The Dark Queens: A gripping tale of power, ambition and murderous rivalry in early medieval France' by Shelley Part front cover

The Dark Queens: A gripping tale of power, ambition and murderous rivalry in early medieval France

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A vivid double biography of two fearless early medieval queens. 'Brings the Merovingian empire to thrilling, bewildering, horrifying life' Helen Castor 'Restores two half-forgotten and much-mythologized queens to their proper place in medieval history' Dan Jones 'Fredegund and Brunhild have finally found a worthy champion' Literary Review 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: ‎ Apollo; 1st edition (2 Mar. 2023)
  • Language: ‎ English
  • Paperback 
  • 416 pages
  • ISBN-10: ‎ 1801109176
  • ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1801109178
  • Dimensions: ‎ 12.9 x 2.16 x 19.81 cm

About the author;

Shelley Puhak is a critically acclaimed poet and writer whose work has appeared in the Atlantic, Lapham's Quarterly, Teen Vogue, Virginia Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. Her essays have been included in The Best American Travel Writing and selected as Notables in four consecutive editions of The Best American Essays. She is the author of two books of poetry, most recently Guinevere in Baltimore, winner of the Anthony Hecht Prize. The Dark Queens is her nonfiction debut. She lives in Maryland.
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