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The dark queens : the bloody rivalry that forged the medieval world /

Brunhild was a foreign 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 ir...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Puhak, Shelley (Author)
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: New York : Bloomsbury Publishing, [2022].
Subjects:
Brunehaut, > Queen, consort of Sigebert, King of Austrasia, > 534-613.
Fredegund, > Queen, consort of Chilperic I, King of Neustria, > -597.
Queens > France > Biography.
Merovingians.
France > History > To 987.
Table of Contents:
  • A wedding in Metz
  • Meeting the Franks
  • The fall of Charibert
  • New alliances
  • A missive to Byzantium
  • The slave queen
  • All the king's men
  • The siege
  • The witch and the nun
  • Back channels
  • Uprising
  • The laws of sanctuary
  • Crime and punishment
  • "Wise in counsel"
  • Fredegund's grief
  • Brunhild in the breach
  • The regency
  • Set ablaze
  • Brunichildis Regina
  • The King is dead
  • The vexations of King Guntram
  • The Gundovald affair
  • The diplomatic arts
  • The Dukes' revolt
  • A royal engagement
  • The defiant nuns
  • Allies and assassins
  • Forlorn little boys
  • The fading of the kings
  • The dual rule
  • Brunhild's battles
  • The fall
  • Epilogue: Backlash.