Shelly Puhak - Fredegund vs. Brunhilde

About this episode

Shelly Puhak discusses her book on the rivalry between two powerful medieval queens, Fredegund and Brunhilde.

Award-winning author, Shelly Puhak, joins us to discuss her wonderful book, The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry That Forged the Medieval World , about two of the most powerful rulers in European history: Queen Fredegund and Queen Brunhilde. These two powerful queens commanded armies and fought each other over several decades. Brilliant and tough, they battled not only for supremacy, but survival, using the tools of diplomacy and warfare as needed. Alliances with popes, queens and kings stabilized their realms. Combined, their empires extended through Germany, Belgium, France and Spain, and laid the foundations for the the development of European nation-states to come. After their deaths, they suffered a familiar fate as other great women of history: their stories were erased or rewritten, and their names were sullied. Dawn "Sam" Alden and Sean Marlon Newcombe co-host.

People in this episode

Hosts: Dawn "Sam" Alden, Sean Marlon Newcombe

Guest: Shelly Puhak

Topics covered

• medieval history
• female rulers
• power dynamics
• diplomacy
• warfare
• European nation-states

Keywords

• Fredegund
• Brunhilde
• medieval queens
• rivalry
• European history
• diplomacy
• warfare

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry That Forged the Medieval World

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