Empress Theodora
(500 – 548 CE)
• Her father was a bear trainer at the
Hippodrome and her mother was an actress
• Her mother introduced her to the theater
as a dancer
• Allegedly became a prostitute in her teens
• Left Constantinople at age 16 and
wandered through North Africa for years
• Returned to Constantinople and gave up
her former life by becoming a wool spinner
• Introduced to Emperor Justinian I of the
Byzantine Empire by one of his informants
Empress Theodora
(500 – 548 CE)
• Justinian was forbidden from marrying
Theodora due to the Roman laws
concerning marriage between classes
• Justinian repealed the law in 525
• Justinian and Theodora were married an
crowned as Joint Rulers of the Byzantine
Empire in 527
• Helped Justinian reform laws to ride the
Byzantine government of corrupt officials
• She convinced Justinian to remain in
Constantinople during the Nike Riots
• She passed new laws increasing women’s
rights within the Byzantine Empire
Eleanor of Aquitaine
(1122-1204)
• Succeeded her father as Duchess of
Aquitaine and Countess of Poitiers at Fifteen
• Married Louis VII of France and became
Queen of the Franks in 1137
• Participated in the Second Crusade (11451149) by leading her own knights
• Marriage to Louis VII was annulled on
March 11, 1152 due to her close blood
relationship to her husband (Actually due to
failure to give Louis VII a male heir)
• Married her 2nd Cousin, Henry II (Duke of
Normandy) on 18 May 1152
Eleanor of Aquitaine
(1122-1204)
• Eleanor became Queen of England when
her husband was crowned king in 1154
• She gave birth to two Kings of England:
Richard I (Lionheart) and John (Lackland)
• She was imprisoned by her husband
from 1173 – 1189 for supporting her son’s
revolt against their father
• Widowed on 6 July 1189 and returned to
power as Queen Mother of England
• Served as Regent of England while her
son, Richard I, was on the Third Crusade
(1189 – 1192)
• Died of natural causes in 1204
Joan of Arc (1412-1431)
• Testified seeing her first visions in 1424
at the age of twelve
• St. Michael told her to drive out the
English and secure the coronation of the
Dauphin of Reims (Charles VII)
• Petitioned Count Robert de Baudricourt
for permission to visit the Royal French
Court at age sixteen
• Impressed Charles VII and obtained
permission to travel with the Army
dressed in knights armor
• Theological examination by the Church
in April 1429 declared her irreproachable
in life, humanity, honesty and as a good
Christian
Joan of Arc (1412-1431)
• Joan successfully led the French Army
against the English at the City of Orleans
on 7 May 1429
• Joan was captured during a small
skirmish with the English on 23 May 1429
• Joan was tried for heresy in Jan 1431 at
the English occupied city of Rouen by
Church and English Government
• On 30 May 1431, Joan was executed by
being burned at the stake
• A Posthumous retrial of Joan of Arc
declared her innocent on 7 July 1456
• Joan of Arc was canonized as a
Catholic Saint on 16 May 1920