11. 300-900 The Age of Queens and Empresses

All around the world, in the early middle ages, women rose to power-- to the top of the hierarchy. The experiences of these women and those they ruled set precedents that lingered. They ruled differently then men, fought hard to consolidate power, and had to consider carefully how marriage and children would shift their hold on power. 

The beginning of the middle or medieval era was a Middle Age for Europe, a Golden Age for the Byzantines and China. In most places the period went down as a harsh lesson in female leadership. Across the world, women rose to top positions in monarchies and empires but it was not the beginning of a trend– their successors tried to cover up the legacies of power held by these incredible Queens and Empresses, which tells us a great deal about these societies and the space they allowed for women at least in retrospect

Byzantine Empire: With the collapse of the western Roman empire, the eastern Roman empire or Byzantium grew into a Golden Age. For women this is a period of transition from pagan to Christian theology, a transition from diverse deities that included the feminine to the acceptance of an all male God. Women had been instrumental in the spreading of Christianity and many became martyrs in the quest to spread the gospel. Despite the instrumental role of women, the spread of Christianity ultimately led to further subordination as the patriarchal governing structures adopted it.

When most people think of Byzantium they probably remember Constantine the first. He was tolerant of all religions within the empire and eventually worshiped Christianity to some extent. His so-called conversion ended the long persecution of Christians and began the process of clamping down on pagan practices. The altar to the Goddess of Victory was removed from the Senate House. But pagans still existed and led throughout the Empire. Byzantium was importantly inclusive as the empire was vast and expansive. People of different ethnicities, backgrounds, and cultures thrived within the empire. Even its definition of gender was less restrictive and binary. Mary of Egypt, considered a saint in the eastern orthodox Christian tradition, achieved Sainthood after she gave up prostitution for a pious life in the desert. She cut her hair and impersonated a man. She is depicted in Byzantine art as masculine, with short hair and no curves. Notably different from depictions of the feminine Virgin Mary for example. This was a common trope of the era: women could attain holiness and male-like virtue by transcending the limitations of her sex. 

It is in this context that female leaders rose to power in Byzantium, although none ruled the empire out right, but rather as a consort to the emperor. Most of the wives of the emperors are known and recorded in history, but several Byzantine empresses are notable for interesting reasons. 

Helena was the mother to Constantine the Great. Her origins were likely humble. She may have even been a prostitute, because she later became a concubine to Constantius (Constantine’s father). She disappears from the historic record for a bit and reemerges when her son becomes emperor and in 306 CE, Helena moved to his court. Constantine elevated her to Augusta, which means that she was considered an empress and a holy person.

Constantine‘s wife Fausta is also interesting here because her inclusion in history puts a different light on Constantine’s legacy. Exactly what happened is debated, here’s what definitely happened: Constantine‘s wife, Fausta, died in a bath and he was blamed by his critics for her death. A bath is not a traditional space for execution, so why was she killed there? This has riddled historians for a long time. The official line is that Fausta accused Constatines oldest son from a previous marriage of raping her. Constantine, believing her, had his oldest son and heir promptly executed, before his mother Helena could intervene and convince him that perhaps Fausta had lied? 

Constantine then turned his rage on Fausta and had her locked and smothered in a bath. But an emerging and modern theory is that the affair was consentual, as the son was closer to her age than Constantine, and she died in the bath having an abortion to cover it up. Whether her death was an accident, murder, or she was forced to have an abortion is uncertain. But what we do know is that she was locked in the spa and she died. For Constantine, wives were disposable. Fausta had given birth to three future emperors. Her death tells us a great deal about the rights of elite men compared to the rights of elite women. It also tells us that abortion practices were known.

For her part Helena was distraught by these events and left on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. According to tradition, Helena found three crosses, including perhaps the most valuable relic to Christians: the cross and nails Jesus Christ died on. Three people touched the cross and the third was healed. Two churches were constructed there by her. 

The empire grew and thrived over the next several centuries and by the sixth century reached its golden age. Here and across the globe, a woman’s class and path to power can often be remarkable. Women had incredible rags to riches stories, as some of the most powerful women in world history started as slaves and prostitutes. 

