She's In Charge Trivia Quiz

Answer: Nefertiti

Nefertiti was the queen of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. The pair were responsible for a "religious revolution" where Akhenaten declared Aten to be the one god of Egypt. She lived during the 14th century BC and had at least six children with Akhenaten.

After Akhenaten's death, she ruled as the queen regnant of Egypt until her son, Tutankhamun, was grown up. After Tutankhamun took over, he restored the original mythological religion of Egypt. For more information about Tutankhamun, check out my quiz, The Life of King Tut.

Answer: Cleopatra

Cleopatra VII was the daughter of the pharaoh Ptolemy XII Auletes. Her mother may have been Cleopatra V but this has never been proven. Cleopatra VII assumed the role of pharaoh along with her husband-brother Ptolemy XIII. However, the relations between the two were horrible and eventually Cleopatra was forced to flee the country. During this time in exile, she went to Rome to ask for the help of Julius Caesar. Tradition says that Cleopatra was smuggled into Caesar's palace in a rolled up carpet.

The two had an affair that possibly produced a child, Caesarion. Cleopatra and Caesar soon went to Egypt and set Cleopatra as the pharaoh. Ptolemy soon drowned in the Nile and Cleopatra set up another husband-brother, Ptolemy XIV, as the co-ruler. Soon afterwards, Julius Caesar was assassinated and Ptolemy XIV also died, possibly poisoned by Cleopatra.

After Caesar's death, Cleopatra started a relationship with Marc Antony, a Roman general. During this time, Antony and Caesar's nephew, Octavian, were fighting a civil war over control of Rome. Antony eventually was defeated in battle. Cleopatra heard about this and legend says that she killed herself by using an to poison herself. Eventually, the Romans took over Egypt and it became part of the Roman Empire.

Answer: Eleanor

Eleanor of Aquitaine was the daughter of William X, Duke of Aquitaine. At the age of ten, her father died having made King Louis VI of France Eleanor's protector. Louis accepted and betrothed Eleanor to his son, the future Louis VII of France. Louis VI died in 1137 and Eleanor became queen of the French. Eleanor had two daughters with Louis, Marie and Alix.

The marriage didn't work out and it was annulled in 1152. Two months later, Eleanor married Henry, Duke of Normandy. Two years later, Henry became king of England under the name of Henry II, making her the Queen of England. With Henry, Eleanor had five sons (William IX, Count of Poitiers; Henry the Young King; Richard I the Lionheart, Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany; and John, King of England) and three daughters (Matilda, Duchess of Saxony; Eleanor, Queen of Castile; and Joan, Queen of Sicily).

In 1173, Henry the Young King plotted, along with Richard and Geoffrey, a revolt against the king. Eleanor was in on this conspiracy. The plot did not succeed and Eleanor was imprisoned until Henry II's death in 1189.

She died in 1204, under the reign of her son, King John.

Answer: Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc was born in France in 1412, during the Hundred Years' War between the French and the English. She experienced visions from angels. She was told to fight in the French army. Joan asked the Charles, Duke of Orleans, for an army. He was impressed by Joan and agreed.

At the time, there on the city of Orleans was under siege. Joan took charge and eventually the siege was unsuccessful. Later, Joan led the French army on a series of military campaigns, winning many key battles. After a truce, the French and the English met at Compiegne.

In a battle, Joan was pulled off her horse. She surrendered to the English. She was imprisoned and put on trial for heresy. Due to a partisan pro-English court, Joan was convicted of heresy, witchcraft, and cross-dressing.

She was burned at the stake holding a crucifix. Her remains were scattered into the Seine River. After the war, Joan was granted a posthumous retrial by Pope Callixtus III. Her conviction was nullified, making her innocent. Joan of Arc was beatified in 1909 by Pope Pius X and canonized by Pope Benedict XV in 1920.

Answer: Isabella I

Isabella I was the daughter of John II, King of Castile. She was second-in-line to the throne after her half-brother Henry. After her father's death in 1454, her brother became king under the name of Henry IV. Isabella, at the age of six, was betrothed to Ferdinand, the future king of Aragon.

