In mid XIV century, in the city of Puteoli, nowadays knows as Pozzuoli, once considered Rome’s countryside, was born a virtuous woman, whom fame was known under Robert I of Anjou kingdom.
Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of documentation on her family name or origin. We only know her first name Maria and her hometown (Puteoli). Maria Puteolana was known to history as one of the most brilliant knights, under King Robert I ’s men.
She was described as agile and prudent, strong with a masculine attitude and desires like a proud man:
not loom but arches,
not mirror and needleds but arrows, and on her body honorables wounds and scraches.
She was often surrounded by men and able to gain their respect and kept her integrity even in a military
environment.
She was dedicated to the army and usually wore military uniform instead of dressing in women clothes. A
lot of men challenged her in one-of-one fights or horse battle, but she won them all.
She was remembered as a "viraginous woman" who defended the jurisdiction and the honor of her country
(kingdom)
from Aragoneses, and compared to the queen of Amazons Oritia and her wife Antiope, who won
battles and extended their empire and their fame.
The legend says that sometimes Maria alone, or with few men was able to fight the enemy as she was always
ready to assault and audacious, her strength was as exemplary as her wit, so to undermine her enemies.
The fame of Maria grew so much outside the kingdom that curious started to came to meet her and some just to fight her to prove her strength. Between her admirers there was Robert I and the poet Francesco Petrarca, who describes her in one of his journals. Actually, this is the only documentation we have on the existence of this incredible woman. Thanks to Petrarca, who travelled to Naples twice in 1341, when he was crowned poet of king Robert I of Anjou; and the second time in 1343 on a political encounter with the queen Johanna.
