Marking this International Women’s Day with a salute to Eleanor de Montfort, whose vital role in her husband’s government can be seen in her political networking. On 8 March 1265 she was at Odiham and welcoming Robert de Brus as a guest very much against his will. He had been captured at Lewes and was waiting for his son, the father of Edward’s future nemesis Robert the Bruce, to ransom him. He was accompanied to Odiham by Thomas of Astley, who later fell at Evesham.
