Historically women were considered too weak and simple minded to work as spies, but there were some across the centuries. In fact many were well-positioned to hear and pick up information, working as they did in various domestic jobs within households.
They would have been taken for granted as much as the chairs their masters sat on, and just as inconspicuous. Others were married to men dealing with secret information and didn’t hesitate to exploit their privileged position.
Medieval spies in Ireland
Although Ireland did not formally become part of the United Kingdom until the Acts of Union 1800, nonetheless armies attacked and occupied the island from this side of the Irish Sea on many occasions before that happened.
12th century
Among those invaders were the Anglo-Normans in the late 12th century, and that prompted indigenous spies to take chances in order to find out what their enemy’s intentions were, evaluate the logistics and then pass that information on to the Gaelic community to help them plan their raids.
Wives and servants
Some of those spies were women who worked as servants, and some were married and part of the foreigners’ community.
Isabella Cadel
One of the latter was Isabella Cadel, the daughter of an influential Norman settler who had served King Edward I well on many occasions; this was the only thing that saved her and her servant, Fynewell Seyeuyn, from being hanged after they were found guilty of espionage in 1302.
Mountain visits
It seems Isabella frequently visited her Irish husband’s relatives who lived up in the mountains. She admitted knowing that those relatives were thieves who had frequently raided Norman settlements, but insisted that far from passing on useful information to them, she was simply visiting her husband’s friends and relatives for social reasons.
Isabella Octouthy
Another mixed marriage was between an Irish woman and an Anglo-Norman man; she was Isabella Octouthy and had married Thomas La Valle. In 1311 Isabella and her mother, Fynyna, were convicted of harbouring a couple of men (who perhaps were her brothers) who may well have taken part in murder, robbery and spying on their Norman enemies.
Punished
So, although the women weren’t spies themselves, there was an association with espionage and this was taken so seriously by the powers that be that both women were hanged, although Isabella had a stay of execution until the baby she was carrying was born, as was the custom back then.
Grace le Deveyns
Grace was another Irish woman who had married an Anglo-Norman, but was hanged for colluding with the Irish enemy. Because of her family connections she was easily able to move between the settlements both on the plain and in the mountains.
Opportunity
She was therefore often sent up into the mountains by the Normans to search for stolen cattle. Unfortunately it was discovered that she also took the opportunity to pass useful information on to her friends and family there.
