玛蒂尔达和埃莉诺28

Matilda's escape from Oxford is the most famous, the most daring and certainly the bravest moment of her life. In the cold and dark, with a body guard of just three trusted soldiers, she left Oxford Castle by a small side gate. Wrapped in white cloaks as camouflage against the snow, they walked silently across the frozen river. An army surrounded the castle but no-one saw them pass. They trudged seven miles through the drifting snow before they found horses to carry them to safety. It was a courageous escape by anyone's standards and even the Gesta Stephani remarked on Matilda's extraordinary tenacity. "Never have I read of another woman so luckily rescued from so many mortal foes and from the threat of dangers so great."