Women Warriors - Medieval
Aethelflaed
Daughter of Alfred the Great, she led the Mercian Army and helped build Mercia's defenses against the Danish invaders.
Amalasuntha - Queen of the Goths
Regent Queen of the Ostrogoths, her murder became the rationale for Justinian's invasion of Italy and defeat of the Goths. Unfortunately, we have only a few very biased sources for her life, but this profile attempts to read between the lines and come as close as we can to an objective telling of her story.
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.
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.
Elizabeth I of England
From your About Guide to Women's History: the life and writings of Queen Elizabeth I of England.
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.
Queen Isabella I of Spain
Queen of Castile and Aragon, she ruled equally with her husband, Ferdinand. She's known for her role in ending the Moorish rule over part of Spain; read about other reasons she's remembered.
Margaret of Anjou
A profile of Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England who took an active part in her husband's administration and led the Lancastrians in the early years of the War of the Roses.
Mary I
Daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, Mary's reign in England attempted to restore Roman Catholicism. The execution of Protestants as heretics earned her the sobriquet "Bloody Mary."
Empress Matilda (Maud)
Matilda of England, widow of Emperor Henry V, was named by her father, Henry I, as queen of England. But her cousin Stephen took power instead, and Matilda (or Maud) then had to fight for her crown.
Anna Nzinga
Anna Nzinga, warrior queen in what is today Angola, who a resistance campaign against the Portuguese and against slave trading.
Urraca of Leon and Castile
Urraca of Leon and Castile, who ruled as a sovereign monarch in medieval Spain, was responsible for armies that challenged the Muslims in Spain and for battles with her ex-husband, Alfonso I of Aragon.