Brewer's: Katharine

or Katharina. Daughter of Baptista, a rich gentleman of Padua. She was very beautiful, but a shrew. Petruchio of Verona married her, and so subdued her imperious temper by his indomitable will, that she became the model of a “submissive wife,” and gave Bianca, her sister, most excellent advice respecting the duty of submission. (Shakespeare; Taming of the Shrew.)

The Katherine de' Medici of China.
Voochee, widow of King Tae-tsôg.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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