When the lord of a castle rode off to war, someone had to take care of business for him. The person in charge might be a steward—usually another nobleman of lower rank—but more often the responsibility fell to the lord's wife. Whether she was a duchess, a baroness, or a knight's lady, she was called the châtelaine.

Some châtelaines did far more than just oversee the daily routine of the castle. When the castle of Cesena in northern Italy was attacked during the lord's absence, châtelaine Marcia Ordelaffi doggedly directed its defense. According to historian Barbara W. Tuchman, the lady "refused all offers to negotiate despite repeated assaults, mining of walls, bombardment day and night by stones cast from siege engines, and the pleas of her father to...