousins, though they were later removed to the safety of Siegen to avoid a virulent outbreak of the plague (1576). Well educated, she speak French, Latin, and Greek fluently, and later acted as official hostess for her brother, Prince Maurice in The Hague, his mistress, Margaretha von Mechelen, having been one of her ladies-in-waiting.
The princess was married secretly (1597) to the Infante Emanuel of Portugal (1568 – 1638), Duke of Beja as Emanuel I, the illegitimate son of King Antonio and his mistress, Anna de Barbosa, as his first wife.  She had decided upon this course after her letter to Maurice, asking his permission, elicited no response. Despite the efforts of her brother and the Dutch government to separate the couple, they steadfastly maintained the legality of the union, and were eventually forced into exile at Weser. Movements of Spanish troops forced the couple ro return to Delft, and they were both finally reconciled with Prince Maurice (1609). Emilia was duchess consort of Beja (1597 – 1629). The couple restored the castle of Wychen as their own residence, and also resided in The Hague from 1617. Emilia was present at the deathbed of Prince Maurice (April, 1625), and took her children to reside in Geneva (1626). Her husband and eldest son retired to the Spanish Netherlands, and were there employed in the army of the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia. The Infanta died (March 16, 1629) aged fifty-nine, in Geneva, Switzerland, and was buried in Geneva Cathedral. The couple had eight children,

• Infanta Maria Belgica of Portugal (1599 – 1647). She was married to Johann Theodor de Croll, Baron de Prangins (died 1647).
• Infante Emanuel of Portugal (1600 – 1660), duke of Beja as Emanuel II. He became the Governor of Orange, was married, and left descendants.
• Infante Luis William Christopher, Marques de Trancoso (1601 – 1660). He was married and left descendants.
• Infanta Juliana Katharina of Portugal (1603 – 1680). She remained unmarried.
• Infanta Emilia Luisa of Portugal (1605 – 1670). A twin with her sister Anna, she remained unmarried.
• Infanta Anna Frisia Luisa of Portugal (1605 – 1670). A twin with her sister Emilia, she remained unmarried.
• Infanta Mauritia Eleonore of Portugal (1609 – 1679). She was married to George Friedrich (1606 – 1674), Prince of Nassau-Siegen.
• Infanta Sabina Dorothea of Portugal (1610 – 1670). She remained unmarried.

Emilia Frederica Charlotte – (1800 – 1867)
German princess consort of Lippe-Detmold (1820 – 1851)
Princess Emilia of Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen was born (April 23, 1800) the daughter of Prince Gunther Friedrich I of Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen (1794 – 1837), and his wife Caroline, the daughter of Friedrich Karl, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Emilia was married (1820) to Leopold II (1796 – 1851), Prince of Lippe-Detmold (1802 – 1851). She survived her husband as Princess Dowager of Lippe-Detmold (1851 – 1867). Princess Emilia died (April 2, 1867) aged sixty-six. She left nine children,

• Leopold III (1821 – 1875). He succeeded his father as the reigining Prince of Lippe-Detmold (1851 – 1875). He was married (1852) to Princess Elisabeth of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1833 – 1896), but they remained childless.
• Princess Luise of Lippe-Detmold 1822 – 1887). Unmarried, she was appointed as the Protestant abbess of Cappel and Lemgo, having elected to that office during infancy (1825).
• Woldemar (1824 – 1895). He succeeded his brother Leopold as the reigning Prince of Lippe-Detmold (1875 – 1895). He was married (1858) to Princess Sophia of Baden (1834 – 1904), but they remained childless.
• Princess Frederica of Lippe-Detmold (1825 – 1897). She died unmarried.
• Prince Friedrich of Lippe-Detmold (1827 – 1854). He died unmarried.
• Prince Hermann of Lippe-Detmold (1829 – 1884). He died unmarried.
• Alexander (1831 – 1905). He succeededed his brother Woldemar as reigning Prince of Lippe-Detmold (1895 – 1905). However, he proved to be mentally unstable and power was exercised by regents. He remained unmarried.
• Prince Karl of Lippe-Detmold (1832 – 1834). He died young.
• Princess Pauline of Lippe-Detmold (1834 – 1906). She died unmarried.

Emilian, Cornelia – (1840 – 1910)
Romanian journalist, memoirist, feminist, essayist and writer
Emilian was born at Zlatna, and produced the volume of reminiscences entitled Amintiri (Memories) (1886) and Omenirea in stare de pruncie (Humankind in a State of Childhood) (1886). Cornelia Emilian died in Bucharest.

Emiliana – (c891 – c927)
Duchess consort of Aquitaine
Emiliana was probably the daughter of William I of Auvergne, Duke of Aquitaine, and his wife Engilberga, the daughter of Boso, King of Provence, and was granddaughter to the Carolingian emperor, Louis II (855 – 876). She was first cousin to Count Ecfrid of Auvergne. Emiliana was married (before Feb, 911) to Duke Eblus Manzer of Aquitaine (c873 – Oct 28, 934), as his second wife. Charter evidence revealed that she had died before 929. Emiliana bore Eblus several children,

• William III (911 – 963). He succeeded his father as Duke of Aquitaine (959 – 962). He later abdicated in order to become a monk at abbey of Saint-Maxient. He married and left issue.
• Eblus of Poitiers (c915 – 975). He took holy orders and appointed Bishop of Limoges.

Emilie Juliana (Amelie Juliane) – (1637 – 1706)
German princess and hymn composer
Countess Emilie Juliana of Barby was born (Aug 19, 1637) at Heidecksburg, the daughter of Albrecht Freidrich, count of Barby-Muhlingen and his wife Sophia Ursula, the daughter of Antony II, Count of Oldenburg-Delmenhorst. She was educated at Rudolstadt after the deaths of both her parents during early childhood. Her tutors included Ahaseurus Tritsch.  Emilie Juliana was married (1665) to Count Albrecht Antony of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1641 – 1710) and was countess consort for three decades (1665 – 1697) until her husband was raised to the rank of prince by the emperor Leopold I (1697). She was then princess consort (1697 – 1706) until her death.
Apart from a daughter who died in infancy, she was the mother of Prince Ludwig Friedrich of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1667 – 1718). The princess was an especially prolific composer and hymn writer, and over six hundred surviving hymns are attributed to her. Some of her best known works were Geistliche Lieder (1683), Kuhlwasser in grosser Hitze des Creutzes (1685) and Tagliches Morgen – Mittags- und Abendopfer (1685). Princess Emilie Juliana died (Dec 3, 1706) aged sixty-nine.

Emina Aziza – (1874 – 1931)
Princess of Egypt
Emine was born (Sept 15, 1874) in the Zaaferan Palace in Cairo, the elder daughter of Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt (1830 – 1895) and his wife Nesedil. She was married at Emirgan (1896) to Mustafa Sekib Bey, who served as the Turkish ambassador to the Spanish court in Madrid. The princess was divorced from her husband after the birth of their only child, Prince Muhammad Tahir Pasha (1897 – 1969) who died unmarried. She never remarried. Princess Emina Aziza died at Moda (Sept 9, 1931) aged fifty-seven, and was buried in the Immam Shafei cemetery in Cairo.

Emine Bohrouz Fazil – (1886 – 1947)
Princess of Egypt
Emine was married firstly (1913 – 1920) to Husayn Shirin Bey from whom she was divorced, and secondly (1921) to her kinsman, Ismail Ratib Bey. She left two children from her first marriage, Mahivesh Aziza Shirin (1915 – 1997), who became the wife of a cousin, Prince Said Omar Toussiun (1901 – 1980), and left descendants, and, Colonel Ismail Shirin Bey (1919 – 1994), minister of War and Marine (1952), who was married (1949) to Princess Fawzia, daughter of King Fuad I. By her second husband she was the mother of Princess Shehrazaf Ratib Hanim Efendi (1922 – 1993) who remained unmarried. Princess Emine Bohrouz Fazil died (Feb, 1947) aged sixty.

Emine Indji – (1876 – 1915)
Princess of Egypt
Princess Emine Indji was born (Jan 3, 1876) the second daughter of Prince Muhammad Toussoun Pasha of Egypt (1853 – 1876) and his second wife Fatima, the daughter of Ismail (1830 – 1895), Khedive of Egypt. Her father died when she was an infant and her mother remarried to Mahmud Sirry Pasha (died 1910). Emine became the wife (1890) of her cousin Prince Muhammad Said Halim Pasha of Egypt (1865 – 1921), who served as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (1913 – 1915) and to whom she bore two sons. Princess Emine Indji died (May 31, 1915) aged thirty-nine, at Yenikeuy on the Bosphorus. Her children were,

• Prince Muhammad Abd al-Halim of Egypt (1896 – 1970). He died unmarried.
• Prince Omar Halim of Egypt (1898 – 1964). He married twice but died without issue.

Emine Nazikeda – (1866 – 1944)
Ottoman sultana (1918 – 1922)
Emine was born (Oct 9, 1866) at Szouchoum in Abbkhasia, the daughter of Mercem Abaza. She was married (1885) at Ortakeuy to the Turkish sultan Mehmed VI Vahideddin (1861 – 1926), whom she survived. Her two surviving children were Princess Fatima Ulviye Osmanoglu (1892 – 1967), and Princess Rukiye Sabiha Osmanoglu (1894 – 1971).

Emine Osmanoglu – (1696 – 1738)
Ottoman princess of Turkey
Emine was born in Constantinople (Sept 1, 1696), the second daughter of Sultan Mustafa II Gazi (Fighter for the True Faith) (1695 – 1703) and an unidentified concubine. Emine was married four times fior dynastic and political considerations, firstly (1703) when a child, to the Grand Vizier Corlulu Ali Pasha (c1670 – 1711) who was eventually executed by order of Sultan Ahmed III (1703 – 1730). Her second marriage (1712) was with Receb Pasha (died 1726), but was dissolved by divorce. Emine’s third husband was Ibrahim Pasha (died 1724), and her fourth (1728) was Muhassil Abdullah Pasha (died 1736) whom she survived.

Emingerova, Helena – (1858 – 1943)
Czech painter
Born in Prague, Bohemia, Helena was the younger sister to the pianist Katerina Emingerova.

Emingerova, Katerina – (1856 – 1934)
Czech pianist and composer
Emingerova was born in Prague, Bohemia (July 13, 1856). She studied the piano under Josef Jiranek and with Karl Heinrich Barth in Berlin, Prussia (1882 – 1883). She was taught musical composition by Zdenek Fibich and later gave public performances and concerts. Apart from writing articles on music which were published in various Bohemian newspapers and periodicals, Emingerova was employed for several decades as a teacher and lecturer at the Prague Conservatory. She wrote music for an all female choir (1900) but composed mainly piano pieces for dance such as the Polka melancholicka (1901). Katerina Emingerova died (Sept 9, 1934) in Prague, aged seventy-eight.

Emissa – (c1045 – c1100)
Flemish heiress
Emissa was the younger daughter of Isaac (c1007 – c1048), seigneur of Valenciennes in Hainault, and was married to Roger II de Wavrin, an important Flemish baron, by whom she became the mother of Roger III de Wavrin, who served as seneschal of Flanders (1139 – 1160). With her elder sister Bertha, the wife of Anselm de Ribemont, Emissa was coheiress to the chatellanie and siegneurie of Valenciennes.

Emma – (1844 – 1929)
Italian novelist and essayist
Born Emilia Ferretti Viola, she was a precursor of the fable narraitve style used by the later author Italo Calvino (1923 – 1985). Emma was a regular contributor to the literary magazine, La Nuova Antologia. She was the author of several novels including, Una fra tante (One Among Many) (1878), which concerned the social problem of prostitution, and how it affected those women drawn to this profession which is considered her greatest work, and Medocritia (Mediocrity) (1884).

Emma Capet – (b. 1054)
Princess of France
Emma was the only daughter of King Henry I (1031 – 1060) and his third wife Anna Jaroslavna, the daughter of Jaroslav I Vladimirovitch, Grand Prince of Kiev in the Ukraine. The princess was listed together with her three brothers, Philip I (1060 – 1108), Robert, and Hugh of Vermandois, as children of Henry I in the, Historia Francorum, which called her Emmannque filiam. She predeceased her father, dying sometime prior to 1060.

Emma of Alemannia (Imma) – (c732 – 798)
Carolingian noblewoman
The mother-in-law of the Emperor Charlemagne (800 – 814), Emma was the daughter of Nebi (Hnabi), Duke of Alemannia, and his wife Hereswint, the daughter of noblewoman named Willisvinta. Her brother, Ruodpert of Alemannia (died 785), left descendants. Emma was married (c748) to Gerald I (died after 779), Count of Vinzgau and Kraichfeld, of the Udalrichinger family. Their daughter Hildegarde was the third wife of Charlesmagne, and the mother of most of his numerous children, including the Emperor Louis I the Pious’ (816 – 840). This made Emma and Gerald the ancestors of most of the royal and aristocratic families of Europe and Great Britain. Her marriage was recorded by the chronicler Thegan in his life of her grandson the Vita Hludowicis Imperatoris, which recorded her relationship to Queen Hildegarde, and her descent through Duke Godfrey of Alemannia (died 709). Her death was recorded by the Annales Alamannici. Emma’s children were,

• Willigarda of Vinzgau. She became the wife of Eggigold (c735 – 783), Count of Bensheim.
• Ermentrude of Vinzgau (c750 – after 783). She became the wife of Isembart, Count of Altdorf, and left issue.
• Adelinde of Vinzgau (c753 – c810). She became the wife of Count Otto of Kesselburg, and left issue.
• Udalrich of Vinzagu (died after 808). He was created Count of Argengau and Linzgau, and Duke of Swabia. He was ancestor of the mediaeval Counts of Saarsbrucken.
• Hildegarde of Vinzgau (758 – 783). She was married to Charlemagne.
• Gerald II of Vinzgau (c760 – 799). He was created Count of Bavaria (788) and was killed in battle against the Avars.

Emma of Altdorf – (c810 – 876)
Carolingian queen
Emma was the daughter of Welf II, Count of Altdorf and Swabia and his wife Heilwig of Saxony, later abbess of St Marie at Chelles, near Paris. Her elder sister Judith was the second wife (819) of the Emmperor Louis I the Pious. Her sister’s brilliant marriage precipitated her own (827) to Louis ‘the German’ (806 – 876), King of Bavaria, her sister’s stepson. Renowned for her piety and religious sanctity, Queen Emma is mentioned in the Bavaria Pia of Raderus as a ‘holy queen.’ She was venerated as a saint (June 28) and is represented in religious art leading her three sons to pray. At her feet lay the crowns of Germany, Italy and France, which eventually came to her sons. Queen Emma was a patron of the famous abbey of Saint-Gall, and her name, with that of her four daughters, remains in the confraternity book of that foundation. She was also patron of the royal abbeys of Buchau and Chiemsee. Queen Emma died (Jan 31, 876) at the palace of Regensburg, during her husband’s absence, aged about sixty-five, and was buried at Ratisbon. The queen left seven children,

• Princess Hildegarde of Bavaria (828 – 856). She remained unmarried and was Abbess of Schwarzach (853 – 856).
• Carloman III (829 – 880). He was appointed as King of Bavaria (829 – 880) and married and left descendants.
• Louis III (830 – 882). He succeeded as King of the Franks, was married and left a surviving daughter.
• Princess Bertha of Bavaria (831 – 877). She remained unmarried and was Abbess of Schwarzach (856 – 877).
• Princess Ermengard of Bavaria (832 – 866). She remained unmarried and was Abbess of Buchau and Chiemsee.
• Princess Gisela of Bavaria (c835 – after 876). She was married Count Erchanger I of Briesgau and Swabia and left descendants.
• Charles III the Fat (839 – 888). He became Holy Roman emperor and was married, but died without legitimate issue.

Emma of Anhalt-Bernburg – (1802 – 1858)
German princess and ruler
Princess Emma of Anhalt-Bernburg was born (May 20, 1802) the third daughter of Victor II, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg (1806 – 1812) and his wife Amalia of Nassau-Weilburg, the daughter of Karl, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg. Emma was married (1823) to the reigning prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont, George II (1813 – 1845). At his death Emma ruled as regent (1845 – 1849) during the minority of their son Prince George III (1845 – 1893), and preserved his throne during the revolutionary upheavals which swept through Europe (1848).
Princess Emma retired from the government when her son came of age and officially retired as Princess Dowager. Through her granddaughter, Emma of Waldeck-Pyrmont, Emma was the maternal great-grandmother of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (1890 – 1948). Princess Emma died (Aug 1, 1858) aged fifty six, and left five children,

• Princess Augusta of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1824 – 1893). She was married to Prince Alfred I von Stolberg-Stolberg (1820 – 1903) and left issue.
• Joseph, hereditary Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1825 – 1829). He died young.
• Princess Hermine of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1827 – 1910. She was married to Adolf I George, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe (1817 – 1893) and left descendants.
• George II Victor (1831 – 1893), Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1845 – 1893). He was married twice and left descendants.
• Prince Wolrad of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1833 – 1867). He died unmarried.

Emma of Ankerwyke – (c1175 – c1236)
English mediaeval nun
Emma became the prioress of the nunnery of ankerwyke in Buckinghamshire. She was attested in the Monasticon Anglicanorum as dying in office. A reference in a surviving charter in the British Library suggests that Emma might belong to the fourteenth century, but this evidence remains inconclusive. Emma was the first recorded prioress of Ankerwyke which had originally been founded by Gilbert de Montfichet (1163).

Emma of Arques – (c1065 – after 1140)                             
Norman-Anglo heiress and patron
Emma was the daughter of William, Viscount of Arques, Lord of Folkestone in England and his wife Beatrice N. Emma was married firstly to Nigel de Monville, Lord of Folkestone, and secondly (after 1095) to Manasses, Count of Guines (c1063 – 1139). Emma was the younger daughter and eventually inherited her father’s estates in England, whilst her elder sister Maud of Arques, the wife of William de Tancarville, the royal Chamberlain, inherited the family’s possessions in Normandy. She brought Folkestone to her first husband de Monville. By this marriage Emma left a daughter Maud de Monville, who became the wife of Rualon de Avranches, who was later sheriff of Kent (1130). 
By her second husband Count Manasses, Emma was the mother of Sybil (called Rose in some sources) (c1098 – before 1139) the heiress to the county of Guines, who became the first wife of Henry de Gand, castellan of Bourbourg. Countess Emma established the convent of Redlingfield on lands that she had inherited in Suffolk, England, and also founded, jointly with her second husband, the convent of St Leonard, Guines. The endowment of this house was not completed until after her husband’s death, by Emma herself, who eventually retired to St Leonard’s and became a nun there prior to her death. 

Emma of Blois    see    Emma of Normandy (1)

Emma of Carinthia (Hemma) – (c990 – 1045)
German countess and saint
Emma was the daughter of Markwart I of Eppenstein, margrave of Upper Carinthia and count of Murtzall by his wife Hadamuta of Ebersberg. She was the sister of Adalberon I, margrave of Upper Carinthia (c992 – 1039) and was a relative of the Holy Roman emperor Henry II (1002 – 1024). There is much confusion between this Emma and her contemporary Emma, the sister of Bishop Meinwerk of Paderborn, which is difficult to unravel correctly.
Emma was raised at the Imperial court in the household of the Empress Kunigunda, and was married to Wilhelm, landgrave of Freisach and Celtschach in Carinthia and Styria, the emperor providing her with a generous dowry. Her two sons, Wilhelm and Hartwig were both killed during a local rebellion, whilst they were ruling their father’s territories during his absence. Wilhelm executed one of the ringleaders and pardones the others, and Emma persuaded her husband to make a pilgrimage to Rome. During the return jounrey Count Wilhelm died at Lavantthal.
Emma then took the veil as a nun in the double monastery she had founded at Gurk in Carinthia, which housed twenty monks and over seventy nuns, and was believed to have been established following Augustinian observances. Emma was venerated as a saint (June 29). Her monastery was later suppressed (1120) by the Emperor Henry V, and was given to the canons regular to serve the Cathedral of Gurk.

Emma of Clermont    see   Clermont, Emma de

Emma of Hauteville – (c1054 – after 1090)
Norman princess
Emma was the daughter of Robert Guiscard of Hauteville, Duke of Apulia and his first wife, Alberada of Buonalbergo. She is sometimes described as ‘sister’ to Duke Robert, but the chronology does not fit, and it is much more likely that Emma was Robert’s daughter, and therefore full-sister to Bohemond I of Antioch. The historian Albert of Aix stated consistently that Emma’s son Tancred was the son of Bohemond’s sister. Her husband Odo, styled the good Marquis, is thought to be identified with Guglielmo III, marchese of Ravenna, which would explain the marriage of their son Tancred, Prince of Antioch (1076 – 1112) with Princess Cecilia, the daughter of Philip I, King of France. If this is correct, Emma was Guglielmo’s second wife. Nothing is known of the career of Emma’s younger son Guglielmo.

Emma of Neustria (1) – (c602 – 641)
Anglo-Saxon queen consort (618 – 640)
Emma was the daughter of Clotaire II, the Merovingian King of Austrasia (584 – 629) and his first wife Haldetrude. Her full brother Merovech died young (604). She was a descendant of King Clovis I (481 AD – 511) and St Clotilda. Princess Emma became the third wife (618) of Eadbald, King of Kent (c579 – 640). Emma’s marriage with Eadbald was commemorated by the sixteenth century poet Henry Bradshaw (died 1513) who wrote of her as ‘Lady Emme, of France, the chosen flower.’ She was named in a surviving charter of Eadbald’s (618) in which she was described as Emma Francorum regis filia et regis Eadbaldi copula. Emma survived Eadbald only eighteen months, and died aged barely forty. Queen Emma was interred beside her husband at the altar in the Chapel of St John in the Abbey of St Mary in Canterbury, Kent, which he had founded. She was the mother to kings Earconbert (c620 – 664) and Eormenraed (c622 – c656) and of Eanswyth, abbess of Folkestone in Kent.

Emma of Neustria (2) – (c893 – 934)
Queen consort of France (923 – 935)
Emma was the younger daughter of Robert I, King of France (922 – 923), formerly Count of Neustria, and his first wife Adela, the daughter of Robert I, count of Troyes and his wife Gisela, daughter of the Carolingian emperor Charles II the Bald (875 – 877). She was the elder half-sister of Hugh Capet, Duke of Paris (896 – 956). Princess Emma was married (914) to Duke Raoul of Burgundy (Rudolph) (890 – 936) but their only child, Louis, predeceased his parents (before June 14, 929).
With the death of her father (June 15, 923) Raoul claimed the French throne in Emma’s right (her elder sister Hildebrante was married to a vassal of the crown Herbert II, Count of Vermandois). According to the historian Ralph Glaber, Emma was instrumental in the negotiations which led to her husband being accepted as king, and she proved to be the mainstay of his otherwise unsteady reign. After Raoul’s initial election as king, the queen immediately secured her own coronation as queen consort from Seulf, Archbishop of Rheims (923). During the ensuing attempts to restore the deposed Charles the Simple to the throne (927), it was Queen Emma who personally organized the defence of the chief city of Laon. She herself led a military offensive from the town, and it was only the fact of Raoul’s capitulation to her brother-in-law, Herbert of Vermandois, that forced her reluctant evacuation of Laon.
Queen Emma later took Avallon from Gilbert of Vergy, son of Manasses, count of Chalon (931) and she was the leader of the siege of Chateau Thierry against Count Herbert (933). The castle surrendered to Queen Emma herself, not her husband, a tribute to her own determination. Her death, several months before that of her husband, removed the main bulwark of his shaky rule. Queen Emma died (Nov 2, 934) aged about forty.

Emma of Normandy (1) – (943 – 1004)
Duchess consort of Aquitaine (968 – 996)
Emma was the posthumous daughter of William I, Duke of Normandy (933 – 942) and his second wife Luitgarde, the daughter of Herbert II, count of Vermandois (902 – 943). Emma was long though to have been the daughter of Duchess Luitgarde and her second husband, Theobald I, count of Blois-Chartres, and is usually styled ‘Emma of Blois,’ but this identification has now been proved incorrect by surviving charter evidence. Her father had been assasinated (Dec, 942), several months prior to her birth, and Emma was raised at the court of her stepfather at Blois. From there her marriage was arranged with (968) William IV of Poitiers (937 – 996), Duke of Aquitaine. Her marriage was a stormy one and the duchess later resided apart form her husband for several years before family members affected an official reconcilitaion (993), at which time her elder son was estsblished with his father as joint ruler. She was the mother of, Duke William V (969 – 1030), who was married three times and left descendants, and, Eblus de Poitier (c971 – after 997), who died unmarried and childless.
Still living at Christmas in 1003, Duchess Emma died a few weeks later, aged sixty. Emma founded the abbey of St Peter at Bourgueil in Poitou, which was administrated by her cousin abbot Gauzbert. A surviving charter (1012) speaks of Emma as the daughter of countess Luitgarde. She inherited (978) the dower of her mother from her first marriage, which fact establishes Emma as the daughter William instead of count Theobald. Emma later granted this inheritance to the abbey of Bourgueil. The monks later regranted it (1012) to the abbey of Jumieges in Normandy, where Duchess Gunnor, the widow of Richard I of Normandy, Emma’s half-brother, paid twenty pounds for this estate transaction.

Emma of Normandy (2) – (c982 – 1052)
Anglo-Saxon queen consort
Emma was born at Rouen, the daughter of Richard I the Fearless, Duke of Normandy, and his mistress, Gunnora, sister to Herfastus de Crepon, the forester of Arques, whom he later married as his second wife, thus legitimizing their many children. She was married in England to King Aethelred II as his third wife (1002), and she bore him two sons, Edward the Confessor and Alfred, and a daughter Godgifu (later countess of Mantes and the Vexin). With the invasion of England by the forces of Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark (1013), Emma was sent to the safety of the court of her brother, Duke Richard II at Rouen, togther with her children. When her husband managed to briefly regain his throne, after the death of Sweyn (1013 – 1016), Emma remained safely in France.
With the defeat and death of her stepson, Edmund II Ironside, she was summoned to England to marry his successor, Sweyn’s son Canute II (Knud Sveinsson), who was possibly a decade her junior, in order to legitimate his hold on the throne (1017). By him she was the mother of King Hardicanute (1018 – 1042), and a daughter Gunhilda, who became the first wife of the German king Henry III. With the death of Canute (1035), Emma tried to gain the throne for her son Hardicanute, but was outmanoeuvred by her stepson Harold Harefoot (son of Canute and Aelfgifu of Northampton. Emma then fled to the court of Baldwin IV of Flanders at Lille, where she remained in exile several years. Soon after this she is believed to have been somehow complicit in the blinding (and death) of Alfred (1036), her younger son from her first marriage. With Harold’s death (1040) her son Hardicanute was elected king and she returned to the English court as queen mother, but his reign lasted barely eighteen months. Her son Edward caused all her property to be confiscated because she had favoured a rival claimant, Magnus the Good of Norway.
Queen Emma is remembered for her commissioning of the, Encomium Emmae Reginae, which was composed in Latin for her by the Flemish monk soon after Hardicanute’s accession, and which attempts to justify her political and dynastic decisions, and makes no mention at all of her children by Aethelred II. Queen Emma died (March 14, 1052) at Winchester aged sixty-nine.

Emma of Provence – (1006 – after 1063)
French countess consort of Toulouse (1019 – 1037)
Emma was the daughter of Rotbald III, Count of Provence (1008 – 1014) and his wife Ermengarde of Luxemburg, the daughter of Freidrich I, Count of Luxemburg. Her stepfathers were Duke Welf of Bavaria and Rudolf III, King of Burgundy. She was niece of St Kunigunda, wife of the German emperor Henry II (1002 – 1024). Emma became the second wife (1019) of William III Taillefer (947 – 1037), Count of Toulouse. A surviving charter (1024) recorded that ‘Willelmus comes Tolosanus et uxor mea Ema’ granted property to the abbey of Saint-Victor at Marseilles. With the deaths of her brothers without issue, the county of Provence passed to Emma and the counts if Toulouse, the county of Venaissin forming her son’s share of his mother’s Provencal inheritance. With her husband’s death (Sept, 1037) countess Emma ruled Toulouse as regent for several years until her son came of age (1040).
Emma long survived her husband as Dowager Countess of Toulouse, and Count Alfonso Jordan I of Toulouse later successfully claimed the comtat of Venaissin, together with the capital city of Carpentras (1125) as heir of Countess Emma. Through her son Emma was the ancestor of Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife of Henry II of England, and was ancestress of most of the royal and aristocratic families of Europe and England. Countess Emma was living in 1063 and died at some unknown date. She was buried with her husband in the Abbey of Saint-Sernin in Toulouse. Her children were,

• Pons II William (c1021 – 1061). He succeeded his father as Count of Toulouse (1037 – 1061). He was married twice, leaving descendants.
• Rangarda of Toulouse. She became the wife of Pedro Ramon (died 1067), Count of Carcassone, and left issue.
• Stephanie of Toulouse (c1028 – 1095). She became the wife of Godfrey I (c1004 – 1061), Count of Arles and Provence, and left issue.

Emma of Saxony – (c977 – 1038)
German religious patron
Emma was the daughter of Immed IV, Count of Saxony and his wife Adela of Hamelant. She was married to Ludger, count of Westphalia, and was the mother of Immed (c1000 – 1076), Bishop of Paderborn. A kinswoman of the emperor Herny II (1002 – 1024), she later became a nun at the famous abbey of Gurk in Carinthia. The church venerated her as a saint (April 19).

Emma of Waldeck-Pyrmont – (1858 – 1934)
Queen consort and regent of the Netherlands
Born Princess Adelheid Emma Wilhelmina Theresia of Waldeck-Pyrmont, at Arolsen, Hesse (Aug 2, 1858), she was the daughter of Prince George of Waldeck-Pyrmont and his wife, Helena of Nassau-Weilburg. The death of her sister Sophie, from tuberculosis (1869), affected her profoundly, and her younger sister Helen (1861 – 1922) became the wife of Prince Lopold, Duke of Albany, the youngest son of Queen Victoria of England. Emma was married at Arolsen to the elderly King William III of the Netherlands (1879), after her eldest sister Pauline had refused him, being already spoken for, and whose three grown sons had all died without leaving issue.
Her only child, the future Queen Wilhelmina, was born the following year. The next decade Emma spent nursing her ailing husband, and with his death, from kidney disease (1890), she ruled as regent during her daughter’s minority (1890 – 1898). There arose conflicts between different ministers, though the queen regent succeeded in keeping herself from involvement in political controversy. A benevolent and much loved and revered figure, as regent, Queen Emma succeeded in restoring the faith of the Dutch people in their ruling dynasty. Queen Emma died at The Hague, aged seventy-five (March 20, 1934), and was the maternal grandmother of Queen Juliana (1948 – 1980).

Emmel, Hildegard – (1911 – 1996)
German scholar and academic
Emmel was born in Frankfurt-am-Main, where she attended university and completed her studies (1935), being a student of Julius Schwietering. She qualified as a lecturer in Rostock (1951 – 1955) and was then appointed as a professor of German literature at Greifswald (1956). Emmel was later dismissed from Greifswald because her book Weltklage und Bilt der Welt in der Dichtung Goethes (1957), was considered reactionary. She fled to West Germany, and then worked as an academic in Oslo, Denmark, and in Ankara, Turkey (1964 – 1967). She later went to America where she joined the staff of the University of Connecticut (1967 – 1981). Her most nota ble literary work was Geschichte des deutschen Romans, which was published in three volumes (1972 – 1978). Emmel wrote her autobiography Die Freiheit hat noch nicht begonnen (1991). Hildegarde Emmel died in Bern, Switzerland, aged eighty-four (Jan 6, 1996).

Emmelia – (c310 – c370 AD)
Graeco-Roman Christian saint and matriarch
Born into a wealthy Cappodocian family, she was married to a fellow patrician, Basil. Their large family of ten children included Basil the Great (328 – 379 AD), Bishop of Caesarea, Gregory (c335 – c395 AD), Bishop of Nyssa, St Peter of Sebaste, and St Macrina. With her husband’s death, Emmelia divided the family fortunes equally between her surviving children, and resided with her eldest daughter Macrina, then a widow. With the death of her favourite son Naukratius (357 AD), she and Macrina founded a nunnery on their own estates. Her youngest son Peter served as superior, whilst Macrina was appointed abbess. Emmelia was said to have cured Macrina of breast cancer by her prayers. Emmelia was venerated as a saint (May 30).

Emmerich, Anna Katharina – (1774 – 1824)
German visionary
Born at Flamschen, near Coesfeld, she was employed as a farm worker, seamstress, and finally as a domestic servant before she became an Augustinian nun in Dulmen (1802). When the convent closed she was taken into the household of Abbe Lambert. Several years later (1813) she began to bear the stigmata of Christ’s passion. Her prophecies received wide reknown and she was popularly known as the ‘Nun of Dulmen,’ after she retired to that monastery in Westphalia. The German poet Clemens von Bretano (1778 – 1842) recorded her mystic revelations.
Anna Katharine Emmerich died aged forty-nine (Feb 9, 1824) in Westphalia. Her remains were transferred to the Church of the Holy Cross in Dulmen (1975) and the case for her beatification was presented to the Vatican (1992).

Emmet, Dorothy Mary – (1904 – 2000)
British academic and author
Emmet was the daughter of an Anglican clergyman, and was educated at Brighton and at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. She was twice employed as a tutor in the Rhondda valley of Wales and also studied abroad at Radcliffe College in the USA (1928 – 1929). She remained unmarried. Emmet lectured in philosophy at Armstrong College at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and later at the University of Manchester, in Lancashire (1938 – 1945), where she was made a professor of philosophy (1946 – 1966), and finally professor emeritus (1966).
Emmet served as Dean of the Fsaculty of Arts at Manchester (1964 – 1966), and was appointed as a fellow of several prestigious British colleges, including her old alma mater, Lady Margaret Hall (1967). She also worked abroad, on the staff of the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, Africa (1974). Her published works included The Nature of Metaphysical Thinking (1945), Function, Purpose, and Powers (1958), Sociological Theory and Philosophical Analysis (1970)and The Effectiveness of Causes (1984). Dorothy Emmet died (Sept 20, 2000) aged ninety-six.

Emmet, Evelyn Violet Elizabeth Rodd, Lady – (1899 – 1980)
British Conservative politician
The Hon.(Honourable) Evelyn Rodd was born in Cairo, Egypt (March 18, 1899), the elder daughter to the diplomat, Sir James Rennell Rodd, first Lord Rennell, and his wife Lilias Georgina Guthrie. She was educated at home, at Lady Margaret Hall, at Oxford, and the London School of Economics. During WW I she acted as secretary to her father, who was then amabassador to Rome and was married (1923) to Thomas Addis Emmet, of Amberley Castle, Sussex, to whom she bore four children before his early death (1934). She never remarried. A member of the London County Council (1925 – 1934), during WW II she worked as the Sussex county organizer for the WVS (Women’s Voluntary Service). After the war she returned to politics as a member of the West Sussex County Council (1946 – 1967) and served as British delegate to the United Nations (1952) and (1953). She held a number of important posts within the Conservative Party, and later entered national politics as the MP for East Grinstead (1955). Emmet was created a Life peer (1964) by Queen Elizabeth II, as Baroness Emmet of Amberley, and served as chairman of the Legal Aid Advisory Committee (1966 – 1972) and deputy chairman of Committees (1968 – 1977). Lady Emmet died aged eighty-one (Oct 10, 1980). Her younger daughter, Penelope Emmet (born 1932) was a governor of Cobham Hall, Kent and had been married to the future seventh Baron Latymer (Hugo Nevill Money-Coutts) before he inherited his title.

Emmet, Jessie K. – (1911 – 1982) 
American child educator
Jessie was the wife of New York lawyer Richard Stockton Emmet. From 1974 until her death, Jessie Emmet was a mamber of the board of trustees, and chairman of the council for the Foundation of Child Development. She acted as director of the fellowship program at the Aspen Insitute (1974 – 1981). She was the originator of the ‘Aspen Institute’s Program on the First Twenty Years of Life.’ Jessie K. Emmet died of cancer in Manhattan, New York.

Emmett, Belinda – (1974 – 2006)
Australian television actress
Emmett was best known for appearances in the popular serial, Home and Away (1996 – 1998), She was the wife of famous comedian and television personality Rove McManus (born 1971) the host of his own show, Rove Live. Emmett was born (April 12, 1974) on the central coast, north of Sydney, New South Wales. She made her first television appearance as Tracy on the popular comedy series Hey Dad (1994 – 1996) before going on to play Rebecca Fisher on Home and Away. Her illness was diagnosed in 1998 and she met McManus the following year. They were later married at Waverley in Sydney (2005). She appeared in the medical drama, All Saints (2000) and made a sole film appearance with Eric Bana in the comic drama The Nugget (2002). Belinda Emmett died (Nov 12, 2006) aged only thirty-two, after a brave battle with breast cancer.

Emminghaus, Caroline Amalia Elise – (1826 – 1902)
German courtier
Emminghaus was born at Weida, the daughter of Justus Emminghaus, and attended the court of the counts of Lippe-Weissenfeld. Count Carl Ernst Armin became enamoured of her, and Caroline went to the court of Weimar, where the Grand Duke created her a baroness (1851). A month later she and Count Karl were married morganatically, their four children bearing their father’s title of count and countess. She was widowed in 1899. The couple had two sons, Kurt (1855 – 1934) and Jobst Herman (1865 – 1945), who were raised to the rank of princes (1918), as were her two daughters. The Baroness died (Nov 2, 1902) aged seventy-six, at Oberschonfeld.

Emmons, Louise – (1852 – 1935)
American stage and film actress
Emmons made her first appearance in silent films in, At Cross Purposes (1914), and then as the keeper of the royal harem in, The Last Egyptian (1914). Emmons played mainly elderly roles, many of which remained uncredited. Louise made the career transition to sound and again played the same type of roles, such as the prisoner in, Resurrection (1931), the old hag Sisba in the trilogy The Return of Chandu I (1934), The Return of Chandu II (1934), and Chandu on the Magic Island (1935). She had minor roles in several famous films such as, Waterloo Bridge (1931) and, King Kong (1934) with Fay Wray. Emmons retired after her last film role, that of the gypsy hag in the classic horror flick, Mark of the Vampire (1935) also known as, Vampires of Prague. Louise Emmons died (March 6, 1935) aged eighty-two, in Hollywood, California.

Emo-Capodilista, Giacinta Ruspoli, Contessa – (1898 – 1982)
Italian peeress
Princess Giacinta Ruspoli was born (April 11, 1898) at Padua, the daughter of Alessandro Ruspolu, Prince di Cerveteri and his wife Marianita Lante Montefeltro della Rovere. Princess Giacinta was married firstly to Don Clemente del Drago, after whose death she became the second wife (1941) of Conte Alvise Emo-Capodilista (1898 – 1980). This marriage was also childless. She survived Alvise briefly as Dowager Contessa Emo-Capodilista (1980 – 1982). Countess Giacinta died (Sept 4, 1982) in Rome, aged eighty-four.

Emo-Capodilista, Maria Francesca Zileri dal Verme degli Obbizi, Contessa – (1868 – 1953)
Italian peeress
Contess Maria Francesca Zileri dal Verme degli Obbizi was born (Jan 31, 1868) at Brunnsee in Austria, the daughter of Conte Camillo Zileri dal Verme degli Obbizi (1830 – 1896) and his wife Donna Clementina Lucchesi Palli (1835 – 1925). Her maternal grandparents were Caroline of Naples, the widow of Charles de Bourbon, Duc de Berry (1778 – 1820), and her second husband Conte Ettore Lucchesi-Palli, Prince di Campofranco. Through her mother she was a descendant of Louis XIII of France (1610 – 1643). Maria Francesca was married (1897) at Vicenza to Conte Giorgio Emo-Capodilista (1864 – 1940), whom she survived as Dowager Contessa Emo-Capodilista (1940 – 1953). Contessa Emo-Capodilista died (Dec 16, 1953) in Padua, aged eighty-five. She left two children,

• Conte Alvise Emo-Capodilista (1898 – 1980). He married twice and left descendants.
• Contessa Bianca Benedetta Emo-Capodilista (born 1899). She became the second wife (1922) of Novello Papafava Antonini Dei Carraresi, Conte di Sivella di Caseano (1899 – 1973) and left descendants.

Empson, Hetta Craus, Lady (Hester Henrietta) – (1915 – 1996)
South African political activist and society figure
Hetta Craus was born (Sept 18, 1915) at Kroonstad, in the Orange Free State, the daughter of a cattle dealer. She studied humanities at Bloemfontain University, and then travelled to Rueope where she studied art at Munich in Bavaria. On her return to South Australia, she worked as a local newspaper manager and worked to improve the situation of the native African population. To this end she helpd with the organization of the laundry workers union. During WW II she was in London, where she worked in radio as a propgandist speaker in Afrikaans on the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), using the pseudonym ‘Soekie Trottle.’ It was whilst engaged in this work, that she met the famous author, George Orwell, and her future husband, the noted British critic and poet, Sir William Empson (1906 – 1984).
Hetta accompanied Empson to China for five years, and whilst he taught at the University of Peking, she immersed herself in assisting various communist causes throughout the civil war, and assisted in the escape of dissident students, persecuted by the nationalist government.  A talented artist asculptor, her best known work was a bronze bust of Sardar Pannikar, the Indian ambassador to China. After their return to England, Sir William became a lecturer at the University of Sheffield, whilst Lady Empson remained in London, where she established her own artistic salon at Studio House in Hampstead. Lady Empson died (Dec 22, 1996) age eighty-one.

Emsley, Clare    see   Plummer, Clare Emsley

Enanatuma – (fl. c1950 – c1930 BC)
Sumerian priestess
Enanatuma was the daughter of Ishme-Dagon, king of Ur and sister to King Lipit-Eshtar of Ur and Isin. Probably at the beginning of her father’s reign (c1953 BC), she was appointed to be high priestess (entu) of Nanna, and she caused the temple of the moon-god at Ur (the Giparku) to be rebuilt. This temple had a main sanctuary dedicated to the goddess Ningal. Extant records from the royal store house at E-nuah-mah, dated from the time of the later kings of Larsa, reveal the issue of regular offerrings of cheese, butter, and dates by two earlier high-pristesses, one of whom was Enanatuma. These recorded libations suggest a form of cult to the dead priestess, and clearly shows the esteem in which she had been held.

Enchi, Fumiko – (1905 – 1986)
Japanese novelist and dramatist
Born Fumi Ueda (Oct 2, 1905) in the Asakusa district of Tokyo, she was the daughter to the famous literary scholar, Ueda Kazutoshi. She left high school because of ill-health and received a private education if Chinese, French, and English literature. Enchi was author of, A Lament over the Passing Spring (1935), and was twice awarded the Women’s Writer’s prize (1952) and (1966). She also received the Noma Prize for Literature for, The Waiting Years (1958) and the Tanizaki Prize (1969).
Other works included, Kaze no gotoki kotoba (The Words like the Wind) (1939), Shunju (Spring and Autumn) (1943) Himojii Tsukihi (Days of Hunger) (1953) for which she received an award from the Society of Women Writers, and, Saimu (Growing Frog) (1976), as well as the plays, Furusato (A Birthplace) (1926) and, Banshu soya (A Noisy Night in Late Spring) (1928). Enchi also produced Enchi Genji, a translation of the, The Tale of the Genji into modern Japanese. She received the Order of Culture (1985) by the Japanese government. Fumiko Enchi died (Nov 12, 1986) aged eighty-one, in Tokyo.

Enderley, Pearl Eaton    see    Eaton Pearl

Eneda of Wiltshire     see   Aethelflaed of Wiltshire

Enfleda    see   Eanflaed

Engaine, Joan – (1275 – 1315)
English planatagenet noblewoman and heiress
Joan was the daughter of Sir John Engaine of Laxton, Pytchley, Northampton, and of Colne Engaine in Essex, and his wife Joan, the daughter and heiress of Gilbert de Greinville, of Hallaton. Through her father she was a descendant of Ralph de Cheney of Rudham, mentioned as a landholder in the Domesday Book (1086). Her first marriage (1286) with Walter FitzRobert (1275 – 1293), the only son of Sir Robert, first Baron Fitzwalter, and his wife Devorguilla de Burgh, produced an only child, Robert Fitzwalter (born 1291) who died in infancy. Joan was then remarried to Sir Adam de Welle, of Well, Lincoln. Joan Engaine died (June 1, 1315) aged forty.

Engaine, Mary – (1343 – 1401)
English Plantagenet heiress
Mary was the third daughter of Sir John Engaine (1302 – 1358), second Baron Engaine (1355 – 1358) and his wife Joan, the daughter of Sir Robert Peverel, of Castle Ashby, Northants.
Mary was married firstly to Sir William Bernak, of Saxlingham, Norfolk, Sudbrook and Ranby, Lincoln, and Beesthorpe, Nottinghamshire. Lady Mary became the mother of Sir John Bernak of Saxlingham (1372 – 1409). After Bernak’s death Mary was remarried to Thomas Le Zouche (died 1404), of Westoning, Bedfordshire.
With the death of brother, John Engaine, without surviving issue (1367), she and her two elder sisters, Joyouse, the wife of John de Goldrington, and Elizabeth, the wife of Sir Laurence de Pabenham, as his coheirs, entered into a division of his extensive estates, whilst the feudal barony of Engaine went into abeyance. It was never revived. Through her first husband Mary was the ancestress of the Broughton family of Saxlingham and Toddington, who eventually inherited the Saxlingham property through the marriage of John Broughton of Toddington (died 1489) with Lady Mary’s great-granddaughter, Elizabeth Stonham (1425 – 1455), of Stonhal Aspall. Mary Engaine died (May 19, 1401).

