The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry That Forged the Medieval World

Description

Brunhild was a Visigothic 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 yet – in sixth-century Merovingian France, where women were excluded from noble succession and royal politics was a blood sport – these two iron-willed strategists reigned over vast realms for decades. The two queens commanded armies, developed taxation policies, established infrastructure and negotiated with emperors and popes, all the time fighting a gruelling forty-year civil war with each other. Yet after Brunhild and Fredegund's deaths, their names were consigned to slander and legend. From the tangled primary evidence of Merovingian sources, award-winning writer Shelley Puhak weaves a gripping and intricate tale, its characters driven by ambition, lust and jealousy to acts of treachery and murderous violence. 'The Dark Queens' resurrects these two women in all their complexity, painting a richly detailed portrait of a shadowy era and dispelling some of the stubbornest myths about female power. AUTHOR’S NOTE: Shadow Queens Dramatis Personae Prologue CHAPTER ONE: A Wedding in Metz CHAPTER TWO: Meeting the Franks CHAPTER THREE: The Fall of Charibert CHAPTER FOUR: New Alliances CHAPTER FIVE: A Missive to Byzantium CHAPTER SIX: The Slave Queen CHAPTER SEVEN: All the King’s Men CHAPTER EIGHT: The Siege CHAPTER NINE: The Witch and the Nun CHAPTER TEN: Back Channels CHAPTER ELEVEN: Uprising CHAPTER TWELVE: The Laws of Sanctuary CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Crime and Punishment CHAPTER FOURTEEN: 'Wise in Counsel' CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Fredegund’s Grief CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Brunhild in the Breach CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: The Regency CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Set Ablaze CHAPTER NINETEEN: Brunichildis Regina CHAPTER TWENTY: The King Is Dead CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: The Vexations of King Guntram CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: The Gundovald Affair CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: The Diplomatic Arts CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: The Dukes’ Revolt CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: A Royal Engagement CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: The Defiant Nuns CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: Allies and Assassins CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: Forlorn Little Boys CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: The Fading of the Kings CHAPTER THIRTY: The Dual Rule CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: Brunhild’s Battles CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO: The Fall EPILOGUE: Backlash A Note on Sources and Methods Acknowledgments Bibliography Notes Image Credits Index