1) Phoolan Devi
An Indian woman born in crushing poverty. Married against her will at age 11. Abused. Kidnapped by bandits hired to kill her. Instead of killing her, they became impressed by her and let her join them. She married their leader. He was later killed and she was gang raped by his enemies. She escaped, became the queen of the bandits, and led them in the capture of her rapists. She then killed them all. Eventually arrested, but ultimately freed, she became a member of parliament. She was assassinated in 2001.
2) Madam Ching
From prostitute to pirate queen, she took on the Portuguese, Chinese and British empire, WON and RETIRED. One of the few pirates in history to retire on her own terms instead of being relegated to the usual fate of being killed or imprisoned.
Related: 25 Subreddits That Make You Smarter
3) Nancy Wake
She was a New Zealander/Australian who ended up as a British spy and French resistance leader in world war 2, and became the Gestapo’s most wanted, known as The White Mouse. She died in 2011 at the age of 98. She will be forever known as the baddest bitch ever to participate in the second world war. Her story is ripe for a movie. I think Steven Spielberg would be a great choice for director.
4) Mademoiselle (Julie) Maupin
While travelling and performing swordfighting shows, Julie Maupin dressed in male clothing but did not conceal her gender. On arrival in Marseille, she joined the opera company run by Pierre Gaultier, singing under her maiden name. She then became involved with a young woman. When the girl’s parents put her away in the Visitandines convent in Avignon, Maupin followed, entering the convent as a postulant. In order to run away with her new love, she stole the body of a dead nun, placed it in the bed of her lover, and set the room on fire to cover their escape.
5) Olga of Kiev
Went on a killing rampage that effectively massacred the Drevlians, a tribe that killed her husband Igor of Kiev. She didn’t just kill a few of them, she effectively assassinated all of their political leaders and ambassadors, burned their capital to the ground and leveled all of their towns. You could perhaps call her the Queen of the scorched-earth policy. A bad bitch indeed.
6) Violette Morris
French athlete, boxer, endurance auto/motorcycle racer, WWI motorcycle messenger who fixed her bike in a firefight in no man’s land. She was barred from French athletics for knocking out opponents in soccer matches. To exact her vengeance on the French she turned Nazi interrogator & spy hunter during WWII. She’s the female version of the Jew hunter from Inglorious Basterds but fucking real. She died in a hail storm of machine gun fire.
Read More About Violette Morris
7) Queen Tamar of Georgia
Became ruler of medieval Georgia in her own right (very rare in the middle ages!). She survived multiple coup attempts, including some by her former husband after she divorced him (again very rare in the middle ages!) and expelled him from the empire so she could marry someone else. She also expanded the boundaries of her empire through military conflict, presided over a golden age of Georgian architecture and poetry, and eventually died peacefully before later being made a saint.
Read More About Queen Tamar of Georgia
8) Margaret of Anjou
She was the consort of King Henry the VI during the Wars of the Roses and, because Henry the VI alternated between being insane or incompetent, was basically the leader of the Lancastrian side until Henry and her son were killed. Even after the Lancasters were pushed out of England she led an invasion that almost succeeded.
Read More About Margaret of Anjou
9) Brunhilda of Austrasia
Imagine a real-life Cersei Lannister. Now extend her career of seduction, manipulation, war-starting, murder, and obsessive control of her children’s lives up to the age of 70.Have her start a war between her own grandsons, culminating in one of them killing the other. Have her finally drive the warring nations of the Franks to unite against her and, when they finally capture her, blame her for the deaths of ten of their kings.
Read More About Brunhilda of Austrasia
10) Roseanne Barr
When she did her show she ended up taking full control after her asshole boss tried to take credit from her… She got him fired and turned it into one of the most important sitcoms in the history of television. What makes her run even more improbable is that at the time there weren’t any raw, accurate portrayals of working-class families in popular culture let alone one helmed by a woman who didn’t fit the Hollywood, good-looking woman archetype. She played by her own rules and won on every front.
34 comments