Engel, Marian – (1933 – 1985)
Canadian novelist and author
Born Marian Passmore in Toronto, she studied at McGill and McMasters universities, training as a teacher. Engel worked as a teacher in Montreal, and in Montana, and travelled considerably through Europe, working in London and Cyprus before she ultimately returned to Toronto (1964). Her works included No Clouds of Glory (1968), The Honeymoon Festival (1970), Joanne (1975), Bear (1976) which won the Governor-General’s award for fiction, The Glassy Sea (1978) and, Lunatic Villas (1981). She was awarded the Order of Canada (1982). Her short stories included, Inside the Easter Egg (1975) and The Tattooed Woman (1985), and she also wrote two children’s books Adventure at Moon Bay Towers (1974), and My Name is not Odessa Yarker (1977).

Engel, Regula – (1761 – 1853)
Swiss-German soldier and memoirist
Rachel Engel was born in Zurich and became the wife of a soldier who served with the French army during the wars of Napoleon. Regula accompanied him on his campaigns throughout Europe and Africa, during which time she gave birth to over twenty children, sometimes in appalling conditions. Engel herself served as a soldier, taking part in active service. With the death of her husband and two of her sons at the Battle of Waterloo (1815) she returned eventually to settle in Switzerland, where she wrote her memoirs in order to provide for herself financially. These memoirs were entitled, Frau Oberst Engel.Von Cairo bis neuyork, von Elba bis Waterloo.Memoiren einer Amazone aus napoleonischer Zeit (Madame Colonel Engel.From Cairo to New York, from Elba to Waterloo.Memoirs of an Amazon in the Age of Napoleon) (1825).

Engelbach, Florence – (1872 – 1951)
British painter
Born Florence Neumagen in Spain, she was the daughter of Albert Neumagen, OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire). She was raised by a governess, and studied art at the Westminster School of Art and the Slade School (1894). She was married (1902) to Charles Engelbach, and bore him two children. Known for her fine portraits during the first thirty-five year period of her career, from 1931 onwards, Florence produced mainly flower paintings, and her Roses remains in the collection of the Tate Gallery, while other examples are held at the Laing Art Gallery. From 1934 – 1940 Florence exhibited her work at the Paris salon, and at the Royal Academy, and she was a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. Florence was a member of the National Society of Painters, and of the Engraver’s Society of Coventry. Florence Engelbach died in London (Feb 27, 1951).

Engelberg, Miriam – (1958 – 2006)
American graphic novelist and illustrator
Engelberg was diagnosed with metastic cancer at the age of forty-three (2001), and died in New York, aged forty-eight (Oct 18, 2006). Her personal battle with the disease was chronicled by her in her best-selling and comic memoir Cancer Made Me A Shallower Person (2001).

Engelbirn – (fl. c1280 – c1320)
German anchorite and mystic
Engelbirn was a recluse at the abbey of St Ulrich and St Afra at Augsburg in Bavaria and worked as a scribe. She is believed to have been the translator of a medieval manuscript which is preserved in the Munich Staatsbibliothek, which contains texts taken from the works of such church fathers as saints Ambrose and Augustine and Bernard of Clairvaux.

Engelbretsdatter, Dorothe – (1643 – 1716)
Norwegian religious poet, hymnist and letter writer
Engelbredsdatter was born in Bergen (Jan 16, 1643) and was married to Ambrosius Hardenbeck. She was the author of Siaelens Sang-Offer (Song Offerings of the Soul) (1678) and Taare-Offer (Tear Offerrings) (1685), written not long after the death of her husband. Dorothe Engelbredsdatter died at Bergen (Feb 19, 1716), aged seventy-three.

Engelgardt, Sofia Vladimirovna – (1828 – 1894)
Russian writer
Sofia Engelgardt was the sister of the historian Ekaterina Vladimirovna Novsiltseva. She published fort novels over four decades (1853 – 1892), using the pseudonym ‘Olga N,’ such as You Can’t Escape Your Destined Mate (1854) and You Can’t Please Everyone (1855). Her later stories such as The Old Faith (1879) and Neither the First Nor the Last (1883), were negative renderings of the revolutionary movement.

Engelhard, Jane – (1917 – 2004)
American philanthropist, she was born Marie Annette Reiss in Qingdao, China, the daughter of a Jewish-German diplomat, Hugo Reiss, who served as Brazilian consul in Shanghai, and his American wife, Ignatia Mary Murphy, of San Francisco, California. Raised in Shanghai, with her father’s death her mother remarried to Guy Brian and the family removed to Paris, where Jane attended the convent school of Les Oiseaux. She was married firstly (1939) to Fritz Mannheimer, a German-Jewish banker and art collector, who died suddenly of a heart attack eight weeks later his art collection being confiscated to pay debts. Her daughter was born posthumously.
Madame Mannheimer escaped the rise of the Nazis and fled to London, and thence to the USA, where she settled in New York. She had sev eral jobs before remarrying (1947) to Charles Engelhard (1917 – 1971), the wealthy industrialist from New Jersey. The couple had four daughters and Mrs Engelhard and her husband were well known as trainers of racing horses and dog breeders. With the death of her husband Jane continued to serve on various philanthropic boards and was a patron of the New Jersey Symphony and the Metropolitan Museum of art, as well as the Fine Arts Committee of the White House, which had been established by President John. F. Kennedy. Engelhard was the first woman to ever be appointed as a commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (1977). She died (Feb 29, 2004) at Nantucket in Massachusetts, aged eighty-six.

Engelhard, Philippine – (1756 – 1831)
German poet
Born (Oct 21, 1756) at Altdorf bei Nurnberg as Magdalene Philippine Gatterer, she was the daughter of a university academic and historian. Her first collection of verse (1778) had engravings produced by the noted Prussian painter Chodowiecki. She was author of the collection entitled Gedichte von Philippine Engelhard geb.Gatterer (Poems of Philippine Engelhard, nee Gatterer) (1782). Philippine Engelhard died (Sept 29, 1831) at Blankenburg in the Harz Mountains, aged seventy-four.

Engelhardt, Dorothea Helene Charlotte von – (1909 – 2003)
German baroness
Dorothea von Waldenburg was a member of the ruling Hohenzollern family of Prussia. She was born (Nov 26, 1909) at Weissenlope, Prussia, the daughter of Friedrich von Waldenburg and his first wife, Marie von Kessel. Her father was the great-grandson of Prince Augustus of Prussia (1779 – 1843), uncle to Kaiser Wilhelm I (1871 – 1890), by his morganatic wife Karoline Wichmann, who was then created Madame (Frau) von Waldenburg. Dorothea was married (1934) to Baron Wolf von Engelhardt (1889 – 1951), and the couple had an only daughter, Baroness Carola von Engelhardt (born 1940), who was married firstly to Burkhard von Sydow, and secondly to Tassilo von Winterfelt (1934 – 2003). She was Dowager Baroness von Engelhardt for over five decades (1951 – 2003) and never remarried. Dorothea von Engelhardt died (March 4, 2003) aged eighty-seven, at Neustadt in Hesse.

Engeltron    see    Ingeltrude of Paris

Engeltrude    see also   Ingiltrude

Engeltrude – (fl. c845 – 866)
Carolingian noblewoman
Engeltrude was the daughter of Matfrid I (died 836), Count of Orleans. She was married firstly (c845) to Count Boso of Italy, an important Carolingian vassal, but the marriage remained childless and unhappy. Countess Engeltrude later deserted her husband in order to elope (856) with one of his supporters, Wangar. Engeltrude refused the exhortations of family and church to return to her husband, and she was later excommunicated by Pope Nicholas I (866). They were not however, divorced. With Boso’s death Engeltrude and Wangar were married. Her story was recorded in the Annales Fuldenses.

Engert, Sara Cunningham – (1885 – 1972) 
American heroine
Sarah Cunningham was born in San Francisco, California. Having attended the prestigious Briarcliff School in New York, Sara served with the American Red Cross during World War I. She married Cornelius Van H. Engert, an American diplomat, and accompanied him to posts in Havana, San Salvador, Santiago, Caracas, Peking, Cairo, Teheran and Beirut. In 1936, whilst her husband was minister to Ethiopia during the period of the Italian occupation, Sara ssisted her husband in defending the Us Legation in Addis Ababa from the rioting populace. Mrs Engert herself nursed two of the wounded servant women, and they were finally evacuated to the British Legation. Sara served in the British and Australian hospitals in Beirut in WW II, and her services were recognized with the awarding of the French Medaille de la Reconnaissance and the British Order of St John of Jerusalem. She resided in Washington from 1946. Mrs Engert died in Brussels, Belgium whilst on a holiday in Europe.

Enghien, Anne de Bourbon-Conde, Princesse de – (1670 – 1675)
French princess of the blood
Anne de Bourbon-Conde was born (Nov 11, 1670) in Paris, the second daughter of Henry Jules de Bourbon, Prince de Conde and Duc d’Enghien, and his wife Anne Henriette, the daughter of Edward of Bohemia, Prince Palatine, the great-grandson of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. She was known officially as ‘Madamoiselle d’Enghien.’ Princess Anne died in Paris (May 27, 1675) aged four years. Her style and titles were inherited by her younger sister Anne Marie Victoire.

Enghien, Anne Marie Victoire de Bourbon-Conde, Princesse d’ – (1675 – 1700)
French princess of the blood
Anne Marie Victoire de Bourbon-Conde  was born in Paris (Aug 11, 1675), the third daughter of Henry Jules de Bourbon, Prince de Conde and Duc d’Enghien, and his wife Anne Henriette, the daughter of Edward of Bohemia, Prince Palatine, the great-grandson of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. She was known officially as ‘Madamoiselle d’Enghien’ like her elder sister Anne, who had died in childhood (May, 1675). Unprepossessing in appearance, and sufferring from chronic ill-health, Anne Marie Victoire remained unmarried. The Princesse d’Enghien died (Oct 23, 1700) at Asnieres, aged twenty-five.

Engilburga (Angelburga) – (c832 – 901)
Carolingian empress
Engilburga was most probably the daughter of Erchanger, count of Alsace. She was also thought to be a connection of the Supponide dynasty, and has been called the daughter of Count Adalbert of Parma, but it appears more likely, though not certain, that she was related to the counts of Alsace and Sundgau. She was chosen by the emperor Lothair I as the wife for his son Louis II (822 – 875). Her dower lands were confirmed by charter, and she bore two daughters, Gisela and Ermengarde, but no male heir.
Louis was hailed as emperor by the council of 867, and the empress mediated in the quarrel between her brother-in-law, Lothair of Lorraine, and Pope Hadrian, at Monte Carlo (869). The arrogance she displayed towards the women of Benevento, and her dubious political involvement with Duke Adelchis of Benevento, is said to have been the cause of a revolt of the nobility of Benevento and Campagna agaisnt the emperor (871). Appointed to rule Capua as regent (872 – 874), coins were struck in the joint names of the Imperial couple.
With the emperor’s death (Aug 12, 875), Engilburga convened and presided over the Council of Pavia, which decided the Imperial succession in favour of Louis’s nephew Charles II. With his death (877), Engilburga supported Wigbod, Bishop of Parma, Berengar of Friuli, and Suppo II, Marquis of Spoleto agains the claims of Charles the Fat, who feared her power and infuence enough to exile her to the Swiss convent of Zurzach, until he had established himself as emperor (882). Her political career ended (888), she founded the abbey of San Sisto, in Piacenza, Italy, where she brought the relics of St Germanus from Capua. Engilburga eventually took the veil as a nun, firstly at the convent of the Resurrection at Placentia, and later (c895) at the convent of St Giulia, at Brescia, where she became abbess. Empress Engilburga died (Jan 12, 901).

Engilburga of Vienne – (877 – after 917)
Carolingian princess
Engilburga was the daughter of Boso II of Vienne, King of Provence and his second wife Ermengarde, the daughter of the Emperor Louis II (855 – 877). She was firstly betrothed (883) to King Carloman III (866 – 884), but he died in a hunting accident before the marriage could take place. Instead, she was married (c885) to William I the Pious, Duke of Aquitaine (c865 – 918). Her daughter became the wife of Rotbald I, count of Arles (c875 – c949). Duchess Engilburga was still living (Jan, 917) aged about forty.

Englander, Margarete – (1895 – 1984)
German politician
Born Margarete Pastor (Feb 22, 1895) at Krefeld, during WW I she served as nurse with the Red Cross, and later joined the board of the Protestant Women’s Aid service (1925). During WW II she was appointed to the board of the Nurses of the German Red Cross. Englander’s political career began rather late when she was elected to the city council of her own town. She then joined the executive of the Women’s Committee of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) in the northern Rhineland region (1952). Later elected to the German Bundestag where she twice represented her party. Margarete Englander died aged eighty-nine (May 8, 1984).

Engle, Eloise – (1923 – 1993)
American novelist and author
Engle was married to the author Lauri Paananen. Her published works include, Dawn Mission (1962), Escape (1963), Sea of the Bear (1964), co-written with M. Ransom, Sky Rangers (1965), co-written with K. Drummond, Earthquake (1966), and, Parachutes: How They Work (1972). Engle also wrote historical works, producing in conjunction with her husband, The Winter War: The Russo-Finnish conflict of 1939 – 1940 (1973), and, America’s Maritime Heritage (1976), written with the assistance of A. Lott. She wrote Man in Flight: Biomedical Achievements in Aerospace (1979) and Earthquake Technology (1982). Engle was the ghost-writer for the diet book, The Do’s and Don’ts of Delightful Dieting (1972). Eloise Engle died at Falls Church, Virginia, aged sixty-nine.

Englisch, Lucie – (1902 – 1965)
German stage and film actress
Lucie was born (Feb 8, 1902) in Baden. She began her stage carrer at the court theatre of Baden, and from 1932 she performed with a Viennese company in Roumania. After a stint at the Josefstadt Theater, Englisch performed in Frankfurt-am-Main. Her husband was the actor Heinrich Fuchs. Englisch was best known for her appearances in such plays as Ingeborg and Der Mustergatte, whilst the most memorable of her many films were Die Unschuld vom Lande (1933), and, Grafin Mariza (1958). Lucie Englisch died (Oct 12, 1965) aged sixty-three, at Erlangen.

English, Isobel – (1920 – 1994)
British author of novels, dramas, screenplays and novellas
Her work includes the play Meeting Point (1976), and other published works included The Key that Rusts (1954), Every Eye (1956), Four Voices (1961), Gift Book (1964), and Life After All and Other Stories (1973). Isobel English died in London.

English, Maddy – (1925 – 2004)
American sportswoman
Madeline Katherine English was born (Feb 22, 1925) at Everett in Massachusetts and trained from an early age a baseball player. She eventually became the third baseman for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) and played with them for eight seasons (1943 – 1951). During her notable baseball career she smacked 516 hits and thirteen home runs, and had 209 runs batted in and scored 357 runs of her own. English also stole 439 bases in her career. With her retirement from professional baseball English attended Boston University and trained as a physical education instructor and a guidance counsellor, working for almost three decades at a secondary school in her hometown of Everett. Her fame as a baseball player was recognized when she was inducted into the Boston University Athletics Hall of Fame (1997). Maddy English died at Everett (Aug 21, 2004) aged seventy-nine.

Engratia of Saragossa (Encratis) – (c270 – 303 AD)
Roman Christian martyr
Engratia perished during the persecution of the Emperor Diocletian. Mauled in the arena by wild anuimals, she died of her horrendous wounds in prison at Saragossa, Lusitania. Engratia was considered the patron saint of Braga, Portugal. In religious art she is usually portrayed as nailed to a gibbet with a nail through her forehead. The church in Saragossa venerated her memory annually (Nov 3). Included in the Roman and Spanish martyrologies, she is also mentioned in the Breviary of Saragossa (1575).

Engratia of Segovia (Engrasse) – (c648 – 715)
Spanish Christian martyr
Engratia was the sister of saints Fructus (642 – 715) and Valentine. Engratia and her two brothers renounced the world, resoved to take up the religious life. They gave away their possessions to the poor, and retired to a hillside at Orospecta, near Seville, and led lives of pious asectism. When Fructus died early in 715, Engratia and Valentine buried him, then removed to Cuellar, south-east of Segovia, where they were later captured and beheaded by Moorish invaders (Oct 25). Their heads were thrown into a well that still existed in the twentieth century.

Enheduanna – (c2320 – c2250 BC)
Sumerian poet
Enheduanna was the daughter of Sargon I, king of Babylon, and and was appointed by her father to be high-priestess of the moon-god Inanna at Ur. The office would continue, through various dynasties, for for five hundred years until the reign of Rim-Sin, king of Larsa (c1763 BC). Enheduanna wrote several religious hyms, some of which have survived, including her famous Exaltation, which she composed herself in excellent Sumerian. Her portrait has also survived, recovered at Ur by Sir Leonard Woolley, and she is depicted performing a ceremony of libation before a stepped altar.

Enke, Elizabeth Edith     see   Adams, Edie

Enke, Wilhelmine – (1753 – 1820)
German royal mistress
Enke was born at Dessau, in Anhalt, the daughter of a horn player. Attractive, and possessed of a fine figure, she was noticed by Crown Prince Frederick (later Frederick William II) when she as fifteen (1769), who then arranged for her to educated at court. Frederick the Great, probably hoping to avoid a scandalous secret marriage, arranged for her to marry (1782) a royal valet, Johann Friedrich Rietz. When the king later morganatically married Julie von Voss, that lady demanded the withdrawal of Wilhelmine from the court, but Frederick refused. When he later contracted a second morganatic marriage (1790) with Countess Donhoff, which threatened Wilhelmine’s ascendancy at the court, she and her faction managed to bring about the favourite’s downfall (1792). She became a figure of real hatred and loathing at the Prussian court, and her habit of treating members of the royal family with great familiarity offended them and shocked Berlin society. She travelled to Vienna and Naples (1795), where she was received by Lady Hamilton. Her charms conquered Lord Bristol, who wore her miniature portrait.
Ennobled by the king as countess von Lichtenau (1794), she was granted mansions in Berlin and Charlottenburg, and was present at his deathbed (1797). Arrested by his successor Frederick William III who had his father’s letters to her burnt, she was charged with the abstraction of state papers. Eventually she was released, but deprived of her property. Her marriage to Rietz was dissolved (1800), and Wilhelmine remarried at Breslau (1802) to a young musician Franz von Holbein. He deserted her and they were divorced (1810). When the emperor Napoleon came to Berlin he interceded with the king on her behalf, and some of her confiscated possessions were restored. Her daughter by the king, Marianne (1780 – 1814) was granted the title countess von der Mark, and married three times. Wilhelmine Enke died in Berlin.

Ennatha – (c275 – 308 AD)
Greek Christian martyr
Ennatha was a native convert from Scythopolis, near Lake Gennesareth in Palestine. During the persecutions of emperor Maximian Daia, Ennatha was arrested at Caesarea. When the governor Firmilian threatened to have her immured within a brothel she denounced him, and Firmilian caused Ennatha to be publicly flogged. After enduring frightful tortures she was finally burnt to death, together with another Christian woman named Valentina who had despiled a pagan altar. She was revered as a saint (Nov 13) her name being recorded in the Roman Martyrology and she was mentioned by St Eusebius. Some sources call her Thea.

Ennen, Edith – (1907 – 1999)
German historian and author
Ennen was born at Merzig, the daughter of a physician and studied at the University of Freiburg am Breisgau, and then in Berlin and Bonn. Ennen served as research assistant at the Institute of Regional Historical Studies of the Rhineland in Bonn (1936 – 1947), and was then appointed as the head of the municipal archives (1947 – 1961).Ennen later became a professor at the University of Saarbrucken (1964 – 1968) and then at the University of Bonn (1968 – 1974). Her research specialized in social, constitutional, and economic history. Her published works included Fruhgeschichte der europaischen Stadt (Early History of the European City) (1953), Geschichte der Stadt Bonn (History of the City of Bonn) (1962) and Frauen im Mittelalter (1984), translated into English as The Medieval Woman (1989). Edith Ennen died (June 28, 1999) in Bonn, aged ninety-one.

Ennia Thrasylla – (c5 – 38 AD)
Roman Imperial mistress
Ennia was perhaps the granddaughter of the astrologer Thrasyllus (c55 BC – 36 AD), favourite of the emperor Tiberius. She was married to Quintus Sutorius Macro, preatorian prefect (31 – 38 AD), to whom she bore several children. With the connivance of her husband, Ennia became the mistress of Tiberius’s nephew and heir, Caligula, she and Macro hoping to control him for their own purposes when he became emperor. The Roman historian Suetonius states that Caligula seduced Ennia with a promise of marriage, but Tacitus and Dio consider the liasion part of a scheme hatched by one of both of them. When he felt he needed Macro’s help no longer, Caligula compelled him to kill himself, together with Ennia and their children.

Enniskillen, Charlotte Marion Baird, Countess of – (1852 – 1937)
Irish peeress
Charlotte Baird was born (April 12, 1852) the daughter and coheir of Douglas Baird, of Closeburn, Dumfrieshire in Scotland, by his wife Charlotte, the daughter of Captain Henry Acton, an officer of the 12th Lancers, and was related to the family of the Viscounts Stonehaven. Charlotte became the wife (1869) at St Peter’s Church, Eaton Sqaure, Middlesex, London, of Lowry Egerton Cole (1845 – 1924), Lord Cole, the son and heir of William Willoughby Cole, third Earl of Enniskillen and became Viscountess Cole (1869 – 1886). When her husband succeeded his father as fourth Earl of Enniskillen Lady Charlotte became the Countess of Enniskillen (1886 – 1924). She survived her husband as the Dowager Countess of Enniskillen (1924 – 1937). Lady Enniskillen died (Jan 30, 1937) aged eighty-four. Her children were,

• Hon. (Honourable) William Willoughby Cole (born & died 1870).
• Lady Charlotte Jane Christian Cole (1872 – 1892). She died unmarried.
• Lady Kathleen Mary Cole (1873 – 1956). She became the wife of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Walter Villiers (1873 – 1938) of the family of the Earls of Clarendon, and left issue.
• Hon. Marion Cole (born & died 1874). She died in infancy.
• John Henry Michael Cole (1876 – 1953). He succeeded his father as fifth Earl of Enniskillen (1924 – 1963), and was married twice, leaving issue.
• Lady Florence Anne Cole (1878 – 1914). She became the first wife of Hugh Cholmondeley (1870 – 1931), the third Baron Delamere, and left issue.
• Hon. Muriel Augusta Mary Cole (1879 – 1880). She died an infant.
• Lieutenant Hon. Galbraith Lowry Egerton Cole (1881 – 1929). He was married and became the father of David Lowry Cole (born 1918), who succeeded his uncle as the sixth Earl of Enniskillen, and left issue.
• Lieutenant Hon. Reginald Berkeley Cole (1882 – 1925). He died unmarried.

Enniskillen, Nancy MacLennon, Countess of – (1917 – 1998)
American-Irish journalist and diplomat
Nancy MacLennon was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and graduated from Cornell University (1938). Employed at The New York Times in Washington for seven years (1942 – 1949) writing women’s news and features. She participated in the International Studies Program at Columbia University, and interviewed Madame Chiang Kai-shek, joining the foreign desk staff in New York (1947). Joining the United States Foreign Service Reserve (1949), MacLennon was then appointed as information officer with the United States Information Service, in Cairo, Egypt (1950), she was later posted to Japan and Kenya, where she met her husband David Lowry Cole, who later succeeded sixth earl of Enniskillen (1963). She was the author of several books, including Florence Court My Irish Home, who concerned the history of the family estate at Enniskillen, in county Fermanagh, Ireland. She was widowed in 1989 and became the Dowager Countess of Enniskillen. Lady Enniskillen died (Feb 24, 1998) aged eighty, at Kinloch House, Amulree, in Perthshire, Scotland.

Ennockl, Katharina – (1789 – 1869)
Austrian actress
Katharina was born (Oct 10, 1789) in Vienna. She made her stage debut at the age of fifteen (1804). After working in an aristocratic household for several years, Ennockl returned to the stage at the Leopoldstadt Theater in Austria. She performed there with enormous success and was popularly known as ‘The Pearl of Leopoldstadt.’ Ennockl was later dismissed with the rest of the older court members (1829) and then became the second wife of Adolf Bauerle, who wrote several plays for her. Katharina Ennockl died (July 20, 1869) aged sevent-nine, in Vienna.

Enright, Elizabeth – (1909 – 1968)
American children’s author and illustrator
Enright was born (Sept 17, 1909) in Oak Park, Illinois, the daughter of Walter Enright, a political cartoonist. She was educated at Greenwich in Connecticut and studied art at the Art Students League of New York (1927 – 1928) and later studied in Paris. She was married (1930) to the television executive Robert Gillham, to whom she bore three sons. Enright produced and illustrated over a dozen children’s books such as Thimble Summer (1938), which was awarded the Newbery medal, The Sea is All Around (1940), Gone-Away Lake (1957) for which she received the Children’s Spring Book Festival Award, Return to Gone-Away (1961), and the fairy tales Tatsinda (1963) and Zeee (1965).
Elizabeth later worked as a lecturer in creative writing at Barnard College (1960 – 1962), and organized writing seminars at various universities such as Indiana, Connecticut and Utah. Enright also wrote a collection of books concerning the fictional Melendy children, who lived in New York, the first of which was, The Saturdays (1941). For adults she produced, Borrowed Summers and Other Stories (1946), and her stories were published in such famous magazines as Cosmopolitan, the Saturday Evening Post, and Harper’s Bazaar. Elizabeth Enright died in New York (June 8, 1968) aged fifty-eight.

Enriquez de Guzman, Felicia – (c1580 – 1640)
Spanish poet and classical scholar
Felicia Enriquez was born in Seville to a wealthy patrician family. She studied at the University of Salamanca and she was the author of a two-part tragi-comedy Los jardines y campos sabeos (Sabean Gardens and Fields) (1624 – 1627), which was performed at the court before King Philip IV.

Ense, Rahel Varnhagen von    see   Varnhagen von Ense, Rahel

Enselmini, Elena – (c1200 – c1242)
Italian nun and saint
Also known as Elena of Padua, she was born into the patrician enselmini family. She became a Clarissan nun at the convent of Santa Maria di Arcella, near Padua, at the age of twelve. Elena bore with remarkable fortitude, an illness which deprived her of the power of speech and sight, and the use of her limbs. These sufferrings were increased by the efforts of friends to have her cured. The nuns in her convent commanded her to tell the sisters of her bodily and spiritual experiences and thus it was that they were written down and recorded. Elena Enselmini was canonized by Pope Innocent XII (1695) and the church venerated her memory (Nov 4).

Ensslin, Gudrun – (1940 – 1977)
German terrorist
Ensslin was born (Aug 15, 1940) at Bartholoma, the daughter of a clergyman and studied at Tubingen. She went to Berlin (1965), where she became involved in the activities of the SPD (Social Democratic Party). She then joined Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof in forming the ‘Red Army Faction’ terrorist group (1968 – 1970). Having been involved in various terrorist campaigns, which included bank robberies and bombings, she was later arrested (1972). Sentenced to life imprisonment, Gudrun Ensslin committed suicide (Oct 18, 1977) aged thirty-seven, in Stuttgart, Wurttemburg, after her supporters failed to secure her release.

Enters, Angna (Anita) – (1907 – 1989)
American actress and mime performer
Enters as born (April 28, 1907) in New York and trained as a dancer. She made her first stage appearances in New York (1924) and London (1927). Enters was famous for her self-devised mime performances, which included dance composed by herself and rich costumes, the most famous of these was, Moyen age (1926). Enters created her own extensive repertoire of over two hundred dance routines such as, The Queen of Heaven and, Pavana. A talented artist and screen writer during the war years, she produced wrote memoirs of her theatrical career entitled, Artist’s Life (1957), and, Angna Enters on Mime (1965). She also wrote the play Love Possessed Juana (1939). Angna Enters died (Feb 25, 1989) at Tenefly, New Jersey, aged eighty-one.

Enthoven, Gabrielle – (1868 – 1950)
British war activist and curator
Augusta Gabrielle Eden Romaine was born (Jan 12, 1868) in London, and became the wife (1893) of Major Enthoven. She was left a childless widow (1910) and during WW I Gabrielle Enthoven worked with records department of the War Refugee Committee, and also with the Red Cross. She headed the Records Department of the Central Prisoners of War (1915 – 1920) and during WW II she again headed the same department (1939 – 1945).
Mrs Enthoven produced several theatrical works such as Montmartre (1912) at the Alhambra, Ellen Young (1916) at the Savoy, and The Confederates (1930). She was a collector of theatrical memorabilia from various famous London theatres and gave this collection to the Victoria and Albert Museum (1924). Gabrielle Enthoven died (Aug 18, 1950) aged eighty-two, in London.

Entremont, Francoise Caroline Sutton-Oglethorpe, Comtesse de – (c1698 – 1769)
French Jacobite courtier
Francoise Sutton-Oglethorpe was born in France, and was educated at the Stuart court of the Pretender James III at St Germain-en-Laye, near Paris. She was closely related to the famous Oglethorpe family. She became the wife of Joseph Noyel de Bellegarde (1692 – 1759), Comte d’Entremont, and attended the court of Louis XV at Versailles. She survived her husband as the Dowager Comtesse d’Entremont (1759 – 1769) and was the mother of Francois de Bellegarde (1720 – 1790), Marquis de Marches.

Entwhistle, Peg – (1908 – 1932)
Welsh film actress
Born Lillian Millicent Entwhistle (Feb 6, 1908) at Port Talbot, near Swansea Bay, after the death of her mother she immigrated to New York, in the USA with her father (1922). Her father’s death in an accident left her destitute, but she struggled to pursue a theatrical career with success, making her stage debut in Hamlet, produced by the Boston repertory company (1925). This was followed by Broadway roles, and she appeared with Dorothy Gish, in Getting Married, and in, The Mad Hopes with Humphrey Bogart.
However, the onset of the Depression badly affected theatre sales, and she began to take solace in alcohol. Entwhistle then moved to California, hoping to enter the burgeoning movie industry (1932). She was signed up by RKO studios and appeared in, Thirteen Women (1932), which was produced by David O. Selznick. The movie failed and Selznick did not renew her contract. Driven to financial desperation, she posed topless for a small fee. Finally, unable to bear her situation any longer, Peg Entwhistle committed suicide (Sept 18, 1932) aged only twenty-four, by throwing herself from atop the letter H on the famous ‘Hollywoodland’ sign on the side of Mount Lee (the sign was later changed to Hollywood in 1949). She was interred with her father at Glendale in Ohio.

Entwhistle, Rachel Elizabeth – (1979 – 2006)
British murder victim
Born Rachel Souza (Dec 14, 1979), she attended the secondary school in Kingston, Massachusetts and then at the University of York in Britain, where she met (1999) her future husband, Neil Entwhistle, a British computer programmer from Worksop, Nottinghamshire. The couple were later married (2002) and had a daughter (2005). Rachel had trained as a teacher and worked at St Augustine’s Catholic High School at Redditch in Worcestershire (2002) before accompanying her husband to the USA. They resided at Hopkinton, Massachusetts. She and her infant daughter Lillian were found dead there (Jan 20, 2006), shot to death in her bedroom, her husband Neil being arrested in London and then extradited to the USA for the crime. Neil Entwhistle’s defence claimed that Rachel had shot Lillian and then herself with a gun she found at the home of her parents, and that he had returned the gun secretly to her parents’ home in order to avoid a scandal. A court in Woburn, Massachusetts found Neil Entwhistle guilty of both murders (June, 2008) and he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Enxara, Mariana Perez de – (fl. c1240 – c1250)
Portugese courtier
Mariana Perez was the daughter of Pedro Enxara and became the mistress of Alfonso III, King of Portugal (1248 – 1279). Mariana bore the king two sons which he recognized as his own, Ferdinando Alfonso de Portugal, a knight of the Order of the Templars, and Alfonso Diniz de Portugal (c1245 – 1310), lord of Pouca and chamberlain to Isabella of Aragon, wife of his his half-brother, King Diniz (1279 – 1325).

Eorcungota    see    Earcongota

Eormengilda   see   Ermenhilda

Eormenlinda (Eormenlendis) – (c663 – after 696)
Lombard queen consort
Eormenlinda was probably the daughter of the aetheling Aethelbrith of Kent (murdered 670), the grandson of King Eormenraed (640 – c656), and was the sister to King Oswin (688 – 690).
Eormenlinda was married (c680) to Cunincpert, King of Lombardy (c654 – 701). They left an only son, the child ruler Liutpert (701 – 702) who was murdered by his successor, King Aripert. Her marriage was recorded by the historian Paul the Deacon (Paulus Diaconus) in his chronicle, Historia gentis Langobardorum, though he does not name her father. Queen Eormenlinda’s fate remains unrecorded.

Epernon, Anne Louise Christine de Nogaret de La Valette d’ – (1624 – 1701)
French royal
Anne de Nogaret de La Valette d’Epernon was the daughter of Bernard de Nogaret de La Valette, Duc d’Epernon, and his first wife, Gabrielle de Bourbon, the legitimated daughter of Henry IV and the Marquise de Verneuil. Anne became romantically attached to the Chevalier de Fiesque, but after his death on the battlefield (1649), she renounced the world and became a Carmelite nun in the Rue de St Jacques, in Paris, taking the religious name of Sister (Soeur) Anne Marie de Jesus (1649). She was on friendly terms with the famous Duchesse de Longueville after that lady had reformed her life.

Epernon, Gabrielle Angelique de Bourbon, Duchesse d’ – (1603 – 1627)
French royal daughter
Gabrielle Angelique de Bourbon was born in Paris (Jan 21, 1603) the natural daughter if Henry IV of France (1589 – 1610) and his mistress, Henriette de Balzac d’Entragues, Marquise de Verneuil. The half-sister to Louis XIII (1610 – 1643), she was recognized and legitimated by her father, who had hoped to marry her mother and make her his legitimate queen. Gabrielle was married (1622) at Lyons, to Bernard de La Valette, Duc d’Epernon, Foix and Candale (c1597 – 1661). The duchesse died young at Metz in Lorraine (April 24, 1627) aged only twenty-four.

‘Ephelia’ – (fl. 1678 – 1682)
English poet
The name is a pseudonym, and she may have been an actress or courtier. She appears to have been acquainted with Aphra Behn, whom she praised in her work Female Poems on Several Occasions (1679). Her dubious indentification with Elizabeth Mordaunt is now disregarded. Her witty and passionate lyric verses, addressed to one ‘Strephon’ reveal an intimate relationship of several years duration, but likewise, the object of these verses remains unknown. A supporter of King Charles II, she wrote, A Poem to his Sacred Majesty on the Plot. Written by a Gentlewoman (1678) was reprinted in her, Female Poems. A broadside pamphlett, critical of the pretensions of Charles’s illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth Advice to His Grace (1681) was attributed to her.

Ephron, June    see   Gale, June

Ephron, Phoebe Wolkind – (1914 – 1971)                                                 
American dramatist and screenwriter
Phoebe Wolkind was born in New York, the sister of Harold Wolkind, of Arlington, Virginia. Phoebe graduated from Hunter College in 1935 and in 1934, and was married to the writer Henry Ephron (1912 – 1992) as his first wife. Together, they became famous and successful Broadway and Hollywood writers. Their works included, Three’s a Family, which also ran in London Take Her, She’s Mine (1961), and My Daughter, Your Son (1969). They were also famous for their screenplays, which included, Desk Set, which starred Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, and, Captain Newman, M.D., for which they were nominated for an Oscar award. Phoebe’s own personal Broadway comedy, Howie, was produced in 1958. Their daughter, Nora Ephron (born 1941) was a well known screenwriter, director, journalist and novelist.

Epicharis – (c35 – 65 AD)
Roman conspirator
Epicharis was a freedwoman who became involved in the Pisonian conspiracy aimed at the removal of the Emperor Nero. The plot was uncovered, and Epicharis put to the torture and eventually killed. She refused to reveal her fellow conspirators, showing remarakable courage.

Epictula – (d. c303 AD)
Graeco-Roman Christian martyr
Epictula was a native of Africa, and perished during the perseuctions initiated by the emperors Diocletian and Maximian Daia. Her feast (Jan 27) was recorded in the Acta Sanctorum.

Epifanovna, Vassa Iosifovna – (1870 – 1942)
Russian painter and water colour artist
Epifanova was the daughter of Iosif Epifanov, and studied art under Ilya Repin at the Academy of Arts in St Petersburg. Epifanovna specialised as a genre painter, and her work was publicly exhibited with the Society of Russian Water Colour Painters.

Epinay, Louise Florence Petronille de La Live d’ – (1726 – 1783)
French writer and salonniere
Born Louise Tardieu d’Esclavelles at Valenciennes (March 11, 1726), she was the daughter of a brigadier. She was married (1745) to her cousin, Denis Joseph de La Live d’Epinay, collector-general of taxes, but the union proved a failure and the couple formally seperated (1749). Madame d’Epinay established her brilliant literary salon at La Chevrette, in Montmorency, and she was a firm friend and patron of the Encyclopaedists. She became involved in romantic liasions with Baron Friedrich Melchior von Grimm, Denis Diderot, and Jean Jacuqes Rousseau, for whom she provided the country cottage known as the Hermitage in Montmorency (1756). She collaborated with Grimm on his, Correspondence Litteraire (1812), but she later quarreled with Rousseau and they then seperated, her former lover becoming her bitterest enemy. She was the guest of Voltaire in Geneva, Switzerland (1757 – 1759).
Her best known work the didactic, Conversations d’Emilie (1774), composed for her granddaughter, Emilie de Belsunce, earned her a gold medal from the French Academy (1783). Mme d’Epinay died in Paris aged fifty-seven (April 17, 1783). Her personal reminiscences, written in a autobiographical romantic style and entitled, Memoires et Correspondance de Mme d’Epinay, renfermant un grand nombre de lettres inedites de Grimm, de Diderot, et de J.-J. Rousseau, ainsi que des details (1818), was later published in Paris from a manuscript she had bequeathed to Grimm. She was also the author of Lettres a mon fils (1758), and Mes moments heureux (1759), both published in Geneva. Her portrait was painted by Jean Etienne Liotard.

Epinoy, Armande de La Tour d’Auvergne, Princesse d’ – (1697 – 1717)
French aristocrat
Armande de La Tour d’Auvergne was born (Aug 28, 1697) the daughter of Emmanuel Theodore de La Tour d’Auvergne, Duc de Bouillon, and his first wife, Marie Armande Victoire de La Tremoille, the daughter of Charles Belgique Hollande de La Tremoille, Duc de Thouars. She was married (1716) to Louis de Melun (1694 – 1724), Prince d’Epinoy and Duc de Joyeuse, but remained childless. Princesse Armande died (April 13, 1717) aged only nineteen.

Epinoy, Philippine Christine de Lalaing, Princesse de – (1545 – 1582)
Flemish patriot
The heroine of the nationalist resistance led against the Spanish armies of Philip II of Spain. She was the youngest daughter of Charles II, Comte de Lalaing (1506 – 1558), the Governor-General of the Netherlands (1557 – 1558) and his first wife, Margeurite de Croy (1508 – 1549), the daughter of Charles de Croy, Comte de Chimay (1455 – 1527). She was married (1572) to Pierre de Melun, Prince d’Epinoy, Marquis de Richebourg (died 1594). The Princesse d’Epinoy died (June 9, 1582) aged thirty-seven.

Epiphania – (c550 – 612)
Byzantine Imperial matriarch
Epiphania was the wife of Heraklius (c545 – 610), magister militum and exarch of Africa (c602 – 610), and was mother of the Emperor Heraklius I (575 – 641). The chronicler Theophanes recorded in his Chronographia that Epiphania was residing in Constantinople just before her son overthrew the Emperor Phokas, as did Johannes of Antioch. With her was her future daughter-in-law, Fabia Eudocia, the daughter of Rogatus. Both women were confined to a convent in the city by order of Phokas, but were otherwise unharmed. They were freed by the Green faction when the city capitulated and was restored to Heraklius.
Epiphania survived these events for several years, and Heraklius’s daughter, Epiphania Eudocia (born July, 611) was evidently named in her honour. Epiphania died the following year in Constantinople and was interred there within the Church of the Holy Apostles. Her daughter Maria was married to Martinus, and their daughter Martina, became the emperor’s infamous second wife. Her youngest son Theodorus (c580 – 636) served his brother as a general but was disgraced after his defeat at the battle of Ajnada (July, 634) and was imprisoned.

Epiphania Eudocia – (611 – c660)
Byzantine Augusta
Epiphania Eudocia was born in Constantinople (July 7, 611), the eldest daughter of the emperor Heraklius I (610 – 641) and his first wife Fabia Eudocia, the daughter if governor Rogatus of Africa. She was baptised and crowned Augusta in the oratory of St Stephen within the Imperial palace by the Patriarch Sergius (Oct 4, 612). Heraklius welcomed the Turkish prince Zhebukhan in Constantinople (c629) and, in a bid to secure peace, during a private interview the emperor produced a portrait of Epiphania and pretended to flatter the Turk with the promise of an Imperial bride. The negotiations continued and the young empress was sent to her Turkish husband, but news of his death stopped her journey, and she returned a virgin to the Imperial court, where she remained the rest of her life.
Epiphania Eudocia never married and after the palace revolution which followed her father’s death (641), against her stepbrother Herakleonas and her stepmother Martina, she became a nun and assumed the religious name of Febronia. She was honoured as a saint after her death as St Febronia (Oct 28). Several Byzantine historians mention her in their chronicles including Theophanes in his, Chronographia and Jojhannes Zonaras in his Epitome Historiarum.

Epistemes – (d. c257 AD)
Phoenician Christian martyr
Epistemes and her Christian husband Galation were residing at Emesa in Phoenicia. Arrested during the persecution of the emperor Decius, they sufferred frightful tortures. Publicly scourged, their hands, feet and tongues were all removed before, finally, they were decapitated. They were both venerated as saints, their feast being recorded in the Roman Martyrology (Oct 5).

Epponina (Peponilla) – (c45 – 79 AD)
Germanic political victim
Epponina was wife to the Celtic chieftain, Julius Sabinus, one of the leaders of the Batavian rebellion (70 AD). With the failure of this enterprise, Epponina kept her husband hidden in a cellar for nine years, until this place was finally discovered (79 AD). During their period of hiding, Epponina had borne two children. They were taken to Rome where Epponina implored Emperor Vespasian to spare her children, but they were put to death together with their parents.

Epps, Laura     see    Alma-Tadema, Lady

Epstein, June – (1918 – 2004)
Australian musician and author
Born in Perth, Western Australia into a Jewish-Latvian migrant family, she was educated at Perth College, her musical talent, particularly as a pianist, was apparent from her youth. Awarded a scholarship to study at the Trinity College of Music, in London, June was the first Australian to be son honoured. Graduating the top of her class, she retained her friendship with the composer Benjamin Britten, and the couple corresponded for decades. Touring Australia as a pianist for the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission), she taught music and conducted choirs at various prestigious girls’ schools in Melbourne, Victoria. She was appointed senior lecturer in music at the Institute of Early Childhood Development at the University of Melbourne. There she married the Austrian born mathematician Julius Guest, to whom she bore three children.
Throughout her career, June wrote more than sixty books including, Mermaid on Wheels: Image of the King, which told the story of her eldest mentally disabled son Carey (who spent his life in an institution), A Golden String, the biography of the headmistress of Merton Hall, Dorothy J. Ross, and No Music by Request, the life of Pierre Gorman, activist for the hearing impaired. Her memoirs were entitled Woman With Two Hats (1988).

Epstein, Kathleen Garman, Lady – (1902 – 1979)
British beauty, socialite, and benefactor
Kathleen Garman was the third daughter of the physician Walter Garman. She was the sister of Mary Garman and Lorna Wishart, and was raised at Wednesbury. Garman became involved in an affair with the American born sculptor, Sir Jacob Epstein (1880 – 1959), to whom she bore three illegitimate children. She survived an attempt by Epstein’s enraged wife to shoot her. Lady Epstein died in 1949, and Kathleen and Epstein were then married several years afterwards (1955). Lady Epstein later donated some of her husband’s works to the Israel Museum, whilst others formed part of the Garman Ryan Collection at the New Art Gallery at Walsall. Her daughter, Kitty (Kathleen) Epstein, became the wife of the famous painter Lucien Freud, and was the model for his painting Girl with a white dog (1951 – 1952).

Epstein, Marie – (1899 – 1995)
French film director
Epstein was the sister to noted director Jean Epstein (1897 – 1953), with whom she often collaborated. She herself directed several films for French cinema including La Maternelle (1933) and La Mort du Cygne (1938), amongst others.

Epyaxa – (fl. 401 BC)
Greek ruler of Cilicia in Asia Minor
Epyaxa was the wife and co-ruler with King Syennesis III. The Greek historian Xenophon recorded in his Persian Expedition that Queen Epyaxa provided considerable assistance to the rebel Persian prince, Cyrus, son of Darius II.

Erastoff, Edith – (1887 – 1945)
Swedish actress
Erastoff was born at Helsinki in Finland (April 8, 1887). After an early stage career she made several early silent films such as Gransfolken (1913), Hjalte mot sin vilja (1915), in which she appeared as Sofie Glad, and Hamnaren (The Avenger) (1916). Erastoff had a romantic liasion with her co-star, actor Victor Sjostrom (1879 – 1960) whilst she was married to her first husband George Erastoff. She became pregnant with his daughter whilst both were filming the classic silent flick, Berg-Ejvind och hans hustru (1918), which was released in Britain as Love: The Only Law and in the USA as You and I. She had to wait for five years before a divorce allowed Edith and Sjostrom to marry (1922). She retired from films after her appearance as Adelaide Ulfstjerna in, Johan Ulfstjerna (1936). Edith Erastoff died (April 17, 1975) at Stockholm, aged fifty-eight.

