The Medieval Queens Whose Daring, Murderous Reigns Were Quickly Forgotten | Hacker News Reader

The Medieval Queens Whose Daring, Murderous Reigns Were Quickly Forgotten

smithsonianmag.com

> First, though, she belts out a poignant aria, giving rise to the expression, “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.” Her character became yet another way to casually ridicule women’s bodies and their stories.

Uhh, actually we're ridiculing over-the-top opera productions that the 17 hour Ring Cycle represents.

If anything, we should be glad it is Brunhilde's aria that is remembered as the ending, and that the saying isn't "it's not over until the sexy Rhinemaidens swim away with the ring".

In Toejam & Earl (and the recent remake for PC), there’s a fat opera singer dressed as Brunnhilde. But actually she’s a phat opera singer, and the most powerful character in the game by far. Her soprano shrieks cause enemies around her to pop! immediately. That’s not a bad impression. You always want to encounter her on a level. She doesn’t pop you, only annoying Earthlings who can’t dig funky sounds.

So yeah, for a lot of us who grew up with that game, the fat lady singing is an expression of feminine power, with a lady comfortable with her body. So an obvious target for shallow cancellers.

"The jewels flowed in from the east, while the slaves, like Fredegund herself, were shipped from the north in wagon carts, their arms bound by jute rope."

Jute is a Mediterranean plant. It seems somewhat implausible that it was used in the north. Does anyone know of any archealogical evidence of jute ropes in the north during the Dark Ages?

Maybe the rope was not made from jute, but made by the Jutes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jutes although then it should be capitalized so that also seems unlikely.

Why couldn't it be shipped in the opposite direction?

It could have been. Commenter was asking if anybody knew of archaeological evidence that it was.

'here take all this rope- bring it back after wrapping it around a bunch of slaves'

Fibers tend not to survive very long in moist climates, so I’d expect direct evidence of jute to be mostly absent.

Why assume it's not just some poetic license on the part of the writer here.

This is the reason for my question. The whole paragraph is about trade goods from afar. I have heared about everything the author mentions except jute ropes. So is this just idle talk or really fact?

"Prize-winning poet Shelley Puhak is the author of the new book The Dark Queens, from which this story is adapted."

I don't know if the author is a historian, and she doesn't present herself as one. I'd take that into account when reading the article/story.

I would also add that it's not likely that someone would bother transporting slaves in wagon carts, especially in 6th century northern europe.

Cleopatra has been similarly dismissed, but in her case as just a beautiful face. It's wonderful to see a more serious approach to history that judges people from their acts instead of personal expectations.

Peter Green gives a very respectful picture of Cleopatra in his Alexander to Actium.

I’ll never forgive them for what they did to Hillary. It was her turn!

It is a cool story. I was unaware of these queens. I suspect that we may hear more, soon enough. This article is probably timed to raise interest in her forthcoming book.

I lived in Baltimore for several years. Always good to see a hometown girl make it good, and wish her luck.

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