QUEENS: 

Zoe, Eastern Roman Empress

born 978 to Emperor Constantine VIII, Zoe and her sisters, Theodora and Irene, were the Byzantine ruler's only children. After his death, Zoe's first husband became Emperor as Romanus III from 1028-1034. She survived his death, and married secondly to her lover, who was crowned Michael IV and reigned from 1034 till his death in 1041. After her second husband's demise, Zoe and Theodora ruled together for about two months until Zoe wed a third time, to new Emperor Contantine IX Monomachus. Constantine ruled until 1055, but Zoe did not survive this third husband. After Constantine himself had died, Theodora ruled as sole Empress until her death in 1056. Zoe and Theodora were the final members of the Macedonian dynasty, which had ruled for nearly two centuries. Their sister Irene had married Vsevolod I, Grand Duke of Kiev.

Olga, Regent of Kiev

Probably of Slavic orgin, Olga was born about 880, to an unknown peasant family.  When she was about fourteen years old, she married Igor, the Grand Duke of Kiev. When her husband was assasinated in 945 by Drevlianians, Olga assumed the Regency for their son Svyatoslav, who was still a minor. Olga was a courageous ruler, who hastened the recovery of her country from the terrible wars that had ravaged it, adminstrated reforms, and finally achived revenge upon the Drevlianians for her husband's murder. Olga was also the first Russian ruler to be baptised a Christian, and her pagan son honored her request to be given a Christian burial. She is honored as a Saint in both Ukranian and Russian churches, and is considered a saint of the universal Catholic Church.

While she did not live to see this, it was Olga's grandson, Saint Vladimir, who partook the Christianization and baptism of his people, thusly creating a converted Russia.

Theopano of Byzantium

"A History of the Byzantine State and Society" (Stanford 1997) 492) as follows: "Then the emperor's son Romanus.....fell in love with the statuesque daughter of the owner of a tavern. To end much less shocking liaisons, the empress Theodora and emperor Basil had forced marriages on their heirs that brought ruin to themselves and plagued the empire long afterward. Out of passivity, or wisdom, Constantine let his son marry the woman he loved, blandly pretending that she was well-born. The bride took the name of Leo VI's first wife, St Theophano, whom she in no way resembled."

She subsequently married Nicephorus II Phocas, and then arranged for his murder: (p505) "Worst of all, the empress Theophano had become bored with her austere husband, whose personality was quite unlike her own. She preferred the charming Tzimiskes, whom she had persuaded Nicephorus to summon to the capital. Tzimiskes and the empress therefore plotted to kill Nicephorus, marry and rule together..... Two months after the fall of Antioch, Theophano let Tzimiskes and his confederates into the palace. After a moment of alarm when they found Nicephorus' bed empty, they discovered the ascetic emperor asleep on the floor in front of his icons and murdered him......

Then what is wrong with Theophano? She was a succesful empress and produced a capable heir to the throne. When her her first husband died leaving her a widow with small children, she married the best general of empire. It aparently was a wise politcal move. When Nicephorus outlived his glory and everybody get tired of him, she supplanted him with even better choice. If she fell in love with Tzimiskes, it was only natural for young beautiful woman, married to an elderly husband. At least her choice was not some dude with good looking and empty head, but one of the best emperors in Byzantine history. Certainly, she arranged Nicephorus' murder, but that was par for the course in coups of the day. :-) This move turned bad for her personally, but empire obviously benefitted from her actions. -- Andrew Kalinkin

She was latered exiled by the next Emperor John, whom she tried to marry, but whom the patriarch required to be exiled before the coronation could take place.

By Romanus she had a son, who went on to become Emperor Konstantinos VIII.

