I know Disney movies are all the rage these days but let's forget about Ariel, Jasmine, and Belle.
Disney princesses may have an appeal to us but history has a lot more to offer when it
comes to princesses who are the definition of badass.
These are not your typical damsels in distress that get abducted by dragons and kept in stone
stone castles, no.
These are women who have either fought in wars or have gained their title by keeping
ten steps ahead of their male counterparts.
Of course, it also helps a little if you are related to Genghis Khan or a Spartan.
Buckle up and sharpen your swords because
We are counting down to the 10 most badass princesses in history!
Number 10: Urraca of Zamora One of the five children of Ferdinand I The
Great of Spain, Urraca was destined for greatness as she was able to fend off an advancing army
intent on taking her city.
She and her siblings were each given lands
to which they can rule as their own city-states in peace.
Of course, if there is anything that history has shown us is that he – or she – who
has the largest amount of land gains control of a territory or country.
And this was the case with the eldest of Ferdinand’s children, Sancho.
Deciding that he wanted all the lands to himself, Sancho effectively overthrew each of his siblings, leaving Urraca last.
When Sancho reached the city-state of Zamora, his little sister was more than prepared and
Sancho’s armies were not able to enter Zamora’s walls.
In a final attempt to topple Urraca, Sancho surrounded Zamora to prevent anyone from coming
in or out, hoping to starve its citizens and Urraca herself.
The princess, however, was not deterred by Sancho and set up a plan to assassinate her
brother – which was carried out successfully thus taking down the family bully.
Number 9: Tomoe Gozen While she was not considered a princess or
of royal birth, Tomoe Gozen deserves a spot on this list because being a female samurai
is pretty much an equivalent of being a kick butt warrior princess.
The life of Tomoe Gozen is one of the few to have been ever recorded of a woman who
rode to war.
While female samurais were not completely uncommon in Japan, they are quite few and
Tomoe was one who has exhibited an extraordinary amount of talent in martial arts, archery, and swordsmanship.
Her skills therefore earned her a spot in one of history’s most respected and iconic
warriors: the samurai.
Her greatest, recorded, accomplishment was when she fought side by side with her husband
in the Gempei War.
As records of her life show, Tomoe was able to singlehandedly kill off a group of advancing
soldiers and decapitating their leader as he attempted to dismount her from her horse.
While historical records about her were kept as accurate as possible, her later years became
clouded in obscurity.
One account has it that, after the Gempei War, Tomoe retired her sword and entered a
monastery where she lived out the rest of her life.
In another story, because her husband did not survive the war, it was believed
that Tomoe Gozen took her life through the ancient ritual of seppuku.
Number 8: Olga of Kiev She embodies the age old saying, “Hell Hath
no Fury Like a Woman Scorned”.
Olga of Kiev lived a peaceful and prosperous life in the Ukraine around the 10th century
until her husband, Igor, was brutally murdered by invading Drevlians.
Believing that Olga was of weak stock because of her gender, the Drevlians forced her to
marry one of their prince, which she did consent to.
Still scorned by the killing of her husband, Olga tricked and led a group of Drevlians to a pit which
was dug overnight and buried them alive.
She continued her systematic purge of the Drevlians and lured their most elite and influential
citizens to bathhouses that she set on fire.
And during her husband’s funeral, she managed to get 5000 Drevlians
drunk and essentially had them wiped out.
As a final stroke to her vengeance, she returned all the pigeons that were offered to her as
a sign of peace by the Drevlians but not before powdering their feathers with bits of sulfur
that, later on, burned down their town to ashes.
Number 7: Nanny of the Maroons On the shores of Jamaica in the 18th Century,
escaped slaves built communities in order to protect themselves from the British.
With the help of a member of the Ghanaian Royal family named Nanny, they were able to
fend off the British effectively.
Coming to the shores of Jamaica on her own free will, Nanny helped the escaped African
slaves, called Maroons, set up a lookout system across the entire island that would communicate
through telegraph should British ships be spotted and prepare to defend their community.
