Empress Wu Zetian

Wu Zetian was born in 625 AD to Wu Shihuo and his second wife, Lady Yang. Her father worked in the timber industry and her family was relatively wealthy. She was said to have been a disobedient child who did not follow orders. Instead of doing things that her parents thought appropriate for women, she would spend her time reading and travelling with her family. She was particularly bright and aware at a young age, and knew much about the politics of China.

Wu was around 13 years old when she became a member of Emperor Taizong of Tang's court, as his concubine. She was reported to have been happy at the opportunity to join the court, having an ambitious eye from a young age. The Emperor died in 649, leaving his son Emperor Gaozong of Tang, ruler of China. It is said that at this point in her life, Wu was sent away from court to a nunnery, but other reports have her at court only a year later. It is unknown what occurred in this period, other than that she became the favorite concubine of the new emperor by 650 AD. 

Wu gave birth to several sons in line for the throne. Her power grew during this period, until she finally rid herself of her greatest obstacle: Gaozong's wife, Empress Wang. She told the emperor that his wife had killed his newborn child. Historians are unsure of whether Wu killed the child herself in order to blame the other woman, or Wang really did it. However, the result was Gaozong naming a new empress, Wu Zetian. 

Within their first five years of marriage, the emperor became too sick to rule. It has been said that the sickness was due to poisoning, a likely candidate of such a thing being Wu Zetian. However, nothing can be proved. Due to her husband's inability to rule, Wu took over much of the reigning power. She established a secret police force to carry out her bidding. She ordered executions and jailings for anyone who opposed her. When her husband died, she changed the order of succession so that her youngest and most vulnerable son would rule. 

 

She eventually got tired of ruling through her sons, and forced her final son to abdicate, naming herself ruler well into her life. While she ruled, she promoted the works of women throughout China. She gave political positions to women, and had scribes record the accomplishments of Chinese women. She believed that a good ruler acted towards her people as a mother towards her children. Which is easy to believe,  considering that she likely killed one or more of her children.  

She moved the country away from its reliance on military force, instead focusing on the works of scholars. The period of her rule is said to be one of the most artistic and scholarly in the history of China. She helped the poor by lowering taxes and offering public services, encouraging growth in many areas often ignored by the ancient Chinese. 

Wu also focused on religion, favoring Buddhism. She had scholars come to her court and build sculptures and temples for the gods. Her rule saw the greatest development of Chinese Buddhism in the history of the country. 

Towards the end of her long life, Wu was said to have become more fearful of those around her. She was often extremely harsh and unforgiving towards those who had offended her. Throughout her life, she'd had no fear of hurting others in order to attain security for herself. She was said to have killed many who she thought posed a threat to her rule, including almost the entirety of the Li family, who she rounded up and forced to commit suicide, suspecting that they had a claim to the throne and were plotting against her. 

Overall, Wu Zetian did many amoral things throughout her life in order to establish and hold power over others as Empress of China. However, the time of her reign saw cultural growth in China, as well as a rise in women's rights throughout the country. 

Smithsonian Magazine had this to say about the empress:

“Explaining why the empress was so reviled, then, means acknowledging the double standard that existed–and still exists–when it comes to assessing male and female rulers. Wu probably did dispose of several members of her own family, and she ordered the deaths of a number of probably innocent ministers and bureaucrats. She also dealt ruthlessly with a succession of rivals, promoted members of her own family to high office, succumbed repeatedly to favoritism, and, in her old age, maintained what amounted to a harem of virile young men. None of these actions, though, would have attracted criticism had she been a man. Every Chinese emperor had concubines, and most had favorites; few came to power, or stayed there, without the use of violence. Taizong forced the abdication of his own father and disposed of two older brothers in hand-to-hand combat before seizing the throne.”

Similarly to Isabella of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine, Wu Zetian did everything to maintain power, including using the methods of men throughout the centuries, but is held far more accountable for her actions. This has much to do with the stereotyping of women as either "a bimbo or a bitch" present still today. Women are viewed in two lights, either as the stupid woman or the one who poses a threat to males, and is therefore evil. Think about it.  