Erato – (c30 BC – after 11 AD) 
Queen of Armenia
Erato was the daughter of King Tigranes III and was married to her brother, Tigranes IV (c35 – 5 BC) before the death of their father (10 BC), when they ascended the Armenian throne together as joint rulers, their regime being supported by the anti-Roman faction. The emperor Augustus sent forces to Armenia (5 BC), but they were driven out, and Tigranes and Erato regained the throne. Soon afterwards Tigranes was killed in a barbarian war and Queen Erato abdication. The royal line was now extinct. After several client rulers set up by Rome, such as Ariobarzanes of Media and Tigranes V (the grandson of Herod the Great of Judaea), Erato succeeded Artavasdes III, and ruled alone for seven years (4 – 11 AD). Queen Erato was expelled from the throne a second time (11 AD), the circumstances of which deposition remain unknown, and the Artaxiad Dynasty became extinct. The emperor Augustus then appointed Vonones I of Parthia to rule in Armenia (11 – 12 AD), ending a short interregnum.

Erauzo, Catalina de – (1592 – 1650)
Spanish soldier
Erauzo was originally sent to become a nun in San Sebastiano in childhood. Finding that she had no vocation, Catalina escaped from the convent at the age of fifteen, and disguised herself as a boy. She retained her disguise and sailed to South America (1610), where she became involved in many brawls and adventures, including travelling the five hundred mile mountain trail to Cuzco in Peru, and engaging in miliatry campaigns against the fierce Araucanian Indians in Chile. She continued this life until 1623, when she was arrested for murder.
Erauzo gained her release by revealing her true sex, and also because it was ascertained that she had remained a virgin, despite her riotous life. After two periods of imprisonment in Peruvian convents, she was finally permitted to return to Spain (1624). Popularly known as ‘The Nun Ensign,’ Erauzo was later granted a pension by King Philip IV, and Pope Urban VIII received her in a private audience and granted her pernission to retain male dress in daily life (1627). Erauzo later returned to America, where she settled in Mexico (1630) and spent the remainder of her life emplotyed as a muleteer between Mexico City and Vera Cruz.

Erbach-Furstenau, Countess Anna Sophia von    see    Spesshardt, Anna Sophia von

Erbach-Schonburg, Marie Caroline von Battenberg, Princess von – (1852 – 1923)
German memoirist
Princess Marie von Battneberg was born (July 15, 1852) in Geneva, Switzerland, the eldest child and only daughter of Prince Alexander of Hesse-Darmstadt and his morganatic wife Countess Julia Theresa von Haucke, who was created Princess of Battenberg with the qualification of Serene Highness for herself and her children. Her younger brother Henry (1858 – 1896), known as ‘Liko’ in the family, was married to Princess Beatrice, the youngest daughter of Queen Victoria.
Marie Caroline was married (1871) at Darmstadt, to Count Gustavus Karl Albrecht von Erbach-Schonburg (Aug 17, 1840 – Jan 29, 1908), who was later created a prince (1903). She was present at Madrid in Spain for the marriage of her niece, Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg with King Alfonso XIII (1906), and left a long and vivid account of this occasion for posterity in her memoirs, including the infamous assasination attempt which occurred during these celebrations. With her husband’s death Marie Caroline was Princess Dowager von Erbach Schonburg (1908 – 1923) for fifteen years. She was the author of two volumes of memoirs, the Memoires of a Battenberg Princess and Reminiscences (1925), which was published posthumously. Princess Marie died (June 20, 1923) aged seveny, at Schonburg Castle. She left four children,

• Prince Alexander Ludwig von Erbach-Schonburg (1872 – 1944). He married and left descendants.
• Count Maximilian von Erbach-Schonburg (1878 – 1892. He died young.
• Prince Victor Serge von Erbach-Schonburg (1880 – 1967). He married but left no issue.
• Princess Marie Elisabeth (Edda) von Erbach-Schonburg (1883 – 1966). She was married Prince Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich von Stolberg-Wernigerode (1870 – 1931) and left descendants.

Ercheswinda (Erkesinda) – (d. after 782)
Carolingian noblewoman
Ercheswinda was the second wife of Count Hieronymus (Jerome) (died 782), abbot of St Quentin, the illegitimate son of Charles Martel, Duke of Austrasia. Ercheswinda was the stepmother of Fulrad (died 826), abbot of St Quentin and Lobbes, and was the mother of St Fulcuin (c770 – 855), Bishop of Therouanne (816), as recorded in the Vitae Fulcuini, which recorded his parentage as matre Erkesinda, patr Hieronimo, quoroum prior de gentle Gothorum ….. alter Karolo regis avunculus. Ercheswinda may have been the mother of Richard (died after 795), Count of Rouen, in which case she was the ancestress of Boso, King of Provence (879 – 887) and of the emperor Louis IV l’Aveugle (the Blind) (900 – 906).

Erdeli, Ksenia Alexandrovna – (1878 – after 1970)
Russian harpist
Ksenia Erdeli was born on the estate of Mirolibovka, near Elisavetgrad. A soloist performer with the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra (1900 – 1907), she was later appointed a professor at the Moscow Conservatory, where she taught many pupils over a long and impressive career. Her career also included a two decade stint with the Bolshoi Theatre (1919 – 1938).

Erdmannsdorffer, Pauline – (1847 – 1916)
German pianist
Born Pauline Fichter Oprawill in Vienna, she received her training as a pupil of Franz Liszt and Pirkert and became a pianist at the royal court in Bavaria. She later became the wife of the noted composer, Max Erdmannsdorffer (1848 – 1905). Pauline erdmannsdorffer died in Munich, aged sixty-nine (Sept 24, 1916).

Erdmannsedd, Therese Emma von – (1807 – 1848)
German courtier and royal wife
Erdmannsedd was born (Sept 12, 1807) in Dresden, Saxony, the daughter of Alexander Ferdinand von Erdmannsedd and his wife Louise Frederica.  Therese became the morganatic second wife of Prince George of Anhalt-Dessau (1796 – 1865) and a week later she was granted the title countess von Reina (Oct 9, 1831), the same title and rank being held by her children. She died (Feb 28, 1848) at Mannheim, aged forty. Her seven children were,

• Count Franz von Reina (1832 – 1879). He died unmarried.
• Countess Mathilde von Reina (1833 – 1917). She was married to Otto von Koenneritz (1835 – 1866), and left children.
• Countess Helena von Reina (1835 – 1860), who was later adopted by her uncle and created Princess von Anhalt (1855). She was married to Prince Friedrich Gunther von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (died 1867).
• Countess Emma von Reina (1837 – 1909). She died unmarried.
• Countess Marie von Reina (1839 – 1931). She died unmarried.
• Count Rudolf von Reina (1842 – 1921). He was married to Marie Paris (1857 – 1932) but died childless.
• Count Karl von Reina (1844 – 1900). He was married twice, firstly to Cosima von Morner (1865 – 1936) from whom he was divorced (1893), and secondly to Countess Maria von der Groeben (1841 – 1894), but died childless.

Erdmuthe of Brandenburg – (1561 – 1623)
German duchess consort
Princess Erdmuthe was born (June 26, 1561) the second daughter of Johann George, Elector of Brandenburg and his second wife Sabina of Ansbach, the daughter of George of Brandenburg, Margrave of Ansbach. She was married (1577) to Johann Friedrich (1542 – 1600), the reigning duke of Pomerania-Stettin and was duchess consort for twenty-three years (1577 – 1600) but their marriage remained childless. She survived her husband as the Dowager Duchess of Stettin (1600 – 1623). Duchess Erdmuthe died (Nov 13, 1623) aged sixty-two.

Erdmuthe Benigna of Solms – (1670 – 1732)
German ruler
Countess Erdmuthe Benigna was born at Wildenfels the daughter of Count Johann Friedrich of Solms-Baruth-Wildenfels and his wife Countess Benigna von Promnitz. She was married to Prince Henry XXVIII von Reuss-Ebersdorff to whom she bore eight children. With her husband’s death (1711) she ruled the small principality as regent for their only son Henry XXIX (1699 – 1747).  The princess regent resigned the government when her son came of age (1715) and retired as princess-dowager. Of her seven daughters, her second, Erdmuthe Dorothea became the first wife of the famous hymnist, Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf (1700 – 1760), whilst her third, Henrietta Bibiana married Marschall Georg Adolf von Biberstein. Princess Erdmuthe Benigna died (Sept 14, 1732) aged sixty-two, at Ebersdorf.

Erdmuthe Dorothea of Saxe-Zeitz – (1661 – 1720)
German Duchess consort of Saxe-Merseburg (1691 – 1694)
Princess Erdmuthe Sophia was born (Nov 13, 1661), the third daughter of Maurice, Duke of Saxe-Zeitz (1650 – 1681) and his second wife Dorothea Maria, the daughter if Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar (1605 – 1662). Erdmuthe Dorothea was married (1679) to Duke Christian II of Saxe-Merseburg (1653 – 1694). With his early death, the duchess ruled the small Saxon duchy for a decade (1694 – 1704) as regent for her sons, Moritz Wilhelm and Friedrich Erdmann, who ruled jointly. When Moritz came of age she retired from the government of Merseburg. Duchess Erdmuthe Dorothea died (April 28, 1720) aged fifty-eight. Apart from three sons and a daughter who all died in infancy, Duchess Erdmuthe Dorothea left three children,

• Duke Christian Maurice of Saxe-Merseburg (1680 – 1694) who predeceased his father aged thirteen.
• Moritz Wilhelm (1688 – 1731). He succeeded as Duke of Saxe-Merseberg (1694 – 1731). He was married (1711) to Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Idstein (1693 – 1734), but they left no surviving issue.
• Friedrich Erdmann (1691 – 1714). He succeeded as joint Duke of Saxe-Merseburg (1694 – 1714) with his brother (1694 – 1714). He was married (1714) to Princess Eleonore Wilhelmine of Anhalt-Kothen (1696 – 1726), but left no surviving children.

Erdmuthe Sophia of Saxony – (1644 – 1670)
German princess
Princess Edrmuthe Sophia was born (Feb 25, 1644), the daughter of Johann George II, Elector of Saxony (1656 – 1680), and his wife Magdalena Sybilla, the daughter of Christian Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. The Tuscan ambassador to Saxony, Senor Marchetti, tried to negotiate a marriage between the princess and Cosimo de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1653). However Erdmuthe Sophia was then aged barely ten years, and firmly refused to renounce her Lutheran religion. Soon afterwards however, the ambassador discovered that Erdmuthe Sophia would possess only a small dowry, and the negotiations were not pursued. She was later married instead (1662) to Christian Ernst (1644 – 1712), Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1655 – 1712) as the first of his three wives. She was margravine consort for eight years (1662 – 1670) but remained childless. Margravine Erdmuthe Sophia died (June 22, 1670) aged only twenty-six.

Erdody, Helene von Oberndorff, Countess – (1831 – 1932)
German memoirist
Helene von Oberndorff was born at Regendorf, the daughter of Count Oberndorff, and married (1853) at Regensburg, in Bavaria, the Hungarian landowner Count Francis Xavier Erdody (1830 – 1896), to whom she bore six children, including his eldest son and heir, Count Imre Erdody de Monyorokereket Monoszlo (1854 – 1925). Her husband was the son of Count Georg Erdody, and his wife Charlotte, the daughter of Theodore Baltazzi, and his wife Eliza, the daughter of Richard Sorrel, British vice-consul in Constantinople, and was the first cousin to Baroness Marie Vescera, the ill-fated mistress of the Austrian crown prince Rudolf. A prominent society figure during the long reign of the emperor Franz Joseph, she survived the fall of the monarchy (1918), and the countess published her memoirs in Vienna (1929) entitled, Fast hundert Jahre Lebenserinnerungen, 1831 – 1925 (Nearly One Hundred Years of Memories). The ‘Count X’ referred to in her reminiscences is believed to refer to Count Hans Wilczek, the close friend of Crown Prince Rudolf. Countess Erdody died (Feb 29, 1932) aged one hundred, at Vep (formerly Wettendorf).

Erdos, Renee – (1911 – 1997)
Australian correpondence educator
Erdos was born in Sri Lanka (Ceylon), the daughter of a Hungarian father and half-Australian mother, Fauvette Loureiro, daughter of the famous painter, Arthur Loureiro. With her father’s death she came to Australia with her mother, and was educated at the Loreto Convent at Kirribilli and graduated from the University of Sydney (1934). Erdos became a teacher and was head teacher in history at the New South Wales Department of Technical Studies, and was later head of the School of External Studies for ten years (1959 – 1969), the most senior position ever attained by a woman in the department.
Awarded a grant to study in the USA (1961) and in Britain (1962), she also visited Scandinavia, Holland, France, Germany, and Russia. She retired in 1969, and became president of the International Council for Correspondence Education, chairing a conference of over one hundred and fifty delegates from thirty-four countries at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. She was later made an honorary Doctor of Letters by Deakin University (1989). Renee Erdos died in Sydney, aged eighty-six.

Eremberta   see   Bertana

Eremburga of Maine – (1094 – 1126)
Norman heiress
Eremburga was the daughter of Elias I of La Fleche, Count of Maine, and his wife Matilda de Chateau-du-Loir. Her first husband, Count Geoffrey IV of Anjou, left her a childless widow at the age of twelve, and she was married to his half-brother and successor, Count Fulk V (1092 – 1143) (later king of Jerusalem) as his first wife. Eremburga’s second husband inherited Maine in her right (1110), becoming involved in continuous wars with Henry I of England concerning her inheritance. She was the mother of Count Geoffrey V ‘Planatagenet’ (1113 – 1151), who married the Empress Matilda, heiress of Henry I, and was the paternal grandmother of King Henry II (1154 – 1189).

Erentrude of Salzburg – (c659 – c715)
Merovingian virgin saint
Erentrude was the sister to St Rupert of Salzburg. She was appointed as abbess of the convent of Nonnberg that was built by her brother. Revered as a saint (June 30) the emperor Henry II (1002 – 1024) was supposed to have been cured of leprosy at her intercession, when he wore a relic of hers in a gold ring. He lost the ring and the diseased apparently returned. The emperor vowed to rebuild her monastery, which had been destroyed by fire, and was then permanently cured.

Eresvytha    see   Hereswyth

Eriksdottir, Freydis – (fl. c980 – c1010)
Norse traveller
Freydis was the daughter of Scandinavian explorer Erik the Red (c950 – c1003), who discovered Greenland (982) and half-sister to explorer Leif Eriksson (c970 – 1020), reputedly the first to discover the American continent. According to her father’s Icelandic saga, she accompanied her brother on the second expedition to ‘Vinland’ (Newfoundland) in North America (c1000) becoming the first recorded female visitor to that continent. An attempt to settle and colonize Vinland failed, and Freydis’ ultimate fate remains unknown.

Erikson, Joan Mowat – (1902 – 1997)
Canadian psychologist
Joan Mowat was the daughter of an Anglican priest and attended Barnard’s College in the USA. She trained as a teacher at Columbia University and studied dance in Vienna, Austria
Joan was married (1930) to Erik Erikson, the psychologist, who studied under Freud and his daughter Anna. They had two children. She accompanied her husband to the USA (1933) where both studied psychoanalysis at Harvard and the University of Columbia at Berkeley. Her husband later resigned (1951) rather than sign the loyalty oath imposed during the MaCarthy Communist scare.
With her husband she helped to develop the renewed psychological view of human development which proposed the theory that a person’s sense of identity was a series of eight different cycles, all marked by the effective solving of successive emotional conflicts. With her husband she produced Life Cycle Completed and Activity, Recovery and Growth (1976). Possesses of a passionate interest in the arts and crafts movement, Erikson worked with beads to make jewellery and wrote The Universal Bead (1969). She was widowed in 1994. Joan Erikson died (Aug 3, 1997) at Brewster in Massachusetts, aged ninety-five.

Erilieva – (c435 AD – c506)
Ostrogothic queen mother
Erilieva was concubine to king Theudemir, to whom she bore two sons, Theudimundus and Theodoric, and a daughter Amalafrida. When Theodoric established himself as king of Italy (493 AD), she was established in royal style at Ravenna, and was accorded the rank of queen mother. She converted to Christianity, taking the name Eusebia. Two surviving letters from Pope Gelasius refer to Erilieva as ‘mother of the king’ (495 AD) and ‘regina’ (496 AD).

Erinna – (fl. c370 – c350 BC)
Greek poet
Erinna was born on the island of Telos. She died young, aged only nineteen, and is specifically remembered for her epic poem The Distaff, only four lines of which survive, and which dealt with the pleasures of female childhood, and which was penned to honour a dead friend. Some of her epigrams have also survived.

Eriphanis – (fl. c750 BC)
Greek classical poet
Eriphanis was beloved by the hunter Menelaus, and is credited with the invention of a certain type of lyric poetry. Klearchus refers to her in the book Love Matters, which says that Eriphanis was the first to compose romantic verse.

Erisa, Avice – (c1550 – after 1605)
English Tudor gentlewoman
Avice Erisa was born in Cornwall, and became a lady-in-waiting to Margaret, Lady Dacre of Gillisland. When her mistress stood sponsor to Robert Dudley (1573), the illegitimate son of the Earl of Leicester and Lady Douglas Sheffield, nee Howard, it was Mistress Erisa who represented her mistress, Lady Dacre, at the child’s christening at Shene House in Richmond. Several weeks later she returned to Cornwall, via Salisbury in Wiltshire. After the scandal broke at court concerning the couple’s pretended marriage, Mistress Erisa and a servant woman supported the claims of Lady Douglas, to be Robert Dudley’s legitimate wife.
Avice Erisa became the wife of Sir Nicholas Parker (1547 – 1619), the noted Elizabethan military commander, with whom she resided at Pendennis Castle, Cornwall, when he was appointed as governor by Queen Elizabeth I (1598). Avice bore her husband a daughter, Anne Parker, whose first husband, Adrian Moore, was one of the Virginia Company adventurers, whilst her second was, Sir John Smith. Parker was knighted by Lord Willoughby (1588). Her involvement in the Dudley/Sheffield affair later came back to haunt Lady Parker, when the fact of the marriage was examined officially by the Star Chamber, during the reign of James I (1605), when the child, then Sir Robert Dudley, tried vainly to have the legality of his parents’ marriage proven. Lady Avice and a former servant testified to the legality of the marriage. She was interviewed by the Crown officers, but was unable to recall every detail after such a long passage of time. Being a lady of the court she was gently and respectfully treated.

Eristav-Khoshtaria, Anastasia – (1868 – 1951)
Georgian novelist
Eristav-Khoshtaria trained as a teacher, and was encouraged to fulfil her aspirations to write by Ak’aki Ts’ereteli. Her famous novels, Molip’ul gzaze (On the slippery path) (1897), and, Bedis t’riali (The wheel of Fate) (1901), both of which dealt with the struggle of nineteenth century women to defend their ideals and principles in a world of corruption, proved highly successful. With the invasion by Soviet Russia, Eristav-Khoshtaria was recognized as a leading novelist of Georgian classical literature, but produced little apart from ideologically correct introductions to reprints of her works.

Eriz, Ilduara – (c885 – c950)
Spanish saint
Eriz was the wife of Gutierre Menendez, Count of Agueda, and was the mother of St Rodesuind, Bishop of Duma (907 – 977) and of two daughters, Adosina, who became a nun, and Hermensenda, the wife of Pelayo Gonzalez, Count of Galicia. With the death of her husband Ilduarda built a convent near the monastery of St Saviour, in Cella Nuova, Galicia, of which house her daughter Adosina was appointed abbess. Ilduarda became a nun there and lived under her daughter’s rule. She died during the episcopate of her son Rodesuind, and was interred in her convent. The church honoured her memory (Dec 20).

Erkanfrida – (fl. 853 – 856)
Carolingian widow
Her surviving public testament (commemoratorium) dates from either the reigns of the emperors Lothair (840 – 855) and Charles II the Bald (855 – 879). She died childless after the death of her husband Nithad, and divided her considerable property between relatives and the church. Erkanfrida left bequests to twenty monasteries, including those of St Maximin and Mettlach at Trier, Hornbach at Metz, Malmedy at Cologne, Stavelot and St Hubert in Liege, St Nazarius at Lorsch, and the cathedrals of Worms and Speyer. Another letter /charter survived addressed to Erkanfrida from abbot Ansbald (860 – 886) and the religious community at the abbey of Prum in Austrasia, to which house her late husband had left the estate at Hannapes. His death was commemorated by the house and the abbot was writing to Erkanfrida to reassure her that these arrangements would continue during her lifetime, as she had arranged. Sometime prior to her death Erkanfrida took religious vows though she apparently retained considerable control of her property.

Erkengota     see    Earcongota

Erlanger, Baronne Marie d’   see   Galway, Marie Carola Franciska Roselyne, Lady

Ermeler, Karoline Lauska – (1794 – after 1844)
German painter
Ermeler studied art with Kretschmar in Berlin, Prussia, and became the wife of the Bohemian musician, Franz Ignaz Lauska. Ermeler’s work was exhibited in Berlin (1812), and with her husband’s death (1825) she undertook more study in Rome, and exhibited at the Berlin Academy (1826 – 1844), visiting Rome again in 1842.

Ermelinda – (c553 – c595)
Carolingian virgin saint
Ermelinda was the sister of Carloman (c550 – 615), the Duke of Austrasia and Mayor of the Palace under the Merovingian kings, and was the aunt of Pepin I of Landen (585 – 639). She remained unmarried and took vows as a nun, residing at Mechlin in Louvain. At her death she was venerated as a saint (Oct 29).

Ermelova, Mariya Nikolaievna     see    Yermolova, Mariya Nikolaievna

Ermenberga (Ermenberta) – (fl. 607 – 608)
Merovingian queen consort
Ermenberga was the daughter of Wittericus, the Visigothic king of Spain. It was arranged that she should marry the Merovingian ruler, Theuderic II, King of Austrasia (587 – 613), the grandson of Sigebert I and the Visigothic princess Brunhilda. Ermenberga travelled to France with a suitable entourage and was married to Theuderic at Chalon in Burgundy (607). However, the king’s powerful grandmother, Queen Brunhilda, feared the influence over a foreign wife over the king, and through her influence, and the interference of Theuderic’s sister Theudila, the marriage was never consummated. The young queen was later stripped of her dowry and returned to Spain (608) at Brunhilda’s instigation. In consequence of this, her father Wittericus, Clotaire II of Neustria, her husband’s half-brother, King Theudebert, and Agilulf of Lombardy, formed a successful alliance against Theuderic.

Ermenburga of Kent    see   Eafa of Kent

Ermenechildis (Edonne) – (fl. 695 – c711)
Merovingian queen of unknown ancestry
Ermenechildis became the wife of King Childebert III (died April 4, 711) at the time of his accession (695) to the throne, and was the mother of King Dagobert III (697 – 715) who ruled (711 – 715). The twelfth century chronicle the Gesta Episcoporum Tullensis names Queen Ermenechildis as queen, but she is not named in the Vita Dagoberto III Regis Francorum, which detailed the life of her son.

Ermengard of Bavaria – (c832 – 866)
Carolingian princess and saint
Ermengard was the third daughter of Louis the German, King of Bavaria and his wife Emma, the daughter of Welf II, count of Altdorf. Her name and that of her mother and three sisters are to be found in the book of the confraternity of the monastery of Saint-Gall. Ermengard never married and was appointed by her father as abbess of the Benedictine abbey of Buchau in Bavaria, and then abbess of Chiemsee. She was recognized as a model of virtue and penance, and was well known for her charitable disposition. Princess Ermengard died (July 16, 866) aged about thirty-three and was interred within her abbey church. Locals at once venerated her as a saint, and her cult was later confirmed by Pope Pius XI (1928).

Ermengarda of Rouergue – (c958 – before 1000)
Spanish mediaeval countess
Ermengarda was probably the daughter of Ramon I, Count of Rouergue. She became the wife (c975) of Borell I (c935 – c995), Count of Pailhars, to whom she bore six children, including Armengol (c963 – 1030), who succeeded his father as Count of Pailhars (c995 – 1030), and left issue. When Borell died, the countess then remarried, becoming the wife of his younger brother, Count Suniario I of Pailhars (c943 – 1010). Ermengarda died sometime prior to 1000, when Suinario had taken a second wife. Her second marriage produced three further children,

• Raimond III (c995 – c1047). He became Count of Pailhars-Jussa, and was married twice, leaving issue.
• William II (c997 – before 1035). He became Count of Pailhars-Subira, and left issue.
• Ermengarda of Pailhars. She became the wife of Guillen, Viscount de Castelbon.

Ermengarde of Anjou – (1066 – 1147)
Duchess consort of Brittany
Ermengarde was born at Angers Castle, Anjou, the daughter of Fulk IV, Count of Anjou and his first wife Hildegarde, the daughter of Lancelin II, Seigneur de Beaugency. She was married firstly (c1087) to William IX, Duke of Aquitaine (1086 – 1127), but the marriage remained childless and was later annulled on the grounds of consanguinity (1092). Soon afterwards Ermengarde was remarried to Alan IV Fergeant, Duke of Brittany (c1057 – 1119) as his second wife. She was the mother of his son and successor, Duke Conan III (1093 – 1148), who was married to Matilda, the natural daughter of Henry I, King of England (1100 – 1135) and left descendants. Their second son Geoffrey died unmarried in Jerusalem (1116), whilst their daughter Hedwig was married firstly to Count Baldwin of Flanders, which marriage was annulled, and secondly to Viscount Geoffrey of Porhoet (d. 1141), leaving descendants only by her second marriage.
Ermengarde later left Alan and retired to the abbey of St Marie at Fontevrault in Mainem but was persuaded by the religious leader, Robert d’Arbrissel, to return to the Breton court and reassume her wifely and regal duties as befitted her position. Husband and wife later seperated for religious reasons, and Duke Alan died a monk (Oct 3, 1119). Duchess Ermengarde then appeared before the council of Rheims and accused her first husband, Duke William, of bigamy. She later received the Cistercian habit from St Bernard of Clairvaux. Duchess Ermengarde died aged eighty (June 1, 1147) at her house near the monastery of St Saviour in Rhedon in Brittany, and was honoured as a saint (Sept 25).

Ermengarde of Atuyer (1) – (fl. c980 – c1000)
French medieval heiress
Ermengarde was probably the daughter of Narduin (died after 982), who was a descendant of Pepin II of Heristal, through his illegitinate son Childebrand I, count of Autun. Her mother Odilla made a joint grant with her father to the abbey of Saint-Benoit-sur-Loire, Burgundy. Ermengarde became the wife of Hugh of Dijon, a younger brother of Count Richard of Dijon. He became count of Atuyer, situated between Dijon and Langres, in Ermengarde’s right, and they ruled from the capital city of Beaumont. Ermengarde left five children,

• Hugh III de Dijon. He succeeded his father as Count of Atuyer and became Seigneur of Beaumont. He was married and left descendants.
• Gibuin de Dijon. He became a cleric and was the father of Hugh, a canon at the abbey of Losne, who organized the founding of the church of Notre Dame there.
• Narduin de Dijon. He was married and left two sons.
• Gui de Dijon. He died childless before his four brothers.
• Willenc de Dijon. He was married and left an only daughter.

Ermengarde of Atuyer (2) – (c1025 – after 1059)
French mediaeval heiress
Ermengarde was the only daughter of Hugh III de Dijon (died after 1044), count of Atuyer and lord of Beaumont-sur-Vingeanne in Burgundy, and his wife Letgarde, who was probably the sister of Lambert, Bishop of Langres in Burgundy (1016 – 1031). She was the granddaughter of Hugh II de Dijon and his wife Ermengarde, the earlier heiress of Atuyer. Ermengarde was married (c1040) to Fulk, seigneur de Mailly-le-Chateau. With the death of her brother Ulric without children, Ermengarde inherited the counties of Atuyer and the city of Beaumont as her patrimony. Her husband was styled count of Beaumont in her right in charters belonging to the dukes of Burgundy (1043 – 1053). She and her younger son were mentioned in the chronicle of Beze Abbey of which the family had been patrons. The couple had at least two children,

• Geoffrey de Mailly (died after 1114). He was first mentioned in charters together with his father (1076) whom he later succeeded his father as count of Beaumont and held the seigneurie of Autrey. He was married to Gertrude de Fouvent and left descendants.
• Ulric de Mailly. He remained unmarried and became a cleric.

Ermengarde of Autun – (c889 – 935)
Carolingian princess and heiress
Ermengarde was the eldest daughter of Richard the Justiciar, Duke of Burgundy (887 – 921) and his wife Adelaide, the daughter of Conrad II of Auxerre, margrave of Burgundy. She was the sister of Raoul of Burgundy, King of France (923 – 936) and of Hugh the Black, Duke of Burgundy (936 – 952). With her father’s death (921) Ermengarde inherited the important county of Autun. She was married (c905) to Manasses I of Vergy (c867 – 920), count of Chalons-sur-Saone, whom she survived as Dowager Countess. Princess Ermengarde died (April 12, 935) aged about forty-five. She left three children,

• Giselbert of Vergy (c907 – 956). He became Count of Chalons-sur-Saone (920 – 956) and then Duke of Burgundy (952 – 956), as the heir of Hugh the Black. He married and left several daughters.
• Ermengarde of Vergy (c910 – 931). She became the first wife of Leotold I (c903 – 962), count of Macon in Burgundy, and left descendants.
• Adelaide Wera of Vergy (c914 – c959). She became the wife of Robert I (c911 – 967), count of Troyes and Meaux, and left descendants.
• Countess Ermengarde was the maternal grandmother of Alberic II of Macon, through whom she was ancestress of the Plantagenet counts of Anjou and their descendants.

Ermengarde of Beaumont – (c1170 – 1234)
Queen consort of Scotland (1186 – 1214)
Ermengarde was the daughter of Richard I, Vicomte de Beaumont and his wife Lucie de l’Aigle, and was a great-granddaughter of the English king Henry I (1100 – 1135), through his illegitimate daughter Constance Fitzroy. Her marriage (1186) with William I the Lion, king of Scotland, was arranged by Henry II, who returned Edinburgh Castle to the Scots. The union produced a son and heir, Alexander II (1198 – 1249), and three daughters, Margaret, Isabella, and Marjorie. Later the queen is said to have assisted with the negotiations attendant upon the peace of Norham (1209) between King William and her English cousin, King John, who held their two elder daughters as hostages in England.  Until her son’s marriage to Joan, daughter of King John (1221), Ermengarde remained at court as queen-mother. She founded the abbey of Balmerino in Fifeshire, which was established by monks from Melrose Abbey. Queen Ermengarde died aged about sixty-three (Feb 11, 1234), being interred at Balmerino Abbey.

Ermengarde of Chalons – (c1030 – c1095)
French mediaeval noblewoman
Ermengarde was the daughter of Theobald, Count of Chalon, and his wife Ermentrude, of unknown family. She became the wife of Humbert, Seigneur de Bourbon, and was the mother of his son and heir, Humbert. When she was dying, Ermengarde presented her dower lands as a gift to the Abbey of Paray-le-Monial, which house had been patronized by her family since its foundation prior to 978.

Ermengarde of Hesbayne – (c780 – 818)
Carolingian empress (814 – 818)
Ermengarde was the daughter of Ingelramnus (Enguerrand), Duke of Hesbayne, and his wife Rotrude. Ermegarde became the first wife at Orleans (794) to Louis I the Pious (778 – 840), the son and successor of the Emperor Charlemagne. The chronicler Thegan in his Vita Hludowici Imperatoris named the new queen as filiam nobilissimi ducis Ingoramni … Irmingarda. She became empress consort with the death of her father-in-law, and crowned with Louis at Rheims, near Paris (July/Aug, 816) by Pope Stephen V and proclaimed Augusta.
Ermengarde and Louis deprived their nephew Bernard of Italy of his throne in order to give it to their son Lothair, and the empress was popularly believed to have urged the emperor on in this matter. Her involvement led to the publication of the work entitled Vision of a Poor Woman in which the empress was depicted as suffering the torments of hell as her punishment. Ermengarde was present at the coronation at Aix-la-Chapelle of her eldest son Lothair as co-emperor with his father (817). Empress Ermengarde died (Oct 3, 818) at Angers, Anjou, aged in her late forties, and was interred there. Her death as Irmingardis regina was recorded in the Gesta Francorum whilst Thegan recorded that she died after a short illness. The empress left six children,

• Lothair I (795 – 855). He ruled with his father as joint-emperor (817) and later succeeded him as sole ruler (840 – 855). He was married and left descendants.
• Pepin I (797 – 838). He was made king of Aquitaine (817 – 838). He was married and left issue.
• Princess Rotrude (c799 – c837). She became the first wife of Gerard I (c790 – 841), Count of Auvergne, and was the mother of Ranulf I, Duke of Aquitaine (852 – 866).
• Princess Bertha (c800 – 852). She became a nun and was abbess of Avenay, near Paris.
• Princess Hildegarde (c802 – 857). She became a nun and was abbess of Notre Dame and of St Jean in Laon.
• Louis the German (806 – 876). He was made King of Bavaria and Carinthia (817 – 876). He married Emma of Altdorf, the sister of his stepmother, the Empress Judith, and left many children.

Ermengarde of Lampspringe – (fl. 1178 – 1214)
German illuminator
Ermengarde was a nun at the convent of St Adrian, at Lampspringe. She produced and illuminated the, Augustini Sermones, later housed in the ducal library of the dukes of Brunswick at Wolfenbuttel.

Ermengarde of Lecco – (c944 – after 1010)
Carolingian countess
Ermengarde was the daughter of Count Witbert of Lecco and was a descendant of the Emperor Charlemagne (800 – 814). Her elder brother entered the church and her younger brother Count Atto died childless, so Ermengarde inherited the Italian county of Lecco. The identity of her first husband remains unknown, her second was Count Gundulf of Verona (c934 – 995). She was still living as the Dowager Countess of Verona fifteen years after Gundulf’s death.

Ermengarde of Lorraine – (c976 – after 1022)
Carolingian princess
Ermengarde was the younger daughter of Charles, King of Lorraine, being his daughter by his second wife, Agnes of Vermandois (Adela), the daughter of Herbert of Vermandois, Count of Meaux, and the granddaughter of Edward I the Elder, the Anglo-Saxon king of England (899 – 924). Princess Ermengarde became the wife (c991) of Count Adalbert I of Namur (c965 – c1011), whom she survived as the Dowager Countess of Namur. With the death of her only brother Otto, without issue (1012), Ermengarde and her elder half-sister, Gerberga, Countess of Louvain, became the heirs to the late father’s patrimony. Countess Ermengarde was living in 1022. Her children were,

• Ermengarde of Namur – (c993 – after 1022). She became the second wife of Otto I (c952 – 1013) Count of Warcq and Chiny but left no issue.
• Robert II (c995 – after 1012). He succeeded his father as Count of Namur, and died childless.
• Adalbert II (c1000 – 1064). He succeeded his brother as Count of Namur, and left descendants.

Ermengarde of Luxemburg – (c988 – 1057)
Queen consort of Burgundy (1031 – 1037)
Sometimes referred to as Imizza of Lutzelburg, Ermengarde was the daughter of Frederick I, Count of Luxemburg and his wife Ermentrude, the daughter of Heribert, Count of Gleiberg. Her sister Kunigunda was the wife of the emperor Henry II. Countess Ermengarde was married firstly (1005) to Rotbald III (c981 – 1015), Count of Provence (c1008 – 1015) as his second wife, and became countess consort of Provence. She bore Rotbald three children,

• Emma of Provence (1006 – after 1063). She became the second wife of William III Taillefer (947 – 1037), Count of Toulouse, and left issue.
• Hugh of Provence (died after 1019).
• William IV (died after 1037). He became Count of Venaissin, and was married, but died childless.

The countess was remarried secondly (1017), to Welf II, Duke of Bavaria (c978 – 1030), and brought the royal treasury of Mering, near Augsburg, and the Curtis Elisina in Lombardy, into the possession of the Welf (Guelph) family.  She bore him two children. After her husband’s death the duchess completed the marriage arrangement for their daughter Cunegonde, with the Italian marquis, Alberto Azzo II of Este Ermengarde was then remarried thirdly (1031), to Rudolf III, King of Burgundy (969 – 1037), as his second wife.  King Rudolf granted Ermengarde the town of Vienne, plus the counties of Viennois and Sermorens, Aix-les-Bains, and Yvonant, as her dower. The queen favoured the Cluniacs, and intervened on occasion to gain land grants and privileges to the church, including the Abbey of Cluny, and various churches in the Viennois.
The emperor Heinrich III sought to use the queen’s influence in order to arrange the succession to the kingdom of Burgundy, but she firmly opposed the claims of Eudes of Blois, to gain the kingdom. With the death of her son, Welf III, Queen Ermengarde awarded his possessions to his son, her grandson, Welf IV, whom she had raised after the death of his mother (1053), against the explicit wishes of his late father. This action established the younger line of the Welf dynasty. The queen mother established the Benedictine order at the monastery of Weingarten at Altdorf (1056). She retired there and became a nun during the last months of her life. Queen Ermengarde died (Aug 27, 1057) at Altmunster, aged about seventy, and was buried there.

Ermengarde of Marseilles – (c955 – 993)
French mediaeval viscountess
Ermengarde’s family provenance remains inrecorded. She was already the widow of an unidentified nobleman when she became the second wife (after Feb 6, 984) of Guillaume I (c940 – 1005), Vicomte of Marseilles. Her second marriage remained childless. Alstrude, the child of Ermengarde’s first marriage, and stepdaughter of Guillaume, agreed to the granting of property to the Abbey of St Victor in Marseilles by a surviving charet (Dec, 1001) of her stepbrother, Bishop Pons of Marseilles, Ermengarde’s stepson.

Ermengarde of Narbonne – (1129 – 1192)
French viscountess and ruler (1134 – 1192), and patron of the arts and literature
Ermengarde was the daughter of Aimery II, viscount of Narbonne and his wife Ermengarde. Her father was killed in battle against the Almoravids (1134). As her brothers had predeceased him Ermengarde became viscountess, with her younger half-sister Ermesinde as her heir. Alfonso I Jordan, count of Toulouse claimed the regency on Ermengarde’s behalf and invaded her territory with the support of Archbishop Arnaud de Levezou, though the young heiress found refuge at Vallespir under the protection of Count Ramon Berenger IV of Barcelona. A plan by Alfonso to divorce his wife Faydide in order to marry Ermengarde, in order to gain control of Narbonne, was defeated by an alliance of several powerful Occitan lords, and thus Ermengarde’s heritage was preserved and she was married to her first husband, Bernard d’Anduze, a vassal of Roger II de Beziers, viscount de Carcassone.
Later when count Raymond VI of Toulouse achieved great power in the Occitan region after her inherited Melgueil (1176), Ermengarde joined in an alliance with the rulers of Nimes and Montpellier to oppose his political aspirations in the area, which they feared (1177). She was a supporter of the Cistercian order, and was a particular benfactress of their abbey of Fontroide, near Narbonne. She died aged sixty-two, having ruled Narbonne for almost six decades, being succeeded by her nephew, Pedro de Lara. Through her second marriage with Manrique de Lara, who died in 1164, Ermengarde was the maternal grandmother of Lope Diaz de Haro, eighth Conde de Vizcaya (1192 – 1236). Conde Lope was married to Urraca Alfonsa, the natural daughter of Alfonso IX, King of Leon and his mistress, Inez de Mendoza.
Despite being a successful ruler, Ermengarde of Narbonne was better known for her literary associations with famous troubadours. A member of the circles of courtly love frequented by Eleanor of Aquitaine, and her daughter, Marie of Champagne, she herself corresponded with several well known contemporary poets, such as Giraut de Bornelh, Peire Rogier, and Pons d’Ortafa. Bernart de Ventadour composed verses in her honour whilst the Viking jarl, Ragnvald II of Orkney, is said to have composed skaldic verses to celebrate her after she had received him graciously at her court. This meeting was commemorated in the Orkneyinga Saga.

Ermengarde of Neustria (Helletrude, Irmengarde) – (c830 – c870)
Carolingian princess
Ermengarde was the third daughter of the emperor Lothair I (840 – 855) and his first wife Ermengarde, the daughter of Hugh II, count of Tours and Orleans. Ermengarde was abducted and carried off to Aquitaine by Count Giselbert of the Massgau (c815 – c880). Finally, after three years of disgrace, Giselbert was restored to Imperial favour through the graces of Charles the Bald (849), who later granted him the the Darnau and the title of count (863). Through this marriage ermengarde was the ancestress of the counts of Hainault and Louvain, the dukes of Brabant, the dukes of Burgundy, and the emperor Charles V (1519 – 1555), as well as several noble English dynasties, notably the Percy family, later earls of Northumberland. Ermengarde left four sons,

• Rainer I (Reginar) (c847 – 915). He became Duke of Lorraine and Count of Hainault, who was married twice and left descendants.
• Albert (860 – 936). He became Count of south Ardenne.
• Richwin (c864 – 933). He took holy orders and was appointed Bishop of Strasbourg.
• Sighard (died after 915), He became Count in the Luhigau, Hainault and Hesbaye.

Ermengarde of Nevers (1) – (c1054 – before 1100)
French mediaeval noblewoman
Ermengarde was the daughter of Guillaume I, Count of Nevers (1040 – 1100) and his wife Ermengarde of Tonnerre. She was sister to Count Rainald II of Nevers who ruled jointly with his father who survived him. Ermengarde was married (1067) to Hubert de Beaumont, and was the mother of Raoul VII de Beaumont (c1070 – 1118), Count of Maine. Ermengarde predeceased her elderly father.

Ermengarde of Nevers (2) – (c1073 – c1100)
French mediaeval heiress
Ermengarde was the daughter of Rainald II, Count of Nevers and Auxerre (died 1089), and his wife Ida Raymonde of Forez, the daughter of Artaud IV, Count of Lyon and Forez. Her stepfather was Guigues Raymond d’Albon. She became the wife (before 1095) of Miles de Courtenay (c1065 – 1127) the brother of Joscelin I, Count of Edessa in Palestine. Of their sons the elder, William (c1097 – 1147), succeeded his father in the lordship of Courtenay, whilst the younger, Rainald de Courtenay (c1100 – 1161), settled in England, where he held lands at Sutton in Berkshire. Through Rainald Ermengarde was a direct ancestress of the present British royal family, as well as many of the royal and aristocratic dynasties of Europe, including the Earls of Devonshire in England. Ermengarde appears to have died young, perhaps from the effects of childbirth.

Ermengarde of Provence – (855 – 897)
Carolingian queen, heiress and ruler
Princess Ermengarde was the younger, but only surviving daughter, and heiress of the Emperor Louis II (855 – 876), and his wife Engilburga of Alsace, the daughter or sister of Erchanger of Alsace, Count of Breisgau and Sundgau. The emperor granted the Abbey of San Salvatore jointly to Empress Engilburga and to their daughter Ermengarde by a charter given at Verona (868). Louis also granted Ermengarde estates at Morcula and Almenno in Bergamo (875), perhaps as part of her dowry.
The princess was married (876), as his second wife, to Count Boso II of Vienne (c848 – 887). The Annales Fuldenses recorded that Boso abducted the princess by force, and accused him of having poisoned his first wife. They were the parents of Louis III the Blind (880 – 928), Holy Roman Emperor (901 – 905) and King of Provence. Ermengarde and Boso jointly granted property to the Abbey of Montierender (879) and they granted shelter in Arles to Pope John VIII (878), when he was fleeing the Saracen invasion. Boso became King of Provence (879) and Ermengarde was crowned with him at Lyon. They established their court at Vienne in Isere. When Boso made his bid for kingship, the queen assisted with the defence of their chief cities from her Carolingian relatives. She successfully defended the capital Vienne from the joint forces of the emperor Charles III the Fat and the French kings, Louis III and Carloman III (880). However, when Charles returned and succeeded in pillaging and burining the city (Aug, 881), Queen Ermengarde and her children fled to the court of her brother-in-law Duke Richard the Justiciar, in Autun, Burgundy.
With her husband’s death (Nov, 887), his barons elected the queen to rule as regent for her son Louis, with the support of Duke Richard. She travelled to the court of the emperor Charles the Fat, who formally recognized Louis as his son, and placed him and Ermengarde under Imperial protection. She later renewed this submission with the emperor Arnulf (May, 889). Queen Ermengarde died (before June 22, 897) aged forty-two. She was interred with her husband within the Cathedral of Saint-Maurice in Vienne. Her elder daughter Engilburga was betrothed firstly to King  Carloman III,  and then married to William I the Pious, Count of Auvergne, and Duke of Aquitaine, whilst her younger Ermengarde (c878 – after 924) was the wife of Berillo I, vicomte of Vienne. Queen Ermengarde was the Carolingian ancestress of St Rumon of Arles (952 – 1002) (Romieux de Provence).

Ermengarde of Tonnerre – (c1030 – after 1091)
French countess consort of Nevers
Ermengarde was the daughter and heiress of Rainald, Count of Tonnerre, and Seigneur of Avisoy and Polisz, and his wife Helvise, the sister of Ardvin, Bishop of Noyon. With the death of her father (1039) and then her brothers, Ermengarde inherited the county of Tonnerre. She became the wife (1045) of William I (c1025 – 1100), Count of Nevers (1040 – 1100), whom she apparently predeceased, sometime after 1091. The countess was buried in the Church of St Stephen at Nevers, where Count William was later interred beside her. Her granddaughter, Ermengarde of Nevers, became the wife of the Norman lord, Miles de Courtenay, and left issue. Her children were,

• Rainald II (c1046 – 1089). He became Count of Nevers as joint-ruler with his father (c1063), and left issue.
• Ermengarde of Nevers. She became the wife of Hubert de Mairc.
• William of Nevers (c1048 – before 1091). He was married and left an only daughter.
• Helewise of Nevers (c1050 – 1114). She became the wife of William, Count of Evreux, in Normandy, but died childless.
• Robert of Nevers (c1053 – 1092). He became a monk, and was appointed as Bishop of Aume (1076 – 1092).

