Women Rulers Posters, pg 2/2
for the social studies classroom, home schoolers and theme decor.

Queen Liliuokalani was the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
b. 9-2-1838; Honolulu
d. 11-11-1917

• The Betrayal of Liliuokalani: Last Queen of Hawaii 1838-1917
• Vintage Hawaiian prints

Marie Antionette, Queen of France, was the daughter of Empress Maria-Theresa of Austria. She was married off to the French at the age of 14 as a means of solidifying the relations between the France and Austria. Marie Antionette was guillotined in the French Revolution.
b. 11-2-1755; Vienna
d. 10-16-1793; Paris

• Marie Antoinette: The Journey

Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, Holy Roman Empress, was the oldest daughter of Emperor Charles VI and a direct descendent of Isabella of Castille.

Though her husband, Francis I, was technically the emperor, and Maria Theresa, the empress consort, she was the de facto ruler bringing some harmony to the Hapsburg dynasty and proving a most capable ruler. She focused on reforming laws along the lines of “enlightened absolutism” doing such things as ending the burning of witches.

Her youngest of sixteen children (my, what you can do when you have good help) is best known as Maria Antionette.
b. 5-13-1717; Vienna
d. 11-29-1780

• A Silver Legend: The Story of the Maria Theresa Thaler (a thaler is a silver coin that Marie-Theresa minted with her image)

Empress Matilda (1102-1167, sometimes called Maud[e], also known as Countess of Anjou or Lady of the English) was the first female ruler of the Kingdom of England, albeit a very brief and unpopular reign. She was the daughter of Henry I of England. Matilda was first married to Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, and then to Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou who fathered Henry II of England (who married Eleanor of Aquataine).

Queen of Stephen was the wife of Stephen who battled Matilda for the English throne.

Roman Empress Valeria Messalina (c. 17/20 - 48 AD) was the third wife of Emperor Claudius and the mother of future Empress Claudia Octavia to Emperor Nero.

Messalina was powerful and influential: her grandmothers were half sisters and nieces of Augustus. She also had a reputation of being cruel and insulting, as well as lewd; her husband had her executed when he discovered her conspiracy against her him.

Queen Nefertiti, whose greatest claim to fame is from a bust found in the workshop of the sculptor Thutmose, was the “Great Royal Wife” of Amenhotep IV, the pharaoh who abolished the multiple gods for the One god. She was also the mother-in-law, and probable stepmother, of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun. After her husband's death it is possible Nefertiti may have ruled in her own right for a short time before Tutankhamun assumed the throne.
fl. 1345 B.C.

• Nefertiti: Unlocking the Mystery Surrounding Egypt's Most Famous and Beautiful Queen

Ana de Sousa Nzinga Mbande of the Ndongo and Matamba Kingdoms was a West African warrior queen, who used her charisma and feminine charm to defeat the Portuguese.
b. c. 1583; current day Angola
d. 12-17-1663; Matamba

• Nzingha: Warrior Queen of Matamba, Angola, Africa, 1595

Semiramis fl. c. 825 BC is a legendary Assyrian queen who is attributed with many events and places, including conquering much of Asia.

One effort to link her to an historical personage is as the wife of Shamshi-Adad V, Shammuramat.

Gioacchino Rossini wrote an opera named Semiramide based on a tragedy by Voltaire.

• Semiramis: A Tale of Battle and of Love

Queen of Sheba ruled an ancient kingdom believed to be located in present-day Ethiopia. The visit of the ruler of the land of Sheba to meet the wise King Solomon is recorded in the Hebrew Bible, the Islamic Qur'an, and Ethopian history and reported as a spiritual pilgrimmage. Modern interpretation is the Queen of Sheba was on a trade mission. ;-)
fl. 1000 BC

• Sheba: Through the Desert in Search of the Legendary Queen

Empress Theodora and her husband Justinian I were rulers of the Byzantine Empire in the 6th century. Along with her husband, she is a saint in the Orthodox Church.

b. c. 500 AD; Constantinople
d. 6-28-548

• Theodora: Empress of Byzantium

Queen Victoria was the longest reigning British monarch, beginning in 1837 when she was 18 years old. Her reign is known as the Victorian Era.

b. 5-24-1819; Kensington Palace, London
d. 1-22-1901; Isle of Wight

• Queen Victoria: A Personal History

Wu Zetian was the only woman in the history of China to assume the title of Emperor.

b. 625; Li prefecture
d. 12-16-705

• Empress Wu Zetian in Fiction and in History: Femaile Defiance in Confucian China

After her husband died Queen Zenobia (fl. 3rd century AD) brought together the Palmyrene Empire that encompassed the provinces of Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and parts of Asia Minor during the Crisis of the Third Century of the Roman Empire.

In 270 AD Roman Emperor Aurelian started the process to bring back the Gallic Empire of Gaul, Britain and Hispania, and the Palmyrene Empire under central control, as well as beat back the barbarian invasions.

The city of Palmyra, in central present day Syria, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

• Zenobia (Warrior Queen)