Maria II of Portugal implys the existance of a Maria I
Indeed ... because she was a joint sovereign with her husband (King Pedro III), I wasn't sure how to date her reign. That being said, the reality was that she inherited the Portuguese throne in her own right, as the successor to her father upon his death in 1777, and hence occupied it until her own death in 1816 -- even though she never really ruled.
So perhaps 1740 (from the accession of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresia to the Habsburg dominions) to 1816 would count as a period where Europe had at least one queen regnant. The interruption to the succession of empresses regnant of Russia by czars (Ivan VI from 1740 to 1741 and Peter III briefly in 1762) being irrelevant ...
If you're going back to medieval history, then perhaps Queen Petronilla of Aragon should enter the discussion, since she reigned for 27 years (1137-1164), dying in 1173 (she had abdicated the throne).
The Salic law (which totally excludes females from the succession) seems to have been the exception, rather than the rule, in European royal history. It could never have worked, and never did apply, in England or Scotland.
So in the end, it seems that there haven't been lengthy periods in history with no queen regnant or female ruler of some sort (I realize that one shouldn't totally disregard smaller sovereign states, such as duchies).
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