Search Results: Empress

The RMS Empress of Ireland was a transatlantic passenger ship that sank early in the morning of 29 May 1914 on the St. Lawrence River killing 1,012 of the 1,477 people on board. It is considered Canada’s worst maritime disaster and one of...

Theodora reigned as empress of the Byzantine Empire alongside her husband, Emperor Justinian I, from 527 CE until her death in 548 CE. Rising from a humble background and overcoming the prejudices of her somewhat disreputable early career...

Empress Irene was the wife of Leo IV and, on her husband's death, she reigned as regent for her son Constantine VI from 780 to 790 CE. From 797 to 802 CE she ruled as emperor in her own right, the first woman to do so in Byzantine history...

Zoe Porphyrogenita was empress of the Byzantine Empire from 1028 CE until her death in 1050 CE. In an eventful career, she reigned alongside three husbands, had a hand in the succession of her adopted son, and, in 1042 CE, she was co-ruler...

Empress Wu Zetian (Empress Consort Wu, Wu Hou, Wu Mei Niang, Mei-Niang, and Wu Zhao, l. 624-705 CE, r. 690-704 CE) was the only female emperor of Imperial China. She reigned during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) and was one of the most effective...

On May 29, 1914 the Norwegian ship the SS Storstad collided with transatlantic liner the RMS Empress of Ireland. The Empress was equipped with watertight compartments and unlike the Titanic which had sunk two years earlier it carried more...

Catherine II of Russia (Catherine the Great) was empress regent of Russia from 1762-1796. She was born in Prussia to Prince Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst (1690-1747) and Princess Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp (1712-1760), and...

Joséphine de Beauharnais (1763-1814) was a French noblewoman who was the first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821). She was therefore Empress of the French from 18 May 1804 until the annulment of her marriage on 10 January 1810, as well...

A 6th century CE mosaic depicting Empress Theodora and her court in the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna.

A portrait of Empress Catherine II of Russia, oil on canvas by Alexander Roslin, 1780s. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.