Theodora reigned as empress of the Byzantine Empire alongside her husband, Emperor Justinian I, from 527 CE until her death in 548 CE. She came to the court as an actress, stripper, and maybe prostitute, and won a beauty contest catching the heart of Justinian. After their marriage, they ruled the empire together. Everything we know about her comes from pretty biased contemporary historians: one is the court histories written by Procopius ordered by Justinian, and the other is a Secret History also by Procopius (how’s that for a plot twist), that considers Justinian and Theodora to be the worst thing to happen to Byzantium, like ever. Sources from the period are problematic for Theodora as they are all written by men, and because a Byzantine woman doing anything but being pretty and submissive would have been seen as improper. Procopius said she was scheming, unprincipled, and immoral– as most assertive and powerful women were often portrayed. He wrote of lurid sexual scandals she was supposedly involved in. But nevertheless, she was a valuable partner who was directly involved in state affairs. 

During a riot that broke out in Constantinople, Theodora convinced Justinian not to flee. Although probably not verbatim, Procopius credited her as saying, “I do not care whether or not it is proper for a woman to give brave counsel to frightened men; but in moments of extreme danger, conscience is the only guide. Every man who is born into the light of day must sooner or later die; and how can an Emperor ever allow himself to become a fugitive? If you, my Lord, wish to save your skin, you will have no difficulty in doing so. We are rich, there is the sea, there too are our ships. But consider first whether, when you reach safety, you will not regret that you did not choose death in preference. As for me, I stand by the ancient saying: royalty makes the best shroud.”

Theodora’s influence was palpable everywhere. She led to the downfall of prominent men, including a pope– it’s no wonder Procopius wrote so poorly of her. Theodora was known for her social reforms and her charitable work at orphanages, hospitals, and  a home for former prostitutes seeking to reenter respectable society. When Justinian fell ill with Bubonic plague that was ravaging the world, Theodora ruled alone demonstrating control, political savvy, and perhaps some vindictiveness against her court rivals. 

When she died Justinian didn’t have the same flare for leadership.

Francia: Theodora would have known and corresponded with other queens around the world– especially in Europe. Western Europe was politically less stable than their Byzantine counterparts. The small kingdoms that made up this region were constantly raiding and murdering one another. So instead of a continuing empire, warlords used the title of "king."  They considered themselves part of the Roman world and worked to emulate the Romans. 

Most of what we know about women from this time comes from The Ten Books of History, by Gregory, Bishop of Tours. He clearly favored some women over others and employed common tropes about women– often. 

Radegund for example, lived in Francia or modern day-ish France. She was a captured Thuringia princess who was forced to marry her enemy after her entire family was murdered in front of her in order to unite two kingdoms. She wrote eloquently about the experience providing psychological insight into how this conflict may have impacted elite women of the time. Radegund had agency though, after giving birth to a son, she refused the sexual advances of the king and dedicated herself to the church. She eventually convinced him to let her live out her days in a convent where she crushed it. Radegund‘s church became one of the most powerful and influential in Western Europe after she successfully negotiated to get a piece of Helena’s true cross of Christ. For Radegund, the opportunity to study, serve, and avoid her husband would have been a great reprieve.

When her husband died, he left behind him five sons from various marriages. Through his warring and violence he had united Francia under the Merovingian family. But upon his death his kingdom was divided between four of his sons, not Radegund’s because he was considered a bastard. The two youngest sons inherited the smallest portions of the kingdom and spent the remainder of their lives trying to expand, warring against their brothers. The third son waited until he was older to marry a princess and legitimize his claims. Brunhild, a Visigoth Princess from Spain was given land and an elaborate Roman style wedding to further ally the Visigoths and Francia.

The fourth son married three times in his lifetime and was known for his fornication with enslaved women of the palace. His second wife was Brunhild‘s older sister, Galswintha, Who agreed to marry him only so long as he promised to give up this habit. He did, but shortly after their marriage she discovered that he had picked up his shenanigans with an enslaved woman named Fredegund. Shortly after this discovery, Galswintha was found dead in her bed and within the month Fredegund was married to the king— the first of at least 12 murders that would be credibly linked back to this rags-to-riches queen. As the third wife of the king, Fredegund had to contend with the legitimacy of her stepchildren and conspired to put those children into danger so that her own children would rule and inherit the kingdom. Fredegund’s life was marked with tragedy as so many of her sons failed to survive childhood. She was a nasty queen who held onto power through violence, trickery, and assassination. After killing Brunhild’s sister she also killed her husband. The rivalry between these two queens seems almost out of a story book. Take all of this with a grain of salt– however because Gregory had clearly chosen to paint Fredegund as his femme fatal to Brunhild’s heroine of sorts.