The betrothal was broken off, however, and Isabella was betrothed again to Ferdinand's brother, Charles. However, Charles later died. After that, her brother promised her that she would not marry against her will. Later, she married Ferdinand, her first betrothed.

She became the Queen of Aragon, Sicily, and Naples. In 1574, her brother Henry IV died. She assumed the throne as the Queen of Castile and Leon. The powerful couple merged their territories together to form 3/4 of modern day Spain. Isabella later launched the Inquisition.

The point of it was to rid Spain of 'insincere' converts from Islam and Judaism. She did this by torturing and executing people accused of being a heretic. (Acquittals were almost unknown). Isabella also supported Christopher Columbus' trip to find a western route to Asia. With Ferdinand, Isabella had two sons (a stillborn; and John, Prince of Asturias) and five daughters (Isabella; Joanna, Queen of Castile; Maria, a stillborn who was the twin of Maria; and Catherine of Aragon (yes, the wife of Henry VIII). Isabella died in 1504.

Answer: Catherine de Medici

The de Medici family were a prestigious family in the Renaissance era. The family produced popes, bishops, kings, queen, and many other powerful figures. Catherine de Medici was the daughter of Lorenzo de Medici. This made her 7th generation de Medici. Catherine was betrothed to Prince Henry of France. Henry, however, was uninterested in Catherine and openly took mistresses. One of his mistresses produced a son for him, which put pressure of the childless Catherine. In 1536, the dauphin (heir apparent) of France, Francis, died. This made Henry the dauphin and put lots of pressure on Catherine to produce a son. Catherine was desperate to have a child, as divorce was discussed. In 1544, Catherine finally had a son named Francis. Three years later in 1547, King Francis I died. Henry became king under the name of Henry II and Catherine became queen. The king, however, paid virtually no attention to Catherine and was always paying attention to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers.

In 1559, Henry died in a jousting accident. Catherine's son, Francis, became king. Although Francis was old enough to independently rule, his mother influenced him a lot. Two years later, Francis died from an ear infection. The next king was nine years old and was the brother of Francis. He acceded to the throne as Charles IX. She presided over Charles's council but didn't have enough authority to rule the entire country of France. At this time, the country was the brink of civil war. Most of the years following Charles' coronation was the threat of rebellion from the Huegenots, the Protestants of France. In 1572, Charles, almost definitely influenced by his mother, ordered the slaughter of Huguenots. A mass killing began in many parts of France that have come to be known as the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre.

Two years later, Charles died. His brother Henry became king. Unlike his brothers, Henry was a grown man and also was his mother's favorite. Henry did not let his mother completely control him. While Catherine was sick, Henry secretly took away his mother's powers by dismissing his ministers and assassinating many of her mother's supporters.

In 1589, Catherine died, possibly of pleurisy. Catherine had five sons (Francis II, King of France; Louis, Duke of Orleans; Charles IX, King of France; Henry III, King of France; and Francis, Duke of Anjou) and five daughters (Elizabeth, Queen consort of Spain; Claude, Duchess of Lorraine; Margaret, Queen consort of France; Victoria; and Jean (Victoria and Jean were twins)). Catherine outlived all of her children except two and was the wife of a king, mother of four kings, and mother-in-law of a two kings.

Answer: Elizabeth I

Queen Elizabeth I was the daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. After her mother was executed, she was disowned and removed from the line of succession by Henry VIII but he later restored her to the line of succession. After Henry died, Elizabeth's half-brother, Edward VI became king of England. Edward's advisor, Thomas Seymour, would tickle her and slap her buttocks. Eventually, she was sent away after being discovered in an embrace with Seymour.

After Seymour's wife, Catherine Parr, died in childbirth, Seymour turned his intentions on Elizabeth again. Later he tried to influence and possibly even kidnap Edward VI.

He was convicted of high treason and executed. In 1553, Edward VI died. He excluded both Elizabeth and her sister Mary from the line of succession, instead declaring his heir Lady Jane Grey. Grey was deposed by Mary and executed. Mary became queen and started persecution of Protestants. Elizabeth was a Protestant but was forced to outwardly state that she was a Catholic.

