Kurwana of Aguilette

Kurwana of Aguilette (April 872 - 16 July 916), Queen of Hsindra and Bekinla, was spouse of King Fabio IV, as well as mother of Isacca IV and grandmother of Minyaung V and Joao I. She governed as regent during her son's minority and was one of the most powerful women in the early 10th century.

Background
Kurwana was born on the Saungson Island and was the daughter of Belfante of Montegne, the governor of the Saungson Island appointed by Maharapura, by his second wife Anne of Lysé. After the death of her uncle Henther II, Duke of Aguilette, her father became Duke of Aguilette, i.e. Belfante I, in 889.

Her father's first wife was Manice Mihadela. They had 3 sons and 2 daughters, but only the second son Belfante II survived. Her parents had 4 sons and 4 daughters, of which 3 sons and 1 daughter died prematurely. She was the third child and the first daughter between them. Her siblings include Kratmaung, Viceroy of the Saungson Island, Anna, Duchess of Sankiang and Liuatrice, Marquise of Ulban.

Marriage and children
At the age of 12, Kurwana married Prince Fabio of Hsindra, who was 4 years older than her. Their marriage was arranged by their fathers as part of their alliance against the Eadien Empire and Maharapura. Prince Fabio was the first son of King Minyaung IV; at that time, his title was Prince of Indamaha. Although he was the eldest son and loved by the king, he was not welcomed by the court. On the one hand, he was not the heir, but his half brother, Prince Muhatanio; on the other hand, his mother Ophia de Mesarol had a bad reputation, who was originally just a mistress, but later, she designed to annull the marriage between Minyaung IV and his first wife, Madharia of Sayamati, then married the king, but eventually she died in the power struggle, after which the marriage between the king and Madharia was also renewed. After Kurwana married Fabio, she also became a marginal figure in Hsindran court. The wedding of the two was held in 884, but the specific date was unknown. Only knew that it was in summer. Many nobles didn't attend on the pretext that the weather was too hot, which made Kurwana lose face. Since then, Kurwana began to feel that the nobles were too arrogant and slow to pay attention to the majesty of the royal family, which became one of her motives to suppress the nobility in her future regency.

The marriage between Kurwana and Fabio was very harmonious. Fabio's mother, Queen Ophia, was disgusted by the court, so Kurwana publicly mourned her in the palace. Although she only wanted to fight against the nobles, it made her win the favor of her husband and father-in-law the king. Some nobles panicked at Kurwana and called her "little Ophia". However, after all, she was only a Princess consort and had less influence than Ophia who was a queen, so people didn't pay much attention to her, which provided her with an opportunity to cultivate her own political power. Under her recommendation, Savad Kabash, who was originally a farmer, was placed in an important position by Minyaung IV. Later, he will continue to play a role in the government.

Kurwana and Fabio had 3 sons and 1 daughter. Except that the eldest son died of smallpox at the age of 7, the other 2 sons and 1 daughter had grown up smoothly. Their children included:

1. Minyaung, Prince of Origad, was born on 2 September 888 and died of smallpox on 13 January 896.

2. Princess Ophia, was born on 27 April 892 who remained unmarried for her entire life and became a nun when she was 20. She died on 19 October 961.

3. King Isacca IV, was born on 16 February 895, and died on 22 March 957.

4. Fabio III, Duke of Rangaing, was born on 24 September 896, and died on 7 June 952. He fathered 2 kings, Minyaung V and Joao I.

Queen of Hsindra
On 14 October 887, Muhatanio, Prince of Origad died and left no offspring, which meant that his only brother Fabio would become the new prince of Origad. This aroused the opposition of some nobles. Later, it evolved into the rebellion led by Dumin de Bolsifa, Count of Mishra. Fortunately, the rebellion was suppressed in December. Kurwana urged the execution of all the nobles of the rebellion, but Minyaung IV and Fabio did not agree, and just executed Bolsifa.

On 9 May 890, Minyaung IV died, then Fabio became king of Hsindra, and Kurwana was crowned Queen of Hsindra and Bekinla at Elkoshia Palace on 27 August. Although the previous political activities against Fabio IV were suppressed, his throne was still considered unstable. It was suggested that the queen took the children to Bekinla, but Kurwana refused. She said, "where the king is, the queen is."

