Medieval and Renaissance France - Women's History
Merovingian Frankish Queens
The queens in the Merovingian dynasty wielded an unexpected amount of power, often as regents or wives or mothers.
Adela of Normandy, Countess of Blois
Adela of Normandy, Countess of Blois biography - a profile of the Countess of Blois, who functioned virtually as a queen given her husband's land and wealth.
Alix of France, Countess of Blois
Alix of France biography - profile of Alix of France, daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and her first husband, Louis VII of France.
Anne of Brittany
Anne of Brittany, twice Queen of France, failed to keep Brittany separate from France.
Basina
Basina, who led a rebellion of nuns from their convent, was a member of the Merovingian family and a daughter of the king of Neustria.
Blanche of Castile
Wife of Louis VIII of France and mother of King Louis IX, Blanche of Castile was regent of France, was involved in a number of military ventures and served as an advisor to his son when he assumed power.
Brunhilde
A Visigoth princess, she married a Frankish king, then revenged her murdered sister by starting a 40-year war with a rival kingdom. She fought for her son, grandsons and great-grandson, but was finally defeated and the kingdom lost to the rival family.
Saint Clotilde
Clotilde, considered a saint in the Roman Catholic church by the French, is credited with bringing her husband, the first king to unify the Franks, to the Catholic fold.
Constance of Castile 1141 - 1160
Biography of Constance of Castile, queen consort of Louis VII of France after his divorce from Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen of France and England through her two marriages and ruler of her own territories by right of birth, was one of the most powerful women of the world in the twelfth century. This profile highlights her key contributions.
Emma, Queen of Franks
Wife of Lothair, King of Franks, rumor had her poisoning her son, Louis V, and thus bringing to an end the Carolingian dynasty. But the charge is likely false.
Fredegund
She worked her way up from servant to mistress to queen consort, and then ruled as her son's regent. She talked her husband into murdering his second wife, but that wife's sister, Brunhilde, queen of the neighboring kingdom, wanted revenge -- and so followed forty years of war. Fredegund is chiefly remembered for her assassinations and other cruelties.
Joan of Arc and Catherine of Siena
Francis C. Lowell in 1896 compared Joan of Arc and Catherine of Siena, religious mystics who lived at about the same time.
Judith of France
Biography of Judith, daughter of king Charles the Bald, who married two Anglo Saxon kings and then a Count of Flanders.
Louise of Savoy
A biography of Louise of Savoy, influential French royal who was the mother of a king of France, and served as regent for her son.
Louise of Savoy
Louise of Savoy is, in this picture from a manuscript miniature, depicted with her firm hand on the tiller of France.
Marguerite of Navarre - Margaret of Navarre - Marguerite of Angoulême
A biography of Marguerite of Navarre, Renaissance woman writer.
Marie of France, Countess of Champagne
Marie of France biography - profile of the Countess of Champagne, daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Louis VII of France, and her alleged connection to the medieval courts of love.
Radegund
Medieval queen Radegund maintained her piety through her marriage -- she was won as war spoils by her husband -- and after leaving her husband, she founded a convent that still exists.
Dhuoda
Poet in the ninth century. Translations, background and bibliography.