Biographies of interesting but largely unknown women in history?

I don’t want to read about women we’ve all heard of. No well known queens or saints or anyone who would be a household name. I want it read about women who had really interesting lives in a time period where women weren’t really supposed to lead interesting lives.

Give me biographies of women who gained power despite the time period, women who fought to become educated, women who did cool art, science, engineering, or philosophy, women who got in trouble and managed to survive, women who defied gender norms or social class rules! I want to learn about women I have never heard of who lived crazy lives!

I’m new to the biography genre but this post is inspired by reading Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Basque Transvestite in the New World (Catalina de Erauso’s autobiography), which was a wild ride.

I’m most interested in people who lived before the 1900s, especially antiquity, medieval, or renaissance women.

I don’t even care if the writing is interesting or captivating. It can even be super academic as long as the content is interesting. Bonus if the biographer is a woman!

Any good recommendations?