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): Shelley Puhak
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 384
City: New York
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