Ermengarde of Tuscany – (901 – 932)
Italian marchesaand ruler
Ermengarde was the second daughter of Adalbert II, Duke of Tuscany and his wife Bertha, the widow of Theobald, Count of Arles, and daughter of Lothair, King of Lorraine (855 – 869). She was married (c918) to Adalbert, Marquis of Ivrea (c870 – 923) as his second wife, and bore him several sons.With the death of Adalbert, Ermengarde ruled Ivrea as regent for her young sons (923 – 928). Bishop Liudprand of Cremona accused Ermengarde on sexuality lapses in his memoirs, as he does her mother, Duchess Bertha, saying that the daughter proved a strong rival to the mother in the ‘sweet delights of Aphrodite.’ Indeed, he blames most of the strife in early tenth century upon the sexual attractiveness of Ermengarde, who would appear to have used some political selectivity in the bestowal of her favours. He accused her of dalliance with Rudolf II, King of Burgundy, but states that the king’s political motivation here was to gain an important ally for his Italian campaigns. Marchesa Ermengarde died (after Feb 29, in 932) aged about thirty.

Ermengarde of Zutphen – (c1081 – 1138)
Flemish heiress and dynast
Countess Ermengarde was the daughter and sole heir of Otto II, Count of Zutphen (1084 – 1113) and his wife, Judith of Arnstein. She was married firstly (c1095) to Gerard II (c1088 – 1134), Count of Gueldres and Wassenberg, and secondly to Conrad II, Count of Luxemburg. She held the county of Zutphen in her own right (1122 – 1138) after her two brothers took holy orders and became monks. She was the mother of Henry I (1117 – 1182), Count of Gueldres, who inherited the county of Zutphen at her death. Her second marriage remained childless. She also left two daughters by her first husband, Adelaide of Gueldres, the wife of Count Ekbert of Tecklenburg, and Salome of Gueldres (died 1167), the wife of Count Heinrich I of Wildeshausen.

Ermengarde Gerberga – (c959 – after 1040)
Duchess of Brittany and Countess of Anjou
Ermengarde Gerberga was the daughter of Geoffrey I Grisgonelle, Count of Anjou, and his first wife, Adela of Vermandois, daughter of Count Herbert III of Vermandois. As a small child she is mentioned in a charter of her father (before 965), in which he confirms a former gift to the abbey of Saint-Aubin at Angers. Her father arranged her first marriage (c971) to the widower, Conan I, Duke of Brittany, and bore him a son and heir, Geoffrey I Berengar, nicknamed Boterel (c974 – 1008), and a daughter Judith, who became the wife of Richard II, duke of Normandy (996 – 1027). Conan later fought against her brother Fulk III of Anjou, which led to his death at Conquereuil (June, 992). Despite this enmity, duchess Ermengarde herself remained loyal to the Angevin cause, which fact is recorded by the chronicler Ademar de Chabannes in his, Chronique, and Fulk appointed her to rule Brittany as regent for her son. The duchess appears to have exercised considerable political influence over her son, as it was probably at her urging that Geoffrey Berengar repudiated the overlordship of Eudes I of Blois, in favour of that of Hugh Capet, king of France (987 – 996).
Fulk arranged her second marriage (c995) to count William II Taillefer of Angouleme (c970 – 1028), after her regency in Brittany came to an end. She brought the seigneurie of Blaye in Guyenne as her dowry. She appears to have been called Ermengarde during her first marriage, and Gerberga during her second, hence her double barrelled name. Widowed in 1028, when her husband was murdered by her stepson, Audoin II, the countess lived to see her own son inherit Anjou (1032), and remained a political force until her death (sometime after April 1, 1040) when aged about eighty. Ermengarde Gerberga bore her second husband, Count Geoffrey I Taillefer of Anjou (c995 – 1048), and several daughters, including Eva, the wife of Aimery I Ostfranc, Vicomte de Rochechouart, through whom she was ancestress of Athenais de Rochechouart, Marquise de Montespan (1641 – 1707), the famous mistress of Louis XIV.

Ermengyth (Eormengith) – (c648 – c700)
Anglo-Saxon saint
Princess Ermengyth was the daughter of Eormenraed, King of Kent and his wife Oslafa, the daughter of Anna, King of East Anglia. Unmarried, she became a nun at the Abbey of St Mary, Minster-in-Thanet, Kent, built by her sister Eafa sometime after 670. Ermengyth survived her sister and died during the abbacy of her niece Mildrith. She chose to be buried one mile to the east of Minster abbey, and her tomb was said to be responsible for miracles. The church venerated her memory (Feb 21).

Ermenhilda (Eormenhild) – (c643 – 703)
Anglo-Saxon abbess
Ermenhilda was the daughter of Earconbert, King of Kent (640 – 664), and his wife Sexburga (Seaxburh), the daughter of Anna, King of East Anglia. She became the second wife (c659) of Wulfhere, King of Mercia, in a olitical move which strengthened his hold on the Mercian throne. Ermenhilda became the mother of two sons, Coenred (c662 – 711), king of Mercia (704 – 709), who apparently died unmarried, Berhtwald, who died young before his father, and a daughter St Werburga, who became a nun at Ely with her mother and grandmother, Queen Sexburga, the widow of Earconbert of Kent. With the death of her husband at the battle of Bidonheafda (675), Queen Ermenhilda retired to the abbey of Minster, on the isle of Sheppey in Kent, where she became a nun. When her mother, Queen Sexburga resigned as abbess of Minster in order to become abbess of Ely, Ermenhilda succeeded as abbess of Minster for two decades (679 – 699). With her mother’s death (699), Ermenhilda succeeded her as abbess at Ely (699 – 703). Queen Ermenhilda died (Feb 13, 703) aged about fifty-nine, at Ely, and was buried there. She was venerated as a saint (Feb 13) and her translation feast was observed at Ely (Oct 17).

Ermentrude of Flanders – (fl. c900 –c930)
French noblewoman
Ermentrude was the younger daughter of Baldwin II, Count of Flanders (879 – 918) and his wife Elfrida of Wessex, the daughter of Alfred the Great of England and his wife Eahlswith of Gainas, the daughter of Aethelred Mucil, Earldorman of Gainas. She was sister to Count Arnulf I the Old of Flanders (918 – 964) and to Count Adalulf of Boulogne. Ermentrude and her elder sister Eahlswith were named in the Chronicle of Ethelweard as the daughters of Count Baldwin II. The name of her husband has never been identified, as neither has that of her sister. Either Ermentrude or Eahlswith was the mother of Hildebrand (died after 961) who was appointed as Abbot of St Bertin. The Cartulaire de Saint-Bertin recorded that Count Arnulf was the avunculus (maternal uncle) to Hildebrand but did not specify which sister was his mother.

Ermentrude of Joux     see     Grandson, Ermentrude de

Ermentrude of Neustria (1) – (845 – after 877)
Carolingian princess
Princess Ermentrude was the daughter of the Emperor Charles II the Bald (875 – 877) and his first wife Erementrude, the daughter of Odo, Count of Orleans. She remained unmarried and was appointed by her parents to be abbess of the Benedictine abbey of Hasnon. She was also appointed to rule over the abbey of Frauenvord, which had been founded by her kinsman Tassilo III, duke of Bavaria. She survived the death of father. The church venerated her as a saint (July 16).

Ermentrude of Neustria (2) – (c908 – c950)
Carolingian princess
Princess Ermentrude was the eldest daughter of Charles III the Simple, King of France (893 – 922), and his first wife Frederuna of Friesland, the daughter of Godfrey of Friesland, King of Haithabu in Sweden, and the sister of Bovo, Bishop of Chalons-sur-Marne. Ermentrude was named as the eldest daughter of King Charles by the, Genealogica Arnulfis Comitis, which called her ‘Hyrmintrudim.’ After her father’s deposition and death, her dowry was confirmed to her by charter of Raoul of Burgundy (929). She later became the wife (before 934), of Gottfried, Count of Julichgau (c900 – after 949), who received the dukedom of Lorraine, possibly as her dowry. The identity of her husband was surmised from evidence received in the, Liber Memorialis, of the Abbey of Remriemont. Through her daughter Gerberga Ermentrude became the grandmother to St Adelaide, Abbess of Willich (died 1015). Her children were,

• Godfrey of Lorraine (c925 – 964). He succeeded his father as Duke of Lorraine, but died unmarried, in Italy.
• Gerhard I (c927 – c963). He became Count of Metz, and left descendants.
• Gebhard of Lorraine (c930 – after 942). He either died young or entered the church.
• Adelaide of Lorraine (c932 – after 973). She became the wife of Baldwin I (c930 – 973), Count of Boulogne, and left issue.
• Gerberga of Lorraine (c935 – 995). She became the wife of Megingose (c920 – c999), Count of Gueldres and Zutphen, and left issue.

Ermentrude of Orleans – (830 – 869)
Carolingian queen (842 – 869)
Ermentrude was born at Orleans (Oct 12, 830), the daughter of Odo, Count of Orleans, and his wife Ingeltrude, the daughter of Leuthard of Paris, Count of Fezensac, and was the niece of Adalhard, Abbot of Corvey. Ermentrude was married (842) at the Palace of Quierzy in Aisne to her cousin, King Charles II the Bald (823 – 877) (later emperor in 875), as his first wife. The marriage had been arranged in order to cement the support of abbot Adalhard in his struggles against his brothers, according to the Annals of St Bertin. Charles granted Eremtrude the lands of Feuquieres-en-Amiencis, as her dower, as well as the abbey of St Marie at Chelles, near Paris.  The couple had a large family, but most of their sons died young. Ermengarde was crowned as queen and Charles requested annual church prayers and feasting to celebrate their wedding anniversary (862). Whatever his personal feelings Charles had Ermentrude’s brother William executed (866), and thereafter the couple appear to have resided apart.
Queen Ermentrude died (Oct 6, 869), aged thirty-eight, at the Palace of St Denis, near Paris, and was buried in the Abbey of Se Denis at Rheims. She was the mother of four sons, Louis II the Stammerer, King of the Franks (877 – 879), Charles (847 – 866), King of Aquitaine, who died childless, and Carloman (849 – 874) and Lothair (850-  869) who were both abbots and died young and childless. Her eldest daughter Judith (later countess of Flanders) was the stepmother of the famous Anglo-Saxon ruler, King Alfred, whilst her younger daughter Gisela, Countess of Troyes was the maternal grandmother of Emma of Neustria, the wife of Raoul of Burgundy, King of France (923 – 936).

Ermentrude of Roucy – (c954 – 1005)
Queen consort of Lombardy (980 – 1005) and Countess of Burgundy
Ermentrude was the daughter of Rainald, count of Roucy and his wife Alberada, the daughter of Giselbert of Hainault, Duke of Lorraine. Through her father she was the granddaughter of a Norse Viking, whilst through her mother she was the step-granddaughter of Louis IV, King of France (936 – 954). Ermentrude was married firstly (c968) to Alberic II, Count of Macon in Burgundy (c928 – 980) to whom she bore three sons. She remarried (980) to Otto I William of Burgundy, titular King of Lombardy (c961 – 1026) as his first wife. She was the mother of several children including Count Guy I of Burgundy (981 – 1004). Queen Ermentrude died (March 5, 1005) aged about fifty.

Ermesinde of Bigorre    see   Gisberga of Bigorre

Ermesinde of Carcassone (Erselinde) – (c975 – 1058)
Spanish countess and ruler
Ermesinde was the daughter of Roger of Comminges, Count of Carcassone, and his wife Adelaide, the widowed sister of Baldwin de Pons. She was married (990) to Ramon Borrell I, Count of Barcelona. With her husband’s death (1018), Ermesinde ruled Barcelona successfully as regent for her son Count Berenger Ramon ‘el Curvo’ (1005 – 1035). Barcelona was then under threat from the Muslim invaders, but ermesinde received armed assistance from the Norman lord Roger de Tosny, and in gratitude, she gave him the hand of her daughter Adelaide in marriage (c1020). With her son’s early death (1035), Ermesinde was again called upon to be regent for her grandson, Count Ramon Berenger I. 
After her official regency ended, the countess remained an extremely influential political figure, and she organized and led a rebellion against her grandson and his wife Almodis. Both with her husband and alone, Ermesinde was a great patron of the church and many of her charters survive. Her daughter Stephanie (Estefania) became the wife of Garcia V, King of Navarre. Countess Ermesinde died (March 1, 1058) aged over eighty.

Ermesinde of Luxemburg – (1186 – 1246)
German ruler
Ermesinde was born (Aug, 1186) the only surviving child and heiress of Henry IV the Blind, Count of Luxemburg and Namur and his second wife Agnes, the daughter of Henry I, Count of Gueldres. Ermesinde was married firstly, at the age of seven (1193), to Theobald I, count of Bar-le-Duc, who died in Feb, 1214. Several months later (May), she became the second wife of Waleran IV, Count of Limburg (c1176 – 1226) to whom she brought control of her extensive Luxemburg-Namur estates and inheritance which she recived at her father’s death (1196), and which she passed to their eldest son Henry. She granted powers of franchise to the most important towns within her territories. With Waleran’s death the countess remained the effective ruler of her own patrimony and remained regent of Limburg until her son came of age to rule (1233). She died aged sixty.
By her first husband Ermesinde was the mother of Count Theobald II of Bar, and of Elisabeth of Bar, who was later married to her stepbrother, count Waleran I of Falkenburg (died 1242). By her second marriage with Count Waleran Ermesinde left three children, Henry II of Limburg surnamed the Blonde, Count of Luxemburg and Namur (1217 – 1281), Gerhard of Limburg, Count of Durbuy (c1220 – 1298), and Catherine of Limburg, who was married to Duke Matthew II of Lorraine.

Ermesinde of Zulpichgau – (c1010 – before 1059)
Countess consort of Luxemburg
Ermentrude was the daughter of Hezelin (c965 – 1033), Count of Zulpichgau. Her mother, whose name remains unknown, was a daughter of Conrad I (died 1011), Duke of Carinthia. She became the wife (c1026) of Giselbert I (c1001 – 1059), the reigning count of Luxemburg. The countess inherited certain claims to the dukedom of of Carinthia, which later passed to her second son. There is no record of her surviving her husband. Her children were,

• Heinrich Furiosus, Count of Zulpichgau (c1028 – 1060). He became the Count Palatine of Lorraine, and left issue.
• Conrad of Zulpichgau (c1030 – 1061). He became Duke of Carinthia, but died unmarried.

Ermesinde of Namur – (1110 – 1168)
Flemish countess
Ermesinde was the daughter of Godfrey, Count of Namur and his wife Ermesinde, the daughter of Conrad I, Count of Luxemburg. She was married (1130) to Count Baldwin IV (Baudouin) of Hainault (1110 – 1171) and was countess consort for almost forty years (1130 – 1168). Sometimes called Adela or Adelaide, the countess died (July, 1168) aged fifty-eight. She left seven children,

• Yolande of Hainault (1131 – after 1202). She married firstly to Yves de Nesle, Count of Soissons (died 1178), and secondly to Hugh IV, Count of St Pol (died 1205).
• Baldwin of Hainault (Baudouin) (c1132 – 1149). He died unmarried.
• Lauretta of Hainault (c1134 – 1181). She married firstly to count Theodore of Alost (died 1166), and secondly to Bouchard V, Seigneur de Montmorency (died 1189).
• Agnes of Hainault (c1140 – before 1174). She was married Raoul I, Count of Coucy (died 1191).
• Godfrey of Hainault (1147 – 1163). He died aged sixteen.
• Baldwin V (1148 – 1195). He succeeded as Count of Hainault (1171 – 1195), and was married and left descendants.
• Henry of Hainault (c1150 – after 1200). He married and left descendants.

Ermina – (fl. c850 – c860)
Scandinavian noblewoman
Ermina’s origins remain unrecorded. She was the first wife or concubine of Rognvald I Eysteinsson (c830 – c894) the Jarl (earl) of More in Norway. Ermina bore Rognvald two sons, Thore Rognvaldsson (died after 894) Jarl of More, who married Aarlof Aarbot, Princess of Norway and left descendants, and Hrollaug Rognvaldsson (died after 894) who settled in Eyiaford in Iceland.

Ermolenko-Iuzhina, Natalia Stepanovna – (1881 – after 1945)
Russian soprano
Born Natalia Plugovskaia in Kiev, Ukraine, she received vocal training under Maria Zotova. She performed with the Marinskii Theatre in St Petersburg as a soloist (1901 – 1904). From 1905 Natalia performed for the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, but she later emigrated with the outbreak of the revoultion (1917). Eventually she settled in Paris, where she made appearances at the Grand Opera. She died in obscurity after the end of World War II.

Erne, Selina Griselda Beresford, Countess of – (1804 – 1884)
Irish peeress
Selina Beresford was the second daughter of the Reverend Charles Cobbe Beresford, of the family of the Marquesses of Waterford. She was married (1837) to John Crichton (1802 – 1885), Viscount Crichton and became the Viscountess Crichton (1837 – 1842). Lord and Lady Crichton were present at the coronation of Queen Victoria (1838). When Lord Crichton succeeded his uncle as the third Earl of Erne, Lady Selina became the Countess of Erne (1842 – 1884). The family divided their time between their London residence in Eaton Square and the family estate of Crom Castle at Newtown Butler in County Fermanagh. The Countess of Erne died (Sept 6, 1884) aged eighty. Her children were,

• Lady Louisa Anne Catherine Crichton (1838 – 1866). She remained unmarried.
• John Henry Crichton (1839 – 1914). He succeeded his father as the fourth Earl of Erne (1885 – 1914) and married and left issue.
• Colonel Hon. (Honourable) Charles Frederick Crichton (1841 – 1918). He married and left issue.
• Lieutenant-Colonel Hon. Sir Henry George Louis Crichton (1844 – 1922). He served as ADC (aide-de-camp) to King Edward VII and married twice leaving issue.

Ernestina Augusta of Saxe-Weimar – (1740 – 1786)
German duchess consort of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1758 – 1780)
Princess Ernestina Augusta was born at Weimar  (Jan 4, 1740) the daughter of Ernst Augustus II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1741 – 1748) and his second wife Sophia Charlotte, the daughter of George Friedrich, margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. She was married (1758) to Ernst Friedrich III, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1727 – 1780) as his third wife and she survived him as Dowager Duchess (1780 – 1786) during the first years of her son’s reign. Duchess Ernestina Augusta died (June 10, 1786) at Hildburghausen, near Sonneberg, Thuringia, aged forty-six, and left three children,

• Princess Frederica Ernestina Sophia of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1760 – 1776). She became the first wife of Duke Francis Joseph of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1750 – 1806).
• Friedrich I (1763 – 1834). He succeeded his father as Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1780 – 1826) and then of Saxe-Altenburg (1826 – 1834). He was married and left descendants.
• Princess Caroline of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1761 – 1790). She was married to her paternal uncle, Duke Eugen of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1730 – 1795). She died childless.

Ernestina Charlotte of Nassau – (1662 – 1714)
Flemish princess consort of Nassau-Siegen
Princess Ernestina Charlotte was born (May 20, 1662), the eldest surviving daughter of Adolf, Prince of Nassau-Dillenburg and his wife Elisabeth Charlotte von Holzapfel. She was married (1678) to Prince Wilhelm Moritz of Nassau-Siegen (1649 – 1691) after whose death she ruled Siegen for five years (1691 – 1696) as regent for their son, Prince Adolf (1680 – 1722). After her son came of age she resumed the titles of Dowager Princess (1696 – 1714) and remarried to a military man, Friedrich Philip Geuder. Princess Ernestina Charlotte died (Feb 22, 1714) aged fifty-one.

Ernestina Elisabeth of Sulzbach – (1697 – 1775)
Landgravine consort of Hesse-Wanfried (1719 – 1731)
Countess Ernestina Elisabeth was born (May 15, 1697) the daughter of Theodore, Count Palatine of Sulzbach (1708 – 1731) and his wife Maria Eleonore, the daughter of Wilhelm, Landgrave of Hesse-Rheinsfels. She was married (1719) to Landgrave Wilhelm of Hesse-Wanfried (1671 – 1731) but they remained childless. With her husband’s death she took religious vows and became prioress of the abbey of Neuberg. Landgravine Ernestina Elisabeth died (May 14, 1775) aged seventy-eight, at Neuberg.

Ernst, Margaret Samuels – (1894 – 1964)
American educator, etymologist, and author
Margaret Samuels was born (Dec 4, 1894) in Natchez, Mississippi and attended Wellesley College. She was married (1923) to Morris Ernst. After leaving college she had been employed as a writer for the Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans, Louisiana (1918 – 1922). Several years after her marriage, she worked in the public education system in New York (1930 – 1950), as a librarian and an entymology teacher. Her written works included Words: English Roots and How They Grow (1937), and More about Words (1951). Margaret Ernst died (Dec 3, 1964) aged seventy.

Ernst, Marianne Katharina – (1808 – 1869)
German soprano
Born Marianne Seidler (April 28, 1808) in Stuttgart, Wurttemburg, she was the daughter of an actor. She performed on stage from early childhood (1816) and received dramatic training in Munich, Bavaria (1817 – 1819). The composer Peter Lindpaintner engaged her to sing the role of Isaak in his opera, Abrahams Opfer, and she worked in various prestigious German theatres, as well in Prague, in Bohemia. She performed the title role of Bellini’s, Norma, in Vienna (1833), but from 1836 her voice began to fail. Under the name of Marianne Kurth she then worked in various theatrical companies before being granted an imperial pension. Marianne Ernst died at Neusohl, aged sixty (March 13, 1869).

Erouville, Louise Gaucher, Comtesse d’ – (c1713 – 1765)
French society figure
Louise Gaucher was mentioned in the memoirs of the infamous adventurer, Giacomo Casanova as ‘Lolotte.’ She was later married to Antoine de Ricouart, Comte d’Erouville de Claye (1713 – 1783).

Erroll, Agnes Sinclair, Countess of – (c1555 – 1619)
Scottish peeress
Lady Agnes Sinclair was the daughter of George Sinclair, fourth Earl of Caithness and his wife, Lady Jean Hepburn, the daughter of Archibald Douglas, rector of Douglas. She became the second wife (1571) of Andrew Hay, eighth Earl of Erroll, to whom she bore two sons. This second marriage had led the Hay clan to fear that the earl might disinherit the children of his first marriage, and the earl was imprisoned by the Hays of Megginch, who abducted him from Slain castle (1576). Lord Erroll died in 1585, and the countess was later abducted (1587) by ‘Mad Colin’ Campbell, of Glenlyon, who wounded her men, and burnt her house at night. She was rescued by the Earl of Atholl, and remarried to Alexander Gordon, of Strathdon (1562 – 1622), the brother of George, first Marquess of Huntley. There was no issue of her second marriage.
Agnes was countess dowager of Erroll for over three decades (1585 – 1619) and her relationship with her sons was not an easy one. Her eldest son George was charged by the Privy Council of kidnapping his stepfather in Edinburgh (1608), carrying him as a captive to his fortress of Blairfudie. Her younger son William was denounced as a rebel, after refusing to appear before the Council on a charge of violently molesting Agnes. Her two sons were,

• Hon. (Honourable) George Hay, of Keillour (c1580 – after 1656). He left issue and was the father of John Hay, the twelfth Earl of Erroll (died 1704).
• Hon. William Hay, of Fetterletter (1583 – after 1616). He married but died childless.

Erroll, Diana Denyse Hay, Countess of – (1926 – 1978)
Scottish peeress (1941 – 1978)
Lady Diana Hay was born (Jan 5, 1926), the only child of Josslyn Victor Hay, twenty-second Earl of Erroll (1901 – 1941), and his first wife, Lady Idina Sackville-West, the daughter of Gilbert, eighth Earl De La Warr. With the murder of her father in Nairobi, Kenya, Lady Diana succeeded her father as twenty-third Countess of Erroll, Lady of Hay and Slains, and was the 27th hereditary Lord High Constable of Scotland and chief of the Hays, whilst the ancient barony of Kilmarnock passed to her uncle, Gilbert Allan Rowland Hay.
Diana was married firstly (1946 – 1964) to Sir Iain Kay Moncrieffe (1919 – 1985), eleventh baronet of that Ilk, as his first wife. The couple had three children before the marriage ended in divorce, including Merlin Sereld Victor Gilbert Hay (born 1948), who later succeeded his mother as twenty-fourth Earl of Erroll, and left descendants. The countess then remarried (1964) to Major Raymond Alexander Carnegie (born 1920), as his second wife. This marriage produced one son (1966). Lady Erroll was the first subject by birth in Scotland after the Blood Royal, possessing the right to take place before every other hereditary honour in the land. However, during the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to St Giles’s Cathedral (1953), the Sword of State was borne on the countess’s behalf by her deputy, the Earl of Home, as tradition demands it must be carried by a male.

Erroll, Eliza Amelia Gore, Countess of – (1828 – 1916)
Scottish diarist and courtier,
Eliza Gore was the wife of William Harry Hay (1823 – 1891), nineteenth Earl of Erroll, and the mother of Charles Hay (1852 – 1927), the twentieth Earl (1891 – 1927), who left descendants. Lady Erroll served at court as lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria, and was awarded the VA (Royal Order of Victoria & Albert) in recognition of her service. She accompanied her husband to the Crimea with the British troops, and left a written account of her time there. Lady Erroll survived her husband over two decades as Dowager Countess (1891 – 1916), and was granted a grace and favour residence, in recognition of her services to the royal family. Lady Erroll died (March 11, 1916) at Royal Cottage, Kew, London, aged eighty-seven.

Erroll, Elizabeth Fitzclarence, Countess of – (1801 – 1856)
British royal and peeress
Lady Elizabeth Fitzclarence was born (Jan 18, 1801) the third illegitimate daughter of Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence, later King William IV (1830 – 1837), and his mistress the actress Dorothea Jordan. She was raised at her father’s estate of Bushey Park and remained there after the liaison between her parents finally ended (1811). Originally betrothed to Captain Charles Fox, the illegitimate son of Lord and Lady Holland, Elizabeth eventually decided against this marriage and Fox ultimately married her elder sister Mary Fitzclarence instead. Elizabeth was then married (1820) in St George’s, Hanover Square, London to William George Hay (1801 – 1846), the eighteenth Earl of Erroll. Her three royal aunts, the Princesses Augusta, Sophia, and the Duchess of Gloucester provided her wedding gown and the service was attended by the Princess Sophia. Thomas Creevey observed of the new countess, ‘What a handsome spanking creature Lady Erroll is …. She looks as if she was quite uncomfortable in her fine cloaks and wanted to have them off.’ Lady Harriet Granville later described the countess as ‘a domestic, lazy, fat woman.’ The couple had four children. Lady Erroll and her husband accompanied her stepmother Queen Adelaide on a family visit to Meiningen in Thuringia (1834). She survived her husband for a decade as the Dowager Countess of Erroll (1846 – 1856). Lady Erroll died (Jan 16, 1856) aged fifty-four. Her children were,

• Lady Adelaide Ida Harriet Augusta Hay (1821 – 1867). She became the wife of Charles George Noel (1818 – 1881), second Earl of Gainsborough.
• William Harry Hay (1823 – 1891). He succeeded his father as nineteenth Earl of Erroll (1846 – 1891) and left issue.
• Lady Agnes Georgina Elizabeth Hay (1829 – 1869). She became the wife of James Duff (1814 – 1879), fifth Earl of Fife.
• Lady Alice Mary Emily Hay (1832 – 1881). She became the wife of Charles Edward Allen (died 1880), who styled himself Countd’Albanie.

Erroll, Idina Sackville-West, Countess of (Myra Idina) – (1893 – 1955)
British socialite in Nairobi, Africa
Lady Idina Sackville-West was born (Feb 23, 1893), the elder daughter of Gilbert Reginald Sackville-West, eighth Earl De La Warr (1869 – 1915) and his first wife, Lady Muriel Agnes Brassey, the daughter of Thomas, first Earl Brassey. She was cousin to the noted author and horticulturalist, Vita Nicolson.Lady Idina was married firstly (1913 – 1919) to Captain David Euan Wallace, to whom she bore two sons before the union ended in divorce. Her second marriage (1919 – 1923) with Captain Charles Gordon of Park Hill, Aberdeen, likewise ended in divorce. This marriage had remained childless. Her third marriage (1923 – 1930) was with the handsome and dashing, Josslyn Victor Hay (1901 – 1941), nearly a decade her junior, with whom she eloped to Kenya in Africa, and who succeeded as twenty-second Earl of Erroll (1928). The couple produced an only daughter and heiress, Diana Denyse Hay, who would succeed her father in Scotland before they also divorced (1930). Her fourth and fifth marriages, likewise ended in divorce (1938) and (1946), and produced no children.
Lady Erroll was possessed of great beauty and charm, and loved the admiration of men, who included Sir Oswald Mosley, who was so enamoured as to make her the gift of pearl-inlaid dressing table. Her reputation in London society had been badly damaged by her past behaviour, and her elopement to Africa meant that she would never be received in polite society. She entertained at the estate of Clouds, in the White Highlands, where they received many guests and visitors from England. Her scandalous reign there as hostess fed the popular gossip concerning the ‘Happy Valley set,’ and she was not invited to Government House, despite her high rank. Lady Idina died (Nov 5, 1955), aged sixty-two, having survived the divorce of her fifth husband by a decade.

Erroll, Katherine Carnegie, Countess of – (1637 – 1693)
Scottish peeress and Jacobite supporter
Lady Katherine Carnegie was the daughter of James Carnegie, second Earl of Southesk and his first wife Lady Isabel Ker, the widow of Sir James Hamilton of Pitcur, and daughter of Sir Robert Ker (c1570 – 1650), the first Earl of Roxburghe. Katherine was married (1658) at Kinnaird to Gilbert Hay (1631 – 1674), eleventh Earl of Erroll but their marriage remained childless.
This lady was the heroine of the rude ballad ‘the Countess of Erroll’ in which she accuses her husband of impotency and he proves the contrary. This ribald song gave rise to the saying ‘Carnegie mares cannot live on Hay.’
Katherine survived her husband for two decades as the Dowager Countess of Erroll (1674 – 1693) and was a prominent Stuart sympathizer after James II fled to France (1688). The countess was arrested (1689) for secretly smuggling correspondence and money to ‘Bonnie Dundee’ hidden in bags of oatmeal. She then retired to the Jacobite court at St Germain-en-Laye where she was appointed as Chief Lady Governess to the infant Princes of Wales (the Old Pretender). Lady Carnegie died (Oct 3, 1693) aged fifty-six, at St Germain.

Erroll, Mary Hay, Countess of – (c1700 – 1758)
Scottish peeress and Jacobite leader
Lady Mary Hay was the elder daughter of John Hay, twelfth Earl of Erroll, and his wife Lady Anne Drummond, the daughter of John Drummond, third Earl of Perth. With the death of her brother, Charles Hay, the thirteenth Earl of Erroll, without issue (1717), Mary succeeded as fourteenth Countess of Erroll, which peerage she held for over four decades (1717 – 1758). She was married (1722) to Alexander Falconer, an advocate, the younger son of Sir David Falconer. He took the surname of Hay of Delgaty and predeceased his wife (July, 1745). There were no surviving children. An ardent Jacobite, Lady Erroll raised her men for Prince Charles Edward Stuart (1745), arming them under her chamberlain’s command. Lady Erroll died (Aug 19, 1758), being succeeded in the peerage as fifteenth Earl of Erroll, by her great-nephew, John Livingston, who assumed the surname of Hay.

Ersberg, Elisaveta Nikolaievna – (1882 – 1942)
Russian Imperial courtier
Ersberg was the daughter of Nikolai Ersberg, a servant. She served at the Romanov court from 1898 as a parlour maid in the household of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra, and their children.  Elisaveta survived the horrors of the 1917 revolution. She shared the initial imprisonment of the Imperial family, but was released by the new authorities before they were murdered (1918). She was granted a small pension by the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna. With the empress’s death (1928), Elisaveta returned to Russia. She never married, and died in her own apartment of starvation during the German blockade of Moscow, being too infirm to risk sniper shot in order to buy food.

Erskine, Beatrice – (c1875 – 1948)
British traveller and historical writer
Beatrice Linwood Strong became the wife of R. Steuart Erskine, of the family of the Scottish Earls of Mar. Mrs Erskine travelled extensively and published accounts of her trips such as The Vanished Cities of Arabia (1925), The Bay of Naples (1926), Vanished Cities of Northern Africa (1927) and Palestine of the Arabs (1935). She was elected a fellow of the Royal Empire Society, of the Royal Central Asian Society and of the Women Geographers of America.
Beatrice Erskine also published several novels such as The Magic Plumes, The Wheel of Necessity and In Search of Herself (1927). Her historical works included Twenty-Nine Years: The Reign of King Alfonso XIII of Spain (1931) and Lady Diana Beauclerk, her Life and Work. She published the memoirs My Latch Keys (1948) and translated The Fall of a Throne by Alvaro Alcala-Galiano into English (1933). Mrs Steuart Erskine died (Sept 10, 1948).

Erskine, Elizabeth – (c1626 – 1683)
Scottish political activist and letter writer
Lady Elizabeth Erskine was the daughter of John Erskine, Earl of Mar, and his wife Jean, the daughter of Francis Hay, Earl of Erroll. She became the wife (1641) of Archibald Napier (1625 – 1658), second Baron Napier of Merchistoun, to whom she bore several children, including Archibald (c1644 – 1683), the third Baron (1658 – 1683), who died unmarried and childless.With her husband Elizabeth supported the crown and Charles I, during the National Covenant movement of resistance to these policies. Because of this she was arrested and imprisoned by the Covenanters in Edinburgh Castle. However with the outbreak of plague, she was quickly released (Aug, 1645). When her husband was exiled abroad because of his support of Montrose and the Royalists (1649), Elizabeth and her children were evicted from the family estates at Merchistoun, and were forced to reside in poverty near Edinburgh. Despite these straitened circumstances, it was Elizabeth Erskine who supplied Lord Montrose with clothes he wore at his trial the same years, and she herself witnessed his execution. By 1655 she had managed to join her husband at The Hague in Holland with their children. His death at Delfshaven (1658) forced the family to return to Scotland. With the restoration of Charles II (1660), Elizabeth was granted an annual pension of five hundred pounds in recognition of her support of the crown. However, due to the king’s financial position, the pension was not actually received by her until 1670. Elizabeth Erskine died the same year as her son, aged in her mid-fifties.

Erskine, Fanny     see    Calderon de la Barca, Frances

Erskine, Margaret – (c1510 – 1572)
Scottish noblewoman and courtier
The mistress of King James I (1513 – 1542), she was the daughter of John, fourth Baron Erskine, and sister to John Erskine, earl of Mar, and was married (1527) to Sir Robert Douglas, of Lochleven. He was killed at the battle of Pinkie Cleugh (1547). Through her liasion with the king, Margaret became the mother of James Stewart (1531 – 1570), first Earl of Moray, the half-brother to Queen Mary Stuart, and regent for James VI (I of England). She was not the king’s only mistress, but Margaret was his acknowledged favourite. After the birth of their son, King James had made enquiries concerning a papal dispensation which would enable him to marry Margaret, and make her his queen, thus legitimating their son and making him the heir (1536), but Lady Margaret having been a married woman at the time of her son’s birth rendered that solution impossible. Her son’s later legitimization (1551) was in regard only to inheritable property, and had nothing to so with rights to the succession. Margaret Erskine was the model for ‘Lady Sensualitie’ in Sir David Lyndsay’s work, Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis (c1535). Lady Margaret died (May 5, 1572), aged in her early sixties.

Erskine, Mary – (1629 – 1707)
Scottish educational pioneer
Mary Erskine was born in Garlet in Clackmannanshire. She was married firstly (1661) to Robert Kennedy, an Edinburgh writer, and secondly (1671) to James Hair, an apothecary. With the death of her second husband (1683) she set herself up in private business as a banker. Erskine contributed financially (1694) to a scheme established by the Edinburgh Merchant Company to found the Merchant Maiden Hospital for the education of the daughters of Scottish burgesses. This establishment was later transformed into a day school for girls, the Edinburgh Ladies’ College (1869), which was renamed over seventy years afterwards as the Mary Erskine School (1944). Erskine left a considerable benefaction in her will towards the running of the school.

Erskine-Lindop, Audrey Beatrice – (1920 – 1986)
British novelist and screenwriter
Erskine-Lindrop wrote the script for the film, Blanche Fury (1947), which starred Valerie Hobson and Stewart Granger. Other sreenplays included The Tall Headlines (1952), released in the USA as The Frightened Bride, The Rough and the Smooth (1959), released in the USA as Portrait of a Sinner, and Danger On Dartmoor (1980). Three of her novels were made into films, The Singer Not the Song (1961), I Thank a Fool (1962), and, I Start Counting (1969). Audrey Erskine-Lindop died aged sixty-five (Nov 7, 1986).

Erskine-Wemyss, Victoria Alexandrina Violet Cavendish-Bentinck, Lady – (1890 – 1994)
British courtier
Lady Victoria Cavendish-Bentinck was born (Feb 27, 1890), the only daughter of William Cavendish-Bentinck (1857 – 1943), sixth Duke of Portland, and his wife Winifred Anna, the daughter of Thomas Dallas-Yorke, of Walmsgate, Lincolnshire. Queen Victoria stood as spnosor at her christening. Lady Victoria was married (1918) to Captain Michael John Erskine-Wemyss (1888 – 1982), to whom she bore several children. She served at court as lady-in-waiting, and from 1937 was an extra Woman of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth, the wife of George VI (1936 – 1952), to whom she was related through the queen’s mother, Lady Strathmore. For this service she was appointed CVO (Commander of the Victorian Order) by Queen Elizabeth II (1953). Lady Victoria survived her husband over two decades, and died aged one hundred and four.

Ertmann, Dorothea von – (1781 – 1849)
German concert pianist
Ertmann was born (May 3, 1781) at Offenbach am Main. She was beloved by the great composer, Ludwig von Beethoven (1770 – 1827). Dorothea von Ertmann died (March 16, 1849) aged sixty-seven, in Vienna, Austria.

Erwin, Margaret Johnson – (1821 – 1863) 
Southern American socialite and letter writer
Her correspondence consisted of letters to the Philadelphian architect Samuel Sloane, who planned and built her home, Mount Holly. A strong-willed and independent woman, her decided views often brought her into conflict with her conservative family. Her descendant John Seymour Erwin published her correspondence as Like Some Green Laurel: Letters of Margaret Johnson Erwin (1981).

Erxleben, Dorothea Christiana – (1715 – 1762)
German physician
Born Dorothea Leporin (Nov 13, 1715) in Quedlinburg, Prussia, she was the daughter of a physician, Christian Polykarp Leporin (1689 – 1747). She was educated at home with her brothers, studying Latin and basic medicine, and only managed to obtain entry to Halle University to study medicine after a personal appeal to King Frederick the Great (1741), though her studies were interrupted by marriage (1742) to  a church deacon, Johann Christian Erxleben, and the bearing of children. Dorothea practised medicine amongst the poor, though her competence was challenged by three male doctors, who accused her of medical quackery. She returned to her medical studies after the death of her husband (1753), and qualified as a physician (1754), remaining in private practice in Quedlinburg. Erxleben was the author of, Rational Thoughts on Education of the Fair Sex (1749). Dorothea Erxleben died (June 13, 1762) aged forty-six, at Quedlinburg.

Erythro    see   Rotrude of Neustria

Eryxo – (fl. c560 – c550 BC)
Queen of Kyrene
Eryxo was the wife of King Arcesilaus II of the Battid dynasty (reigned c560 – 550 BC). Her husband was strangled by his brother Hallarchus, and the Greek historian Herodotus records that Queen Eryxo, in revenge, secured the death of her guilty brother-in-law by cunning, though he does not record the exact details.

Esato   see   Gudit

Escalona, Maria Portocarrero, Duquesa de – (c1425 – 1470)
Spanish courtier
Maria Portocarrero became the wife (1442) at Santa Cruz de la Sierra, of Don Juan Fernandez Pacheco (1418 – 1474), Marques de Villena and first Duque de Escalona. The duquesa inherited the seigneurie of Moguer, and was the mother of Maria Pacheco, the wife of Rodrigo Alonso Pimentel, first Duque de Benavente. Mother and daughter were prominent and powerful figures at the court of Enrique IV of Castile (1454 – 1474).

Escars, Rosalie de Rancher, Duchesse d’ – (1761 – 1842)
French émigré and memoirist
Rsalie de Rancher was married firstly to the marquis de Nadaillac-Perusse, a colonel in the royal army, and produced two children. With the outbreak of the revolution the family immigrated firstly to Prussia, and then to England. With the death of her husband the marquise returned to the Prussian court in Berlin, where she remarried (1796) to the Duc d’Escars. With the advent of Napoleon the couple returned to Paris, but they were placed under house-arrest for seven years. It was during this time that she wrote her Memoires de la marquise de Nadaillac, duchesse d’Escars, suivis des Memoires inedits du duc d’Escars, publies par son arriere-petit-fils, le colonel marquis de Nadaillac (1912).

Escher, Gertrud – (1875 – 1956)
Swiss painter and etcher
Escher was born (May 23, 1875) in Zurich and studied at the School of Arts and Crafts there, and later at the School for Women Artists in Munich under painters Friedrich Fehr and Christian Landenberger, amongst others. She studied etching under Hermann Gattiker in Switzerland and produced mainly landscape paintings such as Aaretal and Einsamer See, exhibiting her work at home and at international exhibitions. Gertrud Escher died in Zurich, aged eighty (March 18, 1956).

Eschiva of Bures – (c1145 – after 1187)                              
French Crusader heroine
Eschiva was the daughter of Elinand of Bures, Prince of Galilee and his wife Ermengarde, the daughter of Balian I the Old, Lord of Ibelin. Eschiva was married firstly (c1160) to Walter Falconberg, Seigneur of Saint-Omer, in Palestine (c1130 – c1173), and secondly (1174) to Raymond III, Count of Tripoli (1140 –1187). By the time of her first husband’s death, Eschiva had inherited the fiefs of Galilee and Tiberias. Her second marriage remained childless.
The countess conducted a spirited defense of the city of Tiberias (June, 1187), against the forces of Saladin, during her husband’s absence with the army. She managed to send word to Raymond, and held out with a small garrison. The Christian forces were routed by Saladin, though Eschiva’s husband and sons (from her first marriage) all escaped to Tripoli. Without further assistance forthcoming, she was reluctantly forced to surrender the city. Saladin gallantly allowed the countess and her household to travel to Tripoli and freedom, and treated her with great respect and honour.

Eschiva of Ibelin – (c1159 – 1195)
Queen consort of Cyprus (1194 – 1195)
Eschiva was the daughter of Baldwin of Ibelin, lord of Ramleh (d. 1187), and his wife Richilde de Beisan. She was married to Amalric II of Lusignan (1145 – 1205), King of Cyprus (1194 – 1205) later of Jerusalem. The couple had several children, including Burgundia (c1180 – 1210), the wife of Walter of Monbeliard, Hugh I, King of Cyprus (1195 – 1218), who left issue, and Heloise of Lusignan, wife of Raymond Roupen, Prince of Antioch. The queen and her children were once captured by pirates and held for ransom, but were eventually restored to King Amalric, all unharmed. Queen Eschiva died (after Sept 29 in 1195).

Eschstruth, Nataly von – (1860 – 1939)
German novelist and journalist
Her works included Der Majoratsherr (Master of the Estate) (1898), and Die Baren von Hohen-Esp (The Bears of Hohen-Esp) (1902).

Escobar, Marina de – (1554 – 1633)
Spanish religious founder
Escobar was born in Vallodolid, Castile, the daughter of Iago de Escobar, the governor of Osuna. She suffered from ill-health all of her life, becoming almost a complete invalid by the age of fifty. She established a branch of the Brigittine Order of the Holy Saviour, with modified rules. Her life was written by her confessor, Luis de Ponte. Marian de Escobar died in Vallodolid, aged seventy-eight (Feb 8, 1633) and was revered as a saint.

Escoda, Josefa Llanes – (1898 – 1945)
Filippino women’s suffrage campaigner and the founder of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines
Escoda was was born (Sept 20, 1898) at Dingras, in Ilocos Norte, where she attended secondary school, and successfully trained at the University of the Philippines as a high school teacher.
Escoda worked with the Philippine Red Cross, and this enabled her to travel to the USA, where she studied sociology and scout training. With her return to the Philippines she trained young women as female scout leaders, and President Manuel Quezon signed the charter of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines (1940), with Escoda appointed as the first national executive of the organization. During WW II both Escoda and her husband were arrested and imprisoned by the Japanese forces at Fort Santiago. Josefa was executed by them (Jan, 1945) aged forty-six. After the war Escoda was honoured with her portrait being placed on the 1000 peso bill, as one of the three Filippinos murdered by the invaders.

Escoffery, Gloria – (1923 – 2002)
Jamaican painter and writer
Escoffery was born (Dec 22, 1923) at St Mary in Jamaica. She studied at McGill University in Montreal in Canada and at the Slade School of Art in London. She was best known for her oil and watercolour works which portrayed the daily lives of ordinary Jamaicans, for which she made use of surreal imagery and abstract elements. Escoffery was an art critic and her work was published in the Jamaica Journal. Her best known work was Mirage (1987) which consisted of five panels.

Escott, Margaret – (1908 – 1977)
Anglo-New Zealand novelist and poet
Cicely Margaret Escott was born (July 8, 1908) at Eltham, near London, the daughter of Henry Frederick Escott, a bank clerk, and was educated at the City of London School at Blackfriars. She later immigrated to New Zealand with her parents (1926) and settled in Auckland. Margaret Escott later spent several years in London, where she produced several novels such as, Insolence of Office (1934), Awake at Noon (1935), published under the pseudonym of C.M. Allen, and, Show Down (1936), set in New Zealand which is the most admired of her works. She returned to New Zealand prior to WW II, and worked as as a drama teacher for the WEA (Worker’s Educational Association) and the Auckland Regional Council of Adult Education. Margaret Escott committed suicide (Aug 15, 1977) aged sixty-nine, by drowning herself. Her collection of verse was published posthumously as Seperation and/or Greeting (1980).

