Born: November 2, 1755, Vienna, AustriaDied: October 16, 1793, Paris, France Marie-Antoinette was the queen consort of Louis XVI of France; her unpopularity helped discredit the monarchy in the period before the French Revolution. Born in Vienna on November 2, 1755, Marie-Antoinette was one of the daughters of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and Empress […]
Born: May 13, 1717, ViennaDied: Nov 29, 1780, Vienna Maria Theresa was the arch duchess of Austria and queen of Hungary and Bohemia (1740-1780), who strengthened and unified the Austrian monarchy in the 18th century. Born in Vienna on May 13, 1717, she was the daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI. In 1736, she
Born: 1353, Søborg, DenmarkDied: Oct 28, 1412, FlensburgMargaret I or Margrethe I was the queen of Denmark and Norway and of Sweden and founder of the Kalmar Union. She was born in Soborg, Denmark, the youngest issue of King Waldemar IV Atterdag, and as a child she was married to King Håkon VI of Norway.
Born: September 26, 1936, Bizana, Pondoland district, Transkei [now in Eastern Cape], South Africa Winnie Mandela is a South African political activist, known for advocating militant resistance to apartheid, a policy of rigid racial segregation legally enforced in South Africa until 1991. Originally named Nomzamo Madikizela, she was born in Bizana, in what is now
Born: April 1, 1940, Nyeri, Kenya Maathai is a Kenyan politician and environmental activist who was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize for Peace, the first black African woman to win a Nobel Prize.Maathai was educated in the United States at Mount St. Scholastica College (now Benedictine College; B.S. in biology, 1964) and at the University
Born: Sept 2, 1838, Honolulu, Hawaii [U.S.]Died: Nov 11, 1917, Honolulu Liliuokalani or Lydia Kamekeha was the queen of Hawaii from 1891 to 1893. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Liliuokalani became Queen of Hawaii in 1891. Four years earlier, American businessmen, who were seeking United States annexation of Hawaii, had successfully gained constitutional reforms. In 1893,
Born: 718, Nara, JapanDied: Aug 28, 770, NaraKoken was the last empress to rule Japan until the 17th century; she twice occupied the throne (749-758; 764-770). There had been a number of female rulers before Koken, but the power achieved by the Buddhist monk Dokyo during her second reign caused the Council of Ministers to
Born: Nov. 19, 1926, Duncan, Oklahoma, U.S. Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick American political scientist and United States ambassador to the United Nations from 1981 to 1985. Kirkpatrick was born in Duncan, Oklahoma. She graduated from Barnard College in 1948 and received her master’s and doctoral degrees in political science from Columbia University.From 1955 to 1972, Kirkpatrick
Born: April 21, 1879, Majong, Java [Indonesia]Died: Sept 17, 1904, Rembang Regency, Java Kartini was a Javanese noblewoman whose letters made her an important symbol for the Indonesian independence movement and for Indonesian feminists.The daughter of a Javanese aristocrat working for the Dutch colonial administration as governor of the Japara Regency (an administrative district), Kartini
Born: c. 1412, Domrémy, Bar, FranceDied: May 30, 1431, Rouen; canonized May 16, 1920; feast day May 30; French national holiday,second Sunday in May Joan of Arc, Saint, in French, Jeanne d’Arc called the Maidof Orléans was a national heroine and patron saint of France, who united the nation at a critical hour and decisively
Born: 1914, Chu-ch’eng, Shantung province, ChinaDied: May 14, 1991 Jiang Qing or Chiang Ch’ing was a Chinese social and cultural activist, third wife of Mao Zedong and leader of the Gang of Four. Jiang became an actor in the 1930s, using the stage name Lan Ping (Lan P’ing). In 1937 she joined the Chinese Communist
Born: April 22, 1451, Madrigal de las Altas Torres, CastileDied: November 26, 1504, Medina del Campo, SpainIsabella I was the queen of Castile, called la Católica (“the Catholic”), and a sponsor of the voyages of Christopher Columbus. She was the daughter of John II of Castile and León by his second wife, Isabella of Portugal.
Born: c. 752, , AthensDied: Aug 9, 803, Lesbos Irene was a Byzantine empress, born of a humble family in Athens. In 769, she married Emperor Leo IV. After her husband’s death she ruled as regent during the minority of her son, Emperor Constantine VI. Irene desired supreme power. However; she contested the throne with
Born: 1157, Izu Province, JapanDied: Aug 16, 1225, KamakuraMasako was the wife of Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-99), the first shogun, or military dictator, of Japan. She is said to have been largely responsible for Yoritomo’s success, and after his death she assumed great power.Masako fell in love with Yoritomo when he was exiled from the capital
Born: c. 248, Drepanon, Bithynia, Asia MinorDied: c. 328, Nicomedia; Western feast day August 18; Eastern feast day [with Constantine] May 21 Saint Helena was a concubine and possibly wife of the Roman emperor Constantius I, and mother of Constantine the Great, emperor of Rome. She was probably born in Drepanum, later called Helenopolis in