The Most Ruthless Queens And Female Rulers Of All Time

Born in Transylvania in 1560, Báthory was a Hungarian noblewoman and infamous serial slayer. She used her position of power to defend herself from the consequences of her actions, and she spent years slaying servants and peasants. Her husband, Count Nádasdy, went so far as to build his wife a torment chamber, Csejthe Castle. 

She also had a habit of feasting on her prey. She would often bite and eat chunks of them while they were still alive, and in one case may have even forced someone to cook and eat some of their own body. Eventually her conduct became so appalling that a trial was held. She was convicted on 80 counts but only sentenced to solitary imprisonment within her castle. She perished three years later, in 1614.

Irene of Athens was a Byzantine empress who ruled from 797 to 802 CE, though she co-ruled with her son for nearly two decades before ruling in her own right. Her son was Emperor Constantine VI, and their familial relationship ended in a way fit for a Greek tragedy. 

Irene was an ambitious woman, and she sought full control over the Byzantine Empire. Constantine was also an unpopular emperor, so Irene led a conspiracy against her son with the support of her political allies. Constantine was successfully deposed and subsequently blinded by gouging on his mother's orders. 

Throughout China's long history, there was only one woman who ever held supreme power. She was Empress Wu Zetian, and there is a lot of controversy surrounding her place in the history books.

Wu was an usurper by nature, and her reign was marred by stories of political strife and slayings. She is said to have taken out many members of the Tang dynasty to protect her status as empress, as well as her siblings. It is rumored she offed her mother and even ordered two of her grandchildren to take their own lives for speaking out against her. 

Mary I didn't get the nickname "Bloody Mary" for nothing. She was a Catholic queen in a Protestant country, ascending to the throne of England in 1553. She was the first true queen of England, but her short reign only lasted five years. 

She announced a war against Protestantism during her rule, and hundreds of protestants were slain for heresy. The typical sentence for anyone convicted of heresy in England was to burn at the stake, and Mary was responsible for burning over 300 Protestants during her rule. This made her wildly unpopular in England, and her conflict with Protestantism became the defining legacy of her time as queen. 

Queen Ranavalona I was the ruler of Madagascar from 1828 to 1861, and much of what we know about her has been colored by the opinions of Ranavalona's European contemporaries. Still, Ranavalona was known as a fierce leader who was willing to do anything to protect her crown and kingdom.

After her husband, King Radama I, passed, she quickly positioned herself as the new sovereign of the kingdom. She had her uncle executed to protect her position, and some accounts say that she eliminated his mother via extreme hunger in order to keep from breaking a sacred decree about spilling noblewomen's blood.

Fredegund of Soissons was queen consort to King Chilperic I, who ruled from 561 to 584 CE. Fredegund came from humble beginnings but quickly rose to a position of power in the small Frankish kingdom. She convinced Chilperic to leave his first wife and slay his second, ensuring her close relationship with the king was secure. 

Galswintha's sister, Brunhild, was furious when she learned of her sister's demise. She was the wife of Sigebert I, the king of Austrasia and half-brother to Chilperic. A fierce rivalry erupted between the two queens, and Fredegund ordered the successful elimination of Sigebert.