God can become an ordinary person to play a role in Her story. Several well-known women in history may have been avatars of God. This is the second episode. The first episode can be found via the following link: History is Her story part 1.

Isabella I of Castile

Known to most people is the person who discovered America. But few people know who financed his mission. And by the way, the same person who sent Columbus on his journey also created Spain. Queen Isabella I (1451-1504) was Queen of Castile and one of the most influential historical persons. She was the second child of King John II of Castile. At the time, two countries, Castile and Aragon, dominated the area. Isabella’s half-brother, Henry, was the heir to the throne.

Isabella became a pawn in Henry’s political ambitions. He forced Isabella into several betrothals and attempted to marry Her to King Alfonso V of Portugal. Later, as part of an agreement to restore peace after a rebellion, Isabella was to be betrothed to Pedro Giron, Master of the Military Order of Calatrava. Isabella prayed that the marriage would not come to pass. Don Pedro suddenly fell ill and died on his way to meet Isabella. That prayer worked better than voodoo.

Henry did not have a male heir. Isabella made Henry sign an agreement, making Her his successor to the throne. Henry made another effort to arrange a marriage, but Isabella refused and secretly arranged a wedding with Ferdinand of Aragon. In doing so, Isabella created Spain by uniting both kingdoms. After Isabella had secured the throne, She initiated several successful reforms in government, finance, legal code, and policing.

Isabella’s actions had a substantial and lasting impact on world history. Her political manoeuvring in dynastic politics created Spain. And Isabella sponsored the mission of Christopher Columbus to reach the Indies by sailing to the west. On his way, Columbus bumped into an island, Cuba. A film about this event is titled ‘1492: Conquest of Paradise.’ Apart from the word Paradise, the number 1492 refers to the initials and the birthday of the Lady from the dormitory. And that I saw as a hint.

Katharina von Bora

Katharina von Bora (1499-1552) was the wife of Martin Luther, who initiated the Protestant Reformation. Katharina had several suitors, but none of the proposed matches resulted in marriage. She told Luther’s friend and fellow reformer, Nikolaus von Amsdorf, that She would be willing to marry only Luther or von Amsdorf. Luther was unsure whether he should marry at all. A woman who wanted him made him change his mind. As Roman Catholic priests were celibate, their marriage set a precedent for Protestant family life and clerical marriage.

Von Bora had been a nun interested in the Protestant Reformation and dissatisfied with cloistered life. Conspiring with several other sisters, Von Bora contacted Luther. They asked for his assistance. Luther sent a merchant who regularly delivered herring to the convent. The nuns escaped by hiding in his covered wagon among the fish barrels.

Von Bora bred and sold cattle and ran a brewery to provide for their family, the numerous students who boarded with them, and her husband’s visitors. In times of epidemics, she operated a hospital with nurses. Luther called her ‘Boss of Zulsdorf’ after the farm they owned. Based on Luther’s descriptions, his wife, whom he nicknamed ‘Herr Käthe’, exerted control over his life like a master.

After Martin Luther died in 1546, Von Bora’s fortunes turned sour. Wars destroyed Her property, and She became impoverished. She fled because of war, the Black Death, and harvest failures. During Her last flight, she was thrown from her cart into a watery ditch and fell ill. She reportedly said on her deathbed, ‘I will stick to Christ as a burr to cloth.’

Many Protestants and Germans consider Martin Luther a prophet. And prophets might be married to God. The book The Virtual Universe discusses the assassination of Martin Luther King on 4 April 1968 as part of an elaborate coincidence scheme that includes the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations. King’s last name might imply that Martin Luther was a king in the way Jesus was, thus a prophet of great importance.

Elizabeth I

Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603) was one of the most successful monarchs in history. Her reign laid the foundation for the Anglo-Saxon world domination. She depended on trusted advisers like William Cecil. She also established the Church of England, a Protestant Church with Catholic elements, of which She became the supreme governor. Elizabeth was moderate and religiously tolerant.

Great Britain became a great power. Elizabeth was cautious in foreign politics, tried to avoid conflict, and half-heartedly committed to the wars England fought. In 1585, England could no longer avoid war with Spain because it supported Dutch independence from Spain. In 1588, the English defeated the Spanish Armada, and the remainder sunk in a storm, ending Spanish dominance over the seas and eventually leaving it to the British.

A curious sequence of events made Elisabeth Queen of England. Upon hearing of Her accession to the throne, She reportedly quoted the 118th Psalm’s twenty-third line: ‘It is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.’ Elizabeth’s unmarried status inspired a cult of virginity. She said She was married to England like God was married to Israel. Some poetry and portraits depicted Elisabeth as a virgin goddess.

During a walk in 2009, I pondered whether or not Elizabeth had been God in disguise. When I returned home, I found a copy of the weekly magazine Computable in my letterbox. The front page featured an article about a distributed database system called Armada. That might be a hint.

Françoise d’Aubigné

Françoise d’Aubigné (1635-1719) was the second wife of the French king Louis XIV. Louis XIV, known as the Sun King, was vain and waged many wars. His lavish Palace of Versailles had no equal. Louis’ magnificence was over-the-top and equally unequalled. His reign lasted over 72 years and is the longest of any sovereign in known history. During his first marriage, he had several mistresses.

Louis was more faithful to his second wife, Françoise d’Aubigné. Françoise never became queen, but She had considerable clout in the royal court. Louis was also pious. He saw himself as the protector of the Catholic Church. He made his devotions daily regardless of where he was. Under Françoise’s influence, Louis became even more religious.

Louis XIV was the epitome of the divine right of kings. It is a doctrine saying the king is appointed by God and, therefore, not accountable to anyone except God. That doctrine might come in handy for the Messiah in the end times. A quote attributed to Louis is, ‘The state, that is me.’

