When the king was gone, the queen was in charge. The queen's job was to rule the whole land in his place.
In the Medieval kingdoms the queens came from the noble class, the most wealthy and powerful families. Marriages between a king and queen were arranged. Often, the two had never met before the wedding!
Below are biographies of important Medieval queens.
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Empress Matilda (or Maude)
Empress Matilda of England was the firstborn and heir of king Henry the first. Empress Matilda had a younger brother named William Adelin. Her mother was named Matilda of Scotland [or Edith].
When she was in childhood she was betrothed to Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire. After she was widowded, she married Geoffrey of Anjou. Geoffrery already had three children.
Maud was never accepted as Queen of England but she lived to see her oldest son become king Henry II of England.
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| Above is a picture of Empress Matilda. |
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Eleanor of Aquitain
Eleanor was queen of France for 15 years but she and her husband divorced.
She remaried King Henry II of England. Since she and her husband were both used to having a lot of power they did not always agree. Eventully, she went back to France but Henry had her locked up to contain her influence over their sons.
She stayed there for 16 years until her son, Richard the Lion Heart became king. Richard made her Regent. When a monarch is away he or she makes someone Regent to rule in their place.
(Left) Eleanor's grave.
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Queen Isabella of Castile
After her brith she was second in line to the Castillian throne after her older brother Henry. When Isabella was about 3 Isabella and her brother were taken away from there mom and taken to court.
Isabella was smart because she got most of it from the strength of books. She got offered the crown by the nobles but she refused it. Queen Isabella would rule the land of Castile .
Using her own money, Isabella paid for Columbus' voyage that discovered the Americas.
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Comments (3)
B said
at 10:33 am on Feb 22, 2009
okay!
B said
at 10:43 am on Feb 22, 2009
is there any other queens I should find out about?
E said
at 8:22 pm on Feb 27, 2009
You can try finding out about Queen Elizabeth too instead of
only using Empress Matilda.
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