O – Olympia de Gouges
Olympia de Gouges is not a particularly well known figure and unlike most of the women I highlight not royalty either but I was so inspired by her the first time I learnt about her, that I knew I wanted to include her in this A-Z. She was a playwright, abolitionist, political activist and feminist who was an outspoken advocate for women’s rights during the French Revolution. I personally love the French Revolution however on the surface it’s incredibly male-dominated; there are only a few female figures that were prominent and Olympia was one of them however she’s really not well known. I decided to include her on this A-Z a) because she is so unknown and and b) because I felt it was important to include non-royal women!
P – Pari Khan Khanum
As I’ve stated many times before, I started this blog because I wanted to highlight the historical women who are very much ignored or forgotten in the Tudor-loving Eurocentric world of UK academia and media. When I was at school (both primary & secondary) we learnt nothing about Persian history except a brief reference to how Alexander the Great conquered the empire. Even at university whilst we explored other countries and empires outside of Europe (i.e the Ottoman Empire and the various Chinese dynasties), we once again learnt nothing about Persian history. The thing is, Persian history is long and amazing and complex and in all the reading I’ve done on the Persian’s, Pari Khan Khanum is by far one of my favourite figures. She wielded a huge amount of power, effectively controlled the Persian throne for a number of years and was considered so influential that her opponents resorted to assassinating her, in order to defeat her. I’ve written about her more in depth of one of my Dear Hollywood posts (see here) so go check that out and learn for yourself how AMAZING she was.
Q – Oghul Qaimish / Empress Qinshu
Mongolian history, as far as I’m concerned is really not given the attention it deserves and there are a number of women (see Empress Chabi) who are just as interesting as any of their European counterparts. Empress Qinshu is one of those women! Following the death of her husband she tried to become regent for her son and ruled the growing-empire for a number of years until another member of the family was elected. Her story is fascinating, not just in terms of women and their role in Mongolian society but also in the succession/selection of a new Emperor and the intricate politics that went into choosing a new monarch. It’s a lot different from the European Salic-law. I personally would like to learn more about Mongolian history so if anyone reading this have any reading suggestions do let me know!!
R – Razia Sultana
I first discovered Razia Sultan when I read a book about Nur Jahan and found it so fascinating that I began researching important women in Indian history. Razia was one of the women that I found and I was shocked that I’d never heard of her before. Razia Sultan was the first and only female ruler of the Sultanate of Delhi, after being chosen by her father as his successor. Now this wasn’t a “I have no sons so I’ll reluctantly pass the throne to my daughter” situation; Razia’s father had multiple sons but he believed that Razia would make a better monarch than all of them and so specifically chose his daughter to succeed him. This so rarely happens in history, I can hardly think of any other cases where a king has deemed his daughter more worthy than his sons. I love it. Unfortunately her reign didn’t last as long as it should have; patriarchy once again reared it’s ugly head and those sons who had been overlooked in favour of their sister were to put it mildly rather unhappy with their father’s decision. This culminated in Razia being removed from power by one of her half-brothers. She died shortly thereafter. I love Razia; I think she’s a perfect example of the perils female monarchs have faced throughout history and how their gender is an inherent threat to their lives, regardless of their capabilities.
S – Sophia Alekseyevna Romanova
I’ve said before how Catherine II (aka Catherine the Great) is often treated as the only powerful woman in Russian history and all films/tv shows seem to be focused solely on her. The thing is there were a number of A+ women that came before her; she really stood on their shoulders and did what she did because they did it first. Catherine I was the first woman to be crowned officially and Elizabeth I became a major international power player. Before them however was Catherine I’s sister in law & Elizabeth’s aunt Sophia Alekseyevna who was the first woman in Russian history to (somewhat) sit on the throne. She was influential during the reign of one of her brothers, fermented rebellion to prevent her half brother from taking the throne ahead of her other brother and then served as regent for them both, breaking all the barriers of what was considered appropriate for a upper-class Muscovite woman. She’s often vilified as being power-hungry, which is a criticism I’m always hugely irritated by; you rarely hear a man be described as power hungry and yet Sophia and countless other historical women are framed as unnatural for wanting all the things considered appropriate for a man. I personally think Sophia is fascinating and wish she got more attention.
Runners Up: Sitt al Mulk
T – Tamar the Great
Very few female monarchs are awarded the epithet of “The Great” and so I wanted to highlight one of the lesser-known women that did. Tamar was Queen of Georgia and although she’s a famous figure in Georgia and the surrounding region, she’s really not well known in the UK. This is a major disappointment because Tamar was amazing; I’ve already written about her in one of my Dear Hollywood posts and how an adaption of her life would be incredible; there’s no way I could leave her out of this A-Z!
Runners Up: Turhan Hatice Sultan Regent of the Ottoman Empire and Empress Theodora
I’m sorry this is so late. I recently had to have a somewhat unexpected surgery and it got in the way!! The final part of this A-Z will be up soon followed by the next & final instalment of the Yolande of Aragon profile and a new box post!! See you all soon!
Thank you, Alexandra x
The Monstrous Regiment of Women 