Clodagh Finn: Formidable medieval women deserve much more recognition

A new book recounts the under-told stories of successive countesses of Ormond and their daughters. Theirs are stories that deserve to be known more widely

Grace O'Malley: Not the only powerful woman in late medieval Ireland.

Oh to have been a fly on the wall when Countess Joan Fitzgerald, Irish noblewoman and heiress, hurled several artichokes at her host, Brian Jones, constable of Carlow, in a fit of pique during a visit in 1549. She was deeply frustrated at losing her independence following her second marriage, and she was making it known.

“While I was widow and had not married an Englishman, I defended and kept my own,” the Countess of Ormond complained, as she picked up an artichoke that was to hand and flung it at Jones.