Almodis de la Marche

Born 1025, Almodis was daughter of Bernard I of de la Marche and his wife, Amelia. She was married firstly to Hugh V, Seigneur of Lusignan, by whom she had son Hugh VI. She divorced her first husband for Pons of Toulouse, only to leave him for Raimond Berenger, the Count of Barcelona. Raimond abducted her sometime the previous year, in Narbonne, with the aid of a fleet sent north by his ally the Muslim Emir of Tortosa. Although she appears at his side in 1054, they may not have sought formally to marry until closer to 1056, when their excommunication for the attempt was lifted after some months. Almodis helped secure Raymond Berenguer's purchase of Carcassonne, probably as an appanage for Pere Berenguer, to allow her own twin sons by Ramon Berenguer I to succeed in Barcelona. After her (third) husband's death in 1076, their twin sons succeeded, but one murdered the other 10 years later. She died the 16th of October in 1071 by her stepson Peter Berenger, who was excommunicated, disinherited, and exiled. 

Matilda of Boulogne, Queen of England

Matilda of Boulogne, queen of England 1135-52, wife of King Stephen, was the daughter of Eustace III, count of Boulogne. Matilda proved herself a vigorous and effective politician in her own right, one of a number of such tough twelfth century bluestockings such as her namesake and rival, the Empress Matilda; Eleanor of Aquitain; or the last two Languedoc Ermengards, of Narbonne and Béziers. As well as being heiress to one of the more strategic counties of north west Europe and a large fief centred on Essex, Matilda was closely related to the kings of Jerusalem, the counts of Flanders, and the kings of Scotland (Malcolm III was her maternal grandfather). Through her mother she was a direct descendant of Ethelred the Unready; through her father, of Charlemagne. Married to Stephen of Blois in 1125, Matilda brought to her husband spectacular lineage, significant wealth and a determination and energy which he often lacked. It was from her county that Stephen launched his successful coup in 1135. In 1138, Matilda supervised the capture of Dover castle from the Empress's partisans. The following year, she negotiated a treaty with her uncle, David I of Scotland. In 1140, she arranged a marriage alliance with France and discussed the prospects of peace with Robert of Gloucester at a conference at Bath. In 1141 Matilda's role was crucial for the survival of Stephen's cause. She rallied his supporters after the king's defeat and capture at Lincoln; harried diplomatically the turncoat bishop of Winchester, finally winning him back to Stephen's side; manipulated the favours of the Londoners against the Empress; and played an important role in the rout of the king's enemies at Winchester. The royalist 'Gesta Stephani' admiringly described Matilda as 'a woman of subtlety and a man's resolution' who 'bore herself with the valour of a man.' In later years she seems to have concentrated on the prospects of her children, in particular her son and heir, Eustace. In her vigorous pursuit of her family's interest and her ability to replace her husband when required, Matilda conformed to a type of medieval heiress far removed from the blushing, playful, politically neutered objects of contemporary romancers' imagined devotions. -- from Who's Who in Early Medieval England, C. Tyerman, Shepheard-Walwyn, Ltd., London, 1996.

The Political History of England, Vol II, George Burton Adams Longmans Green and Co, 1905 says: "Stephen was at this time towards forty years old,an age which promised mature judgment and vigorous rule. His wife, who bore the name of Matilda, so common in the Norman house, was a woman of unusual spirit and energy, and devotedly attached to him. She stood through her mother, daughter of Malcolm and Margaret of Scotland, in the same relationship to the empress Matilda that her husband did, and her descendants would therefore be equally near aking to the old Saxon dynasty as those of the Empress."

She passed away at Heningham Castle in Kent on May 3, 1151, and was buried in the abbey of Feversham, which she and Stephen had founded in their gratitude for victory.

Phillipa of Hainault, Queen of England

Philippa's father was William the Good, count of Hainaut (in modern Belgium) and Holland, and her mother, Jeanne de Valois, was the granddaughter of King Philip III of France. She was married to Edward in October 1327, nine months after he ascended the throne. Accompanying him on his expeditions to Scotland (1333) and Flanders (1338-40), she won universal respect for her gentleness and compassion. In 1347 she interceded and saved the lives of six burghers of Calais, Fr., whom Edward had threatened to execute. Unlike earlier foreign queens of England, she did not alienate the English barons by bringing large numbers of her countrymen to the royal court.