After Mary married King Philip of Spain, support for Mary faded and people wanted Elizabeth to oppose her. Wyatt's rebellion in 1554 saw Elizabeth accused of plotting against the queen and she was imprisoned in the Tower of London. In 1558, Mary died and Elizabeth succeeded her to the throne. Elizabeth returned England to Protestantism. Elizabeth never married, probably because she didn't want to share her power. She had many suitors including Robert Dudley, Philip II of Spain, Henry and Francis, Dukes of Anjou. She eventually insisted that she was married to her kingdom. Elizabeth had threats to her throne. The most prominent one was Mary, Queen of Scots. After Mary arrived in England, she was put under house arrest. Eventually, a chain of events led to Mary being executed. One of Elizabeth's achievements was the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Elizabeth died in 1603 after one of the longest reign in English history.

Answer: Africa

Queen Anne Nzinga (also known as Ana de Sousa Nzinga Mbande or more commonly, Mbande Nzinga) was a queen of Ndongo and Matamba, a former kingdom in Africa. It was located in present-day Angola. She was born in the 1580s to King Kiluanji. She was greatly favored by her father, who allowed her to witness him governing the kingdom.

At the time, the Portuguese colonized Ndongo and Matamba and renamed it Angola. Soon after, Kiluanji died and Nzinga's brother, Ngola Mbande became the new king. Nzinga became the envoy of her brother. During this time, a war was fought against the Portuguese.

It failed and much of the Ngongo's land was taken away. Nzinga's brother committed suicide. Nzinga took control of the country as the regent of her son, Kaza. She allegely killed Kaza for impudence and took over as queen of Ndonga.

She allied herself with the Dutch in 1641 hoping to get lost lands back. She continued to resist Portugal until well into her sixties. In 1657, Nzinga signed a peace treaty with the Portuguese and attempted to rebuild her country.

Despite many attempts to depose her, she kept her throne and helped slaves and women. She died in 1663. This led to a civil war in Matamba.

Answer: Golda Meir

Golda Meyerson (known as Golda Meir) was the fourth Prime Minister of Israel. She was born in 1898 in Kiev, Ukraine. She moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Eventually, she moved to Tel Aviv, Israel. She was one of the signers of the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948. Later that year, she was appointed minister (that is, ambassador) to the Soviet Union.

She became the Minister of Labor one year later and helped develop Israel's social security system. After David Ben-Gurion became Prime Minister, Meyerson became the foreign minister.

She shortened her last name to Meir, which meant "illuminate". During this time, the Suez Crisis was taking place. In the early 1960s, Meir was diagnosed with lymphoma. She retired in 1966 from Foreign Ministry. Meir came out of retirement to serve as Prime Minister after Levi Eshkol's sudden death.

She was Prime Minister during the Yom Kippur War and established good relations with the US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger. She resigned in 1974 and was succeeded by Yitzhak Rabin. Golda Meir died in 1978 of lymphatic cancer.

Answer: Sandra Day O'Connor

Sandra Day O'Connor was born in El Paso, Texas in 1930. She attended Stanford University, where she served on the Stanford law review with future Chief Justice, William Rehnquist. In the 1980 US Presidential Election, Presidential Candidate Ronald Reagan promised to appoint the first woman to the Supreme Court. O'Connor was nominated as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, replacing the retiring Potter Stewart.

She was confirmed by the Senate with a vote of 99-0 (Senator Max Baucus was absent).

She became the deciding vote in four cases: McConnell v. FEC, Grutter v. Bollinger, Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, and Bush v. Gore. As Assistant Chief Justice, O'Connor served under Warren Burger, William Rehnquist, and John Roberts. O'Connor retired in 2006. President George W. Bush nominated John Roberts as her replacement.

However, he became Chief Justice instead. O'Connor was succeeded by Samuel Alito. In 2005, Sandra Day O'Connor became the Chancellor of the College of William and Mary. She served in that post until 2012.

In 2009, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.