Isabella of France

While last week's post focused on a woman villainized because of perceived vanity, this week's will focus on a woman who was villainized in the period in which she lived for being too assertive, putting herself into a man's role.

Isabella Capet was born circa 1294, the daughter of King Philip IV of France and his wife, Joan I of Navarre, queen consort. She had three brothers: Louis, Philip, and Charles, all of whom would come to rule France.

Isabella grew up surrounded by great wealth, as her father was famous for his obsession with wealth and power. She was given a thorough education, better than that of many noble women of her time, and developed a love of reading and learning. She was also said to have been a beauty from an early age, and her husband later gave her the nickname "Isabella the Fair".

When Isabella was still an infant, war broke out between France, her homeland, and England, which had had strained relations in the past. The pope was so concerned by the tension that he got involved, urging Isabella's father to betroth the baby to Edward II, the son of Edward I, the reigning King of England at the time, in order to make peace between the warring countries.

In 1308, when Isabella was between the ages of 12 and 15, she married King Edward II, who had been ruling since his father's death. Unfortunately, Isabella and her husband did not have a happy marriage. Edward was not only unfaithful, but proudly so, and his affairs were always with other men, something which angered Isabella. He would often show them off in front of the court, something which she found humiliating. He showered his lover, Piers Gaveston, with abundant wealth, and often ignored his queen in front of others, including at their wedding feast. 

Gaveston was also not popular among the others at court, and found himself exiled from England until his later return and execution in 1312. Soon after his exile, Edward took a liking to another at court, Hugh Despenser the younger. 

During this time, Edward was becoming a very unpopular King, especially among his own advisers  for ignoring his duties in favor of showing off his favorite men. The Despensers were becoming far too powerful in the eyes of the English barons, as well as Isabella. The barons began to take military actions against the family, and Isabella begged Edward to exile them, for their own good. Edward listened for a short time, but invited them back only months later. 

Reunited with his lover, the two began to fight back against the barons, hanging those who opposed them, and imprisoning and executing others at random. The Despensers now had complete control over Edward and the entire country, seizing control of Isabella's money and houses. Edward did nothing to improve his wife's situation, openly siding with the Despensers. In 1322, Isabella left court, angry with her husband's treatment of her, to embark on a ten month pilgrimage. When she returned, she found that her staff had been imprisoned and her children taken away from her. In her mind, this was the end of her marriage.

In 1325, Isabella's brother, the King of France, seized some of Edward's land in France. Isabella was sent as a delegate to preserve peace between the two countries. Instead, Isabella, along with Roger Mortimer, an earl and her lover, gathered support against her husband among the French. They were successful in regaining England, and Isabella saw the Despensers executed in a gruesome manner and her husband unseated from the throne as well as publicly humiliated. Isabella's son, Edward III, inherited the throne, and she later also had her husband killed. 

Soon after, her ruling son rebelled against her, having Mortimer killed, and Isabella banished from court. She lived out the rest of her life at Norfolk, where she died in 1358. 

Isabella was a ruthless ruler who used her resentment as a weapon against her husband, and punished heavily for wrongdoings. However, it should be noted that this type of behavior was not uncommon at the time. Fora man, one would expect something like this to happen if they had been publicly humiliated, stripped of their power, and had all their possessions, and their children taken from them. Isabella saw no other way to regain her throne and her power over her own life. Her actions were not justified, but they were the only way for her to assert her power.

For someone like Isabella, being used as a pawn was something that was expected. She was a noble woman, who was sent to a foreign country as a peace negotiation. When there, she was used as a way to produce heirs for the throne, and not treated with any respect. After she finally took control, she was discarded by the son whom she had placed on the throne herself. She was used by every man in her life, and she wanted to break free from that.

The type of double standards used to villainize women like Isabella, whose actions were no worse than any man's, are still present today. Women in positions of power who make brutal decisions are criticized for being  too harsh, while men are lauded for their bravery and quick judgment. Because women are viewed as weaker than men, it is shocking to to them when women are able to be cruel, and they retaliate through this double standard.