Empress Matilda ( 1102 – 1167 ) is the only British monarch commonly referred to as " emperor " or " empress ", but acquired her title through her marriage to Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, and had little legitimacy as Queen of England.

* 1102 – Empress Matilda, Princess of England and wife of Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire ( d. 1169 )

His conflicts with his cousin The Empress Matilda ( also known as Empress Maud ), led to a civil war from 1139-1153 known as the Anarchy.

His will stipulated that he was to be succeeded by his daughter, the Empress Matilda, but his stern rule was followed by a period of civil war known as the Anarchy.

Eight years later, after William's death in 1120, a much more momentous union was made between Henry's daughter, ( the former Empress ) Matilda and Fulk's son Geoffrey Plantagenet, which eventually resulted in the union of the two realms under the Plantagenet Kings.

Left without male heirs, Henry took the unprecedented step of making his barons swear to accept his daughter Empress Matilda, widow of Henry V, the Holy Roman Emperor, as his heir.

Mary was — excluding the brief, disputed reigns of Jane Grey and Empress Matilda — England's first queen regnant.

" He states that the matter was discussed at a Royal Council at Winchester, but that Henry's mother, the Empress Matilda, had protested.

In accordance with this last policy, the marriage of the Countess Matilda of Tuscany with Guelph of Bavaria was promoted ; Prince Conrad of Italy was assisted in his rebellion against his father and crowned King of the Romans at Milan in 1093 ; and Henry IV's wife, the Empress ( Adelaide ), was encouraged in her charges of sexual coercion against her husband.

King Stephen had died in October 1154, bringing to an end the long dispute with the Empress Matilda which had helped Anarawd, Cadell and Maredudd to extend their rule in Deheubarth.

Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda.

When Henry I died in 1135, Stephen quickly crossed the English Channel and with the help of his brother Henry of Blois, a powerful ecclesiastic, took the throne, arguing that the preservation of order across the kingdom took priority over his earlier oaths to support the claim of Henry I's daughter, the Empress Matilda.

Matilda had been married to Henry V, the Holy Roman Emperor, which gave her the title of Empress, but her husband died in 1125 and she was remarried in 1128 to Geoffrey, the Count of Anjou, whose lands bordered the Duchy of Normandy.

There was the slight problem of the religious oath that Stephen had taken to support the Empress Matilda, but Henry convincingly argued that the late king had been wrong to insist that his court take the oath.

An illegitimate son of Henry I and the half-brother of the Empress Matilda, Robert was one of the most powerful Anglo-Norman barons, controlling estates in Normandy as well as the Earldom of Gloucester.

David of Scotland also invaded the north of England once again, announcing that he was supporting the claim of his niece the Empress Matilda to the throne, pushing south into Yorkshire.

The rebels appear to have expected Robert to intervene with support that year, but he remained in Normandy throughout, trying to persuade the Empress Matilda to invade England herself.

These bishops were powerful landowners as well as ecclesiastical rulers, and they had begun to build new castles and increase the size of their military forces, leading Stephen to suspect that they were about to defect to the Empress Matilda.

Stephen sent Aubrey de Vere as his spokesman to the council, who argued that Roger of Salisbury had been arrested not as a bishop, but rather in his role as a baron who had been preparing to change his support to the Empress Matilda.

Contemporary depiction of the Empress Matilda

Robert took Stephen back to Gloucester, where the king met with the Empress Matilda, and was then moved to Bristol Castle, traditionally used for holding high-status prisoners.

He had made a private deal with the Empress Matilda that he would deliver the support of the church, if she agreed to give him control over church business in England.

St George's Tower at Oxford Castle, where Stephen almost captured the Empress Matilda

Queen Matilda gathered Stephen's remaining lieutenants around her and the royal family in the south-east, advancing into London when the population rejected the Empress.

Faustina was the daughter of consul Marcus Annius Verus and Rupilia Faustina ( a half-sister to Roman Empress Vibia Sabina ).

Livia was the first Roman Empress and was Augustus ’ third wife ( from Livia ’ s first marriage to praetor Tiberius Nero, she had two sons: the emperor Tiberius and the general Nero Claudius Drusus.

Julia Agrippina, most commonly referred to as Agrippina Minor or Agrippina the Younger, and after 50 known as Julia Augusta Agrippina ( Minor Latin for the ‘ younger ’, Classical Latin: ;, 7 November 15 or 6 November 16 – 19 / 23 March 59 ) was a Roman Empress and one of the more prominent women in the Julio-Claudian dynasty.

Germanicus ’ father, Drusus the Elder, was the second son of the Empress Livia Drusilla by her first marriage to praetor Tiberius Nero, and was the Emperor Tiberius ’ s younger brother and Augustus ’ s stepson.

Domitia Lepida the Younger was the mother of the Empress Valeria Messalina.

In the first years of Claudius ’ reign, Claudius was married to the infamous Empress Valeria Messalina.

During this time, Alexios was rumored to be the lover of Empress Maria of Alania, the daughter of King Bagrat IV of Georgia, who had been successively married to Michael VII Doukas and his successor Nikephoros III Botaneiates, renowned for her beauty.

In 1180 the Emperor Manuel died and was succeeded by his ten year old son Alexios II, who was under the guardianship of his mother, Empress Maria.

Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia from 1762 – 1796, was a member of the House of Ascania, herself the daughter of Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst.

Empress Adelaide was perhaps the most prominent European woman of the 10th century ; she was regent of the Holy Roman Empire as the guardian of her grandson in 991-995.

The central bridge was reserved exclusively for the use of the Emperor, Empress, and their attendants.

Empress Maria Theresa of Austria was supported by the Croatians in the War of Austrian Succession of 1741 – 1748 and subsequently made significant contributions to Croatian matters.

Guangxu Emperor and the reformists then launched a more comprehensive reform effort, the Hundred Day's Reform ( 1898 ), but it was shortly overturned by the conservatives under Empress Dowager Cixi in a military coup.

Lady Yehenara, otherwise known as Dowager Empress Cixi, was arguably one of the most successful concubines in China ’ s history.

Little is known of Domitia's activities as Empress, or how much influence she wielded in Domitian's government, but it seems her role was limited.

The colors and pattern were influenced by the Austrian dragoons of the period, as the Brazilian Empress Consort was also an Austrian Archduchess.

Huayna Capac's sudden death and followed days later by the Incan heir apparent from a strange disease, described by one smallpox precipitated a bitter power struggle between Huáscar, whose mother was Coya ( meaning Empress ) Mama Rahua Occillo and legetimate heir, and Atahualpa, a son who, borne to a Quitu princess, and reputedly his father's " favorite.

The oldest documented use of the word " tennō " is on a wooden slat, or mokkan, that was unearthed in Asuka-mura, Nara Prefecture in 1998 and dated back to the reign of Emperor Temmu and Empress Jitō.

Daughters of others than imperials remained concubines, until Emperor Shōmu — in what was specifically reported as the first elevation of its kind — elevated his Fujiwara consort Empress Kōmyō to chief wife.

One, Empress Gemmei, was the widow of a crown prince and a princess of the blood imperial.

Since there was no " title " of Empress (- consort ) whatsoever, women of the reigning dynasty sought to be granted this honorific, as the highest attainable goal.