I wish we had books like The Dark Queens when I took Medieval HIstory; Puhak presents the reigns of two Queens who had been forgotten (one would say deliberately, given how their images and any mention of them were obliterated), but in such a way that I read it compulsively, wanting to see what happened next in the lives of these two strong-willed women.

The queens, Brunhild and Fredegund, battle those who would depose them, and with each other, solidify their reigns through acting as regents for their sons, consolidating power in the face of a Merovingian society that looked at women as bargaining chips.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys reading history and biographies: 5 stars

https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit/53138220

This narrative nonfiction is the story of rival queens Brunhild and her sister-in-law Fredegund in sixth-century Merovingian France. Though females couldn't rule in their own right, they spent their lives exerting influence through their husbands, sons, and grandsons—each trying to consolidate power over all of Francia.

Though later generations tried to eliminate all traces of these powerful women, enough remains for the author to present a compelling tale. This book fills in missing pieces of the history of Western Europe between the fall of Rome and the rise of Charlemagne.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

I read this as an ARC through the publisher. I have a degree in history including how to properly research using primary and secondary sources. I have taught world history on the high school level.

This is the story of rival Morovingian Queens Brunhild and Fredegund, married to brothers Sigimund and Chilperic during the 550s. With political maneuvering and assassination that makes Game of Thrones look mild, it reads like a novel. Problematically so.

This is written incredibly entertainingly, with Puhak doing her best to try to bring these people to life in a real world that contains sights, sounds and textures that would have been present in their era. And while these visceral touches do a lot to transport you to the time and place and are accurate to what we know of the life during the period, much of what she relates in far too many sections is pure speculation. We know a thing happened but we also know that all but the barest records of the event have been expunged as later monarchs tried to erase these women from history. Therefore, we have no idea what someone’s wedding processional would have been like and descriptions of such as spring from the author’s admittedly informed imagination are not history. This is extremely troubling in a book attempting to give these women their due.

You are writing about people who men tried to erase. And you are doing so in a way that will cause modern historians to ignore this because it is not properly sourced. This isn’t helping except maybe to get more people interested in these women and maybe more documents will eventually be found. So it works as publicity, but not as history so much.

It's not that this book doesn’t contain actual history, it absolutely does, but it also has so much hyperbole and speculation mixed in with the things we can actually know. I would have preferred more translated passages of first-person accounts and less of the author speculating. Often times she speculates someone had access to a source that is now missing and while that’s possible, it’s not documented evidence.
Stating she didn’t know and can’t know because the sources don’t exist wouldn’t have taken away with the dynamic writing or the worthy attempt to give these pre-medieval women their due, but it would have made this text feel authentic. I have read it, and I don’t think I can trust half of what is in it. That’s not good.

The sections of authorial speculation don’t end with telling us what a king’s wedding procession might have been, however. It extends to creating whole plots of nuns smuggling messages out of their convents to put political events into motion that a) have no sources or evidence b) could easily be explained by men wanting to use said nuns as political pawns and c) involve elaborate conspiracies with many actors and are quite implausible because have you ever worked as a project manager? Nobody can keep secrets like that. You get more than a couple of people involved and someone is going to talk and it will all go haywire.
Can I buy Fredegund paying off two peasants to kill somebody with poisoned scramasaxes, you bet! That’s three people in a conspiracy. That works. Can I buy endless secret messages passed to half a hundred co-conspirators and none survived? A bit of a stretch. More likely people saw which way the political wind was blowing and ran with who they thought would be the victor as things were put in motion. A lot of the speculation giving complete credit to these Queens, who clearly DID have great influence, for every little thing and cutting out the agency of nobles vying for power is a massive stretch.

And honestly, she often says, “the records go silent,” but here’s what happened. You have no idea what happened. You are literally making it up at that point. Please no.

Again, if you want to read a good medieval fiction mixed with actual history, this is a terrific book. But it cannot be relied on with the author presenting pure speculation on equal footing with fact.

I hope this book sparks someone to do better primary research on these women because they are extremely interesting. This book is well-written and fun to read. Puhak is an adept writer.

And, at the end she, herself states "This book is not an academic history: it is a work of narrative nonfiction based on primary sources." THERE she is correct.