As a teenager, I had been a member of the School Council. Its members had endless discussions because the Financial Commission had overstepped. And so, a the-state-that-is-me situation supposedly had developed. That could be a hint. Louis might have been God’s husband. I doubted it, so I decided to toss a coin. In this way, Françoise made it to the list. Another toss of a coin eliminated Catherina the Great from the list.

Joséphine de Beauharnais

Joséphine de Beauharnais (1763-1814) was the first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. She was his greatest love. After the execution of Her first husband during the French Revolution, She had affairs with several leading political figures. Napoleon, who was six years younger, fell in love with Her. He sent Her many love letters. Napoleon’s love for Joséphine cooled somewhat after discovering that Joséphine had a lover on the side. He then began affairs with other women but remained in love with Joséphine and married Her.

Napoleon Bonaparte’s lasting legacies are the civil registries with first and last names, the metric system that includes metres, grammes and litres, and legal reform, the Napoleonic Code. The well-structured and accessible law code was a milestone and replaced a patchwork of feudal laws. It was one of the few documents that have influenced the whole world. The Napoleonic Code is the most widespread law system. About 120 countries use it, but not Great Britain, which also opted out of the metric system.

Napoleon was not a favourite of the British, or perhaps it was a British conservative attachment to incoherence and feudal institutions, so they held on to their lords, laws, miles and pints. Unlike the rest of Europe, the British now drive on the left side of the road and have left the European Union to rid themselves of David Cameron. He later returned as Minister of Foreign Affairs, so the Brexit has failed. Napoleon has tried to unite Europe, and that project appears close to succeeding.

Through the children from Her first marriage, Joséphine became the grandmother of Napoleon III and the great-grandmother of later Swedish and Danish kings and queens. The reigning houses of Belgium, Norway and Luxembourg also descend from Joséphine. She, however, did not give Napoleon any children, and Napoleon believed he needed an heir, which was why they divorced. Napoleon then married Marie Louise, an Austrian archduchess. It was not love that drove him, but calculation. Marie Louise bore him a son who died at the age of 21. In this way, his family line died out, and the divorce proved pointless. Napoleon’s last words on his death bed were, ‘France, the army, the head of the army, Joséphine.’

There are some remarkable parallels between Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler. Napoleon Bonaparte was born on Corsica, an island that became part of France. Later, Napoleon Bonaparte became the leader of France. Adolf Hitler was born in Austria, a country that became part of Germany. And Adolf Hitler became the leader of Germany. Both men were involved in a coup on 9 November (9/11 in European notation). Both started a military campaign in Russia that led to their downfall.

Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler came to power by a coup, ending an unstable republic. They both turned Europe into a battlefield. Both ventured into Africa, and both faced defeat in Egypt. They both waged war on two fronts because they attacked Russia after failing to defeat England. These parallels are intriguing, and so are their wives. Concerning Joséphine de Beauharnais, I did not receive a hint, but the thought is not far-fetched. Informed deduction is impossible anyway, so that leaves us with Clouseau-style guessing.

Lucretia Garfield

Lucretia Garfield (1832-1918) was the wife of US President James A. Garfield. A disgruntled public office seeker assassinated him in 1881, shortly after he took office. He lingered in the Twilight Zone for two and a half months before dying. Lucretia stayed at his bedside and received public sympathy, which might be ill-deserved, as it now turns out. They were both 26 when they married on 11 November 1858, referencing 11:11. During the Civil War, James Garfield had an affair as a general.

He later confessed it to his wife. She seemingly forgave him. But on 12 January 2010, a previously unknown $10,000 life insurance policy on the life of President Garfield surfaced in a family scrapbook.¹ Lucretia Garfield had opened it 45 days before the assassination of Her husband. It is a most notable coincidence that might indicate foreknowledge.

My son was fond of the comic character Garfield. In 2006, a mysterious parcel addressed to him was delivered to us by mail. It contained some Garfield items, including a coffee cup with the lettering ‘It is good to be king.’ The sender of the parcel was unknown. We made several enquiries, but nobody conceded to have sent it. Until today, the sender remains unknown. And so, Lucretia Garfield could have been God.

Eurocentrism

This list is eurocentric. Most on the list have lived in Europe. Eurocentrism emphasises European culture or Western ideas and theories without much regard for other cultures. For the last 500 years, most of the action was in Europe, and today’s world is so profoundly affected by European ideas and culture that you might even call the world European. Those who oppose Eurocentrism may propose ideas like that the knowledge of indigenous is on equal footing with science.

I would have made the list more diverse, but I don’t make the decisions. And I have tried. For instance, after seeing the Netflix documentary about Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba and reading her life story on Wikipedia, I found her a worthy candidate for being God in disguise and better suited than some women on the list. Nzinga could fill a gap between Queen Elizabeth I and Françoise d’Aubigné. And I tried to fill the gaps. Catherine the Great would also have made a proficient gap filler.

Filling a hole is not enough to qualify. And, Nzinga’s life’s story did not provide clues to work with, like with Queen Isabella I, who prayed that her marriage would not come to pass, and then her suitor died. Nor did a peculiar coincidence happen, like with Queen Elizabeth I, when a magazine featured an article about a database system called Armada. Again, I tossed a coin, which was my favourite way of resolving such undecided matters, but the outcome suggested God didn’t want me to think She had been Queen Nzinga.

Latest revision: 22 November 2023

Featured image: The “Darnley Portrait” of Elizabeth I. Wikipedia. Public Domain.

1. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Garfieldlifeinsurancepolicyback.jpg