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Christine de Pizan
When her husband unexpectedly died, she rolled up her sleeves and became one of the greatest authors of the age to keep food on the table. She wrote passionate defenses of her gender (and military treatises!) that were centuries ahead of their time.

Sarah Biffin
Born without arms or legs, this artist learned to write, sew, and paint with her mouth - and came to work for kings and queens.

Arwa al-Sulayhi
The greatest ruler of Yemeni history, she defeated her numerous foes to usher the country into its golden age.

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.

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.

Thákane
When her deadbeat brothers demanded the impossible, this South African princess carried through, and slayed a dragon.

Janequeo
When her husband was killed by conquistadors, this native Chilean showed the Spanish what "fight like a woman" really means.

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

Pasiphaë
This mythical queen gave birth to the minotaur and cursed her unfaithful husband with the world's weirdest magic STD -- but was her whole story just a smear campaign?

Isabelle Eberhardt
This undefinable adventurer's life burnt bright but short: a wildcard of the Algerian revolution, she survived an assassination attempt by sabre, and died in a freak desert flood.
Random Princesses

Olympias of Macedon
The much-maligned woman fought tooth and nail to position her son, Alexander, to become "the Great" - and herself in the process.

Mary Anning
When her father died, leaving her lower-class family in debt, this indomitable woman worked tirelessly and became one of history's greatest fossil collectors.

Arwa al-Sulayhi
The greatest ruler of Yemeni history, she defeated her numerous foes to usher the country into its golden age.

Florence Nightingale
One half of the odd couple of Crimean nursing - the by-the-book Victorian rebel who revolutionized the field of medicine who stood in stark to Mary Seacole's jolly reliance on folk remedies and home comforts.

Elisabeth Bathory
Possibly the most prolific female serial killer in history, a primary inspiration for Dracula, one of the most reviled women in history, and, I argue, innocent.

Yennenga
An unbeatable warrior princess who just wanted to have kids - and founded a new nation in her quest to…

Ida Laura Pfeiffer
Starting her travels at 45 years old, this globetrotter became a worldwide sensation for going boldly where no woman had gone before.

Mkabayi kaJama
One of the most powerful women in Zulu history, this cursed princess did what was necessary to protect the realm.

Gouyen
When an enemy killed her husband, this Apache woman broke the rules of her tribe to get revenge - and in so doing, became one of her tribe's greatest heroes.

Beloved
The ghost of a tragically-murdered young child come back to haunt her mother in post-slavery America.