Brunhild was not a weak queen, she was the master of politics, trained and prepared to be a queen her entire life. Brunhild forged alliances that helped her maintain her power, negotiated prominent marriages for her daughter and granddaughters. She became the first queen of the medieval era to oversee a trial, was A signer and lead negotiator in the first treaty of Western Europe, and while most of her contemporaries abhorred female leaders, they had to admit she was incredible.

These two rival queens held on to power for the better part of a century and would provide the stability of the sons could not. The territory these two queen regions controlled spanned modern-day France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxenberg, western and southern Germany, and parts of Switzerland. In the medieval period, Charlemagne would be the only ruler to briefly control more territory than these two women. Multiple husbands, and sons would come and go, but these women provided the consistency their kingdoms needed. In fact, when Brunhild‘s son died at the age of 25, it is written down in the chronicles as a relatively insignificant event. Throughout his life his mother had served as queen regent and even when he came of age, he seemed a relatively unremarkable king. Brunhild had ruled before and would rule again. Throughout their rule, when diplomatic letters would be addressed to their child sons and grandsons, the queens would reply in their own names and title, Domina Regina. Pope Gregory, later Gregory the Great, however, knew where the true power resided, and did not make this mistake, addressing their letters to Brunhild, Queen of the Franks. 

Brunhild concerned herself with her legacy, after securing her kingdoms she focused on the work of the church, and in alliance with the Pope, spreading the mission to the pagans in Britain. Fredegund on the other hand continuously looked to expand her kingdom and proved to be exceptionally gifted at strategy. In one of her armed conflicts against Brunhild, she had all of her soldiers hold sticks to resemble trees in order for them to advance at night. Her use of the strategy predates other references to it. She may have learned the strategy from a previously unknown Celtic past, but for all intents and purposes she invented it. Instead of doing the work of God, she used the spoils of war to reward loyal bishops and buy the church. After years of serving as a manipulative Queen consort, with at least twelve credible murders linked to her, and a decade as queen regent for her son, Fredegund died. And that’s how the chronicler recorded it, “Fredegund died.“ For the death of a ruling queen that wasn’t much fanfare. She was only fifty and When previous rulers had died young and otherwise healthy, there was much speculation that perhaps they had been murdered. For Fredegund, there was no such speculation. What is this bloody queen murdered?

Brunhild carried on, having outlived many of the statesman and the historian Gregory she had begun her career with— she even outlived both of her children and most of her grandchildren. She revived old Roman trading networks and roads, showed incredible mercy to her rival's living son, championed battered women in her quest to purify the church, and was metropolitan and tolerant even of the Jews in her kingdom. Many of her initiatives and reforms required raising taxes on the aristocracy and the church, both of whom worked for exemptions or actively against her.

But into her 70s, Brunhild and her four grandsons would fall shortly after their father died in his prime, having finally united the Franks. The boys, none older than eleven, would go into battle against Fredegund‘s son and be betrayed by their Mayor of the Palace. One boy would escape, the youngest sent to be raised by the enemy, and the eldest two executed by an ax. Brunhild would’ve expected in her late age to be exiled or sent to a convent, but instead she was brutally hacked to pieces in the most public way only reserved for kings: whipped, bloodied, and paraded through the masses before trampled by a wild horse. She was accused of all of Fredegund’s crimes and dubbed a king killer. 

Why such a violent death for an aging queen regent? One has to suspect that it was a threat she posed to the new King's claims. She was, after all, the most powerful person in Western Europe. He and his chroniclers used the same old tricks– blaming women in order to elevate their male hero. 

King Chlothar II, the only son of Fredegund to survive into adulthood. He and the betraying aristocracy signed the Edict of Paris one that essentially limited the powers of the King and gave the Mayor of the Palace, who had betrayed Brunhild, and all future mayors, hereditary and lifetime appointments. The result was the rise of the Carolingians, the great great grandfathers of Charlemagne. King Chlothar II erased Brunhild and her entire line from the legal record, and curiously made no effort to honor his mother: burying the knowledge of these two queens for centuries. There are massive discrepancies between the contemporary chroniclers and those even a generation later who expressed disgust for the two queens. Nobles and bishops revised earlier writings to justify their betrayal of Brunhild and her horrific death, adding in lines and imposing warnings if she did not rein in her ambition. Because she outlived Pope Gregory, her champion was not there to defend her piety and credit her for essentially Christianizing Britain. 

