A vivid double biography of two fearless early medieval queens.
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,changing the face of Europe.
After Brunhild's and Fredegund's deaths,however,their stories were rewritten,their names 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.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLCISBN: 9781801109178Number of pages: 416Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm
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'The Dark Queens brings the Merovingian empire to thrilling,bewildering,horrifying life. This is the story - told with a sharp eye,at heart-pounding pace - of two extraordinary women who held power in a brutal world that believed their sex couldn't rule. Many scholars'still don't know what to do'with Brunhild and Fredegund. Shelley Puhak does.'- Helen Castor
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