"The Greatest Warrior Queens In History" Topic

"Despite millennia of male oppression, women have always managed to emerge in leadership roles, from queens who ruled without a king to women who made their way into military positions. In fact, some of the raddest warriors in history have been women – who sometimes had to disguise themselves as men to fight – and you should definitely know their names.

These military queens hail from every age and from every corner of the world. Meet valiant leaders like the Trung Sisters, who fought to defend ancient Vietnam from the invading Chinese, or Zenobia of Palmyra, who opposed invading Roman forces and tried to carve out her own sphere of influence in her homeland of Syria…"
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Amicalement
Armand

They are missing my personal favourite, Maria Theresa – had 16 kids, did many reforms, had 16 kids and fought Frederick the Great to a standstill

She had her faults, but I would not want to meet her in a dark alley!

Boudicca was born in Wales? Not sure where the writer gets his information from. As far as I know Boudicca's birthplace isn't know, but I would expect it to be somewhere in East Anglia?

Interesting about Mavia of Arabia; I hadn't heard of her before.

Not sure what the criteria is for a warrior queen, e.g. Grace O'Malley? Also, most of them (not all) appear to have lost.

@Huscarle Yes it is a bit of tortured logic that. There are certain Welsh people that regard Boudicca as Welsh on the basis that much of the population of Great Britain was culturally and linguistically Welsh, which they see as the same thing as Celt.

The idea is that the Welsh/Celt people were driven back into what is now Wales and Cornwall, and that the English were an invasive culture occupying former Welsh territory (what is now England).

Current thinking is that the actual population of what is now England was not actually displaced by subsequent waves of foreign peoples and that the differences between English and Welsh people are cultural rather than genetic.

Welsh/Brythonic Celt speaking populations persisted in large areas of the UK for centuries after the Roman conquest, notably in the West Midlands, Cumbria and Strathclyde, and also the rest of the UK.

@ newarch My interpretation of genetic studies is that they show a gradient across the UK. in the east there is a high English concentration, in the West high Celtic, and a gradual mix in between. I suspect that in the early part of the invasion the Celts were either slaughtered or simply driven westward. Those remaining were enslaved. Some enclaves remained, especially in difficult terrain. Further west, Wessex and Mercia, it was more mixed with separate Saxon and Celtic villages existing side-by-side, eventually resulting in more interbreeding. The west, of course stayed mainly Celtic to this day. Later there was much diffusion.

@Dagwood The reaction towards the Roman invasion varied from place to place and tribe to tribe. Some Celts were quite happy with the Roman invasion and were able to take their place within the new hierarchy (there had been trade with Rome prior to the invasion). The Romans were quite clever in the way that they integrated with the locals, they tended to respect and encourage native belief systems (where they were not inimical to theirs) and local gods was integrated into the Roman pantheon.

The main genetic reason for any variation from east to west is that peoples coming to Britain, especially from North-eastern Europe tended to settle in the east. There is no reason evidence for widespread slaughter or displacement of native populations, most early medieval evidence points to initial enclaves of north European peoples followed by considerable intermingling and cultural assimilation.

This:
"Despite millennia of male oppression,"

Combined with this:
"In fact, some of the raddest warriors in history have been women"

Tells me this article isn't worth reading.

It is far from a serious historical essay, but it's an interesting list including a number of people I had never heard of.

Two people that could easily have been included but were no are
Queen Zenobia of Palmyra which dominated a major swath of the eastern part of the Roman Empire for a number of years as a client of Rome. Eventually she rebelled (unsuccessfully) but her final fate is not known.

Another is Hojo Masako of Kamakura era Japan. Like Zenobia, she exercised power as a kind of de facto regent for various sons, as there was no official way for a woman to openly wield the power of the Shogunate.

Thanks!.

Amicalement
Armand