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Warrior Queens

Printed From: History Community ~ All Empires
Category: General History
Forum Name: Women's History
Forum Discription: Discuss women in history and other historical topics from a feminine perspective !
URL: http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=25181
Printed Date: 28-Mar-2024 at 10:16
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Topic: Warrior Queens
Posted By: Penelope
Subject: Warrior Queens
Date Posted: 16-Aug-2008 at 10:15

Contrary to popular belief, there were many Queens, who personally led armies into battle. Many who presided over some of the most important battles in human history.

Here we will pay homage to these overlooked figures, by simply discussing the battles they may have won or lost.
 
The first Queen that i would like to mention, is a Chinese Queen. Her name is Fù Hǎo. In the inscriptions on the Shang Dynasty bone artifacts unearthed at Yinxu(which make this unquestionable), she is shown to have marched at the head of numerous military campaigns. She was the wife of Wu Ding, the King of China(Shang Dynasty), at this time, there were no "emperors".  It was the King who sent his Queen, to confront a gigantic Tu tribe army,whom had threatened the Shang for generations. Fu Hao marched at the head of the army, and defeated the Tu once and for all. She then marched on to conquer the Yi, Qiang, and Ba. The battle against the Ba is recorded as being the earliest recorded large scale ambush in history. Fu Hao had close to 15,000 troops at her command, as well as many important generals. She was the most powerful military leader on earth during her time and this highly unusual status is confirmed by the many weapons, including great battle-axes, unearthed from her magnificent tomb.
 
At her death, King Wu Ding constructed her tomb on the edge of the royal cemetary at his capital Yin. He later made sacrifices here in hope for her spiritual assistance in defeating the attacking Gong, who threatened to completely wipe out the Shang Dynasty. The tomb is open to the public.


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The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations.



Replies:
Posted By: Paul
Date Posted: 16-Aug-2008 at 22:36
I believe there were an awful lot in chinese history.
 
In the UK the most famous perhaps is Bodica, though perhaps the reality is somewhat less glamourous than the Arthurian style myth that surrounds her.
 
Another is Aethelflaed of Mercia who lead an army against the Vikings.
 
Isabelle of England, not remotely like she was portrayed in Braveheart.
 
 
 


Posted By: Reginmund
Date Posted: 16-Aug-2008 at 23:42
The chick who defeated Cyrus, Tomyris of the Massagetae.

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Posted By: Bernard Woolley
Date Posted: 02-Sep-2008 at 04:59
Kahina was a Berber queen who held back the Ummayyad conquest of North Africa, soundly defeating their first invasion of her territory. After retreating to Libya, the Ummayyads launched a second invasion and managed to defeat and kill her.
 
There is also the Empress Jingu of Japan, who is supposed to have led an invasion of Korea in the third century. She was traditionally considered the 15th emperor of Japan, although in the 19th century she was demoted to regent for her son, who became the 15th emperor.


Posted By: Penelope
Date Posted: 03-Sep-2008 at 01:00
Originally posted by Bernard Woolley

Kahina was a Berber queen who held back the Ummayyad conquest of North Africa, soundly defeating their first invasion of her territory. After retreating to Libya, the Ummayyads launched a second invasion and managed to defeat and kill her.
 
There is also the Empress Jingu of Japan, who is supposed to have led an invasion of Korea in the third century. She was traditionally considered the 15th emperor of Japan, although in the 19th century she was demoted to regent for her son, who became the 15th emperor.
 
Yes, i remember watching something on tv about Queen Kahina. After achieving victory over the Ummayyads, she made the terrible mistake of destroying her own cities, thinking that this would cause the Ummayyads to lose interest in returning. This however, obviously turned her own people against her, and caused disunity, since they were the ones who lived in these cities. Kahina failed to realize that the Ummayyad's main objective was to simply spread islam across the world, not to loot or destroy cities. Had she been able to keep her people united, she probably wouldve been able to hold off the Ummayyads.


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The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations.


Posted By: Maharbbal
Date Posted: 03-Sep-2008 at 01:38
The widow Ching was a pirate captain, but can arguably be considered as the ruler of a quasi state.