She was patron to the Hainauter chronicler Jean Froissart, who served as her secretary from 1361 until her death. Queen's College, Oxford University, was founded by her chaplain and named after her. Philippa bore Edward five daughters and seven sons; five of their sons were prominent in 14th-century politics. 

Leonor of Castile: 

This much is well established, that all the royal children shared the Plantagenet beauty. Some of the daughters were blond and blue-eyed, some were cast in the duskier mold of Castile. Eleanor, the first, seems to have been the great beauty of the family. The second, Joanna, who was born at Acre and named after her maternal grandmother, was dark and of an imperious temper. She was left for several years at the court of Castile with her grandparents, who worshipped her, and she seems even atthat tender age to have carried things off with a high hand. They could not fail to be bright, these children of a really great father and a vital and beautiful mother; all but one, and that story will have to be told later.
"The first months at home were sad ones. The health of Prince Henry, the only son left after John's death, grew steadily worse. The king and queen did everything possible to save him. His wasted frame was kept wrapped in the skins of newly slaughtered sheep,in the hope that the animal heat would revive his energies. He was filled with all manner of queer medicinal mixtures. Wax replicas of his body were sent about to shrines to be burned in oil; a very strange superstition of that particular day.Nothing seemed to have any beneficial effect, and so finally they came to the last resort. A large number of poor widows were hired to supplement the efforts of the royal confessors by performing vigils ceaselessly for his recovery. Their mournful supplications, which filled the air at all hours, had no more effect than the weird efforts of the medical men. The heir to the throne, having been removed to Merton, passed away there.

"Queen Eleanor had been raised in the court of her half brother, Alfonso of Castile, and so had acquired a taste for the arts and sciences. Alfonso, called `El Sabio' by his subjects, was both a scholar and a poet and he kept his court filled with learned men. It was not surprising, therefore, that Eleanor had an appetite for culture which did not find much satisfaction in the atmosphere of the English court. Even opportunities for reading were limited, the royal library consisting of three books, and these considered to be of such value that they could not be reached easily; they were locked up with the royal jewels. It is on record that both the king and queen played chess. One of the dignitaries of the Knights Templar in France presented Edward with a chessboard made of jasper and men of crystal. The king gave it in turn to Eleanor. The royal couple were inclined to the game, no doubt, by the commonly accepted but erroneous belief of that day that King Solomon had invented it...

Edward's queen was greatly loved in the country. She was not as brilliantly lovely as Isabella, nor to be compared for vivacity and charm with Eleanor of Aquitaine, who had beenthe toast of Europe. There were, however, a warmth and sweetness about her which won all hearts. Her endearing qualities may still be discerned from the statue in bronze on her tomb in Westminister Abbey. It was executed immediately after her death by a fine English sculptor, William Torell. Her delicate features are there shown in a gentle smile. The dusky softness of her long tresses can only be guessed at, but they form a pleasing background for her face.
"It was not her beauty alone which appealed to the people. She was generous and thoughtful in the extreme, as witness her will. It contained bequests for all who had served her, even in the most menial capacities...The queen remembered her ladies-in-waiting with enough to serve as marriage portions...The nature of some of the bequests made it clear that she had revised her will a very short time before the end, which is an evidence of great thoughtfulness. One of the chronicles of the day had this to say of her: `To our nation she was a loving mother, the column and pillar of the whole nation.'
"Wax candles burned without dimming around her tomb in the abbey for more than three hundred years, a proof that the affections she had inspiredwere not soon forgotten.

Edward was fond of his little brood but had small chance to see them. He still had the reduction of Kenilworth on his hands and he was dreaming of going on what he had hoped would prove the final Crusade...It was not until the spring of 1270 that he was free to fulfill his great ambition. Eleanor was determined to go with him.
"Nothing ought to part those whom God hath joined.' she declared. 
The way to heaven is as near, if not nearer, from Syria as from England or my native Spain...'"