Would You Carry Your Husband?

When women take matters into their own hands!

Here’s an old European lengend of a time when wives saved their soilder husbands.

Europe faced many difficulties in the early Middle Ages, chief among them the situation of a dying monarch who left no heir.

If you outlived a king, even if you were a poor villager, your life was about to get worse.

Picture yourself in the 1100s. I’ll give you a hand with the context.

The most powerful kingdom in Europe at that time was the Holy Roman Empire. Lothair II was the king.

What happens when the king dies?

But as King, you can only survive so many wars and horribly cold winters, so in 1137, he keels over without a legitimate son to take over.

This new power vacuum triggered fierce competition between two rival factions: the House of Welf and the House of Hohenstaufen, both vying for the coveted crown.

Most princes of the empire eventually rallied behind Hohenstaufen duke Conrad III in 1138, much to the dissatisfaction of Welf heir Henry the Proud, who happened to be Lothair’s son-in-law.

This discontent led to a bloody civil war, a conflict that persisted even after Henry’s…