Augustina Saragossa

“The Maid of Saragossa” was one of the many civilians who defended the Spanish town of Saragossa in 1808, when it was besieged by the French during the Penisular War. Her heroism in battle captured the imagination of people throughout Europe, and inspired the Romantic poet Lord Byron to write Childe Harold (1812–18). Her actions were depicted by the painter David Wilkie in The Defense of Saragossa (1828) and by Francisco de Goya in The Disasters of War (1810–14).