Throughout history, women who have overcome stereotypes and expectations to take power for themselves often earn evil or bad because they refused to just exist peacefully on someone else’s terms.
Cleopatra VII
Cleopatra may be most remembered for her relationships with powerful Roman leaders, but she was a politician and linguistic genius in her own right. She even fought a civil war against her own brother to become ruler of Egypt.
Much of Cleopatra’s evil reputation was created through Roman propaganda to characterize her as a femme fatale who lured great men to their doom.
Wu Zetian
Originally a lowly concubine, Wu made it her life’s mission to hold onto power at all costs. She started her own dynasty and changed China’s government. She’s since been accused of killing and betraying everyone close to her along the way.
Whether those accusations were true or inflated by misogynistic historians is up for debate, but what’s certain is that she was one of China’s most efficient rulers during the Tang Dynasty.
Agrippina the Younger
The sister, wife, and mother of Roman Emperors, Agrippina, ran the Roman government behind-the-scenes by any means necessary. She has been accused of poisoning husbands and manipulating her son into following orders.
But in really, Agrippina probably did whatever it took to maintain power in a patriarchal world that didn’t allow women to wield power directly.
Lucrezia Borgia
Lucrezia was a central player in what has been argued to be the most corrupt family in Renaissance Italy. History remembers her as a poisoner and a cold-hearted diplomat who stopped at nothing to get her way.
However, Lucrezia was little more than a puppet in her father and brother’s ambition.
Mata Hari
Mata Hari was a renowned exotic dancer. She was accused of being a spy during WWI. She was found guilty and killed. Some say she was rightly accused of being a spy, but others feel she was just an innocent victim of fear during a time of uncertainty.
Espionage, romance, and death followed Mata Hari everywhere she went.
Elizabeth Báthory
Known as the Blood Countess, Elizabeth has been recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most prolific female murderer. Legend states she tortured and killed hundreds of girls for her own pleasure and bathed in their blood to retain her youth.
Some historians believe there was mass exaggeration to help others steal her land and wealth. There is no denying that her legend of torturing young girls was enough to make this powerful woman one of history’s cruelest villains.
Ching Shih
Born a prostitute working the docks of a floating brothel, she went on to become one of the most successful pirates in recorded history. Ching Shih commanded the infamous Red Flag Fleet, which consisted of hundreds of ships and 30,000 pirates.
Even the Chinese government couldn’t defeat her, so they offered her a pardon and retirement just to get her to stop.
Catherine de’ Medici
Many blame this French queen for instigating the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. She was a political mastermind who built her family’s dynasty by doing whatever was necessary to keep her sons as kings.
Foreign-born Catherine was villainized because she was a powerful woman during the Civil War.
Bonnie Parker
She was demonized by the media during the Great Depression as her and Clyde made bank robbing into a national sport. Bonnie and Clyde were murderers, sure, but the press made her into some kind of tough-girl icon.
She took what many saw as a man’s world and seized control, rather than staying safely at home.
Gráinne O’Malley
The Pirate Queen of Ireland spent her life making sure English rule didn’t dominate her homeland. Grainne was a courageous sailor and military strategist who even sailed to London to confront Queen Elizabeth I herself.
She broke societal norms and became a chief and a pirate when the world expected her to settle down as a simple wife.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