Among many other systems she put in place, Nanny was even able to develop a potent herbal
mixture that knocked their enemies out cold by its fumes alone.
Celebrated as a hero, her face can be found printed on Jamaican $500 bills, as well as
having her name on several schools, buildings, and institutions around the island country.
Number 6: Lili’uokalani She was the last reigning monarch and Queen of Hawaii.
Spending her life on the throne protecting the native people of the islands and fiercely
campaigning against the annexation of the United States, Lili’uokalani used brains
and diplomacy and avoided violence as a means to maintain sovereignty and independence.
In one move, she attempted to pass an amended constitution which would restore power to the
native people of Hawaii as well as grant her more political power in order to fend off
any US involvement in their affairs.
Unfortunately, in 1898, she was forced off the throne and Hawaii was finally claimed
by the US.
During her lifetime she advocated for peaceful resistance and resolutions to conflict and
despite losing her country to the Americans, she continued to preserve Hawaiian identity
by curating all things related to its people and culture.
Not all of us may know this, but among her various contributions to Hawaiian culture
was a song that she composed called “Aloha Oe”.
Number 5: Zhao Pingyang Princess Pingyang lived in the 7th century when
the Sui Dynasty was on the verge of crumbling.
Originally, she was not of any kind of royal descent, being only a daughter of a governor.
However, in this turbulent time, her father saw an opportunity to topple the Sui Dynasty
through rebellion.
As her father amassed a force to take on the Emperor, he warned Pingyang and her husband
to leave their home – which was a stone throw’s away from the Emperor’s palace
– because they would soon be labelled as enemies of the state and will likely be executed on sight.
Pingyang urged her husband to leave town first to join the rebel army.
On the way to meet her husband and her father, Pingyang sold her family’s estate and used
the money to raise an army to help bring down the Sui Empire.
Eventually, she began to lead an army of 700,000 soldiers from one victory to the next
and she was so feared the Emperor amassed a special force just to kill her.
Unfortunately for the Sui forces, Pingyang and her army were able to defeat them, destroying
the Emperor’s hopes of ridding the rebellion of their female leader.
The Sui Dynasty was later on toppled and it was replaced by the Tang Dynasty with Pingyang’s
father as the country’s new emperor.
In honor of her daughter’s victory and contributions to the successful rebellion, the Emperor commemorated
her with a military parade and bestowed her with the title of “Zhao” and she was crowned
as princess of the Tang Dynasty.
She was only 20 years old.
Number 4: Chiomara At the height of the Roman Empire when they
marched from one country to the next; conquering, pillaging, and abducting women, they came
across a tribe of people that was on their list of subjugating next.
As part of bringing the tribe to their knees, the Romans abducted a woman named Chiomara
who was, incidentally, the wife of the chief.
While she had to endure a number of abuses at the hands of the Romans,
One centurion promised Chiomara that she would be returned to her tribe if a ransom in gold
would be paid in her exchange.
Eventually, the tribe agrees to pay her ransom and she was returned.
While the centurion was busy counting the gold, Chiomara ordered her rescuers to behead
him and they did.
And then she took the head of the centurion and carried it like
a trophy as she walked back home.
And when she saw her husband, the chief, she throws the centurion’s head at his feet and declare,
“Only one man who has lain with me shall remain alive.”
Number 3: Isabella of France Called the “She-wolf of France”, Isabella
had it hard from the beginning when she was married to her, presumable homosexual husband, Edward.
It was said that in order to keep her from losing power, she had to also build an
alliance with Edward’s lover.
But it was when Edward found a new lover that Isabella’s life went completely upside down.
During a failed skirmish in Scotland after the death of William Wallace, Edward suddenly
decided to flee and abandon Isabella and her entourage.
Before they were captured by the advancing Scottish army, Isabella, her entourage, and
a few knights that stayed with her, managed to steal some boats in order to escape back to England.