There were no Merovingian queen regents before Brunhild’s and Fredegund, and the two that followed them were subsequently murdered or sent to a convent. Other influential women were left out of the record completely. The Carolingian dynasty that followed made a point to write history in such a way that their guys were the heroes and rivals were pure evil. Unfortunately, that means our only sources for the reigns of Brunhild and Fredegund tend to demonize them. 

The Carolingians were careful to get the chronicles telling their rise to power in a way that made them the heroes. Misogyny was a useful tool to do that with. Of course, despite their warnings, women continued to be involved in politics under the Carolingians. Charlemagne's mother, for example, held a great deal of influence. 

Japan: Across the world, however, another queen was breaking barriers and coming to power: Suiko. There was some precedent for female rule. Himiko was an ancient queen of legend, not mentioned in Japanese histories. Historians disagree on where her kingdom was. She was noted for being a shaman queen, unmarried, and living in a fortress where she was served by 1,000 women.

Suiko, living centuries later, was well documented. She was the daughter of Emperor Kimmei and at 18 became the empress-consort of Emperor Bidatsu, who reigned 572 to 585. After a short rule by the Emperor Yomei, interclan warfare over the succession broke out. Suiko's brother, Emperor Sujun or Sushu, reigned next but was murdered in 592. Her uncle, Soga Umako, a powerful clan leader, who was likely behind Sushu's murder, convinced Suiko to take the throne, with another of Umako's nephews, Shotoku, acting as regent who actually administered government. Suiko reigned as Empress for 30 years. 

Empress Suiko is credited with ordering the promotion of Buddhism beginning in 594. It had been the religion of her family, the Soga. During her reign, Buddhism became firmly established; the second article of the 17 article constitution instituted under her reign promoted Buddhist worship, and she sponsored Buddhist temples and monasteries.

It was also during Suiko's reign that China first diplomatically recognized Japan, and Chinese influence increased, including bringing in the Chinese calendar and the Chinese system of government bureaucracy. Chinese monks, artists, and scholars also were brought into Japan in her reign. The power of the emperor also became stronger under her rule.

Korea: To the north, in Korea, Queen Seondeok became the first female monarch in the Kingdom of Silla starting in 632. Unlike other places, her rule would lay the groundwork for more female rulers. Unfortunately, so much of her rule has been lost to time. 

She ruled for 15 years and used skillful diplomacy to form a stronger alliance with Tang China and secure Sillan independence. Her strong foreign policy allowed Seondeok to form alliances with leading families of Silla. She arranged marriages between prominent families and created a power bloc that would unify the Korean Peninsula under her rule and end the Three Kingdoms period.

Seondeok faced a challenge from Lord Bidam. He rallied supporters under the motto, "Women rulers cannot rule the country." The legend states that a falling star convinced him that the queen too would fall soon. To counter the narrative, Seondeok flew a flaming kite.

After 10 days, Bidam and his co-conspirators were seized and executed. But Seondeok died of natural causes during this time. She, unlike other female monarchs around the world, had the chance to choose a successor and left her kingdom to another woman–her cousin Queen Jindeok.

The fact that another ruling queen followed immediately after Seondeok's reign proves that she was an able and astute ruler. The Silla Kingdom would also boast Korea's third and final female ruler, Queen Jinseong, who ruled nearly two hundred years later from 887 to 897.

China: Both Theodora and Fredegund found paths to power through prostitution and cruelty– but this wasn’t only true in the west. In China, shortly after their time, another empress was rising: Wu Zeitan. Wu has a reputation of being one of the most cruel rulers in China’s history– which again probably says more about the chroniclers than it does about her.

The Tang Dynasty, during which she ruled, was a Golden Age for China– producing gorgeous art and culture. During the Tang, the Silk Roads were at their height of influence. During Wu’s life, overland trade routes brought massive entrepreneurial opportunities with the West and other parts of Eurasia, making the capital of the Tang Empire the most cosmopolitan of the world’s cities. Although merchants dealt for and traded many goods, commerce involving textiles, minerals, and spices was particularly prominent. With such avenues of contact, Tang China was ready for changes in society and culture. Importantly, Tang women were assertive, active, and more visible; they rode horses, donned male attire, and participated in politics.

