How in the name of heck did Anna Komnene not make it on that list?! Figures...

Anyways, Anna Komnene (b. AD 1083) was the first-born daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, and porphyrogennita of the Byzantine Empire, educated in every subject from a very young age, and often considered "the first female historian" for her famous and highly regarded Alexiad, which she wrote in defiance of the stigma against women being able to write and publish in their own name. In AD 1118, she attempted to crown herself as Empress upon her father's death, but was ultimately foiled by her brother John and placed under house arrest for the rest of her life.

Though consigned to her personal estate until death, she made use of her time by assembling the greatest minds in the Empire to challenge the works of Aristotle and the other natural philosophers, continuing the groundwork set by Michael Psellos, an unacknowledged grandfather of the modern scientific method. She is significant not only for her bold and lively spirit (and her incredible intelligence), but also because the Alexiad is the only surviving Byzantine account describing in great detail the events of the rise of the Komnenoi and the First Crusade. Without her work, as she had feared, her father's story would have "slipped away into the abyss of oblivion".

Ask anything you would like about her and I shall answer.

I know that a lot of the info about Nzinga Mbande is inaccurate, I am working on fixing it. That said, would VERY MUCH welcome any corrections. I've already made a few on virtually every entry on the original site: www.rejectedprincesses.com -- the imgur descriptions are somewhat out of date.

It would be very helpful for me to know if Hatshepsut was actually said to have been born in a lioness's den. An Egyptologist emailed me and said that was fallacious, but the Wikipedia entry points to some reliefs (which I hunted down a while back, but can't seem to find again) that seemed to corroborate that story.

(I was the one who made these)

About Wu Zeitan: I've heard several sources claim the human swine torture is fictitious. Do we have any confirmation that it's untrue?

I can definitely tell you a little more about Mai Bhago and give some context around her rise as a prominent Sikh. All though I will say that /u/lordkuruku did a great job on her blurb.

So for those of you who may not know Sikhi is a dharm(roughly translates into religion, but not the same thing entirely, a discussion for a different time) that started in Punjab in the 16th century by Guru Nanak Dev. He was born a Hindu but didn't accept many of its practices especially ritualism. So he went on a search for the enlightened path and created teaching that melded Sufi Islam, Santan Hinduism, Buddhism, and other cultural/dharmic/religious practices into what he believed were qualities every human being should have. His teachings included selfless service, charity, and equality(especially equality between men and women). This is also around the time the Mughals invaded the South Asian under the Rule of Babur. Babur was a warlord and tyrant, and is credited to being one of the first to defeat the mighty rajputs. He was Muslim, but under his rule he allowed other religions to continue their practice and even visited Guru Nanak, even though Nanak wrote a text highlighting the brutality of Babur's raids. It was an interesting time in Punjab to say the least. Guru Nanak eventually passed away and so did Babur. Sikhism would continue on for the next 50 odd years and live peacefully in the Punjab under Mughal rule.

This stopped in the 1600's when Maharaja Akbar died and Jhangir took the Mughal throne. During that time the 5th Sikh Guru, Guru Arjun was compiling the Sri Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy text. In it were writing from Sikh, Sufi, and hindu writers. Guru Arjun also gave his blessings to Khusrau Mirza, the son of Jhangir who would publicly try to claim the throne from his father(straight up GoT type stuff happened frequently in the Mughal empire). So Jhanghir had the Guru brought to his court and publicly reprimanded him for the mixing of religious texts in the Sri Granth, but most historians claim his actual hatred came from the Guru giving his blessings to his son and seeing the Guru as a threat to his sovereignty. During this time in the Punjab more and more Muslims were converting to Sikhi as well. The emperor tortured the Guru and killed him. This was a turning point in Sikhi where the Sikhs realized that their time as saints was over and they had to pick up the sword to defend them selves. This would start the Sikh uprising and by the time we get to the Emperor Aurngzeb and the last Guru, Guru Gobind we have a full out Mughal-Sikh war on our hands.

The Mughals had no love for the Punjab and viewed the region as a threat so much so that they deposed the local government that paid them taxes and would send Mughal governors and officials to rule over it. Something they did not normally do. There was no infrastructure building there, no new establishments, no protection from internal and external threats. By the time Aurengzeb came to power the region already despised mughal rule. Now the emperor wanted to convert all kafirs to Islam. Hindu Pundits came to Guru Tegh Bahadur, the 9th guru for help. He gave them shelter and protection and for that he was kidnapped by the mughal authorities and asked to convert to Islam or die. He chose death and was tortured and beheaded. His body was cremated but the head went to his son, Gobind. Who would spend the rest of his life raising an army to protect those his father could not. Guru Gobind followd Nanaks principals when turning the Sikhs from a dharm to a Kaum(culture). He initiated both men and women into the Khalsa (Army of the Pure). One of the first women to join was Mai Bhag Kaur, or Mai Bhago.

Now her main expoits he covers well so I won't detail it any further. But Mai Bhago helped spark other Kaurs to join the cause and fight for their freedom. Her battalion of women warriors would exist in the times of the Sikh Empire and during the Khalistani uprising, all though not continuously. To this day if you go to various Gathka(the Sikh martial arts) schools you will see her photo hung up and many young kaurs practising Gatkha with the young Singhs. She wasn't a princess really, her last name was Kaur which translates into Lioness. But that name was given to all women who joined sikhi to a.) erase any hint of their past caste and b.) to invoke equality among all in the Kaum. She came from a humble background and died a humble death. And for those reasons she is admired in the Sikhi Kaum.

If you want to read more about her check out Sikhism and Women by Doris Jakobish or Relocating Gender in History: Transformation, Meaning, and Identity by Anand Malhotra or The Taunt in Popular Sikh Martyrologies by Louis E. Fenech

If you want to read more about the Sikh Mughal war check out History of the Sikhs by Kushwant Singh or the Sikhs of Punjan by JS Grewal