Elizabeth of York
My girl Bess, I love Elizabeth of York with every single fiber of my being. I actually have two different stickers of her on my laptop to properly express my love and devotion of her as my favorite Queen in History. Elizabeth, mother to Henry VII and grandmother to Elizabeth I, essentially founded the entire Modern European Monarchy. No joke, you can trace back almost every single rulers roots to Lizzie of York. She’s literally one of the most underrated people in History, I’m pretty sure I’ve started the Elizabeth of York defense squad so if you want to join, let a girl know. Elizabeth was the key factor in uniting England after the War of the Roses and honestly I still question why she didn’t take the throne for herself. However her motto was Humble and Revenet, and humble women of the 15th century don’t usurp thrones so, I don’t blame her.
Stain Glass of Elizabeth and her husband Henry
Catherine de Medici
Listen I’m literally surrounded by twelve books about Catherine de Medici at the moment struggling to do proper research on her because during her time period she was villanized. Catherine was villianized to the point that most of her 6,000 letters she wrote while Queen and Queen regent of France are basically gone and what is here has not been translated into English. Catherine was honestly pretty rad, she was essentially the ruler of France in all but title after Mary, Queen of Scots went back to Scotland. I mean yeah she may have been a murderer, possibly, but she’s still really underrated even in that sense it comes to rad rulers.
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Honestly I really don’t get why Eleanor of Aquitaine isn’t loved more, like she’s the Beyoncé of the Medieval Era. She not only was Queen of France, but England! No seriously, Eleanor was such a bada** b**** that she hated her husband the King of France so much that they got an annulment from the Pope and she married the heir to the throne of England. Honestly, then Eleanor’s second husband gets tired of her trying to be a co-ruler so he locks her up in a convent until he dies (you know just 12th century things). Anyway, Eleanor lives to the really ripe old age 81 or 82, it’s to be determined, and like out lives all of her kids but two. You might know her as the mother of King John from Robin Hood, who yeah was probably a momma’s boy. I also feel like this contempary image of Eleanor really shows who she was as a person.
Émilie du Châtelet
Okay this one goes out to all my STEM babes out there, meet Émilie the mother of French sciences. She was philosopher, mathematician, physicist, author, and Voltaire’s girlfriend. Honestly she highkey slayed in academia in the 18th century. Like she was killing the game as a woman back when women were lucky if they were taught to write. She acutually was the translator for one of Newton’s works and she worked on tons of stuff in the sciene field with her boo Voltaire, who kept her connected. She died at age 42 but not before having a killer life with a crazy passionate romance and cool legacy that should be shared more.
Hildegard of Bingen
Another jack of all trades, Hildegard was not only an Abbess in Germany in the 12th century, but she was also a writer, composer, philosopher, and mystic. Mysticism was a belief in the middle ages that God was giving you visions. In a sense it’s kinda like witchcraft but Pope approved. If the clergy didn’t approve you were a witch though. Hildegard really slayed the game. She was living her best life at all times but ultimate she was ill a lot because of these visions. She’s a really interesting woman that history should definitely speak about more.