To celebrate Women’s History Month, we’re recapping the fascinating women to whom we’ve dedicated episodes so far on the Battle Royale: French Monarchs podcast.
Thanks to our latest king Philip V (boo!) France has never had a Queen-Regnant, and TO THIS DAY France has not had a female head of state. But that hasn’t stopped us from talking about influential women who were regents or ruled parts of France.
As well as this blog post, we’ve created a Girls Only Playlist, featuring all the episodes where we’ve centred women’s stories and/or have had on women guests! These include not just the queens listed below but also women both real and imagined like Saint Petronilla, Héloïse d’Argenteuil and Donkey-Skin.
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Fredegund
Potentially born a slave but clawing her way to the very top, this queen has gone down in history as a villainous evil stepmother. But, she was actually a surprisingly effective consort and later regent who brought about peace in the chaotic post-Roman period. We still give her full marks for Ooh-La-La, though! It’s a juicy episode!
Gerberga of Saxony
Gerberga Liudolfing and her family finagled their way into dominating not just the Germans but the Franks as well in the mid-900s, after the collapse of Charlemagne’s empire. Gerberga was the guardian of her young son King Lothair, while her sister Hedwig controlled Paris as the mother of its equally young count, Hugh Capet. Gerberga perfected the queenly art of playing good cop to the king’s bad cop, but wasn’t afraid to lead armies in times of crisis.
Anne of Kyiv
Anna Yaroslavna came to France to bridge the chasm between eastern and western Europe, and to this day is thought of as the mother of Franco-Ukrainian relations. Though she was a beloved patroness of art and scholarship, her regency for her young son Philip I abruptly ended when she eloped with a man far below her station.
Eleanor of Aquitaine
The great Duchess of Aquitaine not only ruled a third of France for 67 years and brought about the golden age of Courtly Love, but also caused quite a stir by divorcing the King of France to marry the King of England.
Blanche of Castile
The Spanish granddaughter of Eleanor brought the cultural renaissance to Paris itself and helped shape the reign of her zealous son, Saint Louis. Blanche is probably the most impressive stateswoman we’ve seen so far!
Joan I of Navarre
She was Queen of Navarre in her own right, and her marriage to Philip IV of France united the two kingdoms … for better or worse! While not as formidable as Eleanor or Blanche, Joan helped strengthen both kingdoms against their envious rivals. Her mysterious death devastated her husband, who went on the warpath believing she had been killed by witchcraft.
And we’re nowhere near done! At the end of the month we will be releasing Joan II. France may have rejected her as its queen, but Navarre has different ideas…
We are also very excited to eventually bring you the stories of other royal or royal-adjacent women in the future, not only with main episodes on the likes of Joan of Arc, Anne of France and Catherine de’ Medici, but also with our exclusive “French Mistresses” series which is in the works and will be released alongside our later Valois kings.
Here’s the logo, to get you excited for our future spinoff:
Battle Royale: French Monarchs 