Margareth Thatcher...

My own favorite is Marozia who led an army that took Rome in the early 10th century.

Then you have all these noble women who defended the castle of their husband who was dead, at the crusades or whatever else.




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I am a free donkey!


Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 03-Sep-2008 at 06:05

Slim pickings then if we have to pick losers as well; like Bodicca! Another Briton; Margret of Anjou in the War of the Roses.

 
I am surprised that Zenobia who took over half the Roman Empire in the east for the better part of two decades is not mentioned. Despite being a loserl quite an accomplishment.
 
 


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Posted By: Count Belisarius
Date Posted: 03-Sep-2008 at 17:36

What about Joan of arc? I wonder if she was cute?Wink of course she got torcheredLOL sorry that was tasteless of meEmbarrassed



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Defenders of Ulthuan, Cult of Asuryan (57 Kills and counting)




Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 03-Sep-2008 at 19:18
^
loser again.
 


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Posted By: Temujin
Date Posted: 03-Sep-2008 at 20:06
Chand Bibi, Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi and Queen Mandukhai from Mongolia.


Posted By: Penelope
Date Posted: 06-Sep-2008 at 08:55

This Queen goes by many names, but the one name that most of us know her by, is Gudit, Queen of Ethiopia, Damot, and Sidam. Also being recognised as the undisputed Queen of Nubia.

Gudit, marching at the head of her army, laid waste to Axum, and its country side. She destroyed churches, and monuments, and attempted to exterminate the remaining members of the royal Axumite Dynasty. She is said to have slain the Emperor, and ascended the throne and reigned for 40 years. Accounts of her violent misdeeds are still to this very day, related among peasants in the countryside of northern Ethiopia. The rock church of Abrea and Atsbeha in eastern Tigray has an intricately carved ceiling which is blackened by soot. Queen Gudit had piled the church full of hay and set it ablaze nine centuries ago. She also sacked and burned the treasury and prison for the male relatives of the Emperor of Ethiopia at Debra Damo. Some Scholars claim that she was a black Jew, of the Agaw people who historically have been numerous in Lasta and converted to Judism centuries earlier. It was during the office of the Patriarch Philotheos of Alexandria when Gudit started her revolt, near the end of the reign of the ruler who had deposed the Abuna Petros. As Taddesse Tamrat explains, at the time "his own death in the conflict, and the military reverses of the kingdom were taken as divine retribution for the sufferings of Abuna Petros." This chronological synchronicity with the tenure of Patriarch Philotheos, and the intervention of king Georgios II of Makuria provides us a date of c.960 for Queen Gudit.
 
"The country of the Habasha has been ruled by a woman for many years now: she has killed the ruler of the Habasha, who was called Hadani.  Until today she rules with complete independence in her own country and the frontier areas of the country of the Hadani, in the southern part of the Habashi." - Ibn Hawqal - contemporary Arab historian.
 
It is also speculated that one of the effects of her reign were the pockets of various languages related to Amharic scattered across southwestern Ethiopia which could have been Axumite military settlements isolated by her conquests and later Sidamo migrations.
 
She has to be on the list.


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The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations.


Posted By: Melisende
Date Posted: 18-Oct-2008 at 07:23
Matilda of Canossa - not a queen but she lead her army in defence of a pope!

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"For my part, I adhere to the maxim of antiquity: The throne is a glorious sepulchre."


Posted By: IamJoseph
Date Posted: 03-Dec-2008 at 09:13
Rebecca, wife of Isaac, who saw further ahead`into the future  than her husband, and switched Jacob for Esau. Had she not done so, then there would be no Jews or Christian religions today.  esau represented Rome. This was akin to an act of war in that Patriachal  space time, but ultimately, Rebecca was acknowledged as being right by her husband Isaac and her son Esau. The rest is history.
 
Women made all the pivotal turns in history, and are accounted as the supreme and final act of creation. A woman is future oriented, while a man is past inclined - it had to be that way because life is vested in the bosom of a woman, who must make decisions best on the future security of the off-spring. The greatest wars are conducted on the battlefield of words.


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Moses - the First Zionist.


