Countess Markiovich, one of the coolest people ever

Countess Markiovich was a Cumann na mBan insurrectionist during the Easter Rising of 1916. She co-led a contingent of other rebels in holding Stephen’s Green during the rebellion and, when the Rising was ultimately (at least temporarily) thwarted, Countess Markiovich, along with many other women fighting for the Irish, refused leniency and insisted on being arrested at the end of the Rising.

The fight for Stephen’s Green is filled with amusing Anecdotes. For instance, throughout the fighting, the groundskeeper of Stephen’s Green refused to surrender his post. Twice a day he would leave his cottage in the Green and feed the park’s ducks and, twice a day, the British and Irish forces would hold a ceasefire to allow him to do so. In another story, countess Markiovich had a captured British soldier participate in a cucumber sandwich picnic.

These stories can in some ways obscure the fact that Countess Markiovich was actually a brutally effective commander willing to do incredible things for her ideals. She was also one of the best shots in the rebellion and killed an enemy soldier at least once during the rebellion.

Countess Markiovich is a fascinating figure in Irish history, and one who complicates many of the dominant representations of that history. To see her reimagined in a modern context, as demonstrated in the  picture above, and with commercial intent, enables the reimagining of the spaces that her representations pass through and the values of the people who inhabit those spaces.