Rejected Princesses | History That's More Than 2-Dimensional.

History That's More Than 2-Dimensional.

Theodora (c.497-548)

The Concubine Who Conquered Constantinople

Sex worker who became empress of the Byzantine Empire, and used her political power to safeguard her interests, and her husband’s reputation.

Tomoe Gozen (c.1157-1247)

The Samurai Who Made Samurai Flee

Fearsome undefeated samurai warrior who was “a match for any god or demon,” and is one of Japan’s greatest heroines to this day.

Collection: Christians >

Julie d’Aubigny

Sword-slinging, opera-singing bisexual rock star of the 17th century - who burnt down a convent to romance a nun and had to be pardoned by the king of France TWICE.

Catalina de Erauso

After escaping from a convent, this swashbuckler had the strength to chase her dreams: which were apparently to drink, fight, and womanize.

Isabel Godin des Odonais

To reunite with her husband, she went on a months-long trek through the jungle -- and was the only survivor.

Xtabay (Mesoamerican myth)

Siren of the Yucatan

Chaste and virtuous woman spends life assuming she’s better than her more sex-positive neighbor, and for this haughtiness becomes in death a demonic woman who lures wayward men to their death – a stunning indigenous inversion of the Madonna/whore complex.

Nanny of the Maroons (c.1680-1750)

The Mother of Us All

Led colony of escaped slaves and protected them from the English using borderline supernatural abilities.

Nana Asma’u (1793-1864)

The Princess Who Loved Learning

Massively educated princess who started all-female gang of itinerant teachers, who would roam the land and educate unsuspecting passersby.

Collection: Martyrs >

Sarraounia

The "panther queen" of the Azna defeated some of the greatest villains of French colonial history through wits, cunning -- and possibly magic.

Noor Inayat Khan

Pacifist Indian princess who gave up everything of herself to hold the line in occupied Paris during World War 2.

Mariya Oktyabrskaya

When her husband was killed in WW2, she sold all their belongings, bought a tank, named it Fighting Girlfriend, and started killing Nazis.

Chiyome Mochizuki (16th century)

The Widow Who Ran a Ninja Academy

Recruited widows, orphans, and prostitutes into an all-woman ninja spy group, the largest in Asia at the time.

Josefina Guerrero (1918-1996)

Leper Spy of the Philippines

Let her leprosy go untreated for years to make herself the perfect spy in the Japan-occupied Philippines - soldiers wouldn't touch her, so she could slip right through.

Mary Lacy (1740-1801)

The First Female Shipwright

This self-described “undutiful daughter” posed as a man to become the world’s first female shipwright.

Collection: Teachers >

Soraya Tarzi

1920s Afghanistan was a progressive and rapidly-modernizing country in large part to the most powerful, empathic, and maligned queen it had ever seen.

Naziq al-Abid

She traded a life of privilege for one spent fighting for justice on both literal and political battlefields so tirelessly that even exiling her five times couldn't keep her down.

Savitribai Phule

In fighting the bias of the caste system to spread education, this woman brought knowledge to girls across India.

Nwanyeruwa (Early 20th century)

Instigator (and Peacekeeper) of the Igbo Women's War

Instigated a massive "women's war" against British taxation, the effect of which was one part protest movement, one part comedy roast, and one part block party.

Pope Joan (9th century)

The Pope Who Gave Birth

This pope was largely assumed to be male until she gave birth in the midst of a procession - and largely assumed to be factual until the 13th century.

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Women in Combat

Women warriors are not new

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