Caterina Sforza
Random Princesses

Trinidad Tecson
Turned into a revolutionary in middle age, this mother became one of the Philippines most heralded women.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe
The godmother of rock and roll, this black bisexual singer fused gospel and pop to blaze her own way across the Jim Crow-era south.

Pingyang
This unlikely heroine created her own Woman's Army of 70,000 soldiers through good manners and political savvy - and then used it to overthrow one of China's greatest douchebags.

Mother Lu
When a government magistrate unjustly killed her son, this unassuming middle-aged wife spent years raising an army to topple that same government.

Nzinga Mbande
When the Portuguese took the throne from her, this Angolan queen made a new one: out of her own servant. She then fled to the jungle, conquered a tribe of cannibals, and waged war on the Portuguese for so long that they gave up and left.

Eréndira
When horse-riding Spaniards invaded, she defied her tribe to befriend one of the abandoned horses, using her new bond to fight off the Spanish.

Jeanne de Clisson
When her husband was unjustly executed, this French noblewoman-turned-pirate became the terror of France.

Marie Mancini
Joined her sister Hortense Mancini in escaping from an equally abusive marriage, making headlines (and trouble) all across Europe in…

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

Gudit
This Jewish-Ethiopian warrior queen took the throne, ended a millennium-old biblical dynasty, and caused a break in Ethiopia's history that has not healed to this day - or did she...?