Mary Ambree ( 1584) was an English army captain from Antwerp who participated in the liberation of the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

city

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...

during the war against Spain. While she has not been recorded extensively in history, she was featured in

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

s and referenced in culture from the 1620s onwards. Notably, one ballad about Mary Ambree was one of the most popular ballads of the 17th century. In 1584 the Spanish captured Ghent, and Captain Mary Ambree, along with several other Dutch and English volunteers, fought to liberate the city. It was said that she was avenging her lover, Sir John Major, a sergeant major who died during the siege. English and Folklore professor Dianne Dugaw dates the story of Ambree based on a ballad about her being listed on 1590's song sheets. Dugaw claims that this would have originally been a "news song" that told the public current events.

Legacy

She was a popular subject of ballads during the 17th-century from 1620s onwards. She was also referenced in many works and by various writers and other artists. Because of her notoriety, Mary Ambree became an "archetype of gender disguise." * Ambree was the subject of the ballad "The valorous acts performed at Gunt by the brave bonnie lass Mary Ambree, who in revenge of her lovers death did play her part most gallantly. The tune is, The blinde beggar, &c.''"'' preserved by Thomas Percy in the Pepys Collection.Full text of the ballad
may be found on this site, which notes that it is taken by Percy from a piece in the Pepys Collection. ** This ballad provided the title for

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

's well-known novel, ''

Captains Courageous ''Captains Courageous: A Story of the Grand Banks'' is an 1897 novel by Rudyard Kipling that follows the adventures of fifteen-year-old Harvey Cheyne Jr., the spoiled son of a railroad tycoon, after he is saved from drowning by a Portuguese f ...

''.
from text notes on kipling.org, based on those written by Leonee Ormond for the OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS edition of Captains Courageous ** The first lines of this ballad are quoted in ''The First Part of the Return from Parnassus'' from ''The Three Parnassus Plays'' * A female French Legionnaire in the book ''Sowing Glory'' by P.C. Wren was referred to by the pseudonym of Mary Ambree in order to protect her identity. * Ambree is mentioned in

The Scornful Lady ''The Scornful Lady'' is a Jacobean era stage play, a comedy written by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, and first published in 1616, the year of Beaumont's death. It was one of the pair's most popular, often revived, and frequently reprint ...

* Ambree may have been the "English Mall"

Samuel Butler (poet) Samuel Butler (baptized 14 February 1613 – 25 September 1680) was an English poet and satirist. He is remembered now chiefly for a long satirical poem titled ''Hudibras''. Biography Samuel Butler was born in Strensham, Worcestershire, and ...

referenced in

Hudibras ''Hudibras'' is a vigorous satirical poem, written in a mock-heroic style by Samuel Butler (1613–1680), and published in three parts in 1663, 1664 and 1678. The action is set in the last years of the Interregnum, around 1658–60, immediately ...

Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...

references Mary Ambree in Epicœne, or The Silent Woman and ''The Fortunate Isles'' * Jonathan Swift references Ambree in

A Tale of a Tub ''A Tale of a Tub'' was the first major work written by Jonathan Swift, composed between 1694 and 1697 and published in 1704. It is arguably his most difficult satire, and perhaps his best. The ''Tale'' is a prose parody divided into sections o ...

References

External links

Dianne Dugaw: Warrior Women and Popular Balladry, 1650-1850

Reliques of Ancient English Poetry: Consisting of Old Heroic Ballads, Songs, and Other Pieces of Our Earlier Poets, Together with Some Few of Later Date, and a Copious Glossary

English Historical Ballads. No. V – Mary Ambree: Siege of Cadiz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambree, Mary Place of birth unknown Place of death unknown Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Women in 16th-century warfare Women in the British military 16th-century English women Women soldiers 16th-century English military personnel