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Elizabeth A.Sackler Center for Feminist Art

Lilliard

Probably legendary, reputedly d. 1545, Ancrum, Scotland

In Scottish folklore, the story is told of a woman named Lilliard who joined a battle against the English at Ancrum Moor, Scotland, in 1545. Lilliard reputedly killed the English commander, bringing victory to the Scots but losing her life in the process. In the 1740s, a memorial was built on the supposed site of her death with an inscription dedicated to the “Fair Maiden Lilliard” who “when her legs were cut off … fought upon her stumps.” A similar tale of a legless female warrior appears in Germanic folktales.