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The Books
The subjects of the first fifteen books in the series were chosen for two
reasons. First, they are representative of a wide variety of cultures, places
and historical periods. Second, enough is known about their lives to make
biographies possible. We hope that further research (want
to help with research?) and perhaps contributions from readers of these
pages will some day fill in the gaps in our knowledge so that complete
biographies of most, if not all, the women can be written.
Mary I, Queen of England
(1516-1558)
Now published as Queen
in Waiting: A Life of "Bloody Mary" Tudor by Georgess McHargue, and
available from iUniverse.com, amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com or order from your
local bookseller.
This granddaughter of Isabella of
Castile held to her Catholic faith despite the Reformation of the Church
staged by her father, Henry VIII, and became the leader of those who
supported "the Old Religion." As queen, her foreign policy hinged on the necessity
to balance the interests of her two Catholic allies, France and Spain.
Her
zeal in prosecuting "heretics" (Protestants) earned her the title
Bloody Mary. The tragedy of her childlessness and unreturned devotion to her
husband, Philip of Spain, led to the accession of her half sister, Elizabeth.
(15th century B.C.E.)*
After reigning jointly with her husband and half brother, Thutmose II,
she became regent for their son, then assumed the throne herself. She
presided over a period of prosperity, built the great temple of Deir el-Bahri
near Thebes, and sent an important trading expedition to the fabled land of
Punt. She probably made her lover her chief official and architect, but
never married him. His devotion to her is shown in the details of her
temple.
*Throughout this site, dates are given as B.C.E. (before the common era)
and C.E. (common era), which are equivalent to B.C. and A.D.
(about 1580-1663)
Also known as Jinga, Singa, and Zhinga, she led an abortive revolt
against the Portuguese colonial government after a falling out concerning
control of the slave trade. Two of her war leaders were reputedly her
sisters, her council of advisors contained many women, and women were called
to serve in her army. Nzinga formed a confederacy of other tribes and allied
herself with the Dutch, continuing to fight the Portuguese for over thirty
years. The
Portuguese came to respect her, however, both for her shrewdness and for her
determination. Though deeply devoted to her family and her tribe, she displayed a
considerable callousness towards Africans of other ethnicities.
(1098-1179)
At age eight, she was dedicated to God as an anchorite at the monastery
of Disibodenburg in Germany. Despite being confined to her tiny cell, she
displayed precocious spirituality and intellectual gifts in reading, writing,
music, and Latin, to such an extent that by the time she was in her teens,
other nuns and monks were clamoring to study with her. Elected abbess of her
convent, Hildegard wielded as much earthly power as many a worldly ruler.
She pursued a remarkable career as administrator, herbalist, mystic,
composer, and playwright, always stressing God's goodness and mercy. By the
end of her long life she was famed far beyond her convent walls, advising
(and sometimes chastising) popes, princes, and potentates. Both her music
and her writings are enjoying renewed popularity today.
(1451-1504)
After a too-colorful childhood spent shuttling between her pious mother
and her debauched half brother (King Enrique IV),
Isabella succeeded to the throne of Castile in her own right. She arranged,
against opposition and the threat of imprisonment, to marry her second
cousin, Ferdinand of Aragon, thus uniting the two kingdoms into the modern
nation of Spain. As queen, she reformed the legal system but persecuted the
Jews, and helped direct the reconquest of the Moorish kingdom of Grenada.
She financed the expedition of a dubious adventurer who called himself
Columbus.
(
752-803 C.E.)
Widow of the Emperor Leo IV, she pursued a sectarian religious policy at
the expense of political matters. After decades of truly
"Byzantine" intrigue, she ordered her own son blinded so that she
could ascend the throne herself (the succession being barred to the
disabled). This act provided the pretext for the crowning of Charlemagne as
Holy Roman Emperor. Ambitious, able, devious, and tenacious, Irene was
deposed in 803 and died in exile.
(died 61 C.E.)
Led an initially successful revolt against the Romans, who had taken her
country, raped her daughters, imposed severe taxation, and subjected
Boudicca herself to a public scourging. She was eventually defeated and died
by suicide, but not before she had given the Romans the fright of a
generation and caused the deaths of tens of thousands of legionaries. Recent
Celtic scholarship has brought to light further information on this truly
remarkable woman, which is supplemented by archaeology and literary
Celtic sources relating to the position of women, especially mythological
warrior queens such as the Irish Medb (Maeve).