Esdaile, Katherine Ada – (1881 – 1950)
British art historian
Katherine McDowall was born (April 23, 1881), the daughter of a school headmistress. She attended school at Notting Hill and then studied at Oxford and at the British School at Rome. She was married (1907) to Arundell Esdaile, the secretary of the British Museum, to whom she bore four children. Once her children had sufficiently grown, Mrs Esdaile was able to renew her interest in post-medieval sculpture (1919). She prepared the notebooks of George Vertue in the British Museum for publication by the Walpole Society, but is best remembered for her two published works English Monumental Sculpture since the Renaissance (1927), and The Life and Works of Louis Francois Roubiliac (1928). Her other published works included History of St Martin’s-in-the-Fields (1942), and English Church Monuments, 1510 – 1840 (1946). Her work was acknowledged by the award of the Royal Society Arts Medal (1928). She retired in 1946. Katherine Esdaile died (Aug 31, 1950) at East Grinstead, Surrey.

Esdorn, Ilse – (1897 – 1985)
German botanist
Esdorn was born in Brunswick and studied at the University of Rostock in Mecklenburg and the University of Leipzig in Saxony. After qualifying as a lecturer (1930) she was attached to the faculty of the University of Hamburg. Esdorn was later appointed as a department head at the Central Ibstitute of Forestry and Timber Industry in Rheinbeck (1941). Her private interests were specialized in research connected with the science of plant raw materials and the physiology of plant germination. She was the author of Die Nutzpflanzen der Tropen und Subtropen der Weltwirtschaft (The Useful Plants of the Tropics and Subtropics of the World Economy) (1961). Ilse Esdorn died at Brunswick, aged eighty-eight (Sept 5, 1985).

Esitia    see   Eficia

Esler, Erminda Rentoul – (1852 – 1924)
Irish novelist
Erminda Rentoul was the daughter of Reverend Alexander Rentoul, of Manorcunningham, county Donegal. Her education at home was supervised by a governess, and she had further studies at Nimes, France and in Berlin, Prussia, before returing to Ireland, to attend the Royal University (1879). She then married Irish physician Robert Esler, of Marlow House, in Ballymena (1883) to whom she bore two sons. Esler wrote over half-a-dozen novels, most placed in rural Irish or English backgrounds including The Way of the Transgressors (1890), A Maid of the Manse (1895), The Wardlaws (1896), considered by many to be her best work, Youth at the Prow (1898), The Awakening of Helena Thorpe (1901), and the religiously themed work The Trackless Way (1904). Erminda Rentoul Esler died at Petherton, near Bexley, Kent.

Esmat Dowlatshahi – (1904 – 1995)
Iranian queen
Esmat Dowlatshahi was the daughter of Qajar prince Mojalal al-Doleh. She became the fourth wife (1923) to Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878 – 1944). When he became Shah (king) of Iran (1925 – 1941) Esmat became queen consort. She bore him four sons and a daughter. When Reza abdicated in favour of his son (1941) they retired from public life and visited Johannesburg in South Africa where the former king died. Esmat survived her husband for five decades (1944 – 1995) as Queen Dowager of Iran. Queen Esmat died (July 24, 1995). Her daughter Princess Fatemeh Pahlavi (1928 – 1987) became estranged from her family during the period of her first marriage (1950) with the American Vincent Lee Hillyer. This marriage ended in divorce (1959) and Fatemeh remarried to General Muhammad Khatami.

Espagne, Grise d’ – (fl. c1230 – c1250)
French medieval heiress
Grise was the daughter of Arnaud, seigneur d’Espagne and was the wife of Roger III de Comminges Vicomte de Couserans (died 1257). She brought her husband the valuable fief of Montespan in Gascony, which became vested in their descendants. Grise was the ancestress of Louis Antoine Pardaillon de Gondrin, Duc d’Antin, the legitimate son of Madame de Montespan, the mistress of Louis XIV, and of Madeleine Julie de Pardaillon de Gondrin, wife of Francois Emmanuel de Crussol, Duc d’Uzes, and ancestress of that noble family.

Espana, Dessi – (1971 – 2004)
American circus performer
Dessi Espana was born into a Bulgarian family of circus entertainers. She was married (1992) to Ivan Espana to whom she bore two children. Espana was employed with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and became famous for her breath-taking highwire performances. She also held the world record until 1999 for spinning hula hoops, ninety-seven at a time. Despite the law forbidding high-flying acts without a net, she was performing aerial acrobatics using chiffon scarves, with no net, at the Xcel Energy Center in St Paul, Minnesota, when she fell to her death, aged only thirty-two (May 22, 2004).

Espanca, Florbela de Alma da Conceicao – (1894 – 1930)
Portugese poet
Espanca was born at Vila Vicosa, Alentejo, and was married at sixteen. She rebelled against the strictures imposed upon her life and was author of Livro das magoas (Book of Woes) (1919) and Livro de Soror Saudade (Book of Sister Saudade) (1923). Florbela Espanca died at Matosinhos.

Esparbes de Lussan, Anne Thoinard de Jouy, Comtesse d’ – (1739 – 1825)
French courtier
Anne Thoinard de Jouy was born in Paris, and became the wife (1758) of Jean Jacques Pierre, Comte d’Esparbes de Lussan (1720 – 1810). With her husband she attended the court of Louis XV (1715 – 1774) at Versailles, and they were friends of the king’s powerful mistress, Madame de Pompadour.  The comtesse features prominently in the Memoires of Madame du Hausset, the serving woman of Madame de Pompadour. She and her husband both survived the horrors of the Revolution. Anne survived her husband as Dowager Comtesse d’Esparbes de Lussan (1810 – 1825). Madame d’ Esparbes de Lussan died in Paris, aged eighty-five.

Esparbes de Lussan-Bouchard, Leontine d’ – (1718 – 1790)
French religieuse
Leontine d’Esparbes was the daughter of Charles Louis Henri d’Esparbes de Lussan-Bouchard, Marquis d’Aubeterre and his wife Marie Anne Francoise Jay, a lady-in-waiting to Caroline of Hesse, Duchesse de Bourbon. Leontine became a nun at the Abbey of Sainte-Croix at Poitiers, and in 1758 she was niminated as abbess of St Jean de Bonneval at Thouars. In Dec, 1762 she succeeded Caroline de Raffetot as abbess of Ronceray at Angers. With the outbreak of the Revolution, the abbess refused to take the revolutionary oaths. With the insurrection in region of Angers, in the Vendee, the abbess was arrested, and was taken to Paris, where she was condemned to death, and guillotined.

Esperance, Elisabeth Charlotte Curie de l’ – (1684 – 1733)
French courtier and royal mistress
Elisabeth Curie was born (June 28, 1684) the daughter of Richard Curie, and his wife Anne Gervaisot. She attended the German court at Stuttgart in Wurttemburg, where her elder sister Henriette attracted the attention of Duke Leopold Eberhard (1670 – 1723). The duke granted both sisters the rank of baroness (1700) and Henriette became his established mistress until her death (1710). Elisabeth Charlotte then succeeded her sister in the ducal bed. After bearing him several children, Leopold eberhard married her morganatically (1718). With the duke’s death the Baronne retired from the court with her children. Her seven children all bore the rank and titles granted to their mother. Most important of these was Baron Charles Leopold von Esperance (1716 – 1793), Count von Horneburg. He was married three times and left descendants. The Baronne d’Esperance died (July, 1733) at Ostheim, Alsace, aged forty-nine.

Espin, Vilma – (1930 – 2007)
Cuban revoutionary and chemical engineer,
Espin was born (April 7, 1930) in Santiago de Cuba, the daughter of a lawyer. She studied chemical engineering in Boston, USA, but upon her return to Cuba she decided to become leader of the revolutionary movement in the province of Oriente, and acted as messenger to Fidel Castro. Espin travelled to Mexico where she met Castro’s brother Raoul, whom she later married (1959). Under his brother’s regime, Raoul would become leader of the armed forces and vice president of the Cuban Council of State. Espin herself served for almost five decades (1960 – 2007) as president of the Federation of Cuban Women (GONGO), and was a member of the Central Committee and the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba (1980 – 1991). Vilma Espin died in Havana (June 18, 2007), aged seventy-seven.

Espina, Concha – (1869 – 1955)
Spanish novelist
Espina is credited as the first Spanish woman who earnt a living solely from her writing, and was awarded several prestigious prizes. Her best known work was the novel La esfirge maragata (The Sphinx) (1914), which explored the conditions endured by the women of Leon. Because of her own experiences during the Civil War (1936 – 1939) Espina became an avowed supporter of General Franco’s cause.

Espinassy, Maria Capel, Marquise d’ – (1797 – 1856)
Anglo-French society figure and letter writer
Maria Capel was of the family of the Earl of Essex, and was the granddaughter of Henry Paget, first Earl of Uxbridge, and his wife Jane Champagne. She was married to a French peer, the marquis d’Espinassy, member of an émigré family, to whom she bore several children. Maria’s correspondence with her mother, Caroline Paget, Lady Capel, and with her sisters, Mary Capel and Jane McLaughlin were edited and published posthumously in London as, The Capel Letters.Being the Correspondence of Lady Caroline Capel and Her Daughters with the Dowager Countess of Uxbridge from Brussels and Switzerland, 1814 – 1817 (1955).

Espinay, Elisabeth de Lorraine-Lillebonne, Princesse d’ – (1664 – 1748)
French Bourbon royal
Princesse Elisabeth was the daughter and heiress of Francois de Lorraine, Prince de Lillebonne, and his wife Anne de Lorraine. She attended the courts of both Louis XIV (1643 – 1715) and Louis XV (1715 – 1774) and is mentioned in the Memoires of the court historian, Louis, Duc de Saint-Simon.

Espinosa, Louise – (1873 – 1943)
British dance patron
Louise was the wife of Edouard Espinosa (1871 – 1950). They jointly founded the British Ballet Organization (1930).

Espiritu Santo, Ignacia del – (1663 – 1748)
Chinese-Filippino Roman Catholic abbess
Ignacia was baptized (March 4, 1663) as Ignacia Iuco, being the daughter of a Chinaman from Xiamen, and his native Filippino wife, Maria Jeronima. She was raised in Manila with other Chinese Catholic converts. Ignacia refused to marry, and instead, placed herself under the spiritual guidance of the Jesuits, desiring to take the religious life. She spent her time involved in charitable and philanthropic activities and in prayer, and attracted around her several other women of a similar disposition, which eventually led to the establishment of the Beaterio de la Compania de Jesus (now the Congregation of the Religious of the Virgin Mary). She served as mother superior for a decade (1726 – 1737) and then resigned her office due to advancing age. Ignacia del Espiritu Santo died (Sept 10, 1748) aged eighty-five.

Esplugues, Margarita – (1738 – before 1787) 
Spanish poet
Born at Arta Majorca, she was well educated in rhetoric, grammar, philosophy, and, theology, she became a Franciscan tertiary at an early age. Apart from poetry written in Majorcan, Margarita is known for a theological work Canticos al Todopoderoso (Canticles of the Almighty) which was published before her death.

Essame, Enid Mary – (1906 – 1999)
British educator
Essame attended grammar school in Leicester and secondary school in Newark, before going on to Newnham College, Cambridge, and King’s College, London, where she studied history.
After travelling to the USA where she studied at the American University in Washington, D.C., Essame was appointed as headmistress of the Queenswood School, a post she held almost three decades (1943 – 1971). She also travelled to India, Pakistan, and Nigeria as a lecturer for the British Council and served as president of the Association of Headmistresses of Boarding Schools (1962 – 1964). Essame was a longtime member of the Schoolmistresses and Governesses Benevolent Institution. She remained unmarried. Enid Essame died (Dec 19, 1999) aged ninety-three.

Essarts, Charlotte des – (c1580 – 1651)
French courtier
The mistress of Henry IV of France, Charlotte was the daughter of Francois des Essarts, seigneur de Sautour, and his wife Charlotte d’Harley-Chanvellon. She became Henry’s mistress and bore him two daughters, Jeanne Baptiste de Bourbon (1608 – 1670), who became abbess of St Marie, at Fontevrault, and Marie Henriette de Bourbon (1609 – 1629), who became abbess of St Marie, at Rheims, near Paris, both of whom were legitimated before their father’s assasination. Charlotte was granted the title of comtesse de Romorantin, which she held for forty years, and remarried twenty years later (1630) to Francois de l’Hopital, seigneur du Hallier. Charlotte des Essarts died aged about seventy (July 8, 1651).

Essex, Adela Grant, Countess of – (1871 – 1922)
American-Anglo socialite and peeress
Adela Grant was the eldest daughter of Beach Grasnt, of New York. She became the second wife (1893) of George Devereux de Vere Capell, seventh Earl of Essex (1857 – 1916), whom she survived as the Countess Dowager of Essex (1916 – 1922). Lady Essex died aged fifty (July 28, 1922). She left two daughters,

• Lady Iris Mary Athenais de Vere Capell (born 1895). She died unmarried.
• Lady Joan Rachel de Vere Capell (1899 – 1979). She became the wife of Osbert Peake (1897 – 1966), first Viscount Ingilby, by whom she left children.

Essex, Agnes de – (c1150 – after 1206)
Anglo-Norman patrician, she was the daughter of Henry de Essex, Lord of Rayleigh and Haughley, a constable for Henry II (1154 – 1189), and his wife Cecily. She became the third wife (1162) of Aubrey de Vere (1110 – 1194), the first Earl of Oxford and was mentioned in several of his charters at Colne Priory. She is thought by some to be identical with Lucy de Vere, who became the Benedictine abbess of Hedingham, Essex, though this remains far from certain and that lady appears to have died in 1198.
When her father became disgraced in 1163, Aubrey decided to repudiate Agnes. He accused her of committing incest with his own brother Geoffrey, having been raised in his household until 1157. The countess declared that she had never agreed to marry Geoffrey and had written to her father saying she would never do so. She appealed to the court of the Bishop of London in Rome, and Pope Alexander II directed the Bishop to order Lord Oxford to take Agnes back as his lawful wife (1171). The bishop later discovered that lord Oxford kept Agnes confined, refusing to even allow her to attend church, and he refused to cohabit with her. Her position later improved somewhat and the earl and countess managed to produce eight children.
As a widow Agnes made a fine with Alice, Hawise, and Mabel, the nieces of Payn Bardulf, concerning ten acres of wood and ten acres of land at Cockfield (1198). In the same year the countess paid King Richard I the sum of one hundred piunds so that she would not be forced to remarry. The countess was stll living in 1206 and died sometime after this date. Her children were,

• Aubrey de Vere (1172 – 1214). He succeeded his father as second Earl of Oxford (1194 – 1214). He was married twice but died childless.
• Alice de Vere (c1173 – 1214). She became the wife of Sir Geoffrey de Saye (1135 – 1214).
• Ralph de Vere (c1174 – 1212). He was unmarried.
• Robert de Vere (1176 – 1221). He succeeded his brother Aubrey as third Earl of Oxford (1214 – 1221). He married and left issue.
• Henry de Vere (c1178 – before 1222). He died unmarried.
• William de Vere. He became a priest and was appointed Bishop of Hereford.
• Adeliza de Vere. She either died young or became a nun.
• Sarah de Vere. She either died young or became a nun.

Essex, Anne Bourchier, Countess of   see   Bourchier, Anne

Essex, Beatrice de Boclande, Countess of    see   Boclande, Beatrice de

Essex, Catherine Stephens, Countess of    see   Stephens, Catherine

Essex, Eustacia de Champagne, Countess of    see   Champagne, Eustacia de

Essex, Frances Howard, Countess of    see     Howard, Lady Frances

Essex, Frances Walsingham, Countess of     see    Walsingham, Frances

Essex, Jane Hyde, Countess of – (1700 – 1724)
British Hanoverian beauty and courtier
Lady Jane Hyde was the third daughter of Henry Hyde, fourth Earl of Clarendon, and his wife Jane Leveson-Gower (1674 – 1725), the daughter of Sir William Leveson-Gower (c1636 – 1691), fourth baronet. She was married (1718) at Petersham, Surrey, to William Capel (1697 – 1743), third Earl of Essex, as his first wife. The couple had four daughters including Lady Charlotte Capel (1721 – 1790), the wife of Thomas Villiers, first Earl of Clarendon, and, Lady Mary Capel (1723 – 1782), the wife of the Admiral John Forbes (died 1796), brother to the Earl of Granard.
The antiquary Thomas Hearne described Lady Essex as,  “ A most celebrated beauty, being famed for her delicate shape and features all over the kingdom. She is also famous for her good nature.’’ The countess served at the Hanoverian court of George I, as lady-in-waiting and lady of the bedchamber to his daughter-in-law, Caroline, Princess of Wales. Lady Essex died of a fever (Jan 3, 1724) aged twenty-three, in Paris. Her body was returned to England, and she was buried at Watford.

Essex, Lettice Knollys, Countess of   see    Knollys, Lettice

Essig, Maude Francis – (1884 – 1981) 
American Red Cross nurse and diarist
Maude Essig left an account of her time with a base hospital in France entitled A Hoosier Nurse in France, which was published posthumously by the Indiana Magazine of History (1986)

Essipoff, Annette – (1855 – 1937)
Russian pianist
Born Anna Nikolaievna Esipova, she attended the St Petersburg Conservatory and studied under Wielhorski and under Theodor Leschetizky (1830 – 1915) to whom she was married for twelve years (1880 – 1892). Essipoff toured Europe, making her stage debut in London (1874) and had particular success in Paris the following year, and in America (1876), being noted for her renditions of the works of Chopin. From 1885 she was the official pianist at the Romanov court, and she later taught at the St Petersburg Conservatory (1893 – 1908), where her pupils included Serge Prokofiev and Alexander Borovsky.

Esslinger, Anna Barbara – (1792 – 1868)
Swiss draughtswoman
Esslinger was born at Glattfelden, near Zurich, the sister of the noted engraver, Johann Martin Esslinger (1793 – 1841). With the early deaths of her paretns she was sent to Zurich (1799) to receive etching instruction from Mathias Pfenninger. Esslinger was trained as a drawing teacher and was employed as such by a girls’ school at Napf. From 1820 onwards her works, which included embroidery and silhouette cuttings formed part of exhibitions in Zurich. She was later married to a bookseller, but with his death (1844) she went to reside in Basle. Anna Esslinger died (Jan 9, 1868) aged seventy-four.

Estancs, Alamanda d’    see    Alamanda

Estaugh, Elizabeth Haddon – (1680 – 1762)
Anglo-American Quaker leader
Elizabeth Haddon was born in Southwark in London and immigrated to New Jersey in America (1701) to reside on a plantation acquired by her father. There she was married to the Quaker preacher, John Estaugh (1702). Mrs Estaugh first resided on the estate known as Old Haddonfield, and was the founder of the estate and settlement known as New Haddonfield in New Jersey (1713) and was the heroine of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Tales of a Wayside Inn (1863).

Este, Augusta Emma d’ – (1801 – 1866)
British Hanoverian royal
Augusta d’Este was born (Aug 11, 1801) in Grosvenor Street, London, the only daughter, and second child of Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, and his first wife, Lady Augusta Murray, the daughter of John, Earl of Arran, who he had married in contravention of the Royal Marriage Act (1772). At the time of her birth the marriage of her parents had been declared null and void for seven years (1794). Lady Augusta was raised by her mother in a state that befitted a royal princess, which severely annoyed her father, and was known publicly as Madamoiselle d’Este, the name being chosen from the ancestors of the Hanoverian royal house. By royal license, Augusta’s mother assumed the title of Comtesse d’Ameland. She remained unmarried until aged over forty, when she became the second wife (1845) of Thomas Wilde (1782 – 1855), Baron Truro. There were no children. Popular verses which celebrated this marriage were recorded in the, Personal Remembrances, of Sir Frederick Pollock. She survived her husband as the Dowager Baroness Truro (1855 – 1866). Lady Truro presented the whole collection of her husband’s law books to the library of the House of Lords, and bequeathed a portrait of him by Sir Frederick Grant, wearing his Lord Chancellor’s robes, to St Paul’s School. Lady Truro died (May 21, 1866) aged sixty-four, at her residence in Eaton Square, London.

Este, Beatrice d’ – (1475 – 1497)
Italian Renaissance princess
Beatrice d’Este was the younger daughter of Ercole I d’Este, Duke of Ferrara and his wife Leonora of Aragon, the daughter of Ferdinand I, King of Naples. Her elder sister Isabella was the wife of Gian Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua. Famed for her patronage of the arts, Beatrice was exceptionally gifted with taste and intelligence, and had been carefully educated in letters and the classics at the court of her grandfather in Naples. She married (1490) Ludovico Sforza (1451 – 1508) who became duke of Milan several years later (1494) and praised her excellent horsemanship and skill in falconry. Despite his infidelities, Ludovico’s surviving letters bear witness to his affection for Beatrice. The duchess presided over a lavish and magnificent court to which she attracted the leading artists and writers of the day. Mantegna, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Bromante, Titian, Giulio Romano, and Baldassare di Castiglione all enjoyed her patronage. More amiable and open-handed by nature than her sister, Beatrice exercised much less political influence during her short life. Duchess Beatrice died aged twenty-one (Jan 2, 1497), after giving birth to a stillborn son. She was the mother of the Milanese dukes Massimiliano (1491 – 1530) and Franceso II Maria Sforza (1494 – 1535).

Este, Beatrix d’ – (1202 – 1226)
Italian nun and saint
Beatrix was the daughter of the marchese Alberto Azzo VI d’Este and his wife Sophia, the daughter of Umberto III, Count of Savoy. With the death of her half-brother Marchese Aldobrandino I (1215) she was raised by a paternal aunt. Beatrix continued to refuse all offers of marriage, desiring to take up the religious life. Fearing further family opposition, she seceretly left the court and travelled to the Benedictine abbey of Solarola where she took the veil (1220). With ten other nuns she was later transferred to Gemmola, where they restored the monastery of San Giovanni Baptista with the aid of financial support provided by Beatrix’s brother Azzo VII. Juliana di Collalto was one of the nuns who settled at Gemmola with Beatrix. Beatrix died aged only twenty-three and her relics were later transferred to Padua, where they were held in great veneration. Her cult was approved by Pope Clement XIII (1763) and her feast observed annually (May 10).
Her niece and namesake, Beatrix d’Este (1226 – 1262), the daughter of her brother Azzo II and Giovanna of Apulia, became a nun at the Benedictine convent of San Antonio at Ferrara, after the death of her fiancee Galeazzo Manfredi, Lord of Vincenza and Verardino (1254). The younger Beatrix died aged thirty-five (Jan 18, 1262) and was also revered for her piety and sanctity. Her cult was approved by Pope Clement XIV and her feast observed annually (Jan 19).

Este, Eleonora d’ – (1537 – 1581)
Italian princess and literary muse
Princess Eleonora d’Este was born (June 19, 1537), daughter of Ercole II, Duke of Modena and his French wife, Renee d’Orleans, the daughter of Louis XI, king of France (1498 – 1515). Her paternal grandmother was the infamous Lucrezia Borgia, and her godmother was the highly cultured Vittoria Colonna, marchesa of Pescara, who was one of her mother’s closest friends. Eleonora never married and became famous as the patron of the poet Torquato Tasso, who immortalized her in his verses. Princess Eleonora died (Aug 19, 1581) aged forty-four.

Este, Isabella d’ – (1474 – 1539) 
Italian Renaissance princess
Isabella d’Este was born (June 29, 1474) in Ferrara, the daughter of Ercole I d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, and his wife Leonora of Aragon. Her elder sister Beatrice became the wife of Lodovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. Having received and excellent education in the classics, philosophy, Provencal, French, and Spanish literature, and music, she married (1490) Gian Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua (1466 – 1519), to whom she bore eight children. The couple set up their court as one of the most brilliant of the Renaissance period. Isabella in particular patronized artists, and her personal friends included Titian and Leonardo da Vinci, who both painted her portrait, Raphael, Baldassare di Castiglione, Bramante, Giulio Romano, Baldesane, Matteo Bandello and others. Restless and flamboyant, Isabella commissioned extravagant displays and entertainments and was herself always lavishly dressed.
Isabella was also an efficient and highly skilled stateswoman, and used her constant pilgrimages and family connections to construct an efficient system of military intelligence, as her husband was perpetually involved in campaigns and different alliances with the Venetians, the French, and the Papacy, in order to preserve Mantua’s independence. In 1509 Isabella herself saved Mantua from invasion when her husband was captured. She continued to rule it herself after her husband’s death in March, 1519, in accordance with his will, until their son Federico II Gonzaga (1500 – 1540) came of age to rule in 1522. In 1527 she was present during the sack of Rome by Imperial forces, but was ransomed by her son, and she herself ensured the safety of many ladies of noble birth by granting them refuge in her fortified palazzo. During her widowhood, Isabella retained her close association with artists and men of letters, and proved an able and capable adviser to her son until her death (Feb 13, 1539). Her eldest daughter Eleanora married Francesco Maria della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, whilst her younger daughters, Ippolita and Livia Osanna became nuns. Of her younger sons, Ercole d’Este (1505 – 1565) entered the church and became a cardinal, whilst his brother Ferrante (1508 – 1569) became count of Guastalla.

Estermann, Gladys Meza Romero – (1949 – 1998)
Italian papal courtier
Gladys Meza Romero was born in Venezuela, South America. She worked as a model for becoming the wife (Dec, 1983) of Alois Estermann (1954 – 1998) a senior Vatican official. Mrs Estermann and her husband were shot dead (May 4, 1998) in their Vatican apartment by a Swiss Guard named Cedric Tornay. This case caused much scandal for the Vatican Court of Pope John Paul II and engendered considerable speculation. It was originally thought that Gladys Estermann and Tornay had been lovers, and been shot by her estranged husband who then committed suicide, but it later came to light that Alois Estermann and Tornay had been involved in a short homosexual relationship. Estermann betrayed Tornay with another guardsman and in revenge Tornay killed both Estermann and his wife and then shot himself.

Estes, Eleanor Ruth – (1906 – 1988)
American children’s author
Eleanor Rosenfield was born (May 9, 1906) in West Haven, Connecticut, where she was employed as a children’s librarian prior to her marriage. Mrs Estes worked sor several years as a librarian with the New York Library, and was remembered particulalry for her trilogy of novels concerning the Moffat children The Moffats (1941), The Middle Moffat (1942), and Rufus M. (1943), her writing career being stimulated following enforced bedrest after a serious attack of tuberculosis. She was awarded the Newbery Medal for her novel concerning a lost pet dog entitled Ginger Pye (1951), for which she wrote sequel entitled, Pinky Pye (1958), as well as the detective novel, The Alley (1964). Her later children’s novels included The Lollipop Princess (1967), The Lost Umbrella of Kim Chu (1978), and The Curious Adventures of Jimmy McGee (1987). Eleanor Estes died (July 15, 1988) aged eighty-two.

Estess, Jenifer – (1963 – 2003)
American theatrical producer, author and activist
Born in Moline, Illinois, she studied drama in New York University, and wanted a career as an actor. Instead, she co-founded the Naked Angels theatre company in New York with the actor Fisher Stevens, and others, and remainded the producer and director of the company until 1993, when illness forced her to resign. Estess sufferred from Lou Gehrig’s disease, a degenerative condition for which there was no cure. She established Project A.L.S. in order to raise funds for medical research into the disease. Her memoir Tales from the Bed : Living, Dying and Having It All (2004) was published posthumously and made into a film of the same title, Estess being portrayed by Laura San Giacomo. Jenifer Estess died (Dec 16, 2003) aged only forty.

Esteves, Inez Perez – (c1359 – after 1400)
Portugese
Inez Esteves the daughter of Don Pedro Esteves, and his wife Mencia Annes. She became the mistress of King Joao I (1385 – 1433) in her youth, prior to his marriage with the Plantagenet princess, Philippa of Lancaster. Inez she bore Alfonso three children, of whom the second, Branca (Blanche) (born 1378), died in infancy. Inez was living in 1400, after which date she retired from the court of Lisbon into a convent. Her two surviving children were legitimated (1401) by their royal father,

• Alfonso I (1377 – 1461), first Duke of Braganza (1442 – 1461), through whom Inez was ancestress of Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II of England. Duke Alfonso was married twice and left many descendants.
• Beatriz of Portugal (Brites, Beatrice) (1386 – 1439). She married two English peers in succession, firstly Thomas Fitzalan (1381 – 1415), Earl of Richmond and Surrey, and secondly to John de Holland, Earl of Huntingdon (1395 – 1447), half-nephew of Richard II (1377 – 1399).  Both marriages remained childless.

Estevez, Elvira – (fl. c1250 – c1270)
Portugese courtier
Estevez was the mistress of King Alfonso III (1248 – 1279), to whom she bore a daughter (c1255) that he recognized, Leonor Alfonso de Portugal (died after 1302), who was married firstly to Estevao de Sousa, chancellor of Portugal, and secondly to Gonzalo de Sousa, Conde de Neiva.

Estevez, Sofia – (1848 – 1901)
Cuban novelist, poet, and journalist
Estevez was born in Camaguez, and was intensely proud of her heritage. She became a journalist, one of the earliest Cuban women to take up this career, and was impressively successful. In conjunction with her friend Domitilia Garcia de Coronado, and then aged barely eighteen, Estevez founded the journal El Cefro (1866) in which were published two of her own novels Alberto el trovador and Doce anos despues (both 1866). She was the author of the poetical collection Lagrimas y sonrisas (1875). Sofia Estevez died aged fifty-two.

Estevez de Garcia del Canto, Josefa – (c1830 – after 1889)
Spanish poet and novelist
Josefa Estevez de Garcia was born in Valladolid, Castile, and at the age of fifteen (1845) she married the army officer, poet, and novelist Antonio Garcia del Canto. The couple went to reside in the Philippines in the South Pacific where Antonio served as governor of Davao. Josefa’s most famous poetic work was Mis recreos.Poesias religiosas (My Entertainments.Religious Poetry) (1888). Besides this however, she also wrote a very popular romantic fiction El Romancerillo de San Isidro (The Little Romance of San Isidro (1886) and two novels Memorias de un naufrago (Memoirs of a Shipwreck) (1885) and, El zapatito (The Little Shoe) (1889), which was awarded a prize from the Montreal Academy of Tolosa (1883). Her poem El amor de los amores (The Love of All Loves) was included in the Novisimo Romancero Espanol. Left a widow in 1886, Josefa became a nun in Vitoria, where she later died.

Esther – (fl. c500 – c470 BC) 
Hebrew heroine
Mentioned in the biblical book of the same name, she was originally named Hadassah, which meant ‘myrtle.’ Esther was the name given her by the Persians after she entered the royal harem, and may have been Median in origin. The Persian king Ahaseurus married her after he divorced Queen Vashti. During the Jewish feast of Purim, all synagogues celebrate the story of Esther. However, Queen Esther cannot be identified with any known historical personage. Her husband, called Ahaseurus in the Bible, is generally identified with Xerxes I (reigned 485 – 465 BC), but his queen, Amestris, is well attested by historical record. George Frederic Handel’s oratorio Esther (1718) was based upon a play by Jean Racine. In the televison miniseries entitled The Greatest Heroes of the Bible (1978) the queen was portrayed by the American actress Victoria Principal.

Estienne, Nicole – (c1542 – c1584)
French poet
Estienne was born in Paris, the daughter of Charles Estienne, the noted physician and author. She was betrothed to the poet Jacques Grevin who celebrated her in his sonnet sequence Amours d’Olympe (1560). This engagement was broken off and she married instead (1561) to Jean Liebault, the dean of the faculty of medicine in Paris and a noted medical writer. She was best known for, Les miseres de la femme mariee (c1587 – 1595), which was published posthumously.

Estissac, Adelaide de Pyvart de Chastulle, Duchesse d’ – (1769 – 1814)
French courtier
Adelaide de Pyvart de Chastulle was born (Aug 16, 1769). She was married (1788) Alexandre Francois de La Rochefoucald, Duc d’Estissac (1767 – 1841), the being prominent courtiers of Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette at Versailles. She survived the horrors of the Revolution. The Duchesse d’Estissac died aged forty-five (Dec 20, 1814). She left five children,

• Alexandrine Julie Clementine de La Rochefoucald (1792). She died in infancy.
• Adele de La Rochefoucald (1793 – 1877). She became the wife of Francois Borghese, Prince Aldobrandini (1776 – 1839), by whom she left children.
• Alexandre Jules de La Rochefoucald, Duc d’Estissac (1796 – 1856).
• Wilfred Marie Francois, Comte de La Rochefoucald (1798 – 1878). He was married and left children.\Francois Joseph Polydore, Comte de La Rochefoucald (1801 – 1855). He was married and left issue.

Estoup, Valentine Eugenie – (1891 – 1961) 
Caribbean poet
Estoup was born (Oct 8, 1891) in Toulouse, France, and married Henri Corbin, a physician. Valentine spent the remainder of her life on the island of Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean. Madame Estoup left two collections of poetry Les Heures changeantes (1928) and La danse des images (1929). Madame Estoup died at Guadeloupe aged seventy (Oct 16, 1961).

Estouteville, Adrienne de – (1512 – 1560)
French late medieval heiress, she was the daughter of Jean III, Duc d’Estouteville. She was married (1534) to Francois I de Bourbon (1491 – 1545), who was styled Duc d’Estouteville in her right (1534 – 1545). Adrienne survived her husband as Dowager Duchess d’Estouteville (1545 – 1560) and never remarried. Duchesse Adrienne died at Trie (before Dec 31, 1560), aged forty-eight, leaving two children,

• Francois II de Bourbon (1536 – 1546), Duc d’Estouteville (1545 – 1546). He died as a child.
• Marie de Bourbon (1539 – 1601). Her mother’s eventual heiress to the dukedom. She was married firstly to Jean de Bourbon-Enghien (1528 – 1557), and secondly to Leonor, Duc d’Longueville (1540 – 1573) with her husband’s holding the title of duke in her right.

Estrada, Maria (Marina) – (fl. 1519 – 1533)
Spanish female conquistador
Estrada was the only woman to arrive in Mexico (1519) with the expedition led by Hernan Cortes, and was noted as a fierce warrior in the battle of Otumba. Her prescence and activities were noted by the fellow conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, and by the Tlaxcallan chronicler, Diego Munoz Camargo. Maria is believed to have been married to Alonso de Estrada, who acted as Cortes’ treasurer and Cortes himself appears to have given her a property at Ocuituco near Hueyapan. When she was a she petioned the emperor Charles V for a relief from taxation, but later, probably after her death, the land was taken from her heirs and retained by the Spanish crown.

Estrades, Elisabeth Catherine Huguet de Semonville, Comtesse d’ – (c1722 – 1784)
French courtier at Versailles
Madame d’Estrades was a particular friend of Madame de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV. She was married firstly to Charles Jean, Comte d’Estrades, and secondly to Nicolas Maximilien Seguier, Comte de St-Brisson, and was the mother of Charles Louis Huguet de Semonville, Marquis de Semonville (1759 – 1839). Madame d’Estrades introduced her cousin, Marie Charlotte de Xaintonge de Richemont, Marquise d’Estrades, to the private circle of the king at Versailles, where she plotted with the Marquis d’Argenson to use her to supplant Mme de Pompadour in the king’s affections. Ultimately this failed, and the comtesse lost both her friendship with La Pompadour, and her former pre-eminence at the court.

Estrades, Marie Charlotte de Xaintonge de Richemont, Marquise d’ – (1730 – 1789) 
French courtier and royal mistress
Born Marie Jeanne Charlotte Catherine de Xaintonge at La Rochelle, she was married (1750) to Louis Godefroy II, Marquis d’ Estrades (1695 – 1769) he being thirty-five years her senior. Her sister-in-law, the wife of Charles Jean, Comte d’Estrades, introduced the marquise to society at Versailles, and in particular, the entourage of the king’s favourite, Madame de Pompadour. A beautiful woman, she was quickly noticed by Louis XV, and her sister-in-law and the Comte d’Argenson plotted for her to supplant and replaced Madame de Pompadour in the royal favour. Finally, in 1762, these complicated intrigues were brought to the notice of the king, and Madame d’Estrades was banished to her country estate, the Chateau de Beaucamps. She died there at the outbreak of the Revolution.

Estrees, Charlotte de La Tremoille, Duchesse d’ – (1864 – 1944)
French aristocrat
Charlotte de La Tremoille was born (Oct 19, 1864) at the Chateau de Chantilly, the daughter of Louis Charles de La Tremoille, the Prince and tenth Duc de La Tremoille and Thouars. She was married (1885) to Charles Marie Francois de La Rochefoucald (1863 – 1907), Duc d’Estrees, the heir of Sosthenes, fourth Duc de Doudeauville (1825 – 1908). The couple had an only daughter, and no male heir. Her husband predeceased his father, and Charlotte never became the Duchesse de Doudeauville. She never remarried, and survived her husband for over thirty-five years as the Dowager Duchesse d’Estrees (1907 – 1944). Duchess Charlotte died (Aug 20, 1944) aged seventy-nine, at La Ville-au-Maine. Her only child was,

• Margeurite Francoise Marie de La Rochefoucald (1886 – 1929). She was married three times, firstly, to Francois de Rochechouart (1881 – 1918), Prince de Tonnay-Charente, secondly to
  Count Alain de Kergariou (1882 – 1920), and thirdly, to Vicomte Henri Dufresne de Saint-Leon (1886 – 1952), leaving issue only from her first marriage.

Estrees, Gabrielle d’ – (1570 – 1599) 
French royal mistress
Gabrielle d’Estrees was born at the Chateau de la Bourdaisiere, near Mont Louis, the daughter of Antoine d’Estrees, Marquis de Couevres, and his wife Francoise Babou de La Bourdaisiere. In 1588 she joined the household of Queen Louise, wife of Henry III, and became the mistress of Roger, Duc de Bellegarde, who introduced her to Henry IV. Henry arranged her formal marriage with Nicolas d’Amorval, seigneur de Liencourt, and then publicly acknowledged Gabrielle as his mistress.
Gabrielle possessed enormous influence over the king, and is said to have influenced his decision to return to the Catholic faith (1593). In 1594 her marriage to Liencourt was annulled when it became known to Henry that she was expecting his child. In 1595 their son Cesare was legitimated, much to the anger of Henry’s wife, Margeurite de Valois, and she was created marquise de Monceaux. She was also created duchesse de Beaufort (1597) and duchesse d’Etampes (1598). In 1598 the king seriously considered marrying Gabrielle despite the opposition of the Duc de Sully, Gabrielle’s former protector, but Pope Clement VIII refused the king’s request for a divorced from Queen Margeurite so that he could marry her. Henry was furious and ordered the preperations for the marriage to continue anyway, giving her his coronation ring to wear, as public proof of his intentions. Several days later Gabrielle suffered an attack of ecclampsia. She gave birth to a still-born son, and died in great pain (April 10, 1599). Rumour stated that Gabrielle was poisoned which, though probable, remains unproven. Her funeral took place at the Abbey of St Denis, with honours usually accorded only to royalty. Her two sons, Cesare, Duc de Vendome (1594 – 1665) and Alexandre (1598 – 1629), and her daughter Catherine Henriette (later duchesse d’Elboeuf) were legitimized and granted the surname of Bourbon.

Estrella de Mescoli, Blanca – (1915 – 1986)
Venezuelan pianist and composer
Blanca Estrella de Mescoli was born in San Felipe, and studied piano under the direction of Elena Arrarte and Moises Moleiro at the Escuela Nacional de Musica y Declamacion in Caracas. There she was also instructed in composition by Vicente Emilio Sojo. Estrella had further musical direction from Primo Casale and Yannis Ioannidis, and founded her own school, the Escuela Experimental de Musica Blanca Estrella (1962). Apart from piano pieces, lyrics, chamber music, and other works, Estrella composed the symphonic poem Maria Leonza (1950), the Imagen de Barquisimeto Romantico for orchestra, and the Symphonic Ballet (1968).

Estrid Sveinsdotter (Estrith, Margaret) – (c1000 – before 1047)
Danish princess
Estridwas the daughter of Svein I ‘Forkbeard,’King of Denmark (986 – 1014) and briefly king of England (1013 – 1014), by his second wife Sigrid Storrada (the Haughty), the daughter of Skogul Toste, Jarl of Vastergotland, and widow of Erik Segersall (the Victorious), king of Denmark. She was the younger half-sister of Canute II (Knud) of Denmark, king of England (1014 – 1035). Estrid was given in marriage by her brother Canute (1018) to the Danish jarl Ulf Thorkilsson, whose sister Gytha Thorkilsdotter, was the wife of Earl Godwin of Wessex, and mother to the last Anglo-Saxon king Harold II (1066). Estrid bore Ulf several children, but he quarrelled repeatedly with her brother over rights to the Danish throne. These events culminated with the assassination of Ulf at Roskilde with the king’s privity (1026). Contemporary chroniclers record that at this time Canute provided Estrid with estensive estates as gifts, perhaps as a form of atonement for her loss. Estrid remained at the English court and raised her three young sons, who all took their mother’s name, rather than their father’s,

• Svein II Estridsson (1019 – 1076), King of Denmark (1047 – 1076). He married several times and left many children, thus making Estrid ancestress to nearly every royal house in Europe.
• Bjorn Estridsson (Beorn) (c1021 – 1049), the Danish earl of Mercia in England. He was murdered.
• Asbjorn Estridsson (Osbern) (c1023 – 1086), who also held the Danish title of jarl (earl), and left a daughter Margaret Asbjornsdotter, later the wife of Harald III, King of Denmark (died 1080). Queen Margaret died childless.

Five years afterwards Canute required her to marry for dynastic reasons. She was given as wife (1031) to Robert I the Devil, duke of Normandy (died 1035). At the time of this marriage Estrid took the Norman name of Margaret. The marriage proved to be brief, and remained childless. Robert’s son William the Conqueror, was fathered by Duke Robert’s mistress, Arletta of Falaise. Robert repudiated Margaret altogether shortly afterwards, the promised foreign alliance a dismal failure. Duchess Margaret fled to the court of Denmark, resuming her former name of Estrid, and where she was treated with honour as the mother of King Canute’s nephews. She survived her royal brother and died (on May 9) before her son succeeded to the throne of Denmark on the death of Magnus (1047). She was interred in Roskilde Cathedral.

Etazeta – (fl. c250 BC)
Greek queen of Bithynia in Asia Minor
Etazeta was the wife of King Nikomedes I. With his death she attempted to rule the kingdom as regent for their youngs sons, However, Zialas, her adult stepson, the child of an earlier wife, Queen Ditizele, having fled to the court of Armenia prior to his father’s death, now returned to Bithynia to regain his inheritance, and brought some Galatian solidiers to enforce this claim. Queen Etazeta received support from several neighbouring cities, and from Antogonus of Macedonia. Despite this, Zialas conquered part, then all, of Bithynia, and the queen mother and her sons, including Ziboetes, were forced to flee for safety to the court of Antigonus at Pella, Macedonia.

Etere    see   Cecra

Etesanni, Parvin – (1906 – 1941)
Iranian poet
Parvin Etesanni was born in Tabriz, the daughter of Yusuf E’tesami Ashtiani, a political governor. She was educated at the American Girls College in Iran. She died of typhus at the early age of thirty-five, and was interred in Qom, but is considered to be the most famous female Iranian poet. Etesanni wrote in the classical Persian style, and was famous for her poetic series entitled Mast vali Hoshyar (Drunk but Aware), and wrote over two hundred poems. Sheltered and secluded from the world, this is reflected in her writings, and her marriage and subsequent life in another city was too much of a shock for her. She was divorced from her husband and died soon afterwards.

Ethelberga, Ethelburga     see also    Aethelburh

Ethelburga of Barking (Aethelburh) – (c628 – 675)
Anglo-Saxon virgin saint
Ethelburga was born at Stallington, Lindsay, the illegitimate daughter of Anna, King of East-Anglia (633 – 654), and was the full sister of St Erkonwald (c625 – 693), the Bishop of London.
Ethelburga was trained for the religious life by order of her brother, who placed her as first abbess of Barking in Essex, a double foundation for nuns and monks. Hildelith, the abbess of Chelles, near Paris, was brought home to England to train her for this high office. Devoutly religious, she was credited with miracles such as those the Venerable Bede recorded that during the plague epidemic (664) when she consulted the nuns as to where they desired to be buried. Ethelburga’s death was forseen by the the nun Torchgyth (Theorigitha). Ethelburga was venerated as a saint (Oct 11).

Ethelburga of East-Anglia (Aethelburh, Aubierge) – (c635 – 664)
Anglo-Saxon virgin saint
Princess Ethelburga was the daughter of Anna, king of East-Anglia (633 – 654), and his second wife Hereswyth, who was the daughter of Hereric of Deira, niece to Edwin, King of Northumbria, and elder sister to St Hilda, abbess of Whitby. Ethelburga never married and, with her half-sister Saelfryd, and her niece Earkongota, she went to the abbey of Faremoutier, in Brie, France, where they were all trained and veiled as nuns under the famous abbess Burgundofara (Fare). She was later appointed as abbess (c660 – 664) in succession to Saelfryd, but died before the age of thirty. Ethelburga was venerated as a saint (July 7). Her tomb was opened several years after her death (c671) and her remains were found to be incorrupt. They were translated to the church of St Stephen (Etienne). The French call her Aubierge.

Ethelburga of Fladbury (Aethelburh) – (fl. c770 – c800)
Anglo-Saxon abbess
Ethelburga was a kinswoman of Ealdred, the sub-King of the Hwicce, and became Abbess of Fladbury in Worcestershire. Her father may have been the nobleman Aelfred who granted the estate of Withington in Gloucestershire (c775). A suggestion that this lady could be identified with Ethelburga, the daughter of Offa II of Mercia cannot be verified and seems unlikely, given the scant evidence.