Unfortunately, Isabella did not receive a warm welcome back home.
Her lands and her many estates were confiscated and her household staff were even thrown in prison.
To add more salt to the wound, her children were sold off to her political enemies.
Sensing that trouble was closing in on her, Isabella regrouped in her home country of
France and raised an army and returned to England to overthrow Edward and his new lover,
Hugh.
She was later on joined by multiple factions during her campaign who were equally fed up
with Edward.
Sensing that they are close to being cornered, Edward and Hugh fled but were caught.
Hugh’s father, who was Edward’s adviser and Isabella’s fiercest political enemy,
was also captured and sentenced to be dragged by a horse, hanged, and decapitated.
Hugh suffered a much harsher fate.
Like his father, he was dragged by a horse, hanged until he was mostly dead and then disembowelled
and decapitated – after all that his head put on a spike and displayed at the London Bridge.
Due to Edward’s existing political influence and allies outside of England, Isabella had
no choice but to put him behind bars where, according to historians, he “accidentally died.”
Number 2: Khutulun Unlike Zena, she was the real Warrior Princess and that
title was well deserved.
After all, what other title could you be given if you were the great, great granddaughter
of Genghis Khan and your family ruled a third of the globe for centuries?
Known for her independent spirit, Khutulun was a Mongolian Royalty whose reputation preceded
her wherever she went.
Part of her life was chronicled by Marco Polo himself where he took note of her incredible
abilities in wrestling among many other impressive skills.
Her political ambitions were fuelled by her father from whom she learned the fierce military
strategies of the Mongol army.
Naturally, her father wanted her to marry and bear children to carry on the legacy of
her bloodline but, not wanting to be married off to anyone, Khutulun issued a challenge
to anyone wishing to court her: not to see who can bring her the freshest flowers or the biggest diamonds.
If you want to win her love, you would have to beat her in wrestling.
Another condition was that if a man lost to her challenge, he would then have to give her a horse.
And check this out.
She ended up with 10,000 horses before she finally consented to be wed.
Number 1: Rani Lakshmi Bai Before you ask why Khutulun did not make it
to number one, after beating 10,000 men at wrestling.
Hear me out on this and you'll understand why Rani Lakshmi Bai landed
the top spot in this video.
Born in 1835 in India, Lakshmi Bai was the daughter of one of India’s Prime Minister’s
aides which gave her the opportunity to grow up in a royal setting.
Not content to just sit around and learning needlework and tasks that are usually designated
to women during that time, Lakshmi Bai spent a great deal of her youth learning how to
use a sword, mastering archery, and wielding guns.
Married to a prince at the age of 12, Lakshmi Bai’s road to power was being paved for her.
Soon enough, her husband became raja and they adopted a son to compete their family.
Unfortunately, her husband died and a certain Lord Ramsay cited
a legislation called the Doctrine of Lapse to justify seizing her family’s lands and
further stated that, according to the British government – who was occupying India at the time– Lakhsmi
Bai and her son were not of royal descent and therefore was forced out of the throne.
After emotionally and mentally recovering from the trauma dealt to her by the British
Empire, she began gathering an army of men and women to rebel.
Taking on the mantle of their leader, she led her army of rebels head on against British
soldiers with her adopted son strapped to her back.
Yeah that right.
Now if that isn’t the most badass thing in history, I don’t know what is.
Labelled by her enemies as “the most dangerous of all rebel leaders”, Rani Lakshmi Bai
was eventually killed at the Battle of Gwailor while charging and firing at the man who had
shot her in the back.
There you go guy. And I wanted to do this video because there's a lot of talk about Disney princesses
how awesome they are. Like Jasmine falling for a commoner or Belle falling in love with a water buffalo
and eventually changing him into a prince.
I just wanted to do a video of the real-life awesome princesses in history so
hope you'd liked it. Thank you all so much for watching. I'll see you later