The only Empress of India was a Muslim

From National Herald:

Not many Indians realise or remember that the only Empress of India lived and died 800 years ago.

India was ruled by slave dynasty from Turkey during 1206 and 1290 AD. Qutab-ud-din Aibak was the first emperor from slave dynasty and he set up the Delhi Sultanate. His son-in-law Iltutmish succeeded him. Razia was the daughter of Iltutmish and granddaughter of Qutab-ud-din, who had begun building the Qutab Minar in Delhi and who lies buried in Lahore.

Razia Sultan ruled over India for just about four years between 1236 and 1240, but she left an indelible imprint during this short period on Indian history.

More on Razia Sultan:

* wikipedia

* history of islam

Further reading:

* The Legend Makers: Some Eminent Muslim Women of India by Gouri Srivastava

* Status of Muslim Women in India edited by Hajira Kumar

* Royal Mughal Ladies and Their Contributions by Soma Mukherjee

Rare medieval skeletal remains excavated in Wales date to 13th century

The remains of a woman who died around the late 12th or early 13th century were excavated under the foundation a Welsh church that has been converted into a museum. The church was built over an older church in the 1820s.

Archaeologists found the skeleton of the woman, who they say died in her 60s, during reconstruction work on the museum. The church was St. Mary’s and now houses the Llŷn Maritime Museum in Nefyn, Gwennyd, Wales. They say it is rare to find any remains that old in North Wales 

“This lady would have lived through some exciting times in North Wales and in her later life she would have seen the unification of Gwynedd and much of mid and south Wales as well as the raise of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (the last),” the museum says.

Read More Here @ Ancient Origins

A Byzantine Lament for a Lost Wife

Dimiter Angelov posted this article in Medievalist dot net:

It is rare to find a work from the Middle Ages where a man writes about the loss of his wife – even more rare that these words are written by a Byzantine emperor. However, this is the case of Emperor Theodore II Laskaris and the heartfelt lament for his wife Elena.

Seal of Theodore II Lascaris

Theodore succeeded his father John III Vatatzes as Byzantine Emperor in 1254 - ruling for only 4 years. He was seen as a capable leader and general - his reign dominated by struggles against the Bulgarians for territory and his attempts at the reunification of the Latin and Greek Orthodox Churches. He was married (c.1235) to Elena, daughter of Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria, by whom he had several children, including his heir, son John IV.

The teenagers grew up together, and from all indications were very much in love. They would have six children, but in the year 1252 Elena passed away at the age of 28. Theodore, who was now ruling as co-emperor along with his father, was devastated at his wife’s death, and turned to writing to express his sadness.

read entire article here @ Medievalists

Further reading:

• The Journal of Medieval Military History edited by Clifford J. Rogers, Kelly DeVries, John France
• Warfare in Late Byzantium, 1204-1453 By Savvas Kyriakidis
• The Fourth Crusade: Event and Context By Michael J Angold
• Byzantium and the Turks in the Thirteenth Century By Dimitri Korobeinikov
• History of the Byzantine State by Georgije Ostrogorski
• Theodore II lascaris, Empereur de Nicee by Jean B. Pappadopoulos
• A Byzantine Government in Exile: Government and Society Under the Laskarids of Nicaea, 1204-1261 by Michael Angold
• Imperial Ideology and Political Thought in Byzantium, 1204-1330 By Dimiter Angelov

See also: 

The History of the Great Paraklesis (Supplication) Canon to the Theotokos

Richard III & His Women

Hard on the heels of the discovery of Richard II in the carpark over the medieval location of Grey Friars, we have the following interesting articles - here is a small snippet from all three.

The Princess and the Gene Pool: The Plantagenet rebel who held the secret to Richard III’s DNA - post by author Sarah Gristwood in Medievalist dot net (February 2013)

Here Sarah talks about the fascinating life of Richard's eldest sister, Anne, and how it was her descedents that provided the important mitochondrial DNA for the identification of Richard.

Richard III is perhaps the most controversial figure in British history and historians will long be discussing what new light the finds cast on his story. But the long-forgotten Anne was herself a creature of scandal – a woman who openly took a lover; divorced her husband; and kept his family lands anyway. A Plantagenet princess who acted with all the freedom of a Manhattanite on the make today.

Even if Richard himself had been survived by children, they wouldn’t have carried this particular gene strand. Nor would the present royal family, descended from another of Cecily’s sons. The mitochondrial DNA concerned can be passed only through the female line. So the identification goes back to Anne, who was born in 1439, the first surviving child of Richard, Duke of York and his wife Cecily, the beautiful ‘Rose of Raby’. She was only seven years old when in 1447 she was married – presumably at first in name only – to Henry Holland, fifteen year old heir to the Duke of Exeter, a great nobleman descended from John of Gaunt and thus in the line of succession to the throne.

 Read more here @ Medievalist

Our second items comes from author Elizabeth Ashworth, posted on her blog (July 2013).

Richard III, his mistress, and his illegitimate children

Much has been written in fiction, and in some non-fiction, about the love between King Richard III and his wife, Anne Neville. But what if it isn’t true? What if Richard’s mistress was the great love of his life?  We may not know much about the mother or mothers of John and Katherine but we do know a little more about them from contemporary records.

Here Elizabeth discusses the two known illegitimate children of Richard III, and the women who might possibly be the mothers.  Then Elizabeth put forth another candidate:

In my novel By Loyalty Bound I suggest a new name for the mother of Richard’s illegitimate children: Anne Harrington. Although this is also based on speculation as the other names are, there is some circumstantial evidence that she may have been his mistress.

read more here @ Elizabeth Ashworth's blog

Now this third item is the most intriguing - and comes directly from the dig itself. Again, posted on Medievalist dot net (March 2015)

Lady in the Lead Coffin revealed

A mysterious lead coffin found close to the site of Richard III’s hastily dug grave at the Grey Friars friary has been opened and studied by experts from the University of Leicester.

Inside the lead coffin, archaeologists found the skeleton of an elderly woman, who academics believe could have been an early benefactor of the friary – as radiocarbon dating shows she might have been buried not long after the church was completed in 1250 (although analysis shows her death could have taken place as late as 1400).

The high status female was in one of 10 graves discovered in the grounds of the medieval complex, including that of Richard III, six of which were left undisturbed. Those that were examined were all found to have female remains.

Documents dating back to the time of the burials – about 700-years – name a lady called Emma, who was married to John of Holt. In September of that year, 1290, the Bishop of Lincoln issued an indulgence granting 20-days off Purgatory for anyone who would say ‘a Pater and a Ave for the soul of Emma, wife of John of Holt, whose body is buried in the Franciscan church in Leicester’. However, little is known about her, including what she looked like, her age at death or where in the friary church she was buried.

read more here @ Medievalist