Brunhilda of Austrasia

Where, you might ask, is Austrasia? The answer is that it no longer exists, but back in the 6^th to 8^th centuries it formed part of the area of western Europe ruled by the Franks, comprising lands currently occupied by north-eastern France, Belgium and western Germany.

The name Brunhilda might be familiar from the Ring Cycle of operas by Richard Wagner, which were based on Norse and Germanic mythology. In the legends she was a Valkyrie who snatched the bodies of slain warriors from the battlefield and took them to Valhalla.

However, there really was a woman named Brunhilda who was a powerful ruler, but not quite as imagined in the stories told by Icelandic bards and Richard Wagner.

The real Brunhilda was born in what is now central Spain in around the year 543. She belonged to the Merovingian dynasty of the Franks, who had taken control of much of what had formerly been the western Roman Empire.

She married Sigebert, whose grandfather had been Clovis, the first king to unite all the Franks. Sigebert ruled the eastern part of the Frankish realm (i.e. Austrasia) while his half-brother Chilperic ruled the western part (Neustria).

Sigebert was assassinated in 575, after which Brunhilda ruled as regent for her young son Childebert. When he became a teenager he ruled in his own right, but on his death aged only 26 Brunhilda once again became regent, this time for her grandsons, Theudebert and Theuderic.

As regent, Brunhilda ruled well. Under her administration many old roads were repaired, troublemakers were kept quiet and the religious life of the province was supported with the commission of new churches and abbeys.

However, in order to stay in charge it was important that neither grandson achieved enough power to challenge her authority, and she managed this by setting them at war with each other. She also arranged for one of the grandsons to be supplied with concubines so that he would not marry and bring a wife into Court who might oppose her.

Brunhilda was in her 60s when she acted as regent for the final time, this being for her great-grandson Sigebert II after the death of Theudebert.

However, Brunhilda’s hold on power could not last for ever, and her end came as a result of a long-standing feud with Fredegund, who had been the wife of her brother-in law Chilperic, the King of Neustria, many years before. Chilperic had been married to Brunhilda’s sister Galswintha, but when Galswintha died in mysterious circumstances, Chilperic married Fredegund. Brunhilda had long suspected that Fredegund had had a hand in Galswintha’s death.

By 613 Fredegund was dead, but her son Chlotar took up the cudgels on his mother’s behalf. He accused Brunhilda of having been responsible for a number of murders, including those of her husband Sigebert and her brother-in-law Chilperic. Chlotar defeated Brunhilda in battle and then had her executed by being torn apart by wild horses.

The real Brunhilda had a life filled with drama and intrigue, ending in a particularly violent and unpleasant way. It is no surprise that she was the inspiration for later myths and legends, however much they may have strayed from the real story.

Wu Zetian: Emperor of China

Wu Zetian was the most powerful woman in the history of China, having made herself Emperor and then ruling a vast territory for 15 years. She was ruthless and cruel, when necessary, but also highly efficient and able to rule a contented populace with justice and benevolence.

Wu Zetian was born into a non-aristocratic family in 624 AD and entered the royal household as a serving maid, her job including changing the Emperor's bedsheets. When the Emperor died she was sent to a Buddhist nunnery, but she escaped and returned to the palace as a concubine of Gaozong, the new Emperor.

She now began to develop the notion of reaching the very top, and had no compunctions about the methods she would use to get there. She started by killing the child she had given birth to, courtesy of the Emperor, and framed the Empress for the murder. The Empress was promptly exiled, leaving Wu Zetian in prime position.

There were other concubines, however, but these were disposed of by having their limbs cut off and their bodies drowned in a vat of wine. That - at least - is the story that has come down through history, but one also has to bear in mind that such stories are often told by people who wish to blacken reputations.

Be that as it may, Wu Zetian was now unrivalled, and she only had to wait for the Emperor and his sons to die before she declared herself to be Emperor, at the age of 65.

Her 15 year reign was not marked by any outstanding events, although she was able to counter threats from external forces and thus strengthen the Tang Dynasty.

Wu Zetian's reputation, as mentioned above, suffered from criticism by others who resented her presence as a woman wielding supreme power. One cause of her unpopularity was that she encouraged the spread of Buddhism, which was a foreign import from India and was also more attuned to the spiritual needs of women.

However, the denigration went much further than that and included a decision by the Court not to mark her tomb with any record of her achievements, which is unlikely to have been the case had she been male.

Wu Zetian certainly appears to been a ruler one would not wish to get on the wrong side of, but that was also true of many Emperors throughout Chinese history who did not get such a bad posthumous press. The history of misogyny is extremely lengthy.

© John Welford