Ethelburga of Hackness (Aethelburh) – (c665 – c710)
Anglo-Saxon virgin saint
Princess Ethelburga was the daughter of Aldwulf, King of East-Anglia (664 – 713) and was sister to King Alfwold (713 – 749) and Eadburga of Repton. She never married and was appointed as abbess of Hackness, being succeeded in office by her younger sister Hwaetburga. She was venerated as a saint.

Ethelburga of Kent (Aethelburh) – (c685 – 735)
Anglo-Saxon queen and abbess
Ethelburga was the daughter of King Oswini (688 – 690) of Kent, and later became the second wife (c700) of her cousin, King Whitred (c665 – 725). However, the marriage remained childless and the king and queen later seperated for religious reasons (710). As she had grown male stepsons which assured the succession to the throne, it would appear her vocation was genuine.
Queen Ethelburga was consecrated as a nun by Egwin, Bishop of Worcester and succeeded Kyneburga as abbess of St Peter’s at Gloucester, over which establishment she ruled for twenty-five years (710 – 735), being succeeded by Weeda as abbess. She died aged about fifty and was buried by Wilfred, Bishop of Worcester. Queen Ethelburga was venerated as a saint (June 26).

Ethelburga of Mercia (Aethelburh) – (c774 – c830)
Anglo-Saxon princess and abbess
Ethelburga was one of the younger daughters of Offa II, King of Mercia and his wife Cynethryth. She became a nun and later an abbess, perhaps succeeding her mother at Cookham in Berkshire (after 804). She is not to be confused with Ethelburga of Hackness, the daughter of Aldwulf of East-Anglia.

Ethelfleda     see    Aethelflaed

Etheldreda     see    Aethelthryth

Ethelfrida (Aethelfryth) – (c655 – c700)
Anglo-Saxon queen
Ethelfrida was the daughter of Eormenraed, King of Kent (640 – c656) and his wife Oslafa, the daughter of Anna, King of East-Anglia (633 – 654). Called Adelfrida in some sources she was married to the elderly Centwine, King of Wessex (676 – 685) as his second wife, though their marriage remained childless. She was stepmother to saints Edburga of Minster and Adelhelm, Bishop of Sherborne. After Centwine’s abdication he became amonk, whilst Queen Ethelfrida became a nun and was appointed as abbess of Carlisle in Northumbria. Her sister Iurmingburh was the second wife of Egfrith of Northumbria, and eventually succeeded her as abbess.

Ethelhild (Aethelhild) – (c913 – c960)
Anglo-Saxon princess of Wessex
Ethelhild was one of the younger daughters of King Edward the Elder (899 – 924) and his second wife Aelfflaed of Wiltshire, the daughter of Earldorman Aethelhelm (Ethelhelm). She was full sister to the short-lived King Aelfweard (924).  She was raised at the abbey of Wilton in Wiltshire, whither her mother retired with her daughters after her divorce (916). She never married and became a recluse, or lay-sister at the abbey of Romsey in Hampshire, where her sister Aethelflaed was a nun. Princess Ethelhild died early during the reign of her half-nephew King Edgar I (959 – 975) and was interred at Wilton Abbey.

Etheria     see    Egeria

Etherington, Marie    see   Tempest, Dame Marie

Ethnea (Athna, Hethna) – (c415 – c433 AD)
Irish virgin saint
Ethnea was the daughter of King Laoghaire, and was granddaughter to King Niall ‘of the Nine Hostages.’ When St Patrick preached Christianity at the court of Laoghaire at Tara in 433, Ethnea and her sister Fedelmia were being fostered out on the estate of a nobleman, where they were being educated in the Druidic religion. One day, as the two sisters went to bathe at the forth of Cliabach, near Rathcroghan, they came across Patrick and his missionary companions. He baptized them after some lengthy questioning on their part. After receiving Holy Communion, they both died. They were interred together at Croghan, near Rathcroghan, and a church was built over them, but their relics were afterwards transferred to the metropolitan church of Armagh, perhaps in St Patrick’s lifetime (he died c461 AD). Both sisters are honoured by the church as saints on various days in January.

Ethofer, Rosa – (1877 – 1939)
Austrian vocalist
Ethofer was born in Vienna and studied singing at the Vienna Conservatory under Irene Schlemmer-Ambros. She made her stage debut as an alto vocalist in Leipzig, Saxony (1898) and then appeared at the court theatre in Dessau (1900 – 1902). Rosa then joined the ensemble of the court theatre at Karlsruhe in Baden for over a decade (1902 – 1913) and then joined the Deutsches Theater in brunn (1913 – 1922), as well as making successful appearances in Wiesbaden, Vienna, and Mannheim. She was particularly noted for her performance of the role of Ute in the premiere of Siegfried Wagner’s opera Banadietrich, which she performed at Karlsruhe (1910). Ethofer was married to the baritone Eduard Schuler, and after her retirement form the stage she established herself as a successful singing teacher in Nuremburg. Rosa Ethofer died at Weimar, aged sixty-two (Sept 3, 1939).

Ethreda     see    Octreda

Ethyllt ferch Cynan (Ethil) – (fl. c800)
Welsh queen and dynastic heiress, she was the daughter and heir of Cynan ap Tindaethy (died 816), king of Gwynned, and was a direct descendant of King Coel Hen (the Old King Coel of the nursery rhyme). Ethyllt was married to the Welsh prince, Gwiriad of Deheubarth, who ruled as king of the Isle of Man. She was the mother of Meryn Frych (the Freckled) (c800 – 844), whom succeeded his maternal grandfather as King of Gwynned. She was the ancestress of the ruling Tudor (1485 – 1603) and Stuart (1603 – 1714) dynasties, and of their successors.

Etiennette of Lampron    see   Stephanie of Lampron

Etioles, Alexandrine d’ – (1744 – 1754)
French gentlewoman
Alexandrine was the only surviving child of Charles Guillaume Le Normant d’Etioles, and his wife Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, later famous as the Marquise de pompadour, the mistress of King Louis XV (1715 – 1774). The child was raised by her mother at the court of Versailles, and was nick-named ‘Fan-fan,’ but was known formally as ‘Madame Alexandrine,’ as if she was a royal princess. Madame de Pompadour attempted to arrange a marriage between Alexandrine and Louis de Bourbon, Comte de Vintimille, the natural son of Louis XV and the Marquise de Vintimille, but the king refused to consider such an alliance. Likewise, when the marquise attempted to marry Alexandrine to the Duc de Frinsac, son and heir of the Duc de Richelieu, she met with a rebuff. Eventually the child was betrothed to the young Duc de Picquigny, son and heir of the Duc de Chaulnes, the marriage planned to take place when Alexandrine reached the age of thirteen. Her portrait, preserved in the Musee de Cognacq-Jay in Paris, was painted by Francois Hubert Drouais, when she was aged five (1749). Alexandrine d’Etioles died at the age of ten, in Paris, probably from appendicitis.

Etra, Blanche – (1915 – 1995)
American lawyer and philanthropist
Blanche Etra was a supporter and patron of the Yeshiva University. She worked with Etta Goldstein, Judy Goldberg, and Dr Samuel Belkin, the president of Yeshiva, to establish the Women’s Division of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine there (1954). Etra and her fellow patrons established the annual Spirit of Achievement Luncheon, which honoured such famous women as actresses, Marlene Dietrich (1954), Helen Hayes, and Meryl Streep, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt (1960), anthropologist Margaret Mead, and feminist leader and author Betty Friedan.

Etruscilla, Herennia Cupressenia – (c210 – after 253 AD) 
Roman Augusta
Herennia Cupressenia Etruscilla was of distinguished Etruscan ancestry, and was the wife of the Emperor Traianus Decius at the time of his accession (249 AD), when she was officially accorded the Imperial title. Her young son, Quintus Herennius Etruscus (c234 – 251 AD) was granted control of the armed forces in Moesia at the same time. The empress is accused, without proof, of encouraging the persecutions of the Christians, which continued during her husband’s reign on a grand scale. Her elder son was later proclaimed co-emperor with his father (May, 251 AD), but both perished soon afterwards, fighting the Goths at the battle of Albritta (June).
Trebonianus Gallus was then proclaimed second emperor, as Etruscilla’s younger son Hostilianus Messius Quintus (born c237 AD), was still a child. The empress retired from public life, but it is perhaps significant that Gemina Baebiana, the wife of Trebonianus was not styled Augusta, which implies that Etruscilla’s Imperial rank and privileges did not abruptly end with her husband’s death. Her younger son died of the plague shortly before the end of 251 AD, after a short reign, and Etruscilla survived the short reign of Trebonianus. She is attested as empress on surviving coinage.

Etting, Ruth – (1896 – 1978)
American vocalist and actress
Etting was born (Nov 23, 1896) in David City, Nebraska. She made a career for herself during the decade of the 1920’s as a popular vocalist, making many radio appearances and recordings, with songs such as ‘Whose Honey Are You,’ It Had to Be You,’ ‘You Made Me Love You,’ and ‘St Louis Blues.’ Etting appeared in several film shorts where she portrayed herself, and appeared in over two dozen films such as Old Lace (1931), Roman Scandals (1933), Hips Hips Hooray! (1933), Gift of the Gab (1934), An Old Spanish Onion (1935) and, Melody in May (1936) in which she portrayed herself. The film Love Me or Leave Me (1955) was based very loosely on details of Etting’s life. Ruth Etting died (Sept 24, 1978) in Colorado Springs, Colorado, aged eighty-one.

Etton, Dame Katherine de    see    Everingham, Katherine de

Eu, Alice d’ – (c1183 – 1246)
Norman heiress and peeress
Alice was the daughter of Henry III, count of Eu, and his English wife, Lady Maude de Warenne, the daughter of Hamelin Plantagenet, Earl of Surrey. She was the sister and heiress of Count Raoul I, who died as a minor (1186), leaving Alice his sole heiress. She was married (1191) to Raoul II de Lusignan (c1158 – 1219), Seigneur d’Exhoudun (Issoudon), the son of Hugh VIII of Lusignan, who became count of Eu in her right. Eu was confiscated by King John, when her husband and other barons disapproved of the king’s marriage with Isabella of Angouleme, but after her husband’s death, Alice paid Philip II of France fifteen thousand marks of silver, and the county was restored to her, by royal charter dated at Melun (Aug, 1219). Soon afterwards estates and monies owed her from her English possessions, were ordered to be paid to the countess. She saved the castle and manor of Tickhill from the claim put forward by Robert de Vespont, that it formed part of the inheritance of his wife Idoine. Alice later surrendered the castle of Hastings to the crown (1225), and in 1243, due to the hostilities with France, the castle of Tickhill was delivered into the hands of a royal official. This estate was never recovered, though she was permitted to remove all farm stock that she possessed on these properties. She appears to have retired to reside in France not long afterwards. Comtesse Alice died (May 13 or 15, 1246) at La Mothe-Saint-Heray, in Poitou. She was buried in the Priory of Fontblanche, Exoudun. Her four children were,

• Raoul III d’Exhoudun (c1200 – 1246). He was married three times, and briefly succeeded his mother as Comte d’Eu, leaving issue.
• Guarin d’Exhoudun (c1202 – after 1217). He appears to have died young and unmarried.
• Maude d’Exhoudun (c1207 – 1241). She became the first wife of the English peer, Humphrey de Bohun (c1212 – 1275), second Earl of Hereford and Essex, and left issue.
• Jeanne d’Exhoudun (c1213 – 1252). She became Dame de Criel, and was the third wife of Pierre I Mauclerc, Duke of Brittany (1190 – 1250).

Eu, Alice d’Aubigny, Comtesse d’ – (1142 – 1188)
Norman arisotcrat and semi-royal
Lady Alice d’Aubigny was born at Arundel Castle in Sussex, the eldest daughter of William d’Aubigny, first earl of Arundel (c1102 – 1176), and his wife, Adeliza of Louvain, the widow of King Henry I (1100 – 1135).  Alice was married firstly (c1156) to Jean, Comte d’Eu in Normandy (c1127 – 1170), and secondly (c1172) to Alvred de St Martin, steward (dapifer) to Henry II of England. Comtesse Alice died aged forty-six (Sept 11, 1188). The six children of her first marriage included,

• Henry II, Comte d’Eu (c1159 – 1183). He married and left issue.
• Henry d’Aubigny. He was appointed as Dean of St Mary’s in Hastings, Sussex, England.
• Jean d’Aubigny (c1166 – 1207). He became Lord of Hastings in England.
• Robert d’Aubigny (c1169 – c1190). He died unmarried.

Eucheria – (c550 – c605)
Gallo-Roman aristocrat
Eucheria was born into a patrician family, and became the wife of Dynamius (c540 – c595), who was a royal official in Marseilles from 567, and was later rector of the papal estates in Gaul from 590 till his death. Eucheria survived her husband by a decade, and was interred with Dynamius in the same tomb in the church of St Hippolyte, probably in Marseilles. Their grandson, also named Dynamius, later composed their joint epitaphs, and was possibly the author of verses in praise of the Island of Lerins.

Eudocia, Aelia – (401 – 460 AD) 
Byzantine Augusta
Empress Eudocia was born in Athens, the daughter of the Greek philosopher Leontius, a pagan professor at the university there, and was originally named Athenais. With the death of her father (420 AD), she was chosen as a wife (421 AD) for the emperor Theodosius II (401 – 450 AD), by his sister, the regent empress Pulcheria. Their only surviving child was Aelia Licinia Eudoxia, who was married (437 AD) to her cousin, the Roman emperor Valentinian III. Eudocia and her husband championed the cause of Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople, against his rival, Cyril of Alexandria (428 AD), which deepened the rift between Pulcheria and herself. However, when at the Council of Ephesus (431 AD) Cyril’s claims were favoured, Theodosius was forced to adhere to these views. This was a major victory for Pulcheria, who had supported Cyril from the beginning, but proved a serious reverse for Eudocia.
Eudocia later made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem (438 AD) but soon afterwards was accused of improper relations with Paulinus, the master of the Offices, who was executed. When asked permission to retire to Jerusalem (c442 AD), Theodosius granted her permission, and she remained resident there until her death. Despite this, two clerics, Severus and John, friends of the empress were executed by the emperor’s order after being falsely accused by her enemies. In retaliation, the empress caused Saturninus, the governor of Jerusalem, to be murdered by hired assasins (444 AD). Even after the Monophysite heresy had been condemned by the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD), Eudocia obstinately clung to these ideas, until finally, the reproaches of her daughter and son-in-law, and the pleadings of Pope Leo the Great brought her back to orthodox observances. Empress Eudocia died in Jerusalem, aged fifty-nine (Oct 22, 460 AD).
Eudocia, who remains well attested on surviving coinage, was an author of some considerable merit. She composed a Paraphrase of the Octaceuch, a poetical paraphrase of the first eight books of the Biblical Old Testament, which was praised by the Byzantine writer Photius, and a Paraphrase of the Prophecies of Daniel and Zachariah. She also produced a cento of verses of Homer applied to the life and miracles of Jesus Christ, History of Cyprian and Justina, a panegyric of the Persian victories of Theodosius (422 AD) entitled The Victory of the Troops of Theodosius over the Persians.

Eudocia Ingerina – (838 – 882)
Byzantine Augusta
Eudocia Ingerina was the daughter of a high official of the court named Inger, who was believed to be of Scandinavian origins. She was originally the mistress of the emperor Michael III (842 – 867) and her influence over him was feared by the Empress Dowager Theodora so much that she forced Michael to separate from her and marry Eudokia Dekapolita (855). However, the Imperial marriage was a failure and the emperor quickly resumed his relationship with Eudocia Ingerina, banishing his mother to a convent (856). The couple then resided openly together, which caused much scandal. Michael eventually married Eudocia to his Caesar, Basil the Macedonian (865), whilst he gave Basil his own sister Thekla for his own mistress. Eudocia bore a son Leo (866) for whom Basil accepted parentage. It seems probable that the child was fathered by Michael, and Basil accepted paternity in order to prevent further scandal. Michael was soon assasinated (Sept, 867) and it appears that Eudocia Ingerina co-operated with Basil in this crime.
With Basil’s accession, Eudocia was granted the Imperial styles, titles, and dignitiesm, which she retained until her death, at the age of forty-three. During her time as empress she is said to have been involved in a romantic liasion with the steward of the royal table. With her second husband and children, the empress featured in brilliant mosaics which he commissioned to be painted in the private bedchamber of the Imperial palace. She left three sons, the emperor Leo VI (886 – 912) and the emperor Alexander (912 – 913). Her second son Stephen (867 – 893) became patriarch of Constantinople, but died young.

Eudocia Isauria – (c735 – before 792)
Byzantine Augusta (752 – 775)
Her family antecedents remain unrecorded apart from the fact that her sister was the wife of Michael Melissenos, strategoi (military governor) of the Anatolikon district. Eudocia was thus the maternal aunt of Theodotos I Melissenos who was later appointed Patrician of Constantinople by the Emperor Leo V (815). She became the third wife (752) of Konstantine V Kopronymous (718 – 775) of the Isaurian dynasty, Emperor of Byzantium (741 – 775) and was the stepmother of the Emperor Leo IV (775 – 780). The Greek chronicler Theophanes the Confessor recorded the coronation of Eudociam tertiam coniugem as Augusta (April 1, 768) and that on the following day her two elder sons Nikephorus and Christopher were granted the title of Caesar.
Eudocia had been officially proclaimed empress consort at the time of her marriage but her coronation did not take place till sixteen years later, after she had borne the emperor several sons. She survived her husband as Dowager Empress (775) but the exact date of her death remains unrecorded. Little is recorded of this empress except that she may not have fully supported her husband Iconoclastic policy regarding religion, and is recorded as making substantial donations to the Abbey of St Anthousa of Mantineon, after whom her only daughter was named.
Her eldest son Nikephorus twice revolted against his half-brother Leo IV. The first time Nikephorus was exiled (776) but after the second revolt (780) he was forcibly tonsured as a monk. Eudocia was still living in 780 but was not implicated in her son’s conspiracy. The lack of details concerning her widowhood would seem to indicate that Eudocia might have retired from court to a nunnery by this date, perhaps at the insistence of her stepson. A third conspiracy against Konstantine VI by Nikephorus resulted in the prince being blinded and his tongue cut off, a fate later shared by his brothers. They were all then permanently exiled. Empress Eudocia appears to have predeceased these tragic events. Her children were,

• Prince Nikephorus Isaurius (753 – after 812). He died in exile at Aphousia in the Sea of Marmora.
• Prince Christopher Isaurius (c755 – after 812). He was blinded (799).
• Princess Anthousa Isauria (c756 – c809). She remained unmarried and became an abbess in Constantinople. Anthousa was venerated as a saint.
• Prince Niketas Isaurius (763 – after 812). He was blinded (799).
• Prince Anthimos Isaurius (c768 – after 812). He was blinded (799).
• Prince Eudokimus Isaurius (c770 – after 812). He was blinded (799).

Eudocia Komnena (1) – (1129 – after 1151)
Byzantine Imperial princess
Eudocia Komnena was the second daughter of Prince Andronikos Komnenus (1108 – 1142) and his wife Irene Aineidassa. Her father was the son of the Emperor Johannes II Komnenus (1118 – 1143) and her brother was the regent Alexius Komnenus.During her youth she was seduced by her paternal uncle, who was then banished from the Imperial court. It was also variously rumoured that the emperor Manuel II (1143 – 1180) himself had been too overly fond of Eudocia, during the lifetime of his first wife, the German empress Bertha of Sulzbach. Princess Eudocia was married firstly for political reasons, to the Armenian prince, Thoros II, the Lord of the Mountains. The union proved a failure and ended in divorce (1149), after which Eudocia returned to the Byzantine court. Her second husband was the Greek patrician Michael Gabras (died after 1170).

Eudocia Komnena (2) – (1148 – after 1179)
Byzantine Imperial princess
Princess Eudocia Komnena was the younger daughter of Prince Isaakos Komnenus and his second wife of Irene Diplosynadena, and was the granddaughter of the Emperor Johannes II Komnenus (1118 – 1143) and his wife Irene of Hungary (originally called Piroska). This lady made two marriages with European noblemen, firstly to Guelfo Paganello di Porcaria of Siena in Italy. Her second marriage, which took place in Rome (1170), was with the the Guelf leader Odone Frangipani (died 1176) whom Eudocia survived.

Eudocia Komnena (3) – (1164 – 1204)
Byzantine Imperial princess
Princess Eudocia was probably the daughter of Prince Alexius Komnenus and his wife Maria Dukaina. Her father was the son of the sebastocrator Prince Andronikos Komnenus (1108 – 1142), the elder brother of the Emperor Manuel I (1143 – 1180). She has also been suggested as the daughter of Prince Isaakos Komnenus, and the granddaughter of the Emperor Johannes II (1118 – 1143) but this genealogy remains highly speculative.
Eudocia was sent to Europe in order to marry Raymond Berenger III of Aragon (1158 – 1181), Count of Barcelona the brother of Alfonso II of Aragon, to whom she had already been betrothed. The Annales Pisani recorded that the Emperor Manuel had sent envoys to arrange the alliance with Aragon. However the German Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa caused this betrothal to be broken as it did not suit his dynastic politics. The princess and her retinue remained resident at Montpellier in Languedoc whilst awaiting instructions from the Emperor Manuel. During the interim period the Emperor Friedrich proposed Seigneur Guillaume VII of Montpellier (c1159 – 1203) as a suitable alternative husband for Eudocia and his suit was accepted. Eudocia became his first wife (1178) and became the Dame de Montpellier (1178 – 1187).
Eudocia bore her husband an only child and heiress, Maria of Montpellier (1180 – 1219) later the wife of Pedro II (1174 – 1213), King of Aragon and the mother of Jaimes I el Conquistador (1208 – 1276). Eudocia was later divorced by Guillaume (April, 1187) in order that he could bigamously marry his Spanish mistress Agnes, who had borne him sons. Despite the fact that the legitimacy of these sons was not upheld by church law, Eudocia never returned to Guillaume and retired to the convent of Aniane where she became a Benedictine nun. Eudocia survived her former husband by only a few months and died (June, 1204) aged about forty.

Eudocia Komnena Porphyrogennita – (1094 – 1131)
Byzantine Imperial princess
Princess Eudocia was born (Jan 14, 1094) in Constantinople, the daughter of the Emperor Alexius I Komnenus (1081 – 1118) and his second wife Irene Dukaina. The Alexiad named Porphyrogennita Eudocia as the emperor’s third daughter. Eudocia became the wife (1116) of Prince Michael Iasites, the son of Konstantine Iasites, and related through his mother to the Patriarch Michael Keroualrios. The historian Zonaras recorded the marriage of Eudocia with Iasitae Constantini filium.
Eudocia bore her husband an only child Alexius Iasites who died unmarried, possibly before reaching adulthood. The marriage proved unhappy and the couple separated. Michael became a monk taking the religious name of Athanasius. Eudocia retired to her mother’s convent of Kocharitomenes in Constantinople where she became a nun and died there.

Eudocia Palaeologina – (c1265 – 1302)
Byzantine Augusta in Trebizond
Eudocia Palaeologina was the daughter of the Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus (1259 – 1282) and his wife Theodora Dukaina Vatatzina. She became the wife (1282) of her kinsman, Johannes II Komnenus (c1240 – 1297), emperor of Trebizond, whom she survived as Dowager Empress (1297 – 1302). Possessed of great beauty, her brother Andronikos II hoped to persuade Eudocia to marry King Stephen Milutin II of Serbia, soon after her widowhood, but she had been apprised of her rather strange sexual habits, and indignantly refused to consider such a marriage. The empress left two sons,

• Alexius II Komnenus (1283 – 1330). He became emperor of Trebizond (1297 – 1330). He left descendants.
• Michael Komnenus (1285 – c1356), emperor of Trebizond (1344 – 1349), who married and left descendants.

Eudokia    see   also    Eudocia

Eudokia Angela – (c1174 – c1211)
Byzantine Augusta
Eudokia Angela was the eldest daughter of the emperor Alexius III Angelus and his wife Euphrosyne Dukaina Kamaterina. Whilst her father was living in exile in Syria, her uncle, the emperor Isaac II Angelus, arranged for Eudocia to marry firstly (1191) to Prince Stephen Prvovencani Nemanyovic (c1148 – 1227). She became queen consort when her husband succeeded as King of Serbia (1195). The marriage appears to have been somewhat tempestuous, and according to the Greek chronicler Niketas Choniates, the king and queen each accused the other of adultery. After this Queen Eudokia returned to the Imperial court in Constantinople (1202). There she created scandal by becoming the mistress of the future emperor Alexius V Dukas. When the city was invaded by the western crusader forces (1204), Eudokia fled to Thrace with Alexius and her mother. They sought refuge with Alexius III at Mosynopolis and Eudokia was permitted to marry Alexius and was granted the Imperial titles. Soon after however, at the behest of her own father, Alexius V was captured and strangled.
The empress remarried thirdly to Leo Sgouras, the archon of Nauplia and independent ruler of Korinth. Besieged in his citadel, he later committed suicide by flinging himself to his death from a tower (1208). Eudokia survived him only a couple of years. She left three children, including Stefan Radoslav Dukas, who was king of Serbia (1224 – 1234) before retiring to a monastery, where he died a monk. Her elder daughter, Kominia Nemyanovica was the wife firstly of Dimitri Progonovic, archon of Albania, and secondly of Gregur Kamonas, archon of Kroja and Elassan.

Eudokia Baiana – (c882 – 901)
Byzantine Augusta (898 – 901)
Eudokia Baina was a great beauty from the Opsikian district of Phrygia in Asia Minor. She was chosen as the third wife (898) of the emperor Leo VI (866 – 912). The method of choosing Eudokia as the imperial bride was the last exercise of the ‘bride-show’ or ‘concourse of Beauty,’ which was believed to have originally been a Khazar tradition. This marriage was unpopular with the clergy, as third marriages were forbidden by canon law, and as Leo himself had expressed his own disapproval of the practice in a special law which had even prohibited second marriages in strong terms. The empress died in childbirth (April 12, 901), after giving birth to a son Basilius, who died almost immediately. The abbot of the monastery of St Lazarus voiced his disapproval of the emperor’s third marriage by refusing to allow the empress to be interred within his abbey.

Eudokia Dekapolita – (c840 – after 877)
Byzantine Augusta (855 – 867)
Eudokia Dekapolita was the wife (855) of the Emperor Michael III of Amorion (died 867), the marriage being arranged by his mother the Empress Theodora. The marriage remained childless and Eudokia survived her husband, who was murdered by Basil I, as Dowager Empress. Details of her later years remain sparse, but she probably retired to a convent.

Eudoxia – (c670 – before 702)
Byzantine Augusta
Eudoxia was the first wife (c686) of the Emperor Heraklius I (669 – 711). She was of patrician rank but no details are recorded of her family.The empress bore her husband an only daughter, and at her death was interred within a tomb of rose-coloured marble in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. Her burial was recorded by the emperor Constantine VII in his De Ceremoniis Aulae, which styles the empress, Eudocia, uxor Justiniani minoris [alias Rhinotmeti]. Of her daughter whose name has not been recorded, the emperor later planned to marry her off to the Khan of the Bulgarians, but there is no evidence this marriage ever happened.

Eudoxia, Aelia – (440 – 471 AD)
Vandal queen
Aelia Eudoxia was born in Rome, the elder daughter of the Emperor Valentinian III, and his wife Eudoxia, the daughter of the Eastern emperor, Theodosius II. After her father’s assasination at the hands of the usurper, Petronius Maximus, Eudoxia was forcibly betrothed to his son Palladius. When the Vandals took the city if Rome, she was carried into captivity with her widowed mother and sister, Eudoxia remained a prisoner with them at Carthage in Africa, for seven years (455 – 462 AD). Perhaps as the price of freedom for her mother and sister, Eudoxia finally agreed to marry the Vandal king Hunneric (c425 – 484 AD), as his second wife. She became the mother of at least two son inlcuding, the Vandal ruler Hilderic (463 AD – 533). Several years later Eudoxia managed to escape from Carthage and fled to Jerusalem in Palestine, where she died a few weeks after her arrival.

Eudoxia, Aelia Licinia – (422 – before 493 AD)
Roman Augusta (437 – 455 AD)
Aelia licinia Eudoxia was born (Jan 23, 422 AD) in Constantinople, the only surviving child of the Byzantine emperor Theodosius II and his wife Eudocia of Athens, formerly the pagan beauty Athenais, daughter to the Greek philosopher Leontius. She was married (437 AD) in Constantinople to her cousin, the Roman emperor  Valentinian III (419 – 455 AD) to whom she bore two daughters, Eudocia (440 – 471 AD), wife of the Vandal king Hunneric, and Placidia, wife to the emperor Olybrius. The Imperial princess Anicia Juliana was her granddaughter. Her husband was assasinated by Petronius Maximus (396 – 455 AD), who took the Imperial throne (March, 455 AD).
Maximus forced Eudoxia to marry him to legitimize his rule, and betrothed her eldest daughter to his son. In desperation, the empress made overtures to the Vandal king, Gaiseric, and offerred him her hand if he would rescue her. This resulted in the sack of Rome, Petronius and his son being killed, and Eudoxia and her daughters were carried into captivity in Carthage, Africa. The eastern empire made repeated pleas for their release, which was finally granted seven years later (462 AD), when the empress and her younger daughter were released. The elder daughter remained in Carthage as the wife of Hunneric, the marriage probably being the price of the release of her mother and sister. Eudoxia retired to Constantinople, where she was granted estates suitable to her Imperial rank. In her later years Eudoxia offerred the ascetic and pillar saint, Daniel Stylites, sanctuary on her property, and attempted without success to coax him down from his pillar. Empress Eudoxia had died prior to Theodoric the Ostrogoth becoming the King of Italy (493 AD).

Eudoxia Augusta Philippine Clementine Maria – (1898 – 1985)
Princess of Bulgaria
Princess Eudoxia was born (Jan 17, 1898) in Sofia, the elder daughter of Tsar Ferdinand I (1908 – 1918), and was the younger sister to Tsar Boris III (1894 – 1943). She never married, and fled the country with her nephew, Simeon III and his mother, Queen Giovanna, and went to reside in Egypt with Vittorio Emmanuele III of Italy. Princess Eudoxia died (Oct 4, 1985) aged eighty-seven, at Friedrichshafen in Germany.

Eudoxia Feodorovna – (1669 – 1731)
Russian tsarina (1696 – 1699)
Born Eudoxia Feodorova Lopukhina (July 10, 1669), she was the daughter of Count Feodor Ilarion Lopukhin and his wife Oustinia Bogdanova. She became the first wife (1689) of the future Peter I the Great (1674 – 1725), who succeeded his half-brother, Feodore III on the Russian throne. Beautiful but not overly intelligent, Eudoxia had been chosen by Peter’s mother, the Dowager Empress Natalia, and despite the birth of a son Alexis (1690 – 1718) and a daughter Natalia Petrovna, the marriage was not a success, the couple being completely ill-suited to each other. Having failed to persuade her to leave the court voluntarily and take religious vows (1698), Peter then banished Eudoxia to the Petrovsky convent, near Suzdal. She was then forced to take vows as a nun, adopting the name of Elena. Her children were seperated from her and were raised by her sister-in-law, the Grand Duchess Natalia Alexievna. Despite this Peter did not have their marriage annulled for over a decade (1711).
Not suited to the religious life, within six months the former empress reverted to living within her convent as a lay woman, and eventually began a liasion with an army officer, named Stepan Glebov (1709 – 1710). At her son’s trial (1718) her relationship with Glebov was exposed, and with Alexis’ death soon afterwards, she was forcibly transferred to the fortress of Schlusselberg, where she was treated as a state prisoner.  With Tsar Peter’s death, Eudoxia was suggested as a possible candidate for the Imperial throne, but because of her age and personal repugnance for the idea, it was dropped. With the death of Catharine I (1727), her grandson, Peter II, caused Eudoxia to be pardoned and reintated at the Imperial court, where she was given full honours as Dowager empress. Soon afterwards she was installed in the Novodevichy convent and provided with a generous allowance. Eudoxia was on friendly terms with the Empress Anna, and occupied a special box at that lady’s coronation ceremony (April 28, 1730). The empress died in Moscow (Sept 7, 1731) aged sixty-two.

Eudoxia Loukianovna – (1608 – 1645)
Russian tsarina consort (1633 – 1645)
Born Eudoxia Loukianovna Streshnevaia, she was the third daughter of Loukias Streshniev (Lukas) (died 1650), and his wife Anna Constantinovna Volkonskaia, the daughter of Constantine Volkonsky. Eudoxia was married in Moscow (1626) to Mikhail Romanov (1596 – 1645) as his second wife. He became the first tsar of the Romanov dynasty (1633 – 1917) and Eudoxia was accorded the Imperial title. She died (July 23, 1645) in Moscow, aged thirty-seven, and was interred within the Cathedral of the Archangel Mikhail in that city. Apart from five children who died in infancy, Eudoxia was the mother of Tsar Alexius I Romanov (1629 – 1676) and paternal grandmother of Peter I the Great (1674 – 1725). Her four surviving daughters, the grand duchesses Irina (1627 – 1679), Anna (1632 – 1692), Sophia (1634 – 1676), and Tatiana Romanovna (1636 – 1689) who all died unmarried.

Euferia    see    Euplia

Eugenia – (c535 – c570)
Byzantine patrician and verse writer
Eugenia was the wife of Theodorus, who held Imperial office under the emperor Justinian I (528). She quarrelled with her husband and died before him. The poet Agathias (c530 – 582) wrote poetic verses, preserved in the Anthologica Graeca, which celebrated Eugenia’s beauty, her own considerable poetic skills, and her knowledge of the law. None of her own verse have survived. The supposition that Eugenia was the sister of Agathias, and therefore the daughter of Memnonius and his wife Pericleia, though possible, is not attested by any recorded evidence.

Eugenia Gattilusia – (c1381 – 1440)
Byzantine Augusta
Eugenia Gattilusia was the daughter of Francesco II Gattilusi, Prince of Lesbos. Her maternal grandmother, Maria Palaeologina, was sister to the emperor Johannes V. Eugenia was married (c1396) to her kinsman, emperor Johannes VII (1370 – 1408), co-ruler with his father Manuel II from 1391. They are believed to be the parents of the ephemeral child ruler, Andronikos V (1400 – c1407), whose entire existence is open to genealogical and political complications. With her husband’s early death (Sept, 1408), Eugenia became Dowager Empress for over three decades (1408 – 1440). Despite her youth, she never remarried. Empress Eugenia died in Constantinople (Jan 1, 1440) aged about sixty, and was interred within the monastery of St Saviour Pantokrator.
Her tomb was probably destroyed by the Ottoman invaders after the fall of Constantinople (1453).

Eugenia of Alsace – (c689 – 738)
Merovingian nun and saint
Eugenia was the daughter of Duke Adalbert I of Alsace, and his wife Ingina. Her paternal grandmother, Berswinda, was the daughter of Dagobert I, the Merovingian king of Neustria and Austrasia. She followed her elder sister Attala into the cloister as a child (c696), where she was later veiled a nun. Eugenia was later appointed to succeed the famous blind St Odilia as abbess of Hohenburg (723 – 738). She was with her aunt on the occasion of her receiving a vision of St John the Baptist who then showed Odilia the site on which to build the chapel known as St John’s House of Prayer. Eugenia died aged about forty, and was venerated as a saint (Sept 16).

Eugenia Vasa – (1830 – 1889)
Princess of Sweden
Princess Eugenia was born (April 24, 1830) in Stockholm, the daughter of King Oskar I and his wife Joseophine of Leuchtenburg, the stepgranddaughter of the French emperor Napoleon I. She never married, her father refusing her permission to marry an officer in the guards with whom she had fallen in love. She therefore refused to marry at all, and devoted her life to the welfare of sailors and crippled children. Princess Eugenia died (April 23, 1889) in Stockholm.

Eugenie (Maria Eugenie Ignacia Augustina) – (1826 – 1920) 
Empress consort of the French (1853 – 1870)
The wife of Napoleon III (1808 – 1873), the Countess Eugenie de Montigo was born in Granada, Andalusia, Spain the elder of the two daughters of Cypriano Guzman y Porto Carrero, Count de Montijo-Teba, grandee of Spain, and his wife Maria Manuela Kirkpatrick, of Scottish descent. In 1834 Eugenie accompanied her mother and sister to France, but with the death of her father in 1839, she returned to Spain with her English governess, Miss Flowers. In 1849 she and her mother returned to France, and it was at this time that she met Louis Napoleon for the second time. At a third meeting, she refused to become his mistress, and they were married with great splendour in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris (Jan 30, 1853). Although many regarded the marriage as amesalliance, Eugemie’s great beauty and charm added lustre to the newly restored Imperial court. In the same year she suffered a miscarriage, and in 1855 she sufferred another. That same year the couple received and entertained Queen Victoria and Prince Albert during their state visit to France. Finally, on March 16, 1856, the empress gave birth to a son and heir, Eugene Louis Napoleon, the Prince Imperial.
In 1859 the empress was appointed regent of France during the war with Austria to aid Italian unification, and in 1860 the Imperial couple visited Algeria. In 1864 the empress was responsible for the withdrawal of French troops protecting the Papal States in Rome, and in 1865 was again appointed regent. The emperor and empress were forced to refuse the entreaties of the Mexican empress Carlotta on behalf of her beleaguered husband Maximilian, for fear of war with the United States, and his subsequent execution in 1867 was to leave her riddled with guilt. In 1869 the empress made a state visit to Egypt for the opening of the Suez Canal. In 1870 Napoleon and the Prince Imperial left France for the Franco-Prussian War, leaving Eugenie as regent. Napoleon capitulated at Sedan, the empire was overthrown (Sept), and Eugenie had to flee from Paris, and escape to England. Queen Victoria received her and placed Chislehurst, Kent, at her disposal. Soon afterwards her husband and son managed to join her there. They resided in exile, hoping for a return of the Bonaparte dynasty. In Jan, 1873, the emperor died, and soon afterwards Eugenie secured financial security for herself and her son, after her jewels and numerous possessions left in France were restored to her by friends.
In 1879 her son was killed during the Zulu war in Africa, and her aged mother died in Spain. In 1880 the empress visited Africa, and brought back her son’s body for internment with his father. On her return to England, she took up residence at Farnborough Hill House. In 1900 the empress was busy with correspondence concerning the projected Anglo-French alliance, and her assistance in the Entente Cordiale (1903) was acknowledged. In 1907 she visited Norway, and received Kaiser Wilhelm II and the empress Augusta Victoria. During WW I she opened her home as a military hospital, and in 1919, at the age of ninety-three made a visit to Spain.  There she underwent a successful cataract operation, but died there aged ninety-four (July 11, 1920).

Eugenie of Greece – (1910 – 1988)
Princess
Princess Eugenie was born in Paris (Feb 10, 1910), the only daughter of Prince George of Greece and Denmark, and his wife Princess Marie, the daughter of Prince Roland de Bonaparte. Her father was the second son of King Giorgi I of Greece and his his Russian queen, Olga Konstantinova. Eugenie was married firstly (1939) in Paris, to Prince Dominic Radziwill (1911 – 1976), as his first wife, and from whom she was later divorced (1946). They had two children,

• Princess Tatiana Radziwill (b. Aug 28, 1939). She was married (1966) Jean Henri Fruchard, to whom she bore two children.
• Prince Jerzy Radziwill (George) (1942 – 2001). He died unmarried.

Princess Eugenie was married secondly (1949) to Prince Raimundo von Thurn und Taxis, Duca di Castel Duino, from whom she was also divorced (1965). The couple had one son, Prince Carlo Alessandro von Thurn und Taxis, Duca di Castel Duino (born 1952), who was married with issue. Princess Eugenie died in Paris, aged seventy-eight (Oct 15, 1988).

Eugenie Hortense Cecile    see   Hortense

Eulalia of Barcelona – (c285 – 304 AD) 
Roman Christian martyr
Eulalia was a native of Barcelona, in Lusitania. She perished during the persecution of the emperor Diocletian, being crucified upon the rack. Eulalia of Merida perished during the same persecution and the two women have become somewhat confused. She is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology and the writings of St Jerome. The church venerated her (Feb 12 and Oct 12) and was considered the patron saint of Barcelona.

Eulalia of Spain – (1864 – 1958)
Infanta, feminist, and memoirist
Born the Infanta Maria Eulalia Francisca de Asis Margarita Roberta Isabel Francisca de Paula Cristina Maria de la Piedad, at Madrid, the sixth daughter of Queen Isabella II and her husband Francisco de Asis, the king-consort. Brought up in the Palais de Castille in Paris with her mother from 1868, she returned to the Spanish court when her brother Alfonso XII was reinstated as king (1875). Refusing the suit of a Hapsburg archduke, she was prevailed upon by both family and government to marry her cousin, Antonio de Bourbon, Duca di Galliera (1866 – 1930) in order to secure the succession (1886). The birth of her nephew Alfonso XIII several months later, allowed the infanta more freedom.
Brilliant and beautiful, and an advocate of female emancipation, she represented the Spanish government on a goodwill visit to Havana, Cuba, which proved an outstanding success, and at the World’s Fair at Chicago, Illinois, in the USA (1893). During her American tour she visited New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washngton. With her mother’s death (1904), she amicably seperated from her husband and retired to a property she had purchased in Normandy, devoting herself to writing. When the infanta announced the intention of publishing her book, Au Fil de la Vie, (The Thread of Life), in which she advocated for divorce, complete independence for women and education for all classes, her brother Alfonso XIII bitterly protested, and threatened to deprive Eulalia of her rank and income. Despite Alfonso’s disapproval she published the book (1911), and was not penalized for her defiance, but she refused to return to Spain for a decade (1922). Other published works included, Pour la Femme (1912), Court Life from Within (1915), Courts and Courtiers after the War (1925), and. Memoirs (1936), which were translated into English. Later championing the cause of socialism and republicanism, the infanta sold her jewels to support the Franco regime. Infanta Eulalia retired to Irun, in northern Spain, where she died aged ninety-four (March 8, 1958).

Eularia – (d. after 1271)
English mediaeval nun
Eularia was the superior of the convent of Goring in Oxon. Charter evidence recorded that Eularia was holding office in 1261, probably as the successor of one Prioress Matilda. Eularia resigned her office in 1268 in favour of Christiania de Marsh, but upon that lady’s resignation Eularia was once again returned as prioress (1271).

Eulenburg, Augusta von Sandels, Princess von – (1853 – 1941)
German courtier
Countess Augusta von Sandels was born (May 12, 1853) in Stockholm, Sweden, to an important family, and became the wife of the Prussian nobleman, Prince Philipp Friedrich von Eulenburg (1847 – 1921), the friend and favourite of Kaiser Wilhelm II (1888 – 1918). She became a member of the household of the Empress Augusta Victoria, when her husband was forced to leave the court after the so-called homosexual scandal which conencted him with the emperor, the princess staunchly supported her husband’s innocence of the charge. She survived Philipp for two decades (1921 – 1941) as Dowager Princess von Eulenburg. Princess von Eulunburg died (Dec 14, 1941) at Liebenberg, aged eighty-eight. With her death, the title and estates of count von Sandels passed to her grandson Wend, the third Prince von Eulenburg (born 1908).  Her five children were,

• Countess Alexandrine Elise von Eulenburg. She was married to Eberhard von Schwerin (born 1882) and left descendants.
• Friedrich Wend (1881 – 1963), Prince von Eulenburg (1921 – 1963). He was married and left descendants.
• Countess Augusta Alexandrine von Eulenburg (1882 – 1974). She became the wife of Edmund Jaroljmeck.
• Count Karl Kuno von Eulenburg (1885 – 1975). He was married twice and left descendants.
• Countess Victoria Ada von Eulenburg (1886 – 1967). She became the wife of Otto Haas-Heye (1879 – 1959).

Eunicke, Johanna – (1800 – 1856)
German coloratura soprano
Eunicke was born in Berlin, Prussia, the daughter of actor and singer Friedrich Eunicke (1764 – 1844) and his wife, the singer an actress Therese Eunicke, who was the daughter of the violinist Ignaz Schwachhofer. Johanna received vocal training from her talented mother and made her stage debut at the Berlin Court Opera (1816). She was best remembered for her performances in the roles of Susanne in, Le nozze di Figaro, and Zerline in, Don Giovanni. She performed the role of Annchen at the premiere of, Der Freischutz (1821). With her marriage to the court painter, Franz Kruger (1825), she retired from the stage. Johanna Eunicke died in Berlin, aged fifty-six (Aug 29, 1856).

Eun Ju, Lee – (1979 – 2005)
South Korean actress
Eun Ju was born in Gunsan, Jeollabuk-do (Nov 16, 1979) and made her film debut in the television show Start (1997). She was best known for her role in the popular hit film Taegeukgi Hwinallimeyro (2004) (Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War). Her role as a jazz singer in the Korean crime film, The Scarlett Letter (2004), included nude scenes, which outraged her family. Eun Ju then sufferred from severe depression, and committed suicide in Bundang, Seongnam City, near Seoul, aged only twenty-five, by hanging herself, only a few days after her graduation from Danguk University (Feb 22, 2005). Other film credits included Rainbow Trout (1999), The Virgin Stripped Bare by her Bachelors (2000), Lovers Concerto (2002), Unborn But Forgotten (2002), The Garden of Heaven (2003) and Au-Revoir, UFO (2004).

