AII SEMINAR 5 – Answer Key Women in History Task 1 1. Nefertiti (14th Century B.C.) e 2. Cleopatra (69-30 B.C.) g 3. Joan of Arc (1412-1431) a 4. Catherine de Medici (1519-1589) c 5. Mbande Nzinga (1582-1663) f (Angola) 6. Catherine the Great (1729-1796) I 7. Tzu-hsi (1835-1908) d (China) 8. Liliuokalani (1838-1917) b (Hawaii) 9. Golda Meir (1898-1978) h (Israel) Task 2 – Gap fill – Women of the Crusades^7 Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the most powerful and fascinating personalities of feudal Europe. At the age of 15, she married Louis VII, King of France, bringing into the union her possessions from the River Loire to the Pyrenees. At the age of 19, she offered thousands of her vassals for the Second Crusade to Bernard of Clairvaux. While the church may have been pleased to receive her thousand fighting vassals, they were less happy when they learned that Eleanor, with 300 of her ladies, also planned to help "tend the injured." The presence of Eleanor, her ladies, and wagons of female servants dressed in armour, was widely criticized. Later Eleanor fell in love with her uncle Raymond, the prince of Antioch, who was only a few years older than her and more interesting than her husband, Louis. When Raymond and Louis disagreed on the next goals of the Crusade, Eleanor agreed with Raymond. Louis commanded Eleanor to follow him to Jerusalem, but she announced that their marriage was not valid in the eyes of God, for they were related through some family connection that was prohibited by the Church. Nevertheless, Louis still forced Eleanor to ride with him, but their expedition failed. The defeated Eleanor and Louis were returning to France in separate ships when she learned that her uncle had been killed in battle. For the next Crusade, it was forbidden for any women to join in. All the Christian monarchs, including King Louis, agreed to this. Her relationship with Louis was over and in 1152 their marriage was annulled; she then regained her estates. At the age of 30, she married 20-year-old Henry who two years later became king of England. Henry's infidelities caused her to establish her own court at Poitiers (in 1170), which became the scene of much artistic activity. She supported her sons in their unsuccessful revolt (1173) against Henry and was confined by him until 1185. In 1189 she helped Richard gain the throne. Later, her other son, John, became king of England. Task 3 1. Shagrat al-Durr was a slave, sultan's wife, sultan and Sultana. T 2. Shagrat killed her first husband in 1250 when he returned from Damascus. F 3. Shagrat fought against Turan, who defeated the Crusaders. F (she defeated them) 4. The Caliph of Baghdad did not agree with Shagrat ruling the country. T (did not approve of) 5. Shagrat resisted the Caliph's orders for two months. F (she was Sultan for 2 mo.) 6. Aibak and Shagrat were of the same origin. T (Mamluks) 7. Apparently, Aibak and Shagrat were a well-balanced couple. F (she dominated him) 8. Shagrat killed Aibak when he married another woman. F (he only proposed) 9. Aibak's former^13 family took revenge. T (former wife & son) 10. The army was always loyal to Shagrat; she was killed in the harem. F (the army divided) Task 4 Oh, What a Circus (Che:) Oh what a circus, oh what a show Argentina has gone to town Over the death of an actress called Eva Peron We've all gone crazy Mourning all day and mourning all night Falling over ourselves to get all of the misery right Oh, what an exit, that's how to go When they're ringing your curtain down Demand to be buried like Eva Peron It's quite a sunset And good for the country in a roundabout way We've made the front page of all the world's papers today But who is this Santa Evita? Why all this howling, hysterical sorrow? What kind of goddess has lived among us? How will we ever get by without her? She had her moments, she had some style The best show in town was the crowd Outside the Casa Rosada crying, "Eva Peron" But that's all gone now As soon as the smoke from the funeral clears We're all gonna see and how, she did nothing for years (Chorus) (Che:) You let down your people, Evita You were supposed to have been immortal That's all they wanted, not much to ask for But in the end you could not deliver Sing you fools, but you got it wrong Enjoy your prayers because you haven't got long Your queen is dead, your king is through And she's not coming back to you Show business kept us all alive Since seventeen October 1945 But the star has gone, the glamour's worn thin That's a pretty bad state for a state to be in Instead of government we had a stage Instead of ideas, a primadonna's rage Instead of help we were given a crowd She didn't say much, but she said it loud Sing you fools, but you got it wrong Enjoy your prayers because you haven't got long Your queen is dead, your king is through She's not coming back to you (Crowd:) Repeat chorus (Eva:) Don't cry for me Argentina For I am ordinary, unimportant And undeserving of such attention Unless we all are, I think we all are So share my glory, so share my coffin So share my glory, so share my coffin (Che:) It's our funeral too Grammar – Focus on Verbs Task 5 Murasaki Shikibu, the best-known writer to emerge^15 from Japan's glorious Heian period, was born into the Fujiwara family. Her father was the governor of a province and a well-known scholar, who allowed Shikibu to study with her brother. He even let her learn some Chinese classics, which was considered improper for females at the time. Lady Murasaki married her distant relative, and bore him their only daughter in 999 A.D. Her husband died in 1001 A.D. The imperial family knew of her writing talent and her brilliant mind, and brought Lady Murasaki to court. At court, Lady Murasaki began a diary she kept up for two years. She gave a vivid account of court life. She also went to great pains to hide her knowledge of Chinese. She feared the criticism of those who felt it to be unladylike to be happy reading this unknown language. Shikibu wrote the novel The Tale of the Genji at the court. She based it loosely on her years as lady-in-waiting to the Empress Akiko. The very long novel described complications in the life of a fictitious prince called Genji. The tales of Prince Genji, known as "the Shining Prince," became popular from the moment of its release. Little is known about Lady Murasaki's later life. Perhaps, she retired from court and sought seclusion in a convent. Task 6 1. She must have received an excellent education. 2. She may/could have expected that at her father's death she would take his place as head of an empire which stretched from Italy to Armenia. 3. Her mother may/could have encouraged her to try and seize the imperial throne for him. 4. The attempt failed, and she had to retire from court life. 5. It must have been in the monastery, where 55-year-old Anna began serious work on Alexiad, a 15 volume history of her family, the Comneni. 6. He must have wanted to stop the Turkish attacks which had left the southern and eastern borders of the Byzantine Empire virtually defenceless. 7. To Anna, they must have appeared as uneducated barbarians, with manners far beneath those of the wealthy and cosmopolitan Byzantines. Task 7 1. Five-year-old Mary, who had become Queen of Scotland already six days after birth, left home to live in France. 2. She married King Francis II in the French court, where the French had brought her up. 3. Mary returned to Scotland as a widow, because her husband had died one year after their wedding. 4. She had been in Scotland for four years when she married her second husband, Lord Darnley. 5. One year later she fell in love with Bothwell, who had been consistently loyal to her. 6. Darnley, meanwhile, had succeeded in making himself even more unpopular, and all ther royal counsellors urged Mary to get rid of him. 7. Bothwell married Mary when he had divorced his wife and Mary´s husband had been found strangeled. 8. Protestants lead a revolt against her because she had had a series of politically unwise love affairs. 9. She had to escape to England for more safety, but faced the fears of Queen Elizabeth I, who had always seen her as a rival to her throne. 10. Finally, Elizabeth allowed the execution of Mary, who had been kept under a form of imprisonment for 19 years.