Doomed Queens (35 page)

Sophia was a happy regent until Peter turned seventeen in 1689. After much Sturm und Drang, she surrendered the throne and sought sanctuary in a convent. But support for Sophia simmered during the new tsar’s reign. A decade later, when Peter was absent from the country, sympathizers attempted to reinstate her. The uprising was quickly squashed. As a warning, the rebels’ corpses were hung in front of Sophia’s windows.

Sophia got the hint. To protect herself, she donned the habit. This time, there was no retreating from becoming the bride of Christ, the only spouse worthy of the tsarevna. Sophia spent the remainder of her life in solitary confinement.

or

When Peter Isn’t So Great

Peter’s road to tsardom was filled with danger, partially due to his too-clever-by-half half sister, Sophia. He retaliated by pushing her into joining a religious order.

CAUTIONARY MORAL

The best candidate doesn’t always get the job.

1704

n the antebellum novel
Gone with the Wind
, Rhett Butler tells a swathed-in-black-crepe Scarlett O’Hara, “Personally, I think suttee much more merciful than our charming Southern custom of burying widows alive.” One woman besides Scarlett who disagreed with Rhett was Mangammal—but then, she was a rara avis who refused to commit suttee after the death of her husband, Chokkanatha Nayak, ruler of the south Indian kingdom of Madurai Nayak. Instead, she did the unthinkable for a widow of her seventeenth-century milieu: She tried on his crown and found it fit just right.

A BRIEF DIGRESSION

Suttee, or sati, is a funeral ritual in which a Hindu widow commits suicide by sacrificing herself on her husband’s funeral pyre. Translated literally, the word
sati
means “virtuous woman.” By choosing to join her spouse in death, the widow purged their sins and elevated herself into a deity;
suttee
is a nineteenth-century English phonetic spelling of
sati
.

Though suttee was primarily practiced by higher-caste women (such as those from the warrior or priestly classes), it was also a tradition with ancient Greeks, Egyptians, and Scandinavians. Though abolished in 1829, suttee still rears its controversial head. In 1987, eighteen-year-old widow Roop Kanwar adorned herself in her wedding finery and willingly chose a fiery death.

Mangammal was born within the penumbra of power. Her father was a general in Chokkanatha’s army; presumably the king thought highly enough of him that he chose Mangammal for one of his wives. Upon Chokkanatha’s death in 1682, their son ascended the throne—but not for long. He joined his father in the grave in 1689, leaving an infant son as his only heir; his widow chose suttee over single motherhood.

With no one else available to rule, Mangammal became queen regent for her grandson, with the understanding that she would hand over the crown when he reached maturity. It is here that Mangammal stepped up to the plate and, much to her subjects’ surprise, hit a home run out of the park. Initially Madurai was resistant to the idea of a female monarch, but the queen ruled with such acumen that she won much popularity. To improve the infrastructure of her land, she built many roads and temples, one of which serves today as the Gandhi Museum. Many towns were named after her, in acknowledgment of her good works. She also proved to be a capable commander in chief during wartime.

But this golden age could not last. When Mangammal’s grandson came of age in 1704, she refused to abdicate. After all, she had done such a stellar job—why should she pass power to one less capable, even if he was her own flesh and blood?

In the end, the queen’s flesh was destroyed by its need for sustenance instead of by flames. Mangammal’s grandson and his generals arranged for her to be locked in the palace prison, never to be seen again. Most accounts claim that she starved to death while in captivity.

Starvation

It must have been apparent to humans early on that lack of food equals lack of life—starvation has been used for executions since the dawn of civilization. It was especially favored in the Graeco-Roman world among the high and mighty, who saw it as a discreet way to rid themselves of a troublesome relative or a vestal not so virgin. As in Mangammal’s case, political disagreements were easily settled by simply locking someone up and throwing away the key. No messy public trials or executions—just a body to dispose of quietly in the dead of night.

The poet Dante described one such death in his
Inferno
. Count Ugolino was imprisoned with his offspring for betraying the city of Pisa. To ease his hunger, his sons offered their flesh: “Father, much less pain ’twill give us / If thou do eat of us; thyself didst clothe us / With this poor flesh, and do thou strip it off.” Ugolino’s acceptance of their generous offer earned him a special place in Dante’s hell.

None for you, your majesty.