She goes on to state, however, "These primary sources are, admittedly, fragmentary but enough survive to make it possible to assemble a narrative and to piece together the emotional lives and daily realities of these two queens." And there she lost me. No, there are not enough. At least not enough cited in this work. It is incredibly dependent on a single source - Gregory of Tours - and it's not enough to know them as people. Again, I pray there are actually more documents surviving in obscure archives that could add to the scholarship here. Puhak is not wrong that these women deserve their due.

The Dark Queens is an extremely well-written , accessible history of a period that can be particularly difficult over which to gain either a clear or full understanding. The resources are scarce, geographical boundaries are constantly shifting - not to mention having to keep track of names or the understanding of foreign cultures. However, despite these challenges, Shelly Puhak not only paints a coherent picture of the people and the time in which they lived, but also allows the personalities of both her MCs to emerge through their actions within said environment. While reading straight history, particularly of the this time period, may not be everyone's cup of tea, I found it both enjoyable and informative. I would highly recommend The Dark Queens to any reader with even a passing interest in European or medieval history.

This was history that I had no idea about. I loved that it focused on the women and how they caused things to happen even though women were seen as weaker. I was not expecting this to be like a history textbook, meaning some parts were incredibly boring, I love history, but it was hard for me to get through this. All of the deaths and ways that family members got to each other for land and power showed a lot more about history than I remember from my history classes.

I really liked the concept of the book, as their aren't many books about mid-evil queens, however I just had a hard time really getting interested in the book and the characters. It seemed well researched, but I found it confusing trying to keep people straight. This is a great book for people interested in or have a lot of knowledge on mid evil royalty.

I'm so happy to have read this book about a less appreciated era of history. Brunhild and Fredegund were so interesting to read about, and I'm happy that I now know who these fascinating queens were. I'd love to read another book by this author about other lesser known queens throughout history. I enjoyed the style of blending a narrative with historical, factual information. It's so important for there to be more works like this one, analyzing and telling the the histories of women throughout history. Just because the sources often ignore them or portray them in a biased way, doesn't mean we should continue those perspectives today. I really enjoyed this. Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC.

Fair warning- my DRC expired while I had only about fifty pages left in the narrative. Which was terribly disappointing, because I was hugely enjoying this title. But my review is based on what I was able to read.

I can't believe I've never heard about this part of history before. Murder, betrayals, blood feuds, and royalty- it has all the makings of an epic TV show. Instead, this story has faded into history. Possibly (probably) because two of the major players are women. Brunhild was a princess, married to a foreign King, Fredegund was a slave who became a King's obsession, and then his Queen. The women were enemies, ruling over enemy kingdoms that were frequently at war with each other. They created and broke alliances in a constant effort to gain land, allies, power... and to stay alive.

More people should know about Brunhild and Fredegund. While their actions were sometimes troubling (to put it lightly), Puhak asks us to remember the world that they were living in and to put ourselves into their shoes. What choices might we have made it it was our life, or our child's life, on the line? What may have been their motivations, their tragedies, and their desires?

This is touted as a narrative non-fiction about two queens during the Early Middle Ages, who'd held power & ruled but were erased & rewritten in history. I initially had to get used to the writing but when I did, I found it quite enjoyable to read. However, I expected that it was going to mainly follow the two queens & it didn't really. It lost me a lot when the two were not the focus. I knew that a lot about them were erased but I wish there was even more focus on them.

This book defines had some good aspects such as the great storytelling and appropriate ambience but, for me, the narrative was a bit too fictional-ish for a book that is supposed to be non-fiction. This is just not my kind of book but I do have to admit that for at least 60 pages, I was totally hooked! I gave this book an overall rating of 3 stars.

This was a very well written book. I loved the history and trials and triumphs of the powerful women at the center of this book!!

Unfortunately, what could have been a super interesting read about the intricate lives of two women. Two Queens!!! I found the writing style very dry and at times boring. I like to read history extensively and found that authors can write about he history of the bananas and make it interesting. This book is a wealth of information about these women's lives but not one I'd take down from the bookshelf unless I needed to cite something.


I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

Two women, rival queens, rule kingdoms that lie side by side. Over the course of decades, they scheme and intrigue and fight both to keep their crowns and to take away the other's. One will die peacefully, the other violently, and from their actions a dynasty will come to an end.

