Moving Queens

Recently, I’ve been working on the mobility of queens in medieval Europe, with a focus on the eleventh century. As I thought through the issues, I decided a quantitative angle might be valuable.

To that end, I’ve made a list of 137 marriages through which a woman become a queen of a “different country”, 900-1150, with crowd-sourcing help from the amazing historical Bluesky community*. The number keeps on rising!

Obviously, there’s a degree of subjectivity here (what is a “different country” in this period, who counts as a queen, etc). A different historian might come up with a different list. I’ve put in indicative but anachronistic place names, to help anyone wanting to plot these on a map, and also to ease identification of the people.

I’m sure there are still some missing women and marriages. Who ought to be on here who currently isn’t?

name	from	to	husband
Urraca	Tudela	Leon	Fruela II
Eadgifu	Winchester	Paris	Charles the Simple
Berta	Constance	Geneva	Rudolf
N	Winchester	York	Sihtric
Maria (Irene)	Constantinople	Sofia	Peter I
Edith	Winchester	Aachen	Otto I
Gerberga	Aachen	Paris	Louis IV
Berta	Constance	Pavia	Hugh
Adelheid	Geneva	Pavia	Lothar of Italy
Predslava	Budapest	Kyiv	Sviatoslav I
Adelheid	Geneva	Aachen	Otto I
Urraca	Burgos	Leon	Ordono III
Urraca	Burgos	Pamplona	Sancho II
Tova	Schwerin	Copenhagen	Harald Bluetooth
Matilda	Paris	Geneva	Conrad I
Emma	Pavia	Paris	Lothar III
Dobrawa	Prague	Krakow	Mieszko I
Theophanu	Constantinople	Aachen	Otto II
Malfrida	Prague	Kyiv	Volodimir I
Oda	Magdeburg	Krakow	Mieszko I
Urraca	Pamplona	Cordoba	Al-Mansur
Judith	Budapest	Krakow	Boleslaw I
Rozala (Susanna)	Pavia	Paris	Robert II
Anna	Constantinople	Kyiv	Volodimir I
Tyra	Copenhagen	Oslo	Olaf I
Gunhild (Swatislav)	Krakow	Copenhagen	Swein I
Gormflaith	Naas	Dublin	Olaf Cuaran
Gisela	Munich	Budapest	Stephen
Berta	Geneva	Paris	Robert II
Slaine	Cashel	Dublin	Sihtric
Tyra	Copenhagen	Berlin	Burislav
Estrid	Schwerin	Stockholm	Olaf
N	Budapest	Sofia	Gavril
Gormflaith	Naas	Cashel	Brian Boru
Emma	Rouen	London	Aethelred
Richeza	Essen	Krakow	Mieszko II
Constance	Arles	Paris	Robert II
Maria Argyropoulina	Constantinople	Venice	John Orseolo
Teresa	Leon	Toledo	N
Grimelda (Maria)	Budapest	Venice	Otto Orseolo
Muniadona	Burgos	Pamplona	Sancho III
Astrid	Stockholm	Oslo	Olaf II
Ingegerd	Stockholm	Kyiv	Jaroslav
N	Toledo	Zaragoza	Yahya b Mundhir
Richeza (Adelaide)	Krakow	Budapest	Bela
Judith	Schweinfurt	Prague	Brestislav
Matilda	Leeuwarden	Paris	Henry I
Gunhild	Denmark	Aachen	Henry III
Ermesinde (Gerberga)	Bigorre	Pamplona	Ramiro I
Anastasia	Kyiv	Budapest	Andrew
Maria (Dobronega)	Kyiv	Krakow	Kasimir I
Agnes	Poitou	Aachen	Henry III
Gertrude	Krakow	Kyiv	Iziaslav I
Elisiv (Elisabeth)	Kyiv	Oslo	Harald III
N	Constantinople	Kyiv	Vsevelod I
Gyda	Stockholm	Copenhagen	Swein II
Catherine	Sofia	Constantinople	Isaac I
Edith	Birmingham	Cardiff	Gruffudd
Anna	Kyiv	Paris	Henry I
Gunhild	Oslo	Copenhagen	Swein II
Agnes	Poitiers	Aragon	Ramiro I
Adelheid	Budapest	Prague	Vratislav II