(third
century, C.E.)
Widow of Palmyra's ruler Adainat, Zenobia, in 271 C.E., took advantage of
Rome's temporary inattention to send her generals on
a campaign of conquest that for a time incorporated the whole of the Middle
East, from Egypt to Anatolia (Turkey) under her rule. She consciously
modeled herself on Cleopatra and claimed to be a descendant. Her rule,
though it ended in military defeat by Rome, was noted for tolerance and for
fostering a wide-ranging trade with Abyssinia, Arabia, and India. Zenobia
not only sent forth her generals, she often rode with them on camel or
horseback. When eventually cornered, she successfully talked her way out of
the situation and lived to become a celebrity in Rome.
(ruled
39-42 C.E.)
Since 111 B.C.E., Vietnam had been under the thumb of its huge neighbor
China. When a Chinese general murdered a rebellious Vietnamese nobleman and
raped his widow, Trung Trac, she and her sister, Trung Nhi, roused
the local lords and led a rebellion against the Chinese. They were so
successful that they carved out an independent kingdom of which they were
made queens. It was a golden time for Vietnam, but it ended when the Chinese
sent a huge army to take back the kingdom. The sisters committed suicide,
but they are still honored as heroes in Vietnamese temples.
After the murder of her husband, Gerolamo Riario, she ruled
the Italian city states of Forlì and Imola with a determined hand and
fought with ferocity to save her lands from the predatory Cesare Borgia,
even bearing arms herself. Though she was certainly not a pattern of
conventional virtue (she had a succession of young lovers),
Caterina's spirit was admired by all Italy, and her defeat by Borgia was widely deplored. Nevertheless, she survived to raise her
son, who became a famed captain of mercenaries.
Sammuramat, Queen of Assyria
(ruled
810-805 B.C.E.)
She became regent after the death of her husband, King Shamshi-Adad V and
left a powerful impression of splendor and prosperity. She is credited with
rebuilding the city of Babylon and left many monuments and personal inscriptions.
Aethelflaeda, Lady of the Mercians
(d.
918 C.E.)
This daughter of Alfred the Great married Aethelred of the kingdom of
Mercia. When she was left a widow in 911, she ruled in his stead and
acquired a great reputation for wisdom and justice, while coordinating
Mercia's policy with that of Wessex in the reconquest of the Danelaw and the
conquest of Wales. She was killed while fighting the Danes. On her death,
her kingdom passed to her daughter Aelfwyn and was united with the West
Saxon lands of her brother, Edward the Elder, thus establishing the core of
medieval Britain.
Raziya, Sultana of the Muslim Empire of Northern India
(reigned 1236-1240)
She succeeded her father, the Sultan Altamsh (a former slave), whose long
and glorious reign saw great military and cultural successes. She is the
only Muslim woman to rule on Indian soil. She had to deal with religious
conflicts between Sunni and Shia Muslim forces and succeeded in bringing
about the victory of the Sunni. A contemporary historian called her "a
great monarch . . . wise, just, and generous." Nevertheless, she was
toppled in a palace coup by her own army.
Graìnne Mhaol (Grace O'Malley)
(b.
1530)
An Irish princess and "pirate queen" (according to the
English), she was also a renowned war leader. Though married and the mother
of three children, she rose to command of three raiding ships with a total
crew of 200. Her fleet staved off more than one attempted English
invasion. Though caught and jailed for two years, she went right back to her
anti-English activities as soon as she was released. Ultimately, she caused
so much trouble that she was invited to meet with Elizabeth I, who was
favorably impressed and ordered the release of Graìnne's son and brother (who
had been taken as hostages), and awarded her a stipend for life.
"Colorful" hardly begins to describe this remarkable woman.
Margrethe, Queen of Denmark
(1353-1412)
Her father termed her "nature's error" because she had not been
born a man. Daughter of a king of Denmark, widow of a king of Norway,
Margaret ruled first as regent for her minor son, Olaf II. On his early
death, she continued her rule of Denmark and was shortly elected queen of
the Norwegians. When she was asked for aid in expelling Albert of
Mecklenburg from the throne of Sweden, her forces captured him in battle in
1389. Thus she succeeded in uniting all Scandinavia under her rule (in the
Union of Kalmar) and was known as "the Semiramis of the North."
That her success was not a military fluke is demonstrated by the fact that
she instituted administrative structures that held the Union together for
200 years.
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