What is the secret of the main beauties in world history: were wars really unleashed with their light hand?

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Among men, it has long been customary to fight for the heart of a beauty, although it would be more correct to say that men have always fought among themselves for their position in society and the right to possess certain goods. And women were more likely a part of these privileges. Whichever romantic form it takes, the essence remains very prosaic. If such a rivalry was entered by men with power, an army and untold treasures, then the rivalry could develop into a real war. However, a woman's ability to play undercover games cannot be ruled out. So was the fault of women in these or those wars, or their role is embellished?

Queen Margo

The French princess Marguerite de Valois, who is better known as Queen Margot, is the daughter of Henry II, she was the youngest in the family, and from childhood she showed herself to be a wayward but charming girl. She received an excellent education, was cunning and resourceful.

She went down in history as a sensual and loving nature. Ever since her youth, she had an affair with an adult man, meanwhile, her relatives endowed with power always tried to find her more profitable, and often the girl acted as a subject of bargaining. However, she was never destined to marry successfully, since the French court was too aggressive in negotiations, and rumors about the behavior of Margot herself did not contribute to a compromise. After all, in the meantime, Margaret secretly met with the Duke of Guise - the Catholic head of France and one of the contenders for the throne in the future. But marriage between them was impossible, as this would only increase the enmity between Protestants and Catholics.

As a result, Margot was married to Henry of Navarsky, who was her second cousin and was the crown prince. This marriage was supposed to reinforce peace between Protestants and Catholics, but the wedding ended on St. Bartholomew's Night. Protestants rose up, outraged by this marriage. Despite the fact that Margot maintained a relationship with her first lover until the end of her life, she refused to betray her husband and divorce him after the massacre. It was from that moment that the relationship between the spouses became partnerships.

Both spouses had numerous love affairs, and none of them was embarrassed. This fact went down in history as unparalleled, because the spouse hid his wife's lovers in his bedroom, and she helped give birth to one of his mistresses, and called the favorite "daughter".

After her husband fled, and she helped him in this, she herself remained a hostage at the palace, however, this did not prevent her from doing state affairs and going on business trips for negotiations. However, the curse of St. Bartholomew's night haunted her all her life, wherever she went, war and destruction did not follow. But this did not stop her from swimming in the attention of lovers and admirers until old age. Many of them were suitable for her grandchildren, and that is how one might think when she gathered them at her bedside.

Queen Brunhilde

Brunhilde was born into the royal family of the Visigoths and was subsequently married to Sigibert, King of Austrasia. It is Brunhilde who is considered guilty of the war with Neustria. Although the situation cannot be called unambiguous. Her own sister Galsvinta was married to the ruler of neighboring Neustria. However, her sister's life was cut short, because her husband, succumbing to the persuasion of his mistress, got rid of his wife, who was interfering with their relationship.

Brunhilde was angry and this, to put it mildly, she wanted to avenge her sister, and managed to persuade her husband to demand the return of the dowry of the murdered woman. However, Brünnhilde had every right to return the cities, namely, they were appointed as a dowry for the royal daughter. And her husband, probably overwhelmed by a thirst for profit, and not revenge, went to war against a neighboring state. In the same war he was killed.

By the way, the same mistress was accused of murdering the sovereign (who really turned out to be a bloodthirsty woman), allegedly it was she who organized the successful assassination attempt. Brunhilde herself was captured, but she managed to escape and re-take the throne. However, her death was very tragic. Already the son of her sister's killer accused the queen of a neighboring state of unleashing a war between states and executed her by tying her arms and legs to horses. Very much in the spirit of that time.

Amalasunta

The royal daughter, the heiress of the Ostrogothic ruler, gave birth to a son from a marriage with a representative of the house of Amalov, but her husband died early, and then her father also died. The son and heir to the throne at that time was only 10 years old, so Amalsunta became the successor until the son grew up.

