Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Women of the Hundred Year's War - Jeanne Hachette

Statue of Jeanne in Beauvais

Not much is known about Jeanne Laisné or Jeanne Fourquet (she was also nicknamed Jeanne Hachette which means Jean the Hachet), what we do know is that she took up arms against her enemies to help save the town of Beauvais.  Jeanne was born a few years after the Hundred Year's war ended, but I think she should be included with female heroes from this era because she broke with the convention that women could not be soldiers or have much influence in political/ military affairs.  In the summer of 1472, Jeanne helped prevent the capture of Beauvais by the Burgundians when she attacked a knight, who had planted the Burgundian flag on the walls of Beauvais, with a hatchet.  After killing/ throwing the knight into the moat, she cut down the enemy's flag and raised the morale of Beauvais militia, leading them to victory.

For more information about Jeanne visit these links!

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