The Dark Queens follows the lives of Brunhild and Fredegund, who were Frankish queens during the 500s. They had extremely disparate origins, with one starting as a Spanish princess and the other as a palace slave, but they both rose high and became powerful. Despite the impact of their actions and their unique position as dual female rulers in the medieval era, they have been mostly forgotten today. In this book, the author narrates their tale. I found the numerous cast and the convoluted politics relatively simple to follow, which speaks to what a good job the author did of breaking down the complicated subject matter. The historical figures were conjured up vividly throughout, often with just a few lines.

However, I did think the book wavered at times on its form. Though this is narrative nonfiction, I often found the writing straying toward the drier side of the spectrum, which made me feel sometimes that I was veering into textbook reading. I also wish we spent more time with the titular queens, as it almost felt that they got lost in the shuffle that is dynastic politics at times.

Overall an intriguing read on a subject I had never heard of, illuminating darkened corners of history.

They say truth is stranger than fiction. That isn’t more apropos than when I read this book about the dark queens. The names were Frediken and Broomguill. Broomguil was raised royal and groomed to marry royalty. On the other side of the spectrum Fredakin was a slave and a mistress to the king, Jillperick. She gave birth to sons and win his first wife was possibly poisoned to death. He married Fredakin. Broomguil was married to another king and the brother of Jilperik his name was Sichabirg. Unlike Fredakin, Broomguil was a very popular queen. Everything from her musician and song to her dress were emulated by the people.a pope even invented a title for her, in the book it was in Latin but I am going to write it in English it was the most excellent queen. These were two women very ahead of their time. They would both rise to the occasion and make hard decisions and rule they’re queendom for decades. I cannot say enough about this book, it had the best research about a book about so long ago one would think the author had lived in that time. Everything from the reputation to the people who just hung out with them and their reputation were documented. Even if you don’t love history, but love drama you would enjoy this book. Forget the Hatfield and McCoys or any other rivalry you can think of. I can now say the best is The rivalry between the two queens Fredakin and Broomguil. I can’t recommend this book enough if you love history you’re going to absolutely love this book. I received this book from NetGalley Shelf and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Please forgive any grammatical or punctuational errors as I am blind and dictate my review for the most part, but all opinions are my own.#NetGalley, #DarkQueen, #RoyalRivalries,#HistoricalFeminist, #Women

The Dark Queens by Shelley Puhak
Release Date: 2/22/2022

The Dark Queens tells the history of Queen Brunhild and Queen Fredegund, two sisters-in-law as well as political rivals who had immense influence over 6th century Francia. Their stories were unfortunately lost to time and their names left to slander after their deaths by the men who feared the power that they had.

I was really nervous that I would be completely lost in this book since I came into it knowing nothing about this era. Thankfully Puhak does an amazing job of giving the reader a lot of information without making them feel overwhelmed. I feel like the Dramatis Personae at the beginning of the book helped me a lot in terms of knowing who is who before jumping into the book. This was incredibly well written and I got completely wrapped up in the lives of these two queens as well as the rivalry between them!

Thank you to @netgalley and @bloomsburypublishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I enjoyed this historical nonfiction regarding the often forgotten badass ahead of their times medieval queens. The historical research was well done and easily digestible as a reader. I definitely recommend for medieval history enthusiasts. I am looking forward to picking up a finished copy.

Couldn't get into it sadly. I hope this book finds it's intended audience. Thank you for the oppertunity to read it though.

The subject matter of this book was of great interest to me and I was really excited to read it, however, the copy received on my kindle was very hard to follow due to the staggered typing, new paragraphs where they shouldn't be and caps when there shouldn't be. I was a bit to hard to read for me but I will definitely get a copy when this book is released and I am very interested in reading it!

A look into the rulers of Francia in the middle 500s. What queens and their kings did and what impact the queens had.

I like the concept of giving a voice to women who have been suppressed through history but this was really hard to get into. I found it very repetitive and confusing. In summary, two Merovingian queens who were sisters in law gained power through their husbands and children, and worked behind the scenes to have power in their kingdoms. Plus, it seemed like the author favored Brunhilda to Fredegrund.