She zealously took up the job, because she was well educated, possessed political talent and a sense of justice. In addition, she was very beautiful and perspicacious. At the same time, she readily raised her son as a future ruler, tried to give him a future that was not associated with barbaric customs, but with Roman foundations. But the efforts of the mother did not go for the young boy, he willingly succumbed to temptations, into which he was no less willingly involved. So, during one of these orgies, he died.

After the death of the rightful heir to the throne, the throne under Amalasunta was shaken. In order to retain power, she invited her cousin to become the second ruler. More precisely, her plan assumed that he would take the throne nominally, and she would still be in charge of the state herself. The brother agreed to this alignment, but after a few months from his reign, he imprisoned her on the island.

The Byzantine emperor Justinian, who previously had great respect and sympathy for Amalasunta, asks for the release of the hostage. However, the current ruler, who is also Amalasunta's brother, decides to get even with her altogether, choosing for this a barbaric method - to boil her alive in a bathhouse. Justinian was extremely angry with this act and went to war against the Ostrogoths. The armed conflict lasted 19 years and brought a lot of destruction and losses to both sides.

Cleopatra

Perhaps the most famous woman ruler, who has kept a lot of conflicting versions about herself in history. Starting from the fact that she bathed exclusively in the blood of young virgins and ending with her endless love affairs. The lovers, by the way, were also allegedly executed the next morning. And its attractiveness and external data are also subject to all sorts of doubts. Be that as it may, she was a fatal woman.

Roman historians wrote about her as a woman with a special magnetism and charm, the sounds of her voice captivated, and the very sight of Cleopatra bewitched so that they did not dare to object to her in anything. The Queen of Egypt for her time was an exceptionally educated woman who knew several languages, mathematics, philosophy, she was interested in foreign policy, had a lively and extraordinary mind. At the same time, she knew how to unleash wars and rarely miscalculated. She was not afraid to poison her relatives who could claim the throne, but at the same time she understood that she herself was in danger.

Skillfully using her magical charm, she begins to look for a patron and protector for herself. So she agrees with Julius Caesar, who favors her. He helps her take the throne and takes her under his wing, protecting and protecting her in every possible way. But the nobility was extremely unhappy with this state of affairs and is trying to return the leadership of the state, as a result, Cleopatra's defender dies.

The queen again flees to Egypt and there finds consolation in the arms of Mark Antony, who will also become a victim of love for Cleopatra. Even in Egypt, she will start a few intrigues, confuse conspiracies that will cause death. After all her hopes of taking the throne again vanished, she chose to take snake venom.

Elena Troyanskaya

And this story is perhaps the most famous among those in which stupid and vicious women unleashed a whole war that cost the lives of thousands of soldiers. So, Helen of Troy was so magnificent that even poets (and they had already seen everything) were speechless at the sight of her. They described her as if she had huge meek eyes, a small mouth and beautiful breasts. Bowls were even cast in honor of the latter. By analogy with forms.

Such a beauty was married to Menelaus, who was also by no means the last person - a ruler, a warrior and, in general, quite an attractive man. But she easily exchanged him for the young Paris. The marriage with Menelaus lasted ten years, that is, Elena was not a young fool, capable of following the songs and promises of a prince when she had a real king. And so, according to legend, Elena flees to Troy, and not only taking her dresses and jewelry, but also emptying the treasury.

Menelaus, upon learning of the betrayal, vomits and dashes (quite a predictable reaction) and goes to war against Troy. So the long-term war between Troy and Greece began, which claimed the lives of worthy husbands, including Hector and Achilles. Elena allegedly very soon regretted what she had done and was ready to bite her beautiful elbows. However, her legitimate husband, after that burst into Troy, first of all rushed into Paris's bedroom (well, where else could Elena be) and wanted to get even with the unfaithful wife, but for some reason he again went limp in front of Elena the beautiful, picked up in his arms and carried home …

Homer, who told about the history of Troy, tried so hard to slander Elena and made her the main culprit of the war, as if conflicts for other reasons did not occur at all at that time. Troy was in an advantageous place, at the junction of two seas at once - the Black and the Mediterranean. Thanks to this, the Trojans lived richly, as they controlled the sea routes. This could not but anger the neighbors, who were jealous of this state of affairs in a black way. Therefore, Elena's beauty and infidelity is most likely just a bargaining chip and a reason.

