A thousand years before the famous family rivalry of Queen Elizabeth I of England and Mary, Queen of Scots, two sisters-in-law and queens in Merovingian France, whose histories were absorbed into legend, fought a civil war. In The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry that Forged the Medieval World, Shelley Puhak's nonfiction debut, Queen Brunhild and Queen Fredegund are restored to center stage.
Brunhild (also referred to as Brunhilda) was a Visigothic princess; Fredegund initially lived as an enslaved woman in the palace. Their husbands--Sigibert I of Austrasia and Chilperic I of Neustria, respectively--were sons of Clothar I. Each inherited a portion of the vast kingdom of the Franks, which Clothar successfully reunified. Both queens would outlive their husbands, serve as regents for their sons, command armies and war against each other for decades. Puhak presents a vivid picture of how they skillfully preserved their lives, their power and their families.
After their deaths, Brunhild's and Fredegund's stories were retold during the Carolingian dynasty as a cautionary tale about women meddling in statecraft. Although the accomplishments of both women were minimized, pieces of their legend live on in opera, in Shakespeare and in today's fantasy novels. Puhak (Guinevere in Baltimore: Poems), whose nonfiction work has been published in the Atlantic and Best American Travel Writing, unearths the real women and traces how their stories were used. She also imagines what it might mean if girls found them featured more prominently in their textbooks. History readers will be enthralled. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library