Queen mother of the west: Did you mean...?

A 13th century CE manuscript showing the coronation of Odo of West Francia, r. 888-898 CE. (Grandes Chroniques de France)

Owen Roe as Odo of West Francia in the TV series Vikings. Photo by Bernard Walsh/HISTORY - © The HISTORY Channel

A coin of Odo of West Francia (r. 888-898 CE)

Boudicca (died 61 CE) was the Celtic Queen of the Iceni tribe who led a revolt against Roman occupation of what is now East Anglia, England. So charismatic was Boudicca that ancient sources record tribes joining her revolt which would not...

Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536 CE) was a Spanish princess who famously became the Queen of England and the first wife of Henry VIII of England (r. 1509-1547 CE). When the marriage did not produce a male heir, Henry VIII became desperate to...

Queen Kubaba of Mesopotamia is known as the only queen who has been named on the Sumerian King List, which is unsurprisingly, a bit of a boy’s club. Kubaba is one of very few women who ruled Mesopotamia in her own right, and the surviving...

Our Lady of Guadalupe, also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe, is a title for a particular image of Mary, Mother of Jesus, as she appeared in the New World in the years after the Spanish conquest of Mexico. A beloved symbol of mercy, acceptance...

Nitocris (2184-2181 BCE) is the Greek name for Nitiqret, the last monarch of the 6th Dynasty of Egypt which concluded the period of the Old Kingdom (c. 2613-2181 BCE). Nitocris is best known from the story told of her by Herodotus (484-425/413...

Charles the Simple (Charles III of France, l. 879-929, r. 893-923) was king of West Francia (roughly modern-day France) toward the end of the period of Viking raids in the region. His epithet `the simple' refers to his habit of being straightforward...

Electra is a play written by the 5th-century BCE Greek tragedian Sophocles. Similar to Aeschylus' Libation Bearers, Electra focuses on the return of Electra's brother Orestes from exile and the plot to murder their mother. Years earlier...