Euphemia, Aelia – (c461 AD – 523)
Byzantine Augusta (518 – 523)
Aelia Euphemia was of barbarian origins, and was named Lupicina when she became concubine to the future Emperor Justin I (452 AD – 527). Gossip stated that she had been a former actress from the Hippodrome, the historian Gibbon referring to her as ‘a barbarian of rustic manners, but of irreproachable virtue.’ Procopius recorded that she had been the concunine of a former owner before Justin bought her. The marriage remained childless but sometime prior to 518 Justin regularized their union and married her. When Justin became emperor (518) she adopted the Imperial name of Euphemia and accorded the rank of Augusta.
The empress had converted to Christianity sometime previously, perhaps around the time she became involved with her future husband (c480 – c485 AD). She became known for her religious piety and Procopius recorded that she was ‘far removed from wickedness.’ Euphemia favoured the succession of Justin’s nephew Justinian I but when he fell in love with the actress Theodora (520) the empress disapproved of this relationship and joined with Justin’s mother Vigilantia in trying to prevent the marriage. Procopius recorded ‘now as long as the Empress was still living, Justinian was unable to make Theodora his legal wife. For on this point alone and no other, the Empress went against him, though opposing him in no other matter.’
Despite her non-interference in political affairs the Chronicon Pseudo-Dionysianum vulgo dictim stated that the empress was responsible for the change in ecclesiastical policy during Justin’s reign. Justinian apparently acquiesced with Euphemia’s wishes in this matter, for he did not marry Theodora until after his aunt’s death. The empress died aged in her early  sixties, in Constantinople. She was interred within the convent of St Euphemia within the city, where Justin was later buried with her.

Euphemia, Aelia Marciana – (c425 – after 472 AD)
Roman Augusta (467 – 472 AD)
Aelia Marciana Euphemia was the daughter of the Byzantine emperor Marcian and was stepdaughter of the Empress Pulcheria. She was married (443 AD) to the western Emperor Anthemius (c415 – 472 AD), to whom she bore several children, including Procopius Anthemius, consul (515). She survived her husband and several of her coins survive.

Euphemia Eriksdotter – (1317 – 1370)
Swedish princess and dynastic heiress
Princess Euphemia Eriksdotter was the daughter of Prince Erik Magnusson, Duke of Sodermanland, the second son of Magnus I, King of Sweden, and his wife Ingeborge Haakonsdotter, the daughter of Haakon V, King of Norway. She was the younger sister to Magnus VII of Norway (1316 – 1374). When her infant brother succeeded their maternal grandfather Haakon V as King of Norway (1319) Euphemia became the coheiress to the throne of Norway until he produced children. When Birger of Sweden was ousted from the Swedish throne and exiled (1320) Magnus became King of Sweden also and Euphemia became heiress presumptive until Magnus produced an heir to the thrones.
Princess Euphemia was married (1336) at Rostock, in Mecklenburg, to her distant kinsman Albert II, Duke of Mecklenburg (1318 – 1379) as his first wife, Albert desiring wealth and fiefs as the result of marriage with a Scandinavian princess. He succeeded as sovereign Duke in 1348 and Euphemia became the duchess consort of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1348 – 1370). Their second son Albert later deposed and replaced Euphemia’s brother Magnus on the Swedish throne (1364 – 1389) and though he eventually lost the throne, Euphemia was queen mother during the last years of her life (1364 – 1370).
With the death of her brother Magnus’s grandson Olav (1387) and then the death of Olav’s mother the Regent Margarethe I (1413), the sister of her daughter-in-law Princess Ingeborge Valdemardsotter, the elder daughter of Valdemar IV of Denmark, Euphemia’s descendants all possessed claims to the thrones of Sweden and Norway. Duchess Euphemia died (before June 16 in 1370) and left five children,

• Heinrich III (1337 – 1383). He succeeded his father as reigning Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1379 – 1383). He was married and left descendants.
• Princess Ingeborge of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1339 – 1395). She was married firstly to Ludwig VI, Duke of Bavaria, and secondly to Henry II, Count of Holstein.
• Albert III of Mecklenburg (1340 – 1412). He was elected as King of Sweden. He was married and left descendants.
• Magnus I (1343 – 1385). He succeeded his father as Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1379 – 1385), reigning jointly with his elder brother, Heinrich III. He was married and left descendants.
• Princess Anna of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1346 – 1415). She was married to Count Adolf of Holstein, but died childless.

Euphemia of Mecklenburg-Schwerin – (1362 – 1416)
German princess and dynastic heiress
Princess Euphemia was the eldest daughter of Heinrich III, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1379 – 1383) and his first wife Princess Ingeborge Valdemarsdotter of Denmark, the daughter of Valdemar IV, King of Denmark, and the elder sister of Queen Margarethe I of Denmark (1387 – 1413). Euphemia became the wife (1377) of Johann V (1340 – 1378), Prince of Werle-Gustrow (1361 – 1378) and bevame his princess consort (1377 – 1378).
Through her mother Princess Euphemia inherited a claim to the thrones of Denmark and Sweden which became less distant with the death of King Olav (1387) the only child of her maternal aunt Queen Margarethe. Her marriage proved short-lived and Prince Johann died the following year and Euphemia became the Dowager Princess of Werle-Gustrow for almost four decades (1378 – 1416). She never remarried and as she had remained childless, Euphemia’s claims to the Scandinavian thrones became extinct at her death.

Euphemia of Meran – (c1128 – 1180)
German nun and saint
Euphemia was the youngest daughter of Berthold IV, Count of Meran and Andechs, and his first wife Sophia of Istria, who probably died at her birth. She was the sister of Count Berthold V of Andechs, Duke of Meran and of Matilda, the Abbess of Edelstetten. Euphemia never married and became a nun at the convent of Altmunster (Altomunster) in Upper Bavaria, between Augsburg and Munich, which had originally been founded for monks in the eighth century by St Alto. In the course of time the monks had removed to Altdorf and nun replaced them at Altmunster.
Euphemia resided at Altmunster for many years and became abbess sometime prior to her death. By her won desire she was interred beside her sister Matilda at Diessen, where her grave, with a German epitaph, survived into the seventeenth century. The church venerated Euphemia as a saint (June 14).

Euphemia of Persia – (fl. 540)
Romano-Persian queen consort
Euphemia was born into a Roman senatorial family. She was captured by Chosroes I (c496 AD – 579) at Sura (540). Chosroes married Euphemia and accorded her the regal titles. The historian Procopius recorded this marriage in his de bello Persico.

Euphemia of Ratibor – (c1296 – 1359)
Polish princess and abbess
Euphemia was the eldest daughter of Przemyslav, Duke of Ratibor in Silesia, and his wife Anna, the daughter of Konrad II, Duke of Masovia. She was sought in marriage by Johannes V, margrave of Brandenburg and Otto III, duke of Brunswick, but she refused these suitors, preferrinh to embrace the religious life. The princess became a Dominican nun at the convent of the Holy Spirit in Ratibor and was credited with miracles. She was later appointed as prioress. Euphemia died in office (Jan 17, 1359) aged in her early sixties. By her will she left the convent the castle of Javarone together with seven estates, and was venerated as a saint (Jan 19).

Euphemia of Wherwell – (c1195 – 1257)
English Benedictine abbess
Euphemia became a nun at the abbey of Wherwell in Hampshire for over forty years, and eventually was elected as abbess. A surviving cartulary of Wherwell from the fourteenth century reveals that she increased the number of nuns from forty to eighty, and her management of the affairs of the abbey, both internal and external, seems to vindicate the fact of her admirable administrative skills. Abbess Euphemia died aged probably in her early sixties (April, 1257).

Euphemia Ross – (1332 – 1387)
Queen consort of Scotland (1371 – 1387)
Euphemia Ross was the second daughter of Hugh de Ross (died 1333), fourth Earl of Ross and his second wife Margaret Graham. She was married firstly, whilst still a child, to John Randolph, third Earl of Moray. The marriage remained childless and Lord Moray was killed at the battle of Neville’s Cross (1346) against the English. A decade later the Dowager Countess of Moray became the second wife (1355) of Robert Stewart (1316 – 1390), Earl of Strathearn, a papal dispensation having been granted at Avignon by Pope Innocent VI (May 2, 1355).
With the death of King David II Lord Strathearn became King of Scotland as Robert II and Euphemia became queen consort (1371 – 1387). She was present at her husband’s coronation at Scone (March 26, 1371) and was crowned queen at Scone in a separate ceremony (1372) by Alexander de Kyninmund II, Bishop of Aberdeen. The queen and her son David were involved with the arrangement of the marriage of Euphemia’s elder sister Lady Janet de Monymusk with Alexander Murray (1375) and promised to assist the groom in recovering his inheritance. Her seal was very elaborate portraying three shields which all bore three lions rampant for Ross, a fess Chequy for Stewart, and three cushions lozengeways within a royal tressure for Randolph. This seal was preserved in Macdonald’s Scottish Armorial Shields (no 2332). Queen Euphemia died aged fifty-five. Her children were,

• Prince David Stewart (1356 – 1389). He was styled Earl of Strathearn but predeceased his father and left issue.
• Princess Isabel Stewart (1357 – 1410). She married firstly to James Douglas (c1358 – 1338), second Earl of Douglas and secondly to Sir John Edmonstone.
• Prince Walter Stewart (1358 – 1437). He became Earl of Atholl and second Earl of Caithness and left issue.
• Princess Katherine Stewart (c1361 – before 1407). She became the wife of David Lindsay (1359 – 1407), first Earl of Crawford.

Euphemia Vladimirovna (Jevfimija) – (1088 – 1139)
Queen consort of Hungary (1104 – 1105)
Princess Euphemia Vladimirovna was the eldest daughter of Vladimir II Monomachus, Grand Prince of Kiev and his second wife. She became the second wife (1104) of Koloman (1065 – 1114), king of Hungary (1095 – 1114) in a political move to improve Hungarian relations with Russia. Queen Euphemia was later detected in an adulterous liasion and became pregnant. She was divorced and ignominiously returned to her father’s court in Kiev, where her illegitimate son Boris was born (1105) and raised. The queen’s adultery prejudiced her son’s claim to the Hungarian throne, and he was passed over in favour of his cousin Bela II. The queen remained in Russia where she died (April 4, 1139) aged fifty. Her son Prince Boris of Hungary (1105 – 1155) later travelled to the Byzantine court, where he married Irene Komnena, a member of the Imperial dynasty, and left descendants.

Euphrasia – (c500 – c570)
Gallo-Roman patrician
Euphrasia was the wife of Namatius (485 AD – 558) the Bishop of Vienne in Burgundy and the governor of Provence. With her husband’s death (558) Euphrasia lived as a nun and was distinguished by her concern for widows, exiles and captives. Her epitaph was composed by the poet Venantius Fortunatus and was preserved in his Carmina where he recorded that Euphrasia came from a noble family ardua nobilitas proavorum luce coruscans plus famen es meritis glorificanda tuis.

Euphrosyne Dukaina Kamatera – (c1155 – 1211)
Byantine Augusta
Euphrosyne Dukaina Kamatera was the daughter of Andronikos Dukas Kamateros, a high-ranking Imperial official, and was related to the Empress Irene Dukaina, the wife of the Emperor Alexius I and to the emperor Konstanine X. Euphrosyne was married (c1169) to Alexius Angelus, the elder brother of the future emperor Isaac II Angelus, to whom she bore three daughters, Irene, Anna, and Eudokia. Alexius later deposed his brother and made himself emperor (1195), Euphrosyne assisting her husband in his intrigues to this end. She took control of the Imperial palace, and quelled all dissent to her husband’s takeover by making large bribes. Possessed of a dominant and intriguing nature, the empress issued commands in her own name and even countermanded orders of the emperor. She was eventually accused of adultery with one of her ministers, Vatatzes, and Alexius had him executed. The empress was then stripped of her titles and banished to the convent at Nematarea (Oct, 1196). However, due to the insistence of her relatives, Euphrosyne was recalled to court as empress (1197).
With the invasion of Constantinople by the western crusader armies, Empress Euphrosyne was imprisoned by the new regime, though her husband and daughters managed to escape. After Alexius IV was murdered, Euphrosyne was released from captivity, and later fled the city with Alexius V and her daughter Eudokia. They managed to join her husband at Mosynopolis. Her husband caused Alexius to be blinded, and he was later killed by the crisaders. The emperor and empress fled to Thessalonika but were captured by the Italian crusader, Boniface I of Montferrato, and were once again imprisoned. The couple were later ransomed by their kinsman, Michael I of Epirus, and retired to Arta, where Euphrosyne died.

Euphrosyne Mikhailovna (Evfronsinia) – (c1210 – 1250)
Russian princess and scholar
Princess Euphrosyne Mikhailovna was the younger daughter of Mikhail of Tschernigov, Grand Prince of Kiev, and his wife, a daughter of Prince Roman of Galicia. She never married and was dedicated as a nun in the royal convent of Suzdal, where Euphrosyne became renowned as a scholar of classical Greek literature. The princess died (Sept 25, 1250) aged about forty.

Euphrosyne Mstislavna (Evfronsinia) – (1130 – 1199)
Queen consort of Hungary (1146 – 1162)
Princess Euphrosyne Mstislavna was born in Kiev, Ukraine, the daughter of Mstislav I Harold (1076 – 1132), Grand Prince of Kiev (1125 – 1132), and his second wife, Liubova, the daughter of Dimitry Zaviditsch, Possednik (governor) of Novgorod. Her paternal grandmother, wife of Vladimir II of Smolensk, was Gytha of Wessex, the daughter of Harold II, the last Anglo-Saxon King of England (1066). Euphrosyne was married (1146) Geza II (1130 – 1161), King of Hungary (1141 – 1161), whom she survived almost forty years as Queen Dowager (1161 – 1199). Euphrosyne was a prominent figure in political affairs during the lifetime of her husband, who valued her sound political acumen and organizational skills, and she always tried to maintain good relations between the court of Hungary and Kiev.
The queen ruled as regent for her son Stephen III, but fell victim to a conspiracy organized by the pro-Byzantine faction. Euphrosyne and Stephen fled to Austria, but during their absence a revolt took place which placed Stephen’s younger brother Bela III on the throne. Bela sought to neutralize the queen mother’s power, as the only way to curb her ambitions. He ordered her arrest, and she was kept under guard at the fortress of Branichev, until Bela arranged for her to be expelled from Hungary and taken by ship to Byzantium. Euphrosyne was forcibly veiled as a nun, but was later permitted to travel to Jerusalem in Palestine, where she became a nun with the Order of St John. Queen Euphrosyne died there (Dec 25, 1199) aged sixty-nine, and was buried there. Her children were,

• Stephen III (1147 – 1172). He succeeded his father as King of Hungary (1161 – 1172). He was married twice but his only son died in infancy.
• Bela III (1148 – 1196). He succeeded his brother as King of Hungary (1172 – 1196) and was a famous Crusader. He was married three times and left descendants.
• Princess Elisabeth of Hungary (1149 – after 1190). She became the wife of Frederick (1140 – 1189), Duke of Bohemia.
• Princess Hedwig of Hungary (1150 – after 1164) (called Adela after her marriage). She became the wife of Svyatopluk (died after 1169), Duke of Bohemia.
• Princess Helena of Hungary (1156 – 1199). She became the wife of Leopold V (1157 – 1194), Duke of Austria, and left descendants.

Euphrosyne of Oppeln – (1229 – 1292)
Polish mediaeval princess
Princess Euphrosyne was the second daughter of Kasimir I, Duke of Oppeln (1211 – 1230) in Silesia, and his wife Viola Asenina, Princess of Bulgaria, the daughter of Ivan Asen, Tsar of Bulgaria. She was sister to dukes Mieszko II (1230 – 1246) and Vladislav (1246 – 1282) of Oppeln, and was married firstly (1257) to Kasimir I (1211 – 1267), Duke of Kiuavia and became the Duchess consort of Kiuavia, producing five children to secure the throne.
As the Dowager Duchess of Oppeln Euphrosyne entered into a second dynastic marriage (1275) with Mestwin II (c1225 – 1294) Duke of Pomerelia-Schwetz as his second wife, and became the Duchess consort of Pomerelia-Schwetz. This marriage produced no children and ended in divorce (1288). Her son King Vladislav was instrumental in restoring the kingdom of Poland. Duchess Euphrosyne died (Nov 24, 1292), aged sixty-three. The children of her first marriage were,

• Princess Adelajda of Kiuavia (1259 – 1291). She remained unmarried and was perhaps a nun.
• Prince Vladislav (1260 – 1333). He became King of Poland as Vladislav I (1320 – 1333) and left issue.
• Kasimir II (1261 – 1294). He succeeded his father as Duke of kiuavia (1268 – 1294) but died unmarried.
• Prince Ziemovit (1262 – 1306). He became Duke of Drobrzyncz and left issue.
• Princess Euphemia of Kiuavia (c1263 – 1308). She became the wife of Jerzy I, Count von Halic.

Euphrosyne Porphyrogennita – (c791 – after 840)
Byzantine Augusta
Euphrosyne Porphyrogennita was the younger daughter of the Emperor Constantine V, and his first wife, Maria of Amnia. Raised in a convent after the divorce of her parents (798), she later became the second wife of Emperor Michael II (820 – 829), as his second wife. She became Dowager Empress after his death. Empress Euphrosyne was stepmother to the Emperor Theophilus and her last official act as empress was to oversee the arrangements for his marriage with Theodora of Paphlagonia in the same year. Euphrosyne retired from the court some time later and retired to the abbey of Prinkipos. There she later had visits from her granddaughters, the children of Theophilus, but when she was accused of introducing to the forbidden worship of ikons, in the guise of presenting them as dolls, these visits ended.

Euphrosyne Rotislavna – (c1110 – 1173)
Russian virgin saint
Born Princess Predslava Rotislavna, she was the daughter of Rotislav Yuri, Prince of Polotsk, and became a nun at Polotsk at the age of twelve, taking the name of Euphrosyne in religion. Later she went to reside as a recluse in a cell attached to the Cathedral of St Sophia there, as a copyist of manusripts. Euphrosyne founded a church and monastery at Seltse, outside Polotsk, of the order of St Basil the Slavonian. She ruled this house as abbess for forty years (c1133 – 1173), and and travelled wideley. She was received in Constantinope (c1170) by the emperor Manuel I Komnenus and the Patriarch Michael III, who presented her with the ikon of Our Lady of Korsun. Euphrosyne then made a pilgrimage to Palestine, where she was received at the famous monastery of Mar Saba, in the wilderness, halfway between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. Euphrosyne died in Jerusalem (May 23, 1173). Her body was embalmed and transported back to Kiev for burial.

Euplia (Euferia) – (d. c303 AD)
Roman Christian martyr
Euplia was killed at Caesarea in Cappadocia, Asia Minor, together with several companions, during the persecutions instigated by the emperors Diocletian and Maximian Daia. Her feast (Sept 10) was recorded in the Acta Sanctorum.

Eupraxia of Bulgaria – (c835 – c880) 
Princess and promotor of Christianity
Princess Eupraxia was the daughter of Presjan, Khan of Bulgaria amd sister to Tsar Boris I. She was orignally named Persika, but during her childhood was sent as political hostage to the Imperial court of Constantinople.  There she was converted to Orthodox Christianity, and took the Greek name Eupraxia. On her return to her brother’s court in Bulgaria, Eupraxia continued to promote the new religion and has been credited with influencing her brother’s public conversion (865). Eupraxia never married and became a nun.

Eupraxia Vsevolodovna    see     Praxedis

Euprepia – (fl. 503 – 508)
Roman patrician
Euprepia was the sister of Magnus Felix Ennodius, Bishop of Ticinum, and possibly the daughter of Firminus. She resided at Arles in Provence and sent her son Flavius Licerius Firminius Lupicinus to Ennodius to be educated. She received several letters from Ennodius between 503 and 508 and was mentioned in his Epistulae.

Eurgain – (fl. c550)
Welsh princess
Eurgain was the daughter of Maelgwyn, King of Gwynedd and was the wife of Elidyr Mwynfawr the founder of Lalneurigain or Northrop in Flintshire. Eurgain was venerated as a saint in Wales, though the date of her feast and other details of her life are not known.

Euriella – (c640 – c700)
Breton saint
Euriella was one of the many children of King Juhael of Armorica, and his wife Prizal of Leon. Her father directly ruled the districts of Arcouet and Trecouet on the northern coast of Brittany and Euriella was perhaps a descendant of King Brychan of Brecknock in Wales. The church honoured Euriella and her sister Ouenne together as saints (Oct 1). There is a church dedicated to St Eurielle at Trevieur near Dinan, and her veneration in Brittany was of long standing.

Eurydame – (fl. c480 BC)
Greek queen of Sparta
Eurydame was the daughter of Diaktorides and sister to Menius, prominent Spartan nobles. She became the second wife of King Leotychides I (died 469 BC). Leotychides was married to Eurydame after the death of his son Zeuxidamus, who left an infant son. Queen Eurydame however, bore no male heir, only a daughter Lampito, who became the wife of King Archidamus I (died c427 BC).

Eurydice, Julia Antonia – (fl. c90 – c110 AD)
Roman patrician
Julia Antonia Eurydice was the wife of Lucius Flavius Pollianus Aristius, the archon of Tithoraeus, and the daughter-in-law of T. Flavius Soclarus, the archon of Delphi in Greece (98 – 102 AD) during the reign of the Emperor Trajan. She is believed to be the same as Eurydice, the wife of Pollianus whose marriage was recorded by the historian Plutarch.

Eurydice of Illyria – (c407 – after 359 BC)
Macedonian queen consort
Eurydice was the sister or cousin of Bardylis, King of Illyria. Her mythological ancestry can be traced to the Greek sea deity Poseidon. Sources which call her a native of Orestia are incorrect. Strabo mistakenly called her the daughter of Irrhas, and the granddaughter of Arrabaios of Lynkestis, an error confirmed by the Roman historian Plutarch. Her marriage with Amyntas III of Macedon (c390 BC), was the price of peace with the Ilyyrians, who forced the king to pay tribute for several years afterwards. She bore her husband three sons, the youngest of whom was her own favourite Philip II, King of Macedon (382 – 336 BC), the father of Alexander the Great.

Eurydice of Macedonia (1) – (c340 – after 279 BC)
Graeco-Ptolemaic queen consort of Egypt (306 – 287 BC)
Eurydice was the daughter of the Macedonian regent Antipater and his wife Arsinoe. She was married (321 BC) to Ptolemy I Soter (367 – 283 BC), King of Egypt (306 – 283 BC), the general of Alexander, and son of Lagus, as his third wife. Eurydice bore Ptolemy several children, including Ptolemy Keraunos (320 – 279 BC) who later became king of Macdonia through Eurydice, his brother Meleager, and several daughters, Ptolemais, wife of Demetrius I Poliorcetes, and Lysandra, the wife of Agathokles of Thrace.
However, the queen was eventually displaced in the royal affections by her lady-in-waiting and kinswoman Berenike (I), who had accompanied her to Egypt from Pella in Macedonia. Ptolemy divorced Eurydice and married Berenike, who had twenty years earlier become the mother of Ptolemy II. Eurydice retired with her household to live on the island of Miletus and her progeny was displaced from the royal succession in favour of Berenike’s son Ptolemy II. Eurydice later welcomed Demetrius of Macedonia to her court (287 BC) and married him to her daughter, a political alliance which was aimed at discomfitting her former husband. Queen Eurydice survived the death of her son Keraunos.

Eurydice of Macedonia (2) (Adeia) – (337 – 317 BC)
Queen and heiress
Eurydice was the daughter of Amyntas IV, King of Macedonia, and his wife Kynnana, the daughter of King Philip II, and half-sister of Alexander the Great. Originally named Adeia, she was married (322 BC) to her cousin, Alexander’s elder half-brother, Philip III Arrhidaeus (357 – 317 BC), at which time she assumed the name Eurydice. The marriage remained childless due mainly to her husband’s enfeebled physical condition. Eurydice and Philip failed in their attempt to gain the Macedonian succession after Alexander’s death (323 BC). Eurydice led the army personally against the forces of Queen Olympias, but the army refused to fight against the queen mother, and she and Philip became prisoners. The king was murdered, and Olympias sent Eurydice a rope, a dagger, and a bowl of poison. She calmly prepared her husband’s body for burial, prayed that Olympias might received the same gifts that she had presented to herself, and hung herself with her girdle. Queen Eurydice was interred with royal honours at Aegae.

Eurydice of Thrace – (c315 – c292 BC)
Queen consort of Macedonia
Eurydice was the daughter of Lysimachus I, king of Thrace, and his first wife Nikaia, the daughter of the Macedonian regent Antipater, and cousin to king Alexander the Great (336 –323 BC). She was married (March, 295 BC) to King Antipater I of Macedonia (c312 – 294 BC), himself a grandson of Philip II and cousin to Alexander. Their marriage remained childless. Queen Eurydice survived her youthful husband, but died in captivity in Thrace.

Eurynoe – (fl. c375 – c368 BC)
Macedonian queen
Eurynoe was the daughter of Amyntas III, King of Macedonia, and his second wife Eurydice, the daughter of Sirrhas, an Illyrian prince. She was married (c375 BC) to Ptolemy (c395 – 364 BC), ruler of the Macedonian sub-kingdom of Alorus. The marriage remained childless, and Queen Eurynoe was later divorced (c368 BC) after her husband became involved in a liasion with her widowed mother.

‘Eusebia’   see   Somerset, Frances Thynne, Duchess of

Eusebia – (fl. 592 – 603)
Graeco-Roman patrician
Eusebia was the daughter of Rusticiana and was probably the wife of Flavius Apion (c550 – c619) patrician and honorary consul. She was the mother of a son Trategius and several daughters. Letters recorded by Pope Gregory I in his Epistolarum Registrum reveal that he sent letters of greeting to Eusebia and Apion and their daughters (April, 592) when he styled the couple gloriosum domnun Appionem et domnan Eusebiam.
In a letter to her daughter (May, 598) Pope Gregory expressed his concern for the spiritual welfare of Eusebia and her mother Rusticiana. His letter to Eusebia (June, 603) exhorted her to turn her mind from troubling political matters in Constantinople to spiritual matters, urging her instead to pray for peace for herself, and her family including her young son Strategius.

Eusebia, Aelia Aurelia – (331 – 360 AD)
Roman Augusta
Aelia Aurelia Eusebia was of Macedonian descent, and the sister to consuls. She became the second wife of the emperor Constantius III (317 – 361 AD) at Milan (352 AD). The marriage remained childless. An Arian herself, the empress quarrelled with the Catholic bishop Leontius, but otherwise favoured the Christian church, and once sent money to aid the Roman bishop Liberius. She supported the claims of her husbnad’s nephew, Julian, later surnamed ‘the Apostate,’ and arranged his marriage to her sister-in-law, Princess Helena (355 AD), providing the couple with a valuable collection of books as a wedding gift. The empress died of an inflammation of the womb, brought on by the taking of drugs to procure fertility. Zoisimus called her ‘a woman of erudition and prudence above her sex.’

Eusebia of Ostrevant – (637 – 680)
Merovingian nun and saint
Eusebia was the eldest daughter of Count Adalbert of Ostrevant and his wife Rictrude of Gascony, the daughter of Count Ernoul of Gascony. She was the paternal granddaughter of St Gertrude, Abbess of Hamage and was sister to saints Clotsinda and Adalsinda. Her godmother was Queen Nantechilde, the last wife of King Dagobert I, who presented the infant with the estate of Verny near Soissons as her christening present. Her father was murdered whilst visiting friends in Gascony (646) and Eusebia and her sisters accompanied their widowed mother to the newly established nunnery at Marchiennes in Flanders.
At her grandmother’s request Eusebia was sent to Hamage and groomed as her successor. With Gertrude’s death (649) Eusebia succeeded her as abbess, but as she was only twelve years old, her mother intervened with King Clovis III and forced Eusebia to return to Marchiennes against her will. She arrived with all her nuns, her grandmother’s remains, and the church relics. Her mother’s remonstrance bearing no result, Rictrude caused Eusebia’s brother Maurentius to whip her son badly that her life was endangered. After some consultation with various abbots and bishops, Rictrude at length consented for Eusebia and her nuns to return to Hamage.
Eusebia died (March 16, 680) aged fifty-two, at Hamage, and was succeeded in office by Gertrude, the widow of Count Ingomar of Vermandois. She was venerated as a saint (March 16). In the eighteenth century Hamage was a priory independent of Marchiennes, which had by then been converted into an abbey for Benedictine monks. Eusebia’s Vitae was composed by an anonymous author two hundred years after her death. It was based on older memoirs which had been saved from the ravages of the Norman invaders. She was mentioned in St Rictrude’s Vitae which was written by Hucbald the monk of St Amand.

Eusebia Hospita (Euximia, Xene) – (d. c450 AD)
Roman Christian nun
Eusebia was born into a patrician family of recent nobility. Having been converted to the Christian religion as a young girl, she refused to consider the marriage which was arranged for her, and fled from her father’s house, with two female servants, all disguised in male attire. At this time of her life Eusebia adopted the additional name of ‘Hospita,’ which means ‘stranger’. Finally, the group established a chapel dedicated to St Stephen, at Mylas, in Caria, Asia Minor, and joined a community of other ladies leading the Christian life there. According to pious legend, Eusebia was an abbess, and at the moment of her death, a cross of stars is said to have encircled her head. The Syrian church venerated her as a saint (Jan 20 or 24).

Eustace, Elizabeth – (fl. 1789 – 1796)
British silversmith
Elizabeth was the wife of Thomas Eustace who ran an unsuccessful silversmith business in Exeter. When Eustace declared bankruptcy (1789), Elizabeth took over the running of his business and was still listed as such in an Exeter directory several years afterwards (1796).

Eustachia – (fl. c410 – after 418)
French clerical wife
Eustachia was married to the legal advocate Germanus (378 – 448 AD), who was appointed one of the six dukes (dux) in Gaul, and later became famous as the missionary Bishop of Auxerre, in Burgundy (418 – 448 AD). When Germanus was consecrated as bishop the couple resided as brother and sister.

Eustachie of Tonnerre – (c1043 – after 1111)
French mediaeval heiress
Eustachie was the daughter of Milon I, Count of Tonnerre and his wife Azeka of Bar, later the wife of Raoul I, Count of Valois-Vexin. She became the wife (c1058) of Waleran I (c1020 – 1089), Count of Brienne and bore him five children. Eustachie was the eventual heiress, through her mother, of the county of Bar-sur-Seine which she brought to the Brienne family. She later passed the county to her third son Milon (1085). Eustachie survived her husband for over two decades as the Dowager Countess of Brienne and was living (1111). Her children were,

• Engilbert of Brienne (1060 – 1085). He became a monk as a child (1072).
• Evrard I (c1063 – after 1125). He succeeded his father as Count of Brienne and left issue.
• Gautier of Brienne (Walter) (c1070 – after 1141). He remained unmarried.
• Milon II of Brienne (1075 – after 1125). He became the Seigneur of Jully and then Count of Bar-sur-Seine (1085).
• Adela of Brienne. She became the second wife of Fulk IV (1043 – 1109) who repudiated her.

Eustadiola (Stadiola) – (c600 – c690)
Merovingian virgin saint
Eustadiola was a young widow of high birth who gave away all her wealth to the poor and converted her houses in Bourges into churches dedicated to St Mary the Virgin and St Eugenia. Her jewellery was used to ornament these churches, and with her servants Eustadiola embroidered vestments and other necessities for her churches. Later Eustadiola built and endowed the large nunnery of Moyen-Moutiers in Bourges. She ruled Moyen-Moutiers as mother superior for over seven decades. Miracles were attributed to her intervention and she was honoured as a saint from the time of her death (June 8) or (May 10) her feast listed in the Acta Sanctorum.

Eustochium – (1429 – 1484)
Italian virgin saint
Born Smaragda di Calafato in Messina, she was the daughter of Contessa Matilda di Calafato. She refused to marry, and became a nun, becoming the founder and first abbess of the Clarissan convent of Monte Vergine in Messina (1462 – 1484). She died at Monte Vergine aged fifty-four (Jan 11, 1484), and was beatified by Pope Pius VI (1782).

Eustochium, Julia – (c368 – 416 AD)
Roman Christian saint
Julia eustochium was the younger daughter to the Christian saint Paula. She trained as a nun and was the friend and correspondent of St Jerome, who wrote a treatise on virginity for her instruction, and she resided in Palestine for many years. The church honoured her as a saint.

Euston, Charlotte Maria Waldegrave, Countess of – (1761 – 1808)
British Hanoverian courtier and beauty
Lady Charlotte Waldegrave was the second daughter of James, second Earl of Waldegrave (1714 – 1763) and his second wife Maria Walpole, the natural daughter of Sir Edward Walpole.
After her father’s death her mother remarried to Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester (1743 – 1805), younger brother of George III. With her sisters she was famous painted by Sir Joshua Reynold as the, Three Ladies Waldegrave. Charlotte was married (1784) to George Henry Fitzroy (1760 – 1844), earl of Euston, who later succeeded as fourth Duke of Grafton (1811), to whom she bore seven children, uncluding Henry Fitzroy (1790 – 1863), earl of Euston (1811) and then fifth Duke of Grafton (1844 – 1863), and Lord Charles Fitzroy (1791 – 1865) who served as vice-chamberlain of the royal household. Lady Euston died (Feb 1, 1808) aged forty-six.

Euston, Dorothy Boyle, Countess of – (1724 – 1742)
Enlgish Hanoverian society figure
Lady Dorothy Boyle was born (May 14, 1724), the daughter of Richard Boyle, third Earl of Burlington, and his wife Dorothy Savile. Pretty and good-natured, she had the misfortune to fall in love with George Fitzroy (1715 – 1757), Earl of Euston, the son and heir of Charles, second Duke of Grafton, himself the grandson of Charles II (1660 – 1685). Despite Lord Euston’s cruel and publicly contemptuous treatment of Lady Dorothy, they were nevertheless married (1741). It proved disastrous, and Sir Charles Hanbury-Williams asserted that the union remained unconsummated. The antiquarian Horace Walpole wrote ‘Do you not pity the poor girl?, of softest temper, vast beauty, birth and fortune, to be so sacrificed.’ Her mother wrote of her after her death ‘She was the comfort and joy of her parents, the delight of all who knew her angelick temper and the admiration of all who saw her beauty.’ Lady Euston died (May 2, 1742) aged seventeen.

Euthydice (Eurydice) – (fl. c320 – 309 BC)
Queen consort of Macedonia
Euthydice was the daughter of Miltiades, of the ancient and patrician Philaidae family. She was marired firstly (c320 BC) to Ophellas, tyrant of Cyrene (murdered 309 BC). She was quickly remarried (309 BC) to King Demetrius I Poliocertes (337 – 283 BC), but their son Corrhagus did not become king.

Eutropia, Flavia Constantina – (c305 – 350 AD)
Roman Augusta (350 AD)
Flavia Constantina Eutropia was the youngest daughter of emperor Constantius I Chlorus (293 – 306 AD), and his second wife Theodora, the stepdaughter of Emperor Maximian II Daia. She was half-sister of Constantine the Great and of Constantia, the wife of the Emperor Licinius. Eutropia was married (c321 AD) to the senator Flavius Popilius Virius Nepotianus, consul 336 AD, who was murdered during the murderous purge of male members of the Imperial dynasty (337 AD). She was mother of the short-lived emperor Nepotianus (c325 – 350 AD), and was accorded the Imperial title. Their bid for Imperial power was ill-advised and her son’s reign was short. Mother and son were quickly murdered by the Roman mob.

Eutropia, Galeria Valeria – (c259 – after 326 AD)
Roman Augusta
Galeria Valeria Eutropia was of Syrian parentage and was married firstly (c276 AD) to the praetorian prefect Afranius Hannibalianus (died c298 AD). This marriage ended in divorce (c281 AD) so that Eutropia could remarry to the emperor Maximian II Daia (c240 – 310 AD). By her first husband Eutropia was the mother of Theodora, second wife of Constantius I Chlorus. By Maximian she was mother to the Emperor Maxentius and of Fausta, the wife of Constantine the Great. The empress later became a Christian and made a pilgrimage to Palestine. While there she reported to Constantine that Hebron, asserted by Christians as the site of the patriarch Abraham’s struggle with two angels, was being used as a pagan sanctuary. Soon after the emperor caused a basilica to be built over the spot, having ordered the pagan idols and altar destroyed.

‘Eva’    see   Kelly, Mary Anne

Eva of Leinster    see    Aioffe of Leinster

Eva of Salm – (c1469 – 1521)
German prisoner
Countess Eva was the daughter of Johann IV, Count of Salm-Badenweiler, and his wife Margareta von Sirck, the daughter of Arnold VII von Sirck, Count of Moncler. She became the second wife (c1487) of Count Henry of Wurttemburg-Mompelgard (1448 – 1519), and became the mother of Count George of Wurttemburg-Mompelgard (1498 – 1558), amongst other children. Her husband was later imprisoned (1490) by his cousin, Eberhard V of Wurttemburg. Countess Eva shared his captivity, and her children were born during this period. With Henry’s death (1519) Eva was granted the appanage of Riquewihr, where she lived in retirement until her death (April 26, 1521).

Evans, Alice Catherine – (1881 – 1975)
American microbiologist
Her early education was minimal but she managed to win a scholarship to attend Cornell University where she studied science, and graduated with a degree in bacteriology (1910). Evans was employed firstly by the Dairy Division of the US Department of Agriculture, but later transferred to the US Public Health Service (1918). Evan’s research entailed the discovery of the common bacterial cause and origins of brucellosis, an infectious disease which affected cattle, goats and pigs, and was transmitted to humans by the consumption of contaminated milk. Though her findings were disputed by dairymen and veterinarians, the accuracy of her discovery was eventually recognized, and she was awarded several honours, becoming the first female president of the Society of American Bacteriologists (1928). Evans was appointed as the US delegate to the First International Congress of Microbiology held in Paris (1930), and again represented America at the Second Congress held in London (1936). She retired in 1945 and then served as the honorary president of the Inter-American Committee on Brucellosis (1945 – 1957). Just prior to her death she was elected honorary member of the American Society for Microbiology. Alice Evans died at Arlington, Virginia, aged ninety-six (Sept 5, 1975).

Evans, Ann – (c1834 – 1916)
New Zealand nurse, midwife and businesswoman
Born Ann Clive in Manchester, Lancashire, England, she was the daughter of a railway inspector. She trained as a nurse and served with Florence Nightingale at Scutari in the Crimea (1854 – 1856), and immigrated to New Zealand aboard the John Duncan (1862 – 1863). Evans worked in Queenstown as a housemaid, and married Thomas Evans, a painter, to whom she bore five children before his early death (1871). Evans removed her young family to the police camp at Waihi in Taranakil, near Hawera, where she nurse sick and wounded soldiers, and acted as midwife to the local women. Legend stated that she successfully treated the outlawed Maori resistance leader, Titokowaru, who was ill with pnuemonia, though she was taken blindfolded for most of the journey to her patient. For the last twenty years of her life she ran refreshment rooms at the Hawera railway station. Ann Evans died there aged about eighty-one (July 4, 1916).

Evans, Augusta Jane – (1835 – 1909)
American novelist
Evans was born in Columbus, Georgia. Her first work, A Tale of the Alamo (1855), aroused little interest, and this was followed by two other novels Inez (1855), Beulah (1859), which became incredibly popular, and then Macaria; or, Altars of Sacrifice (1864). However, her most famous work was the extremely popular novel, St Elmo (1866), which became a best-seller, despite being ridiculed by contemporary literary figures, and succeeded in becoming one of the most popular novels of the nineteenth century. Other works included Vashti (1869), and At the Mercy of Tiberius (1887). After her late marriage (1868) her works were published under her married name of Wilson. Augusta Evans died aged seventy-four (May 9, 1909).

Evans, Dale – (1912 – 2001)
American country vocalist and actress
Popularly regarded as the ‘Queen of the West,’ she was born Frances Octavia Smith (Oct 31, 1912), in Uvalde, Texas. After attending business school, she worked as a secretary. Her first appearance on the radio as a vocalist was due to the suggestion of her employer, who had heard her singing at work, and arranged for her to appear on the radio company which was sponsored by his company.
After working in radio in Dallas and in Chicago, in Illinois, she went to Hollywood to further her career. She made her film debut in a minor role in, Orchestra Wives (1942), and appeared in Swing Your Partner (1943), In Old Oklahoma (1943) with John Wayne, and Don’t Fence Me In (1945), where she played a journalist. Cast opposite the ‘Singing Cowboy’ Roy Rogers (1912 – 1998) in The Cowboy and the Senorita (1944), the couple eventually married in 1949, and made almost forty films together, including My Pal Trigger (1946), most of which were westerns which showcased their joint vocal talents. The couple both starred in the popular television show, the Roy Rogers Show (1951 – 1957), the theme song for which, ‘Happy Trails to You,’ was composed by Evans, and it was quickly identified in the public mind as their signature song. Altogether she wrote over twenty-five songs, including ‘Will You Marry Me, Mr Larramie,’ ‘The Bible Tells Me So,’ and ‘Aha, San Antone.’
Evans was also noted for her charitable work which was bolstered by a strong evangelical faith. Her book Angel Unaware (1953) dealt with her personal views on contemporary Christianity, and also served as a biography of her mentally retarded daughter, who had died aged only two. With Roy she established the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum, in Victorville, California, on the edge of the Mojave Desert, where Roy’s famous Trigger, and her own horse, Buttermilk, have been stuffed and preserved. Dale Evans died in Apple Valley, California, aged eighty-eight (Feb 7, 2001).

Evans, Edith Corse – (1875 – 1912)
American heroine of the Titanic disaster
Edith Evans, who was unmarried, was travelling with a group of women friends, who had been returning from attending a funeral in Scotland. She gave up her place in a lifeboat to her travelling companion Charlotte Lampson, insisting she should take the place because she had children waiting at home. Miss Evans perished and her body was never recovered.

Evans, Dame Edith Mary – (1888 – 1976) 
British actress whose career spanned six decades
Edith Evans was born in London, the daughter of a minor civil servant. Edcuated in Pimlico, she was later trained as a milliner in Buckingham Palace Road. Evans made her stage debut as an amatuer player in the role of Viola in Shakespeare’s, Twelfth Night (1910). Discovered by the producer William Poel, who directed her as the female lead in, Troileus and Cressida, to considerable acclaim, the novelist George Moore became her mentor, and arranged her employment under contract with the Royalty Theatre (1914). Evans held over one hundred and fifty roles within her repertoire, and created six of the characters of George Bernard Shaw, the Serpent, the Oracle, the She-Ancient and the Ghost of the Serpent in, Back to Methuselah (1923), Orinthia in The Apple Cart (1929), and Epifania in The Millionairess (1940).
Evans is best remembered for her roles as Millamant in, The Way of the World (1924), Rosalind in, As You Like It (1926 and 1936), the, Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, (1932, 1934, 1961), and most notably of all, Lady Augusta Bracknell in, The Importance of Being Earnest (1939). Her film appearances included the silent film, A Welsh Singer (1915), The Last Days of Dolwyn (1948), The Queen of Spades (1948), Mrs St Maugham in the film adaptation of Enid Bagnold’s novel, The Chalk Garden (1964) with Deborah Kerr, and, A Doll’s House (1973). Her chilling portrayal of a lonely, elderly woman Mrs Ross in The Whisperers (1966) won Evans the British Film Academy Award. Her last screen performance, in which she both sang and danced was in The Slipper and the Rose, when she was eighty-seven (1975). In recognition of her valuable contributions to literature and the theatre, Evans was appointed DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) by King George VI (1946). Dame Edith Evans died (Oct 14, 1976) aged eighty-seven, at Kilndown, near Cranbrook, Kent.

Evans, Elizabeth Edson Gibson – (1832 – 1911)
American historical author
Evans was born (March 8, 1832) in Newport, New Hampshire. Her published works included, The Story of Kaspar Hauser (1892), and, The Story of Louis XVII of France (1893). She also wrote several novels. Elizabeth Evans died aged seventy-nine.

Evans, Ellen – (1891 – 1953)
British educator and author
Ellen Evans was born (March 10, 1891) at Rhondda in Glamorganshire. She attended the University College of Wales at Aberystwyth and trained as a teacher. Ellen was appointed as a lecturer in the Welsh language and literature at the Glamorgan Training College at Barry (1915 – 1923) after which she then served for thirty years (1923 – 1953) as the principal of the Training College. Her published works included Llawlyfr i Athrawon (a teaching manual), The Teaching of Welsh (1924) and several works for children in Welsh. She remained unmarried and was appointed OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) by King George VI in recognition of her contribution to Welsh culture. Ellen Evans died (Sept 26, 1953) aged sixty-two.

Evans, Emily – (c1887 – 1958)
British VAD (voluntary Aid Detachment) director
Emily Batchelor attended college at Edgbaston in Birmingham and then studied at the Roedean School at Brighton in London. She was the wife of John Evans, an assistant headmaster at Stratford-on-Avon. During WW I Mrs Evans joined the VAD and also served with the French Red Cross at Vendeuvre-sur-Barse and Troyes. She was later the director of the Women’s Emergency Canteens in Paris and her volunteer work was recognized when she was appointed CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) by King George V (1920).  She later served as the chairwoman (1928) of the women’s section of the British Legion in Stratford-upon-Avon. Emily Evans died (July 15, 1958).

Evans, Gloria Dawn    see   Dawn, Gloria

Evans, Ilona Elizabeth – (1917 – 1980)
American law academic
Evans was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and graduated from Duke University (1940). Evans contributed articles to law journals, and was active in the American branch of the International Law Association, and the American Association of University Women, receiving awards for her work from the Social science Research Council and the American Philosophical Association.  A fellow at Harvard Law School, Evans was also a visiting professor of international law at the University of Puget Sound. She was the co-author and co-editor of Legal Aspects of International Terrorism (1978). Evans was appointed as the first woman president of the American Society of International Law, only five months before her death. Ilona Evans died of heart failure at Wellesley, Massachusetts, aged sixty-three (Sept 23, 1980).

Evans, Dame Joan – (1893 – 1977)
British writer and antiquarian, she was the only child of the noted archaeologist and geologist, Sir John Evans (1823 – 1908), and his third wife. She received most of her education at Oxford (1914 – 1922), and then devoted herself to writing. Evans travelled to France and researched her books, being appointed a member of the Legion d’Honneur by the French government and was created DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II. Dame Joan wrote her autobiography, which was published under the title, Prelude and Fugue (1964). Her published works included, Pattern: a Study of Ornament in Western Europe from 1100 to 1900 (1931), English Art, 1307 – 1461 (1949), and, The Lamp of Beauty (1959). Evans also wrote a biography of her nuch older half-brother, the noted archaeologist, Sir Arthur John Evans (1851 – 1941) entitled The Endless Webb (1955).