Wu was a master of politics. She came to the court as a concubine, one of many, to the emperor.  She bore him four boys and earned his favoritism. She earned the respect of the court and even the Empress! She knew the ins and outs of court because attendants would report gossip and even trivial events. 

Greedy for power, she looked to eliminate the Empress Wang. After giving birth to a baby daughter, she brought her to the empress to hold. When the Empress Wang had played with the baby, Wu killed her own infant daughter and blamed the murder on Empress Wang. The emperor believed this and promoted Wu to Empress. Wu immediately put Wang and her other rivals to death, exiling their families. 

She purged the court of those disloyal to her. When the emperor died, her son became emperor, and her a regent where she could rule from the shadows. But being a puppet emperor had its limitations and in 690, she conferred upon herself the title “Holy and Divine Emperor,” founded what she called the “Zhou dynasty” and  ruled for the next fifteen years as the only woman emperor in Chinese history, until she was finally deposed in a coup.

Male historians recorded her legacy with contempt– quick to point out the horrific and cruel ways with which she ruled. But this was not uncommon for male leaders around the world. It’s important to acknowledge that she ruled in a Golden Age. She recruited qualified officials to do important jobs, helped to spread Buddhism, expanded the empire, sponsored the writing of agricultural texts to improve production. Finally, Wu represents the rare elite woman to support the women behind her. She campaigned to improve the status of women. She advised scholars to write and edit biographies of exemplary women. Wu believed the ideal emperor was one who ruled as a mother does over her children. 

Conclusion: Women rulers were possible and somewhat common in monarchies throughout world history. Women came to power as consorts, regents, and through closeness with power, as enslaved people and prostitutes. 

We cannot separate the stories of these women from the men who recorded them. So many of them were portrayed as evil, violent, and horrible. It’s possible that they were, but perhaps those chroniclers were unaccustomed to women outside their domestic roles. How different would our knowledge of these women be if women had recorded them? 

[Setting up the Inquiry] It’s important to ask how the existence of female rulers influenced the lives of everyday women in the kingdoms? Did they reach back and support female education and rights to land ownership and bodily autonomy? How did these women leave space for future female leaders? And was their rule successful?

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Bibliography

Cartwright, Mark. "Empress Theodora." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified April 03, 2018. https://www.worldhistory.org/Empress_Theodora/.

Cartwright, Mark. "Queen Himiko." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified May 01, 2017. https://www.worldhistory.org/Queen_Himiko/.

Lewis, Jone Johnson. "Empress Suiko of Japan." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/empress-suiko-of-japan-biography-3528831 (accessed June 6, 2022). 

Miles, Rosalind. The Women’s History of the World. London, UK: Harper Collins Publishers, 1988.

​​Strayer, R. and Nelson, E., Ways Of The World. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016.

Primary AUTHOR:

Kelsie Brook Eckert

Primary Reviewer:

Dr. Jonathan Couser

Consulting Team

Editors

Kelsie Brook Eckert, Project Director
Coordinator of Social Studies Education at Plymouth State University

Dr. Nancy Locklin-Sofer, Consultant
Professor of History at Maryville University. 

Chloe Gardner, Consultant
PhD Candidate in Religious Studies at Edinburgh University

Dr. Whitney Howarth, Consultant
Former Professor of History at Plymouth State University

Jacqui Nelson, Consultant
Teaching Lecturer of Military History at Plymouth State University

​Maria Concepcion Marquez Sandoval
PhD Candidate in History at Arizona University

Amy Flanders
Humanities Teacher, Moultonborough Academy
Ron Kaiser
Humanities Teacher, Moultonborough Academy
Chris Canfield
Humanities Teacher, Moultonborough Academy

Reviewers

Ancient:
Dr. Kristin Heineman
Professor of History at Colorado State University
Dr. Bonnie Rock-McCutcheon
Professor of History at Wilson College
Sarah Stone
PhD Candidate in Religious Studies at Edinburgh University
Medieval:
Dr. Katherine Koh
Professor of History at La Sierra University
Dr. Jonathan Couser
Professor of History at Plymouth State University
Dr. Shahla Haeri
Professor of History at Boston University 
Lauren Cole
PhD Candidate in History at Northwestern University
Modern:
Dr. Jack Gronau
Professor of History at Northeastern University