Posted By: IamJoseph
Date Posted: 03-Dec-2008 at 09:16
Originally posted by Reginmund

The chick who defeated Cyrus.
 
Esther.


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Moses - the First Zionist.


Posted By: Knights
Date Posted: 03-Dec-2008 at 09:46
I think Reginmund was right in saying Tomyris, Queen of the Massegatae, actually.


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Posted By: Count Belisarius
Date Posted: 03-Dec-2008 at 17:15
There was some kushite queen (can't remember her name, dang it!) anyway she led an army and sacked a roman city in egypt and took the head off a statue of the Emperor Augustus and buried it under a temple doorway  

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Defenders of Ulthuan, Cult of Asuryan (57 Kills and counting)




Posted By: Count Belisarius
Date Posted: 03-Dec-2008 at 17:27
Originally posted by IamJoseph

Originally posted by Reginmund

The chick who defeated Cyrus.
 
Esther.
 
 
Esther? she never lead an army. She was also born about a hundred years after Cyrus the great died  


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Defenders of Ulthuan, Cult of Asuryan (57 Kills and counting)




Posted By: Temujin
Date Posted: 03-Dec-2008 at 18:07
i think he's refering to that Assyrian king who went with all the loot of jerusalem. there's also a famous painting about her assassinating him.


Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 03-Dec-2008 at 18:20

In Chile we have Ines de Suarez, the woman of the conquistador. She was a very couragious soldier that lead the defense of a fort.



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Posted By: Dolphin
Date Posted: 03-Dec-2008 at 18:39
Queen Maeve.



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Posted By: Count Belisarius
Date Posted: 03-Dec-2008 at 20:34
Originally posted by Dolphin

Queen Maeve.

 
 
I didn't know she was real


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Defenders of Ulthuan, Cult of Asuryan (57 Kills and counting)




Posted By: Count Belisarius
Date Posted: 03-Dec-2008 at 20:35
Originally posted by Temujin

i think he's refering to that Assyrian king who went with all the loot of jerusalem. there's also a famous painting about her assassinating him.
 
 
Uh, Eshter didn't assasinate people


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Defenders of Ulthuan, Cult of Asuryan (57 Kills and counting)




Posted By: Tore The Dog
Date Posted: 03-Dec-2008 at 22:14
An sucess story the qeen who maid Etiophia = Taytu Betul (1850-1918)
http://www.geocities.com/jywanza1/AfrikanWarriors.html - http://www.geocities.com/jywanza1/AfrikanWarriors.html


Posted By: edgewaters
Date Posted: 18-Dec-2008 at 06:43

Kubaba, the barmaid.

I am absolutely serious too. She is a queen - the only queen - listed in the Sumerian king lists. Apparently she seized power in Kish and overthrew the kings of Uruk and Lagash, founding a new dynasty. Prior to this, she was a "tavern keeper".

Whether or not she led anyone personally in battle is unknown, but I can't imagine how an innkeep would seize power otherwise.



Posted By: Temujin
Date Posted: 18-Dec-2008 at 17:06
Originally posted by Count Belisarius

Originally posted by Temujin

i think he's refering to that Assyrian king who went with all the loot of jerusalem. there's also a famous painting about her assassinating him.
 
 
Uh, Eshter didn't assasinate people


i reflected a bit over and i think her name was Judith. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_and_Holofernes



