Among The Little Crowd That Watched Her Go On Board Stood Eustace Chapuys, But She Did Not Recognise

Among the little crowd that watched her go on board stood Eustace Chapuys, but she did not recognise him; it must have been some years since they had met, and besides he was in disguise; one would be glad to know what disguise. But he saw her, and reported in demure diplomatic style to the Emperor that it had been “a pleasure to see such excellent beauty and heroic bearing. Behind the words, and behind his daily cheering letters to her, behind all his passionate labours in her behalf, there was perhaps more than political feeling. It almost seems as if the Savoyard was the only man who ever felt for Mary a touch of romantic devotion, half for her royalty, half for her womanhood.

Prescott- Spanish Tudor (via lovelyladymarycrawley)

 Queen Nzinga of Ndongo (Angola)

Why she kicks ass:

Nzingha a Mbande (also known as Ana de Sousa Nzingha Mbande) was a 17th century queen (muchino a muhatu) of the Ndongo and Matamba Kingdoms of the Mbundu people in southwestern Africa.

She has been called the “greatest military strategist that ever confronted the armed forces of Portugal.” Her military campaigns kept the Portuguese in Africa at bay for more than four decades. 

Her objective was nothing less than the complete and total destruction of the African slave trade. 

She sent ambassadors throughout West and Central Africa with the intent of enlisting a huge coalition of African armies to eject the Portuguese. 

Queen Nzingha died fighting for her people in 1663 at the ripe old age of eighty-one. Africa has known no greater patriot.

Nzinga left an impression after making a fool of Portuguese Governor, Correa de Souza. 

Grenadier a fruit doux, from Traite des Arbres Fruitiers, after P. Jean Turpin, 1807-1835, Minneapolis Institute of Art: Prints and Drawings

No. 22 Size: 12 ½ x 9 ½ in. (31.75 x 24.13 cm) (plate) Medium: Hand-colored stipple engraving

https://collections.artsmia.org/art/72678/

history | powerful women

History Meme: List of Favorite Women throughout History–Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of France & England (c. 1122 – April 1, 1204)

Although Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen of France and later England, lived at a time when women as individuals had few significant rights, she was nevertheless the key political figure of the 12th century. At the age of fifteen she inherited one-quarter of modern-day France, but since women were thought unfit to rule, her land as well as her person were delegated to the custody of men. Her whole life thereafter became a struggle for the independence & political power that circumstances had denied her, although few of her contemporaries could realized this.

Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Biography by Marion Meade

…In any case I have something for you.