Sickelgaita	Salerno	Melfi	Robert Guiscard
Ingeborg	Copenhagen	Edinburgh	Malcolm III
N	Toledo	Valencia	Abd al-Malik
Swatislav	Krakow	Prague	Vrastislaus II
Sophia	Limburg	Budapest	Geza I
Judith	Aachen	Budapest	Solomon
Helena	Budapest	Zagreb	Zwonimir
Maria	Tblisi	Constantinople	Michael VII
Oda	Stade	Kyiv	Sviatoslav II
Ingerid	Copenhagen	Oslo	Olaf III
Ingegerd	Oslo	Copenhagen	Olaf I
Margaret	Budapest	Edinburgh	Malcolm III
Anna	Kharkov	Kyiv	Vsevelod I
Wyszeslawa	Kyiv	Krakow	Boleslaw II
Synadene	Constantinople	Budapest	Geza I
Cunigunde	Meissen	Kyiv	Yaropolk
Theodora	Constantinople	Venice	Domenico
Berta	Amsterdam	Paris	Philip I
Agnes	Poitiers	Leon	Alfonso VI
Gytha	Winchester	Smolensk	Vladimir II
Felicia	Ramerupt	Aragon	Sancho Ramirez
Adelheid	Zaehringen	Budapest	Ladislaus
Constance	Lyon	Leon	Alfonso VI
Adele	Gent	Copenhagen	Knut II
Judith	Prague	Krakow	Wladislaw I
N	Valencia	Zaragoza	al-Mustain
Agnes	Poitiers	Aragon	Peter I
Eupraxia	Kyiv	Aachen	Henry IV
Judith	Aachen	Krakow	Wladislav I
N	Prague	Kyiv	Sviatopolk II
Zaida	Seville	Leon	Alfonso VI
Adele	Gent	Melfi	Roger Borsa
Berta	Dijon	Leon	Alfons VI
Olena	Kharkov	Kyiv	Sviatopolk II
Christina	Stockholm	Kyiv	Mstislaw I
N	Palermo	Budapest	Coloman I
Arda	Yerevan	Jerusalem	Baldwin I
Helbirga	Vienna	Prague	Borivoj
Matilda	Edinburgh	London	Henry I
Ingegerd	Oslo	Stockholm	Philip
Margaret	Stockholm	Oslo	Magnus III
Morphia	Melitene	Jerusalem	Baldwin II
Blathmin	Dublin	Oslo	Sigurd I
Zbyslava	Kyiv	Krakow	Boleslaw III
Irene (Piroska)	Budapest	Constantinope	John Komnenos
Sibylla	London	Edinburgh	Alexander I
Matilda	London	Aachen	Henry V
Euphemia	Kyiv	Budapest	Coloman I
Adelaide	Vasto	Jerusalem	Baldwin I
Matilda	Huntingdon	Edinburgh	David I
Salome	Berg	Krakow	Boleslaw III
Ulvhild	Oslo	Stockholm	Inge II
Elvira	Leon	Palermo	Roger II
Malmfred	Novgorod	Oslo	Sigurd I
Ingegerd Ragnvaldsdotter	Stockholm	Oslo	Harald IV
Ingeborg	Kirkwall	Man	Olaf I
Adelheid	Regensburg	Budapest	Stephen II
Adeliza	Louvain	London	Henry I
Agnes	Babenberg	Krakow	Wladislaw II
Richeza	Krakow	Copenhagen	Magnus the Strong
Berenguela	Barcelona	Leon	Alfonso VII
Helena	Belgrade	Budapest	Bela II
Margaret	L’Aigle	Aragon	Garcia VI
Affraic	Dumfries	Man	Olaf I
Ulvhild	Oslo	Copenhagen	Niels
Christine	Copenhagen	Oslo	Magnus IV
Richeza	Krakow	Minsk	Volodar
Viacheslava	Novgorod	Krakow	Boleslaw IV
Elisabeth	Budapest	Krakow	Mieszko III
Lutgarde	Stade	Copenhagen	Eric III
Euphrosyne	Kyiv	Budapest	Geza II
Berta	Sulzbach	Constantinople	Manuel I
Matilda	Geneva	Lisbon	Alfonso the Battler
Richeza	Krakow	Stockholm	Sverker
Sibylla	Dijon	Palermo	Roger II

* thanks to Lari Ahokas, @bazzargh.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy, ‪Øystein Hellesøe Brekke, Adam Cain, Josh Coulthard, @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social, Meg Hyland, ‪jwrayday.bsky.social‬, Vanina Kopp, Thomas Kohl, Fanny Madeleine, Fraser McNair, Marc Morris, Levi Roach, Pauline Stafford and Jonathan Tickle for pointing out omissions and errors on Bluesky. Thanks also to Johannes Preiser-Kapeller for inspiration.