Posted By: Penelope
Date Posted: 20-Dec-2008 at 08:36
Another warrior queen who should be mentioned is Candace Amanirenas of Meroe, sometimes called the "one eyed", as a result of losing one of her eyes in battle. She would become one of the most formidable leaders in African history. She was the wife of the Meroitic King Teriteqas, and succeeded him after his death.  A number of Meroitic Queens called Ka'andakes(Candaces)ruled Nubia-Kush just before the birth of Christ. During the reign of Candace Amerienas, Augustus Caesar had become the undisputed master of Rome and its territories and was crowned its first true Emperor. Soon afterwords he ordered his second chief magistrate to conquer both Arabia and Ethiopia. Candace, hearing of this, gathered her armies, and in 24 BC, defeated the Roman cohorts at Syene(Aswan) and captured it. She then defeated 2 other cohorts, and over ran both Philae, and Elaphantine, taking thousands of prisoners, and booty, which included many statues of Augustus. Following her victories, her loyal subjects gave her the eptiteth "the brave". After she named her son Akinidad crown Prince, the Romans went on the offensive in hopes of avenging their defeats. Augustus sent General Gaius Petronius, which turned out to be a mistake, he had no choice but to enter into negotiations with the Queen. In the year 21 BC a peace treaty was conducted which was strikingly favorable to the Meroites. Becuase of Candace Amanirenas the Romans were never able to exact tribute from nor conquer Meroe, Nubia, Ethiopia or Kush. The Teriteqas Oval Stela from the Isis Temple is a record of her military campaigns. To this day, the name "Candace" is given to children across the world, especially to african americans in the United States, in her honor.
 
The Teriteqas Oval Stela depicting her battles.
 
And this is believed to be her Tomb, the final resting place of Candace Amanirenas, Queen of Meroe, Ethiopia, Kush and Nubia.


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The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations.


Posted By: Bandeirante
Date Posted: 21-Dec-2008 at 18:49
Queen Nzinga in Angola !
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Nzinga - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Nzinga


Posted By: Penelope
Date Posted: 22-Dec-2008 at 07:33
Originally posted by Bandeirante

Queen Nzinga in Angola !
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Nzinga - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Nzinga
 
Bandeirante, thankyou. The Warrior Queen Nzinga was not only a brilliant millitary tactition, but was also great at administrating her kingdom. Definately one of the top leaders in history.


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The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations.


Posted By: Carcharodon
Date Posted: 10-Jun-2009 at 00:37
Weetamoo, maybe not a queen but a Sachem of the Wampanoags, a Native American people, who fought the britains in King Philips war in New England 1675 - 1676 (King Philip, or Metacomet, was her brother in law). Unfortunately the Wampanoags and their allies lost the war and Weetamoo drowned in a river.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weetamoo - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weetamoo
 
http://www.geocities.com/womenstravelsites/weetamoo.html - http://www.geocities.com/womenstravelsites/weetamoo.html
 
 
 
An idealized picture of Weetamoo as a young girl.
 
From: http://www.obrienillustration.com/stage6/weetamoo.html - http://www.obrienillustration.com/stage6/weetamoo.html
 


Posted By: drgonzaga
Date Posted: 10-Jun-2009 at 14:03
Ah, even Clio is abused when people decide upon a PC frenzy. The simple fact here is that one need not turn to idealizations in order to understand--as even the original formulators of cultural myths did--that women have been the backbone of History. "Powerful" women? Historical narratives are replete with them, be they matriarch, courtesan, or harridan! To elaborate a feminine mimicry of maleish attributes is in a way both travesty and satire that instead of acknowledging their history suborns it. The picture above provides a perfect example of this foolishness.
 
PS: The women have always been there save for the fools that fail to look.


Posted By: sooty
Date Posted: 08-Dec-2009 at 03:42

A great warrior queen is Eleanor of Aquitane - wife of Henry I and mother of Richard the Lionheart.  She went on the 3rd Crusade (I think) and she actively defended her castles in France even in old age (she lived into her 80s).  She is perhaps most famous for conspiring with her sons against her husband and was was put under house arrest for over 25 years until her husband's death.



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http://www.mythologyhellenic.com


Posted By: bethtaylor
Date Posted: 03-Jul-2011 at 13:19
Syrian Arab Queen Mavia (or Mawia) in the 4th century A. D. who fought against the Romans and won.
 
 
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http://www.famouswomenimho.com - famous women


Posted By: LeopoldPhilippe
Date Posted: 21-Jun-2015 at 21:02
Tamar reigned as Queen of Georgia from 1184 to 1213.          
Tamar of Georgia was the daughter of the Georgian King Giorgi (George) III.       
Her father declared her co-ruler and heir apparent to prevent dispute after his demise.     
Tamar played an active military role as the commander of her army.      
In 1204, Tamar's army occupied the city of Kars.



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