Kurwana was described as a stern and frightening woman. Her appearance was not outstanding. She was short and looked dull, but her character was strong and smart. As the queen, she was determined to strengthen the authority of the royal family. Her mother-in-law Queen Ophia, was forced to death by the nobles, which made her deeply feel the arrogance of the nobles and the powerlessness of the royal family to the nobles. At her suggestion, Fabio IV established the aristocratic court to hear the illegal acts of the aristocracy, and the judges were directly appointed by the king. In order to weaken the strength of the nobles, Fabio IV and Kurwana chose to cooperate with the Mesarol family and closed most of the mints in Hsindra. The remaining dozens were operated by the royal family and the Mesarols, because the Mesarol family was very rich and had strong economic strength, which could fight the nobles to a great extent.

Regency
On 26 February 897, Fabio IV died. Isacca, who was only 2 years old, became king of Hsindra and Bekinla. As the king's mother, Kurwana acted as regent for his young son. She thought her husband's death was abnormal, because he was only 28 and his lips turned black when he died. It was very likely that some dissatisfied nobles poisoned the king to block his reform. Kurwana was warned by some close ministers that they did not want Kurwana to trace the cause of Fabio IV's death, because if those nobles could poison the king, they also can kill her and Isacca IV. Kurwana, who knew the strength of the opposition, listened to the advice of her close ministers, but she was unwilling to let go of the murderer who killed her husband, so she secretly ordered someone to investigate the matter and planned to give a fatal blow to the opposition in the future, but there was no result in the end.

Kurwana continued her husband's unfinished reform. With the support of the Mesarol family, she strictly investigated the usury behavior of the people and further standardized the borrowing mechanism of banks. With her acquiescence, the Mesarol family owned the operation rights of many banks. On 28 September 901, Diagar de Mesarol was named Duke of Keghal, marking the full rise of the Mesarol family. The Mesarol family is sometimes called "the family rising because of two queens", "two queens" referring to Ophia and Kurwana. Kurwana and the Mesarols had reached a good cooperative relationship, which can be roughly summarized as that the royal family was in charge of power and the Mesarol family was in charge of money. In this way, although the Mesarol family was powerful, it can only be under the control of the royal family and will not be against the royal family like other great nobles, but this had contributed to the external development of the Mesarols to a certain extent. More than that, Kurwana had reached this kind of relationship with many nobles. She didn't need to weaken those powerful forces, just let them be used by her.

In order to contain the burgeoning Eadien Empire, Kurwana supported the descendants of Reramonsi I against Kanaunt II, and Menshan de Hafra, the grandson of Reramonsi I's illegitimate son Kensa de Hafra, was secretly funded by her. She also sent troops to attack Mie, a vassal of the Eadien empire. She asked Isacca IV to announce his marriage to Rechi Chudan, Queen of the Mie State. Then, in the name of helping the king's wife seize power, she sent troops into Mie and killed Chuvonlachao, the powerful minister. Then, she crowned Isacca IV King of Mie and put Mie under the control of Hsindra. Meanwhile, Kurwana created public opinion and announced Chuvonlachao's treacherous acts, including poisoning the king and raping royal concubines, accusing the Eadien empire of not ruling its vassal state well. In this way, it was not easy for Eadien to accuse Hsindra of aggression in the matter of the Mie state. Although Isacca IV did not like Rechi Chudan, Kurwana tried to ensure that their marriage could be maintained, but it was said that they had never consummated their marriage.

Late years
Kurwana no longer served as regent since 911. She left her son a stable and prosperous kingdom, and the prestige of the royal family was greatly improved, so that Isacca IV was regarded as Hsindra's first powerful king after Fabio III. Kurwana still lived in the palace. Because of the absence of the queen (Rechi Chudan had been in Mie for the most of time, and almost never came to Hsindra after 909), Kurwana still ruled the court and often gave political advice to her son.

In her later years, Kurwana was worried about her daughter Ophia's marriage. She hoped that Ophia would become a queen. Therefore, she began to negotiate with Sayamati, but no agreement was reached in the end. When Ophia knew that her mother wanted to marry her to Henther de Mesarol, she immediately announced that she would become a nun because she didn't like the Mesarol family.

Kurwana died on 16 July 916. She was buried in Panon Temple adjacent to her husband. She was the direct ancestor of all subsequent Palemikham sovereigns of Hsindra.