Agrippina, Theodora and Fredegund as Evil Empresses in the Historiographic Tradition

This chapter explores how historians acted as character assassins of imperial women in ancient and early medieval times. In particular, it analyses the hostile portrayals of the Roman empress Agrippina the Younger, the Byzantine empress Theodora, and the Merovingian queen Fredegund in Tacitus’s Annals, Procopius’s Secret History and Gregory of Tour’s History of the Franks. Many of the character attacks against these women relate to their gender, ranging from bad motherhood and the domineering of husbands to witchcraft and uncontrolled sexuality. Thus, these historians undermined the reputations of Agrippina, Theodora and Fredegund in order to set and guard strict socio-political norms for women in prestigious and influential positions.