Women Rulers Posters, “M...-”
for the social studies classroom, home schoolers and theme decor.

Marie Antionette
b. 11-2-1755; Vienna
d. 10-16-1793; Paris

Marie Antionette, Queen of France, was the daughter of Empress Maria-Theresa of Austria. She was married off to the French at the age of 14 as a means of solidifying the relations between the France and Austria.

Marie Antionette was guillotined in the French Revolution.

• Marie Antoinette: The Journey

Empress Maria Theresa
b. 5-13-1717; Vienna
d. 11-29-1780

Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, Holy Roman Empress, was the oldest daughter of Emperor Charles VI and a direct descendent of Isabella of Castille.

Though her husband, Francis I, was technically the emperor, and Maria Theresa, the empress consort, she was the de facto ruler bringing some harmony to the Hapsburg dynasty and proving a most capable ruler. She focused on reforming laws along the lines of “enlightened absolutism” doing such things as ending the burning of witches.

Her youngest of sixteen children (my, what you can do when you have good help) is best known as Maria Antionette.

• A Silver Legend: The Story of the Maria Theresa Thaler (a thaler is a silver coin that Marie-Theresa minted with her image)

Mary I of England
b. 2-18-1516; Placentia Palace, Greenwich
d. 11-17-1558; St. James Palace, London

Mary Tudor was the daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon; she was also the granddaughter of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, and the half sister of Elizabeth I. Mary became known as “Bloody Mary” for the persecution of non-Catholics, religious dissenters and reformers.

• Bloody Mary

Mary I, Queen of Scots
b. 12-8-1542; Linlithgow Palace, Scotland
d. 2-8-1587; beheaded at Northamptonshire

Mary Stuart was the daughter of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise. She was crowned Queen of Scotland when she was nine months old, betrothed to the future Francis II of France when she was five, and widowed at the age of 16. Her second marriage to Lord Darnley, produced James I of England, the namesake of the Jamestown Colony.

Mary, who was raised a devout Catholic, was the focus of Henry VIII's “rough wooing”, a 1544-1551 war between England and Scotland to make sure his son Edward, and Mary were betrothed.

As an adult Mary was eventually imprisoned by her cousin, Elizabeth I, for eighteen years, and finally executed for treason at Fotheringhay Castle.

• Mary, Queen of Scots

Empress Matilda (1102-1167, sometimes called Maud[e], also known as Countess of Anjou or Lady of the English) was the first female ruler of the Kingdom of England, albeit a very brief and unpopular reign. She was the daughter of Henry I of England. Matilda was first married to Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, and then to Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou who fathered Henry II of England (who married Eleanor of Aquataine).

Queen of Stephen was the wife of Stephen who battled Matilda for the English throne.

Valeria Messalina
c. 17/20 - 48 AD

Roman Empress Valeria Messalina was the third wife of Emperor Claudius and the mother of future Empress Claudia Octavia to Emperor Nero.

Messalina was powerful and influential: her grandmothers were half sisters and nieces of Augustus. She also had a reputation of being cruel and insulting, as well as lewd; her husband had her executed when he discovered her conspiracy against her him.

Mumtaz Muhal
b. April, 1593; Agra, India
d. 6-17-1631

Indian Empress of the Mughal Dynasty, Arjumand Banu Begum, is commonly known as Mumtaz Muhal, meaning “beloved ornament of the palace”. At age 19 she became the third, and favorite wife, of Prince Khurram who would later ascend the Peacock Throne as Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan I.

When Mumtaz died in childbirth Jahan ordered an elaborate mausoleum and funerary garden in Agra for her, a task that would take more than 22 years to complete, the Taj Mahal.