Evans, Katherine – (c1625 – 1692)
English Quaker traveller and preacher
Katherine Evans and a fellow Quaker, Sarah Cheevers, left England (1658) in order to make a biblical pilgrimage in the steps of the apostle St Paul. On the island of Malta they were imprisoned for three years by the Inquisition. After their release and return to England, the two women produced This is a Short Relation of Some of the Cruel Sufferings, for Truth’s Sake, of Katherine Evans and Sarah Cheevers, in the Inquisition in the Isle of Malta (1662).

Evans, Marian     see      Eliot, George

Evans, Matilda – (1827 – 1886)
Anglo-Australian novelist
Matilda Evans was born in London, the daughter of a Baptist preacher, and immigrated with her family to South Australia (1852) where she worked as a teacher. Evans first novels, Marian, or the Light of Someone’s Home (1859), Vermont Vale (1866), and, Silken Cords and Iron Fetters (1870) promoted the theme of the empowerment of women through religion. With the death of her husband she supported her family with her writing. All of her novels were set in South Australia, and her later works Minnie’s Mission: An Australian Temperance Tale (1869) and Hall’s Vineyard (1875) have a strong temperance themes.

Evans, Mary Ann    see   Fearless Nadia

Evans, Mary Peacock – (1821 – 1912)
American pioneer settler and diarist
Her private diary was published posthumously as The Journals of Mary Peacock: Life a century Ago, as seen in Buffalo and Chautauqua County by a Seventeen Year Old Girl in Boarding School and Elsewhere (1938).

Evans, Nancy – (1915 – 2000)
British mezzo soprano
Nancy Evans was born in Liverpool to a musical family, and took singing lessons from the age of fourteen (1929). Three years later she made her first professional appearance as the Sorceress in Henry Purcell’s, Dido and Aeneas (1932). Evans held her first solo recital in Liverpool, and made her London debut with Gerald Moore at the Aeolian Hall (1934). Her first appearance on the stage followed in Sullivan’s, Rose of Persia, followed by the first ever recording of the title role of, Dido and Aeneas (1935) when she was nineteen. She sang with the Glyndebourne Chorus (1938) and appeared as the Shepherd Boy in Tosca at Covent Garden with the Italian tenor, Beniamino Gigli (1940). She shared the lead in the first production of Benjamin Britten’s, The Rape of Lucretia with Kathleen Ferrier (1946). Evans performed for the war effort during World War II, and married her second husband, the producer and librettist, Eric Crozier, and became increasingly involved with the organizarion of the Aldeburgh Festival with Benjamin Britten. He created for her the role of Nancy in the opera, Albert Herring.

Evans, Phyllis Mary Carlyon – (1913 – 1990)
British educator and administrator
Evans was born (April 17, 1913) at Bletchingley, Bucks, the daughter of a headmaster, and was educated at Wymcombe Abbey School, and then attended St Hugh’s College, Oxford, where she studied literature, classics, and theology. Evans never married and devoted herself to her career as an academic and teacher. She served as senior mistress of classics at The Alice Ottley School in Worcester, during WW II (1940 – 1945) and was then appointed to serve abroad as headmistress of the Wellington Diocesan School for Girls in Marton, New Zealand (1946 – 1951). After this Evans returned to England, and served as headmistress of St Swithun’s School in Winchester for two decades until her retirement (1973). Phyllis Evans died in Winchester.

Evans, Dame Regina Margaret – (1888 – 1969)
British social activist
Evan was born at Dovercourt, near Harwich, Essex, and was educated at Mayfield, before finishing her education abroad, at Dresden, in Saxony. She remained unmarried. Actively involved in work with hostels for the benefit of various deserving community groups, she was appointed chairman of the Central Council of Conservative and Unionist Associations (1934), and was also appointed as chairman of the Women’s Advisory Council (1934 – 1935).  Created DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) by King George VI for her work in these civic areas (1936), Dame Regina also served as a commandant of the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service, later the WRAC) during World War II (1939 – 1943). From 1949 till her death she was chairman of the London Hostels Association. Dame Regina Evans died in London (Oct 2, 1969).

Evans, Rosalie Caden – (1877 – 1924)
American letter writer and social campaigner
Rosalie Caden was born in Galveston, Texas, the daughter of a businessman. She later settled in Puebla, Mexico with her father (1896) where she was married (1898) to Harry Evans, an employee of the Bank of London. Several years later the couple settled on their rwo thousand acre wheat growing property, the San Pedro Coxtocan in the Puebla-Tlaxcala valley. However, the outbreak of the 1910 revolution forced the couple to retire to the safety of Mexico City, and then travelled in Europe and the USA. Her husband returned to Mexico (1917) but died shortly after his arrival. Rosalie returned to San Pedro Coxtocan, where she fought doggedly to preserve her property from the hands of agrarian rebels. Spurning the advice of friends who feared for her safety, Rosalie refused to accept government compensation and leave. She was killed by gunfire as she was travelling in her buggy. Her personal letters (1918 – 1924) were later edited and published by her sister, Daisy Caden Pettus (1926).

Evans Sylvia – (1902 – 1995)
Australian author
Sylvia was born in Sydney, New South Wales and became the wife (1927) of Alan Evans (1902 – 1963), an amateur photographer, and resided in Arncliffe. The marriage remained childless. Mrs Evans adopted a stray blue heeler-kelpie cross which she named ‘Manna’ as a pet and produced the book, Tail Up (1942), concerning her devoted relationship with this pet, who was enrolled as a member of the Sydney Tailwaggers Club. The dog died in 1946 to her great grief, and Sylvia had an obituary notice placed in the newspaper. Her new home in Mosman, North Sydney, was named Manna House in memory of her beloved pet. Their collection of photographs formed part of the Historic Houses Trust Caroline Simpson Library and Research Collection, and were used for the exhibition entitled ‘Tails of the City’ (2008 – 2009), which dealt with eccentric owners and their pets.

Evanthia – (fl. 788 – 795)
Lombard queen consort
Evanthia was the daughter of Philaretos, a wealthy patrician of Amnia in Armenia and his wife Hypatia. Her sister Maria became the wife of the Emperor Konstantine VI, son of the famous Empress Irene. Grimoald who styled himself ‘King of the Lombards’ though it was titular only, as he had been dispossessed of his crown, being the grandson of King Desiderius who was dispossessed by Charlemagne (774). Grimoald had sent envoys to the Emperor Konstantine for the hand of Evanthia and the marriage duly took place (c790).
The marriage was a dynastic failure as it remained childless. According to the chronicler Theodore the Studite, sometime prior to 795 King Grimoald repudiated Queen Evanthia and married his mistress. This divorce took place around the time that Konstantine VI divorced Evanthia’s sister the Empress Maria.

Evatt, Elizabeth – (fl. c1790 – 1806) 
British actress
Born Elizabeth Cludd, she was married (1792) to Robert Evatt, the actor. The couple performed together at Richmond and at the Eastbourne Theatre. In 1799 she performed the role of Agatha Fribourg in, Lover’s Vows. From 1803 – 1806 husband and wife performed together at the Theatre Royal in Edinburgh. Elizabeth’s roles included Augusta in, Gustavus Vasa, Bridget in, The Chapter of Accidents, Dorinda in The Beaux Strategem, Lady Randolph in, Douglas, Lydia Languish in, The Rivals, Mrs Belville in, The School for Wives, Queen Gertrude in Shakespeare’s, Hamlet, and Queen Isabeau in his, Henry V. She also performed the role of Zaphira in Barbarossa.

Evdokimova, Eva – (1948 – 2009)
American ballerina
Eva Evdokimova was born (Dec 1, 1948) in Geneva, Switzerland, the daughter of a Bulgarian father and an American mother and was an American citizen. Having studied ballet from childhood under such teachers as Vera Volkova and Natalia Dudinskaya, Evdokimova joined the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen (1966) and later the Berlin Opera Ballet (1969) where she became the prima ballerina (1969 – 1991). She danced with various international companies such as the American Theater Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet and frequently performed with Rudolf Nureyev (1938 – 1993). Evdokimova was the winner of the Varna International Dance Competition (1970) becoming the first American winner. With her retirement she became a dance teacher. Eva Evdokimova died (April 3, 2009) aged sixty, in Manhattan, New York.

Eve of Wilton – (1058 – 1125)
Anglo-Saxon anchorite
Eve was born into a noble family, who placed her in the royal abbey of Wilton in Wiltshire, as a young girl (1065). Her hagiographer, Goscelin, the chaplain of Wilton abbey, wrote a letter to Eve the, Liber Confortatorius, which has survived, and provides most of the known details of her life. With a companion named Benedicta, she travelled to France, attracted by the holiness of Robert d’Arbrissel, and resided within an ascetic community at Saint-Laurent. There she remained for two decades with another companion, Petronilla, before she removed to live with the anchorite Herve, at the Priory de l’Eviere, near Angers. There she was later joined by her niece Ravenissa. The church honoured Eve as a saint (Dec 2).

Eve, Sarah – (1749 – 1774)
American colonial Quaker diarist and journal writer
Sarah Eve was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of a shipping merchant, Oswell Eve, and his wife Anne Moore. She was very well educated and resided in Philadelphia all her life, and died after a long illness, aged twenty-four, just before she was to be married to a physician. Parts of her personal diary were later published as, Extracts from the Journal of Miss Sarah Eve, and dealt with the latter years of her life (1772 – 1773).

Evelyn, Judith – (1913 – 1967)
American stage and film actress
Born Evelyn Morris (March 20, 1913) in Seneca, South Dakota, she had a distinguished stage career, and often portrayed unbalanced women in films. Evelyn portrayed Queen Tiye (Taia), the wife of Amenhotep III, and mother of King Akhenaton in the film The Egyptian (1954) which starred Edmund Purdom (1924 – 2009), Bella Darvi, Jean Simmons, and Peter Ustinov. Her other films credits included roles in Rear Window (1954), directed by Sir Alfred Hitchcock, in which she played the alcoholic ‘Miss Lonelyhearts,’ Hilda Crane (1956), and the horror spoof classic The Tingler (1959) with Vincent Price, and produced by director William Castle (1914 – 1977) in which she played a deaf-mute woman.
Judith Evelyn appeared on Broadway in New York in such productions as The Rich Life (1945), Harriet Craig (1947) which was later made into a film (1950) with Joan Crawford in the title role, The Shrike (1952) and Female on the Beach (1955) in whicn she played Eloise Crandall. Evelyn appeared as Bella Manningham in the play Angel Street (1938) which was later made into a film as Gaslight (1944) with Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman, and was directed by George Cukor. She and her fiancée, the Canadian radio producer Andrew Allan (1907 – 1974) were amongst the survivors of the sinking of the ocean liner S.S. Athenia, the first British passenger liner to be sunk by the Germans during WW II. Judith Evelyn died (May 7, 1967) aged fifty-four, in New York.

Evelyn, Mary (1) – (1634 – 1709)
English letter writer
Born Mary Browne, she was raised in France, and was well-educated in mathematics and srawing, besides being fluent in French and Italian. She married the exiled royalist, and famous writer, John Evelyn at the age of thirteen (1647). Evelyn prized domestic quietude in women rather than learning, and whilst he was pursuing a public career in London, after the Restoration, Mary was left in the country at Sayres Court. There she escaped loneliness with a platonic friendship which developed between her and Ralph Bohun, who was tutor to her young son Jack Evelyn (1655 – 1661). Even after Bohun left her household, the two corresponded, and their letters have survived. She was the mother of poet Mary Evelyn.

Evelyn, Mary (2) – (1665 – 1685)
English poet and devotional author
Mary Evelyn was the daughter of author John Evelyn, and his wife Mary Browne. She died of smallpox, aged nineteen, having written a comic beauty catalogue of verse entitled Mundus Muliebris: Or, The Ladies Dressing Room Unlock’d and her Toilette spread, which was published posthumously (1690). Her father discovered some of her devotional works after her death including the, Miscellaneous Book of Meditations, preserved in Christ Church College, Oxford.

Everest, Barbara – (1890 – 1968)
British stage and character actress
Everest was born (June 19, 1890) in Southfields, London, and played mainly matronly roles. She appeared in almost ninety movies, most notably in, Madeleine (1949) as Mrs Smith, the mother of suspected poisoner, Madeleine Hamilton Smith, and later in, Gaslight (1944) with Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman, where she played Elizabeth Tompkins, the deaf housekeeper. Other film credits included appearances in, Lily Christine (1931), The Wandering Jew (1933), He Found a Star (1940), Jane Eyre (1943), where she played Lady Ingram, Wanted for Murder (1946), El Cid (1961), with Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren, where she played the mother superior and, The Man Who Finally Died (1963). Her last film role was in the French film, Franchette: Les Intrigues (1969). Everest also appeared in popular television series such as Z Cars (1964), and, Dixon of Dock Green. Barbara Everest died in London (Feb 9, 1968), aged seventy-seven.

Everett, Anne Gorham – (1823 – 1843)
American letter and journal writer
Anne Everett was the daughter of Edward Everett, the governor of Massachusetts. She died young of tuberculosis and her diary and letters were published posthumously as, Memoir of Anne Gorham Everett, with Extracts from Her Correspondence and Journal (1857).

Everett, Dorothy – (1894 – 1953)
British academic and author
Dorothy Everett was bon at King’s Lynn in Norfolk. She attended school in Norwich before studying mediaeval languages at Girton College, Cambridge. She travelled to the USA to study at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania (1916 – 1917) after which she returned to England and became the assistant lecturer in English at the Royal Holloway College at the University of London (1917 – 1921).
After a short stint at St Hugh’s College at Oxford (1921 – 1923) Everett was the English tutor at Lady Margaret Hall for over two decades (1926 – 1948). She was appointed as the Reader in English Language at Oxford University (1948 – 1953). She was the editor of the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (1925) and the author of The Prose Psalter of Richard Rolle of Hampole (1921). Dorothy Everett remained unmarried and died (June 22, 1953).

Everett, Francine – (1917 – 1999)
Black American actress, dancer and vocalist
Everett began her career as a chorus girl. She appeared in several films during the 1930’s and 1940’s, which were independently financed. Her second husband (1933 – 1936) was the famous actor, Rex Ingram (1895 – 1969) from whom she was divorced.

Everett, Kathrine Robinson – (1893 – 1992)
American lawyer
Everett was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the daughter of a lawyer and graduated from the University of North Carolina. She then worked as a schoolteacher and for the Federal Research Information Bureau in Washington prior to 1914. Returning to law school, she became the university’s third only female graduate (1920) and worked in her father’s lawfirm, where she met her husband, Rueben Oscar Everett. A partner in the firm of Everett and Hancock, her business consisted mainly of real estate, family law, and probate. She was senior delegate at the American Bar Association’s convention in London. Everett retired at the age of ninety-seven, having practised law for seven decades (1920 – 1991). Kathrine Robinson Everett died soon afterwards (Jan 28, 1992), in Durham, North Carolina.

Everett, Sarah Maria Colegrove – (1830 – 1864)
American abolitionist, pioneer settler, and letter writer
Sarah Everett settled in Kansas with her husband (1855) and she kept an account of her life in the frontier and how the family was affected by the Civil War. Her letters were published posthumously as Letters of John and Sarah Everett, 1854 – 1864, Miami County Pioneers (1939).

Everett-Green, Evelyn – (1856 – 1932)
British children’s author, she received her education at Bedford College in London and at the Royal Academy of Music. She trained as a nurse, but produced wholesome fiction for children and juvenile girls such as Dorothy’s Vocation (1890), Golden Gwendolyn (1893), and Adventurous Anne (1916).

Everild (Averil) – (c620 – c700)
Anglo-Saxon virgin saint
Everild was born in Wessex, and was baptized in her teens by St Birinus (635) together with King Cynegils of Wessex and members of his family and court. She never married and with two other ladies named Bega and Wulfreda (Waldrada) she travelled to Northumbria where they lived a life of pious sanctity at Bishop’s Farm which had been granted them by St Wilfred, and which was later named Evereldsham in her honour. There Everild established a convent which she ruled as mother superior and which housed eighty nuns by the time of her death. She was honoured as a saint from the time of her death (July 9). She is perhaps identical with a St Everilla who was honoured as the patron of the church of Everingham in Yorkshire.

Everingham, Katherine de – (1365 – 1433)
English mediaeval heiress
Katherine de Everingham was the younger daughter and coheiress of Sir William de Everingham (c1330 – 1369) of Skinningrove by his wife Alice Grey, the daughter of Sir John Grey of Codnor. She became the wife of Sir John de Etton of Gilling (c1364 – 1433), and was the mother of Miles de Etton (c1387 – 1431) who left descendants. With the death of her grandfather Sir Adam de Everingham (died 1388) Katherine de Etton became Lady of Laxton and Egmanton, and inherited property at Kirkburn, Kipling Cotes and a moiety of the estate of North Leverton. Lady Katherine narrowly predeceased her husband who died (March 25, 1433).

Everleigh, Ada – (1876 – 1960)
American madam and brothel keeper
Ada Everleigh was born in Kentucky, the daughter of a lawyer. Her marriage was unhappy and she divorced her husband, and joined a travelling acting troupe until 1898. She established an expensive bordello in Omaha, Nebraska, and worked in conjunction with her younger sister Minna Everleigh (1878 – 1960). They went on to establish their famously sumptous brothel, The Everleigh Club, in Dearborn Street, Chicago, in Illinois. The pair became enormously successful and wealthy, and they were popularly known in the media as ‘The Scarlet Sisters.’ Ada was the business organizer of the pair, and died (Jan 3, 1960) at Roanoke, Virginia, aged ninety-four.

Eveza of Toulouse    see   Hildegarde of Toulouse

Evochilde – (fl. c486 – 491 AD)
Merovingian queen
Evochilde was the first wife of King Clovis I (466 AD – 511). Her family of birth remains unknown, though she was perhaps a daughter of Childebert I, king of Cologne and his wife Amalaberga. She was married to Clovis (c486 AD) and was the mother of his eldest son, Theuderic I (c488 AD – 534), king of Austrasia. Clovis put her aside in order to marry the politically more important Clotilda of Burgundy (491 AD). Her fate remains unrecorded.

Evreux, Agnes d’ – (c1047 – c1079)
Norman heiress
Agnes d’Evreux was the daughter of Richard, Comte d’Evreux and his wife Godechilde of Barcelona, was and sister to Comte Guillaume (William) d’Evreux. She was married by force (c1065) to Simon I de Montfort the elder, as his third wife. Agnes had been abducted by her half-brother, Ralph de Tosny, who was in collusion with Simon, in return for Simon’s daughter Isabel as his wife. Thus her marriage was the result of a planned, though covert, dynastic agreement. Agnes died aged in her early thirties, but with the death of her childless brother Guillaume (1118), her son Amaury inherited the county of Evreux in her right. Her husband was still living in 1087. Agnes left five children,

• Richard de Montfort, Lord of Montfort (c1065 – 1092), died unmarried.
• Simon II de Montfort the Young, Lord of Montfort (c1066 – c1101), died unmarried.
• Guillaume de Montfort (William) (c1068 – 1101), who took holy orderes and was appointed Bishop of Paris (1097) under King Philip I due to the efforts of his sister.
• Bertrada of Montfort (1070 – 1118), who married firstly to Fulk IV, Count of Anjou (1043 – 1109) as his fifth wife, and was abducted by Philip I of France (1092), as his second wife, leaving issue by both marriages.
• Amaury III de Montfort, Lord of Montfort and Count of Evreux (c1072 – 1137), who left descendants, including the famous soldier and crusader, Simon de Montfort (1208 – 1265), brother-in-law to Henry III of England.

Evronie    see    Apronia

Ewa – (fl. c550 – c600)
Cornish saint
Sometimes called Eve or Iwy in ancient sources, the village and parish of St Ewe are thought to be named for her. The date of her veneration is now lost. Some religious historians consider her to be identical with St Ia, though the truth of this assertion remains unproveable.

Ewald, Johanna – (1885 – 1961)
German actress
Born in Dresden, Saxony (Feb 15, 1885) she made her first fim appearance in the early silent movie, Gestortes Rendez-Vous (1897), at the age of twelve. This was followed by her appearance as Kochin in Der Erste Patient (1916). Ewald appeared in over a dozen silent films, and became the first ‘film star’of the new German film industry. She made the transition to sound films, in such movies as Wenn die Soldaten (When the Soldiers) (1931), but her roles were only sporadic in the 1930’s. Her last film appearance was in Die Frau meiner Traume (1944), which was released in Australia as The Woman of My Dreams (1944). Johanna Ewald died (Jan 27, 1961) in Berlin, aged seventy-five.

Ewald, Mary Thedieck – (1921 – 1997)
American poet, translator, and opera librettist
Ewald was born in Richmond, Virginia, and graduated from the College of William and Mary. She earned a doctorate from Harvard University (1947). One of the first women to be appointed a fellow of Radcliffe College, Ewald also taught at the universities of Maryland, New Hampshire, and Wellesley College, in Massachusetts. She studied and translated seventeen languages, including Old English and Old Icelandic.  Ewald wrote the collection of poems Weapons Against Chaos (1986) and the libretto for the opera The Birthday of the Infanta, set to music by Russell Woollen (1993). She was named poet of the year by the Hingham Poetry Society of Massachusetts (1989). Mary Thedieck Ewald died at Greenwich, Connecticut, aged seventy-five (Feb 5, 1997).

Ewart, Emma Sophia – (1815 – 1857)
Anglo-Indian captive, she was born in Sussex, the daughter of Thomas Broadley Fooks, and his wife Maria Penelope Cracroft, daughter of William Cracroft, and sister to Major-General George Alexander St Peter Fooks (1824 – 1892). Emma married Lieutenant-Colonel John Ewart (1804 – 1857), of the 1st Bengal Native Infantry, of Kanpur, in India, a seasoned soldier a decade her senior, and accompanied him there as an army wife. Their elder children were sent home to England for their education, and thus survived the tragic events of the Indian Mutiny (1857). During the ensuing siege in General Wheeler’s encampment, Mrs Ewart lost a young daughter to heat and shock, and spent the entire time tending to her husband’s wounds. They were amongst the survivors who marched to the awaiting boats at the Sati Chowra Ghat. The injured Colonel Ewart was being carried in a palanquin, when he was surrounded by several Sepoy soldiers of his own regiment, who cut him down with their sabres in front of his horrified wife. Before Mrs Ewart could collect herself and flee, she too was brutally murdered (June 27, 1857). Her letters, written to family members during the first weeks of the siege (May-June, 1857) and smuggled out, are preserved in the Oriental and India Office Collection of the British Library, in London.

Ewart, Florence Maud – (1864 – 1949)
Australian musician, conductor, and composer
Ewart was born in London, England (Nov 16, 1864). She studied at the Birmingham and Midland Institute and at the National Training School for Music in London, whilst she trained as a successful concert violinist under Adolph Brodsky and with Joseph Joachim in Berlin, Prussia. Ewart’s first composition was the opera Ekkehard, but she really gained public attention with the, Ode to Australia which she wrote to celebrate the 1907 Exhibition of Women’s Works. Her three decade marriage (1898 – 1927) with the noted boatnist, Alfred James Ewart ended in divorce. After this she travelled to Italy where she studied with Ottorino Respighi and Giacomo Settacciole. Florence Ewart’s later works included the three operas The Courtship of Miles Standish (1930), Mateo Falcone (1933), and Nala’s Wooing (1933). Florence Ewart died (Nov 8, 1949) in Melbourne, Victoria, aged almost eighty-five.

Ewart-Biggs, Jane – (1929 – 1992)
British journalist and broadcaster
Felicity Jane Randall was born (Aug 22, 1929), the daughter of Major Basil Randall, and was educated at Downe House Schhol, at Cold Ash in newbury, Berkshire. She was married (1960) to Christopher Ewart-Biggs, of the royal diplomatic service, to whom she bore three children. Prior to her husband’s early death (1976), Jane resided abroad with him invarious postings, to Algiers in Africa, in Dublin, Paris, and in Brussels. She established the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Literary Prize (1976), and joined the Labour Party, where she became a spokeswoman on home and consumer affairs, and overseas development. Created a life peeress (1981) as Baroness Ewart-Biggs of Ellis Green, in Essex, she was appointed as an opposition whip (1988). She was appointed president (1984) of the British Committee for UNICEF (United Nations Internation Children’s Emergency Fund). Lady Ewart-Biggs wrote two volumes of memoirs Pay, Pack and Follow (1984) and A Lady in the Lords (1988). Lady Ewart-Biggs died aged sixty-three (Oct 8, 1992).

Ewen, Miriam    see   Gideon, Miriam

Ewing, Arabella Perkins – (1894 – 2008)
Black American supercentarian
Arabella Perkins was born (March 13, 1894) in Streetman, Texas, the descendant of slaves from Mississippi. She was married (1915) to Frank Ewing, and moved to South Dallas, where she raised their only daughter. She lived in her own home until the age of 113 years, when she broke her hip. She then resided in a nursing home in Dallas. At the time of her death, Arabella was the second oldest person on record for the state of Texas, and was third-oldest person then living in the world. Arabella Ewing died (March 22, 2008) aged 114 years and nine days, in Dallas.

Ewing, Ella – (1872 – 1913)
American eunuchoidal giantess
Ella Ewing was born (March, 1872) in Gorin, Missouri. Ewing appeared in side-shows billed as (249 cm) (8 ft 2 in), though she was acutally (229 cm) (7 ft 6 in) at the time of her death (Jan, 1913), when aged forty.

Ewing, Juliana Horatia – (1841 – 1885)
British children’s author
Born Juliana Gatty at Ecclesfield in Yorkshire, she was the daughter of a clergyman, and received an indifferent education. She was married to Alexander Ewing (1867), and took up a literary career in order to augment the family’s income and help pay off her husband’s debts. Possessing an innate talent for story-telling herself, Ewing produced the sentimental tale, ‘A Bit of Green’ (1861), which was published in the Monthly Packet, and enjoyed success. Thereafter she produced work prolifically, and her collected stories Works (1894 – 1896), fill eighteen volumes. Her story, ‘The Brownies’ (1865) provided the name for junior members of the Girl Guides.

Ewing, Margaret – (1945 – 2006)
Scottish politician and advocate of Scottish Nationalism
Born Margaret McAdam (Sept 1, 1945), she was the daughter of a farm labourer, and was trained as a teacher. She joined the SNP (Scottish National Party), and was married firstly to Donald Bain, which marriage ended in divorce. Her second husband (1983 – 2006) was Fergus Ewing, senior vice-chairman of the party. Margaret Bain (as she then was) came third, when she contested the seat of East Dunbartonshire during Edward Heath’s ministry (Feb, 1974). When Harold Wilson called a second election in the same year, she defeated the Conservative candidate Barry Henderson (Oct, 1974) by only 22 votes. She fully supported the Labour Bill for a Scottish Parliament in the 1979 referendum, and when this failed Ewing sponsored the no-confidence motion that brought down the government of James Callaghan. Despite this, the SNP was soundly defeated in the ensuing election. Margaret Ewing later returned to the House of Commons (1986) after defeating the Conservative candidate, Alex Pollock, at Moray, but left politics during the 2001 election. Margaret Ewing died of breast cancer, aged sixty.

Exeter, Dorothy Neville, Countess of – (1547 – 1609)
English Tudor aristocrat and heiress
Dorothy Neville was the daughter and cohiress of John Neville, fourth Latimer, and his wife Lady Lucy Somerset, the daughter of Henry Somerset, second Earl of Worcester.  Her paternal stepgrandmother was Queen Catharine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII (1509 – 1547), the second wife and widow of John Neville, Lord Latimer (died 1543), her paternal grandfather.
Dorothy became the first wife (1564) of Sir Thomas Cecil (1542 – 1623), later the first Earl of Exeter (1605), the elder son of Lord Burghley, chief minister of Queen Elizabeth. She was the mother of William Cecil (1566 – 1640), second Earl of Exeter (1623 – 1640) and of Sir Edward Cecil (1572 – 1638), Viscount Wimbledon. Lady Exeter died (March 23, 1609) and was interred in the Chapel of St John the Baptist, in Westminster Abbey, where her husband and his second wife were later interred with her. Her children were,

• Lady Catherine Cecil (1565 – after 1609). She remained unmarried.
• William Cecil (1566 – 1640). He succeeded his father as second Earl of Exeter (1623 – 1640), was married twice, and left issue.
• Lady Lucy Cecil (1568 – 1614). She became the wife of William Paulet (1551 – 1629), fourth Marquess of Winchester, and left issue.
• Lady Mildred Cecil (1569 – after 1609). She was married firstly to Sir Thomas Reade, and then became the second wife of Sir Edmund Trafford (c1555 – 1620), of Trafford, Lancaster.
• Sir Richard Cecil (1570 – 1633) of Wakerley, Northampton. He was married and left issue, being the father of David Cecil (c1604 – 1643), fourth Earl of Exeter.
• Sir Edward Cecil (1572 – 1638), Viscount Wimbledon. He was married three times and left issue.
• Lady Mary Cecil (1573 – 1638). She became the wife of Sir Edward Denny (1569 – 1637), first Earl of Norwich, and left issue.
• Lady Susan Cecil (1574 – after 1609). She remained unmarried.
• Hon. (Honourable) Christopher Cecil (born 1575). He drowned in Germany as a young man, unmarried.
• Lady Elizabeth Cecil (1577 – 1642). She was married firstly to Sir William Hatton, and secondly to Sir Edward Coke (1552 – 1634).
• Hon. Thomas Cecil (born 1578). He was married.
• Lady Dorothy Cecil (1580 – before 1630). She became the first wife of Sir Giles Alington (1572 – 1638), of Horsheath, Cambridge, and Great Wymondley, Hertfordshire.
• Lady Frances Cecil (1581 – 1653). She became the wife of Nicholas Tufton (1578 – 1631), first Earl of Thanet.

Exeter, Anne de Montagu, Duchess of – (c1399 – 1457)
English planatagent noblewoman and peeress
Lady Anne de Montagu was the daughter of John de Montagu (1350 – 1400), third Earl of Salisbury, and his wife Maud Fraunceys, the twice-widowed daughter of Sir Adam Fraunceys (Francis), Lord Mayor of London. Through her father she was a descendant of King Edward I (1272 – 1307) and his first wife Eleanor of Castile, through their daughter, Joan of Acre. Lady Anne was married firstly (c1428) to Sir Richard Hankford (1397 – 1431), formerly styled ‘Lord Fitzwarin,’ of Hewish and Yarnscombe, Devon, as his second wife. Their daughter, Anne Hankford (1431 – 1485), became the first wife of Thomas Butler (c1425 – 1515), seventh Earl of Ormonde.
Lady Hankford was remarried secondly (c1433), becoming the second wife of Sir John ap Lewis (died 1442), of West Horndon and Dunton, Essex, Steward of the Duchy of Cornwall within Devon. They had three sons and four daughters, their children adopting the surname of Fitz-Lewis. Their second daughter, Elizabeth Fitz-Lewis (c1437 – 1500), became the wife of Sir John Wingfield (died 1481), of Letheringham, Norfolk. Lady Fitz-Lewis remarried thirdly, to John de Holland (1395 – 1447), second Duke of Exeter, nephew of Richard II (1377 – 1399), as his third and last wife, becoming Duchess of Exeter at the court of Henry VI and his queen, Margaret of Anjou. Anne survived her last husband as the Dowager Duchess of Exeter (1447 – 1457). Duchess Anne died (Nov 29, 1457), and was interred with the duke in the Church of St Katherine by the Tower, in London.

Exeter, Frances Brydges, Countess of – (1580 – 1663)
English Stuart peeress
Frances Brydges was the eldest daughter of William Brydges, fourth Baron Chandos and Sudeley, and his wife Mary Hopton, the daughter of Sir Owen Hopton. She served at court as maid-of-honour to Queen Elizabeth I, prior to her first marriage with Sir Thomas Smith (c1556 – 1609), the master of requests to King James I. Their son Robert Smith, died young, whilst their daughter, Margaret Smith, became the wife of Thomas Carey, the son of Lord Hunsdon.
Young and attractive, Lady Smith remarried secondly (1610) to Sir Thomas Cecil (1542 – 1623), the second Earl of Exeter (1605 – 1623), almost forty years her senior, the marriage created some comment in social circles, Thomas Steven writing in a letter to the Earl of Rutland, ‘A youthful widow she has been and virtuous, and so become bedfellow to this aged, gouty, and diseased, but noble Earle.” Their only daughter died young. Her stepgranddaughter, Lady De Ros, accused her own husband of adultery with Lady Exeter, the judgement of King James (1619) vindicating the reputation of the countess. Lady De Ros and her parents were imprisoned and forced to pay a hefty fine, as well as extensive damages which the king ordered they pay Lady Exeter. One of the perjured witnesses, Sarah Wharton, was condemned to be whipped through the streets at the end of a cart, and then to perform public penance for her crime in the Church of St Martin. Frances survived her husband for four decades as the Dowager Countess of Exeter (1623 – 1663). Lady Exeter died aged eighty-three, and was interred beside her second husband and his first wife, in the Chapel of Sir John the Baptist in Westminster Abbey, London.

Exeter, Gertrude Blount, Marchioness of – (c1506 – 1558)
English Tudor courtier
Gertrude Blount was the daughter of William Blount, Lord Mountjoy, and his wife Elizabeth Say, and married (1525) Henry Courtenay, marquess of Exeter, grandson of Edward IV, and cousin of Henry VIII. The couple had an only child, Edward Courtenay, earl of Devonshire (1526 – 1555). A devout Catholic, Lady Exeter supported the agitation of Elizabeth Barton, and visited her shrine at Canterbury, but when Barton was executed (1534) she begged the king to pardon her intimacy. She stood godmother to Elizabeth I (1533), and carried Edward VI at his christening (1537). However, her continued affection for, and her correspondence with, Catharine of Aragon, after that lady’s departure from the court (1533) led to the enmity of Thomas Cromwell against Lord Exeter. Exeter was condemned to death for treason, but really because of his claim to the throne (1538).
Lady Exeter was imprisoned and was companion to Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury. Eventually the distressed condition of these two ladies formed the basis of a petition from their gaoler to Henry VIII (1540). The countess was executed but Lady Exeter was pardoned and released. With the accession of Queen Mary (1553), Lady Exeter served at court as lady-in-waiting and attended her at her coronation. Her son was released and exiled to Brussels, but Lady Exeter was unable to persuade the queen to permit him to return to London before his death (1555). Some of her letters survive. In the famous BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) television series, The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970) with Keith Michell, Lady Exter was portrayed by actress Marion Mathie. Lady Exeter died (Sept 25, 1558) aged about fifty-two, and was interred at Wimborne in Dorset.

Exl, Ilse – (1907 – 1956)
Austrian actress
Exl was born in Innsbruck, the daughte rof the noted theatre manager, Ferdinand Exl. She began her stage career in her father’s theatre in Innsbruck. She was noted for her performances in dramatic productions such as the witty comedy Der Gewissenswurm by Ludwig Anzengruber (1839 – 1889) and Via mala by John Knittel, as well as for her appearances in several major films. From 1941 she managed her father’s theatre and accompanied the cast on tours throughout Germany. She later directed a cycle of Anzengruber’s works Das Volksstuck von Anzengruber bis Billinger, at the Vienna Academy Theatre. Ilse Exl died in Innsbruck, aged fifty-five (July 8, 1956).

Exley, Elizabeth – (1867 – 1941)
Australian feminist and suffrage leader
Elizabeth was born in Suffolk, England, and was married to a Birmingham teacher, Arthur Exley (1861 – 1938), whom she accompanied to Australia. The couple settled in Brisbane, Queensland, where Exley became prominently associated with various women’s suffrage groups, and was a foundation member of the National Council of Women. She founded the Mothers’ Union and the District Nursing Association and was active within the temperance movement. Elizabeth Exley died in Brisbane, aged seventy-four (Sept 21, 1941).

Exner, Emilie von – (1850 – 1909)
Austrian feminist and author
Born Emilie Winiwarter in Vienna, she was the daughter of a lawyer, and was trained as a teacher before her marriage (1874) with the noted physiologist, Sigmund von Exner-Ewarten (1846 – 1926). They became the parents of the physicist and meteorologist Felix Maria von Exner-Ewarten (1876 – 1930). Exner, who sometimes wrote using the pseudonym of Felicie Ewart, produced a series of studies on women entitled Die Emanzipation in der Ehe (1895), and later served as president of the Vienna Association for Women’s Employment (1901 – 1906). Emilie von Exner died (April 7, 1909) at Lovrana, aged fifty-nine.

Expergentia – (d. c303 AD)
Roman Christian martyr
Expergentia was arrested and killed either in Sicily, or in Cilicia, Asia Minor, during the persecutions initiated by the emperors Diocletian and Maximian Daia. Her feast (June 4) was recorded in the Acta Sanctorum.

Exter, Alexandra Alexandrovna – (1882 – 1949)
Russian artist and designer
Exter was born in Bielstock, near Kiev, in the Ukraine, and studied at the School of Fine Arts in Kiev, and later in Paris, falling under the influences of artists such as Pablo Picasso and Apollinaire. With her return to Moscow, she worked on constructivist sets and costumes in the chamber theatre founded by Tairov, and married her cousin, Nikolai Exter. Her work featured in Russian films, most notably the science fiction masterpiec Aelita (1924), and helped to influence the development of design within Russia. Exter later moved permanently to Paris, where she designed for the theatre and the ballet. Her work was exhibited at the exhibition entitled, Les Femmes Artistes de l’Europe, which was held at the Musee de Jeu de Paume in Paris (1937). Her cubist inspired work titled, Still-Life (1914 – 1915), is preserved in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. After the revolution she married her second husband, George Nekrassov (1920) and died in obscurity at her home in Fontenay-les-Roses in France.

Exuperia – (c220 – c256 AD)
Roman Christian martyr
Exuperia was married to a tribune name Olympius, who was converted to Christianity due to the example of St Sempronius, who he himself had condemned to death. Exuperia and their son Theodulus were then converted and baptised by Pope Stephen I (254 – 257 AD). When their conversion was discovered, the emperor Valerian ordered them to be burnt to death outside the Colosseum. Their remains were interred by the pope. The church revered the family as saints (July 26) and (Oct 31).

Ey, Anna Victoria – (1839 – 1917)
Australian diarist, she was the daughter of a German Lutheran pastor, Philip Jacob Oster. She immigrated to South Australia with her family (1847) and resided at Lobenthal. The family’s financial position was precarious, as her father had died on the voyage out, and her mother sufferred increasing ill-health.  Anna married a Lutheran minister, Rudolph Ey (1861), to whom she bore thirteen children. The family resided at Hahndorf, Blumberg, Karlsruhe, and Rosenthal in South Australia. Her memoirs were originally written in German as Early Lutheran congregations in South Australia. Memoirs of a pastor’s wife, and which were translated, edited and published in 1986 by her descendant Dorothea Freund, chronicle the establishment of the Lutheran Church in the Barossa Valley and Yorke Peninsula of South Australia.

Eyeington, Enid – (1943 – 2003)
British humanitarian activist
Born in Durham, she married (1963) to Richard (Dick) Eyeington, after which the couple resided in Tanzania, Somaliland, and Swaziland, where they worked to established educational facilities for African children. Richard became headmaster of the Waterford Kamhlaba School (1971 – 1995), whilst Enid worked with those sufferring from HIV infection. Despite the objections of their children, who were concerned for the safety, the couple later returned to Somaliland (2000), where they established a school for the charity SOS Village, in the village of Sheikh. Enid was concerned mainly with teaching and nursing, and also established outreach centres to assist the underprivileged. Enid and her husband were shot dead as they sat in their own livingroom in their home in Mogadishu (Oct 20, 2003). They were killed by terrorists who wrongly believed they were trying to convert Africans to Christianity. Four men were later convicted of their deaths and sentenced to die by firing squad (2005).

Eyerly, Jeannette – (1908 – 2008)
American novelist and columnist
Jeannette Hyde was born (June 7, 1908) in Topeka, Kansas, and was raised in Des Moines, Iowa. She attended the University of Iowa and studied English. She was married to Frank Eyerly (died 1997), the editor of the, Des Moines Register. She published articles on child-rearing in such magazines as Ladies’ Home Journal, and Better Homes & Gardens. She also wrote a weekly newspaper column entitled, ‘Family Diary.’ Eyerly wrote novels for young, teenage women such as More Than A Summer Love (1962), Drop-Out (1963), The Girl Inside (1968), Bonnie Jo, Go Home (1973), Someone To Love Me (1987), and Angel Baker, Thief (1984), her work dealing with a wide variety of pertinent subjects for young women, such as abortion, romance, alcoholism, drugs, and death. She was inducted into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame (2006). Her other published novels included Radigan Cares (1970), The Phaedra Complex (1971), and The Leonardo Touch (1976). Jeannette Eyerly died (Aug 18, 2008) aged 100, in Des Moines.

Eyk, Henriette van – (1897 – 1980)
Dutch novelist and short story writer
Her best known work was the extremely humorous De kleine parade (The Little Parade) (1932), in which she ridiculed the wealth and pretensions of the upper classes. Later works included Het eenig echte (1939), Truus de nachtmerrie (1939), Sneeuw (1945), and Bedelarmband (1948).

Eyles, Leonora Margaret – (1889 – 1960)
British journalist and crime writer
Margaret Leonora Pitcairn was born (Sept 1, 1889) at Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, the daughter of a potter, and was educated in London. After being employed to address envelopes, she immigrated to Australia, where she worked as a domestic servant. She married firstly Alfred William Eyles, to whom she bore three children, and secondly (1928) David Murray. Strongly influenced by feminism and socialism, Eyles wrote advice colums for Woman’s Own, and published popular advice books such as Women’s Problems of Today (1926), Careers for Women (1930), Common Sense About Sex (1933), and Eat Well in War-time (1940). She was best known for her bestselling novel Margaret Protests (1919), and her account of the difficulties faced by a single mother in the East End of London The Woman in the Little House (1922). Eyles left a fragmentary autobiography The Ram Escapes (1953).
Leonora Eyles died (July 27, 1960) aged seventy.

Eymery, Margeurite     see      Rachilde

Eynatten, Maria Carola von – (1857 – 1917)
Austrian writer
Born Baroness von Eynatten-Dirking in Vienna, she was educated privately. She never married and resided in Freiburg am Breisgau and at Heidelburg in the Rhineland. Her works included a collection of short stories entitled, Aennili (1897) and the novel, Geknechteter Wille (1925). Maria Carola von Eynatten died in Heidelburg, aged fifty-nine (Dec 3, 1917).

Eyre, Katherine Wigmore – (1901 – 1970)
American author and novelist
Eyre was born (Sept 23, 1901) in Los Angeles, California.
Her published works included Lottie’s Valentine (1941), Song of a Thrush (1952), The Chinese Box (1959), and Sandalwood Court (1968) amongst others. Katherine Eyre died (Feb 27, 1970) aged sixty-eight.

Eysoldt, Gertrud – (1870 – 1955)
German actress
Eysoldt was born at Pirna in Saxony, the daughter of a local notary and was raised and educated in Switzerland. She received her theatre training from Heinrich Richter and made her stage debut at the Munich Court theatre in Bavaria (1889). After performing in Meiningen and Stuttgart in Wurttemburg, she later joined the cast of the Schiller Theater and the Lessing Theater in Berlin (1900). She was best remembered for her performance in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Kleines Theater Unter den Linden (1902) under the direction of Max Reinhardt. Eysoldt also appeared with success at the premiere performance of Maxim Gorky’s The Lower Depths (1903) and in the title role of Oscar Wilde’s play Salome. She later managed the Little Playhouse in Berlin. Gertrud Eysoldt died (Jan 6, 1955) at Ohlstadt, near Murnau, aged eighty-four.

Eyster, Penelope Anna Margaretta Blessing – (1831 – 1922)
American author and lecturer
Eyster was born (Dec 7, 1831) in Frederick, Maryland. Many of her works were published using the pseudonym ‘Nellie Blessing Eyster.’ Her works included Sunny Hours (1865), Tom Harding and His Friends (1869), and Lionel Wintour’s Diary (1882). Penelope Eyster died (Feb, 1922) aged ninety.

Eytinge, Rose – (1835 – 1911)
American actress and author
Eytinge was born (Nov 21, 1835) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the earlier part of her stage career (1862 – 1869) she performed with great success in various theatres in New York. After her second marriage with Colonel George H. Butler, the American consul general in Egypt she travelled abroad after which she returned to the theatre on Broadway, where she appeared as Queen Cleopatra in Frederick B. Warde’s play Antony(1871). Her most famous roles were Nancy Sykes in Oliver Twist, Gervaise in, Drink, and Shakespearean roles such as Ophelia and Desdemona. Eytinge wrote adaptations of two of the works of Charles Dickens Oliver Twist and Dombey and Son, and with Ada Fisher she co-wrote the play It Happened This Way (1890). She left a volume of reminiscences entitled The Memories of Rose Eytinge (1905). Rose Eytinge died (Dec 20, 1911) aged seventy-six.

Eyton-Jones, Theodora – (1890 – 1975)
British traveller and author
Eyton-Jones was born in China, the daughter of missionaries. She was later married to an English clergyman, Leonard Patterson, whose surname she later used. She visited the Middle East and was met by patriarchs of various religious communities, which resulted in the publication of Under Eastern Roofs (1931). When aged in her sixties, Eyton-Jones undertook an extensive tour of various continents including, Australia and New Zealand, the USA, Japan, Indonesia, and South Africa, and left a three volume, written account of her experiences entitled Under Many Flags: My Pilgrimage (1957).