Justa Grata Honoria

The sister of the emperor of the Western Roman Empire is known for having an extremely tense relationship with her brother. Valentinian was too zealous for his sister's honor, surrounding her with dozens of eunuchs. It is not surprising, because a too nimble admirer could take possession of the throne through his sister, not to mention the heirs who would also have this right.

For the sake of fairness, it is worth noting that she waited a long time, and at that time for a very long time. But her brother was in no hurry to break her monastic life by suitors, then, driven to despair, the girl wrote a letter to the leader of the Huns - Attila and invited him to marry herself. Rumor has it that she even attached a ring to the letter. One of her eunuchs delivered the note to the addressee, and the latter was greatly flattered. First, he adored women, even if he had come to marry for this. Secondly, he was known for his cruelty and greed. Moreover, quite recently he was defeated and lost to the Romans in the Catalaunian fields. A wedding with a princess could promise Roman lands as a dowry.

Of course, no one gave the princess just like that, which extremely angered Attila, he, having collected a huge army, goes to the Roman walls, destroying all the cities that come his way. The people of Rome were horrified to see the kind of trouble looming over them. However, the emperor was in no hurry to give his sister in marriage to a barbarian. He exiled her to Constantinople and married a senator there. The senator was old, but that's not the point.

Attila was persuaded not to attack the city, in which Honoria no longer exists, he went to Constantinople. But he never managed to get the princess, he died at one of the feasts, never knowing the love of the one for which he started a military campaign.

La Cava

Unlike its predecessors, La Cava was not a crowned person, although not of ordinary blood. She was the daughter of a count. The girl herself was very attractive and just as stubborn and proud. So, despite the fact that she liked the king himself, she was in no hurry to reciprocate. And this, despite the fact that she actually tried to look after her.

But the king was not used to rejections either. Once, having lured her with cunning, he decided to take the unapproachable girl by force. The dishonored girl told her father everything. By the way, he was not only a count, but also the commandant of the fortress, which closed the way to the peninsula. The father was furious with rage, but decided that revenge was a dish that was served cold and began to wait. Such a case soon presented itself. Once he opened the gates of the fortress to the Arabs, thereby contributing to the complete destruction of the kingdom. The rapist king was killed in the first battle. Of course, besides him, a lot of innocent people died, but is this what we are talking about, if the daughter is offended?

Eleanor

The relationship with men and the manipulation of this woman's lands led to the Hundred Years War. The red-haired beauty, at the age of 15, becomes the heiress of a huge fortune - Aquitaine and the County of Poitou. However, she could not independently dispose of her property, since all this could only belong to her husband. They hurried with the wedding, the king quickly married his son (the future king) to the duchess and they began to live well. However, Eleanor's husband, who had become king by that time, was not at all interested in his wife, he was extremely pious.

But Eleanor had no end to men. She was not only pretty, but also smart, temperament. Men, and very high-ranking ones, showed her attention. The king noticed this and was indignant. Unprecedented happened at that time - the couple divorced. Take Eleanor, and jump out to marry an English prince, who at that time was 18 years old.

Eleanor had every right to take her lands with her, which she inherited. And this, in fact, accounted for almost half of the country. The French did not approve of such a decision, and history remembers what happened next.

Historical legends often bear a very distant resemblance to facts. Moreover, the events that took place a certain number of centuries ago are often overgrown with additional myths thanks to the cinema. So, now it's pretty hard to figure it out what was in ancient Rome, and what the writers and directors invented.