Strong women

SIR – Hilary Mantel’s assertion that women writers must stop “falsely” empowering their historical female characters (report, June 1) is wrong.

In the medieval period, and beyond, aristocratic and gentry women wielded political power, influence and patronage. The independence of single women was recognised by the legal status of feme sole, and widows exercised a range of rights, including the nomination of members of parliament in some rotten boroughs.

Brilliana, Lady Harley is an example of such a strong woman. In 1643 she deployed 50 troopers in a seven-week defence of her home in Herefordshire, Brampton Bryan Castle, against a Royalist siege. She was praised by the Parliamentarian commander for her “masculine bravery”, stressing the unusual circumstances in which she exercised what historians recognise as the “female agency” of the past. Professor Jackie Eales

Director of Research for the Faculty of Arts and Humanities Canterbury Christ Church University