num_pages: 384
description: The remarkable little-known story of two trailblazing women in the Early Middle Ages who wielded immense power only to be vilified for daring to rule.Brunhild was a Spanish princess raised to be married off for the sake of alliance-building. Her sister-in-law Fredegund started out as a lowly palace slave. And yetin the 6th-century Merovingian Empire where women were excluded from noble succession and royal politics was a blood sportthese two iron-willed strategists reigned over vast realms for decades changing the face of Europe.The two queens commanded armies and negotiated with kings and popes. They formed coalitions and broke them mothered children and lost them. They fought a years-long civil waragainst each other. With ingenuity and skill they battled to stay alive in the game of statecraft and in the process laid the foundations of what would one day be Charlemagnes empire. Yet after Brunhild and Fredegunds deathsone gentle the other horrifictheir stories were rewritten their names consigned to slander and legend.In The Dark Queens award-winning writer Shelley Puhak sets the record straight. She resurrects two very real women in all their complexity painting a richly detailed portrait of an unfamiliar time and striking at the roots of some of our cultures stubbornest myths about female power. The Dark Queens offers proof that the relationships between women can transform the world.
language: English
title: The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry That Forged the Medieval World
publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing