Killer Queens Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mary I

"Bloody Mary" was Mary I of England. A staunch Catholic, Mary was a member of the House of Tudor and was deeply involved in the conflict between Catholic and Protestants that ensued after her father Henry VIII declared himself the head of the English Church.

In the 17th century Mary II was the queen and wife of William III of England. The American university of William and Mary is named after them. Mary of Teck was the Queen consort to George V of England during the early 20th century. Mary Queen of the Holy Rosary is the name of a church and school in Lexington, Kentucky.

Answer: Greek

The powerful Amazon women were a part of Greek mythology. Penthesilea was a powerful queen who chose to fight and hoped to die honorably in this war as an atonement for accidentally killing her sister Hippolyta with a spear. She was killed by Achilles who was rumored to have committed a sacrilege upon her corpse. The number of men she is said to have killed in battle varies widely.

Answer: Countess

Countess Elizabeth Bathory (1560-1614) was a Hungarian aristocrat who is believed to have murdered about 80 girls. At the time, Hungarian aristocrats enjoyed immunity from prosecution except for treason, so her accomplices - who were her servants - were tried, convicted and put to death, while the "Blood Countess" was merely bricked up as a prisoner in a tower of her castle at Csejte. Since the 18Th century she has become something of a myth, and more recently, also a cult figure.

Answer: Russia

Anna of Russia was an unusual ruler who meted out some unusual punishments. She had the tongues of two of her cooks cut out when she did not approve of the meals that they had prepared. A local prince who had angered her was forced to marry one of her servants who had also displeased her.

They were forced to dress as clowns and paraded in front of the common folk after which they were forced to spend the night naked in an ice palace built for the occasion. Both survived. Her court was unusual also.

While feasting she might order anyone at the table to go to the corner and get on all fours and bark like a dog for three hours or face death. Mad or malicious - who knows?

Answer: Boudica

Boudica and her troops are said to have killed 70,000 civilians in the war between the Celtic tribes and the Romans. Boudica was a warrior queen in every sense of the word. Her story has been mythologized over the ages, and exact details of her life and actions are hard to ascertain.

Answer: Joanna the Mad

Joanna the Mad (1479-1555) is thought today to have been schizophrenic. Her insane jealousy of her husband continued after his death. She would not allow any female to touch his dead body. She was rumored to have had his casket opened periodically on its way to be buried.

At the actual funeral she had to be physically forced to let the coffin go so that he could be buried. She ended her life in an asylum.

Answer: Elizabeth of Bavaria

Elizabeth of Bavaria was the Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia. In 1898, while she was boarding a steamer on Lake Geneva she was stabbed with a sharpened file by an anarchist. When her corset was removed to examine the wound she immediately bled to death from a wound to her heart.

Her corset and stays kept her alive for almost 10 minutes after the attack. It was not until they were removed that the seriousness of the injury became immediately apparent. She is sometimes given credit for the term "bohemian" when referring to someone who is lively and carefree with few worries or responsibilities.

Answer: Anne Boleyn

Henry VIII of England was consumed with the need to produce a male heir to his throne. With his first wife past the age to do this he began looking for a way to annul his first marriage and remarry a younger, more fertile woman. Enter Anne Boleyn. In their efforts to make Anne the Queen, England was changed forever.

Henry declared himself the head of the new Church of England and separated from the Church of Rome. Many of the common people believed Anne had bewitched the King. Many scholars, clergyman, and landowners were put to death when they clung to the Church of Rome and the Pope and refused to acknowledge Anne as the rightful Queen of England.

While at the time much of the blame for these actions were put on Anne, they are now considered to be the actions of her megalomaniacal husband and his desperation to have a male heir.

When Anne failed to produce a male heir she herself was beheaded and replaced with another wife. Henry was, in fact, already looking for another wife and Katherine of Aragon was already doomed when she did not produce a male heir. Both women were pawns of the men around them.

Answer: Portugal

Queen Maria of Portugal's screams were to fill the hallways of her palace for years. She ordered the beheading and hanging of thousands of people but these orders were not carried out. She was believed to have suffered from porphyria and had hallucinations of religious ideations. She was known alternately as Maria the Mad and Maria the Pious.

Answer: Jews and Muslims

Isabella I and her husband Ferdinand were the rulers of Spain during the Inquisitions. They expelled and killed thousands of Jews and Muslims. Isabella was a staunch Catholic who believed she was cleansing her country. She was considered by most to have been an educated, intelligent, and eloquent queen who loved her country and its people.

But when it came to religion she had no qualms with killing those who disagreed with her.