A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Pita, (Mary)
PITA (MARY), a Spanish Heroine,
Who, when the English besieged Corogna in 1589, and it was on the point of capitulation, with patriotic though vulgar eloquence, remonstrated with her countrymen, rushed herself to battle, in which she was so well seconded, that after killing 15000 of the enemy, she obliged them to raise the siege. Philip II. recompensed her valour, by giving her the rank and pay of an ensign for the remainder of her life; and Philip III. perpetuated it in the family.
Father Feejoo.