Aelia Pulcheria

Coin with image of Aelia Pulcheria - note on the left the little hand of God crowning Pulcheria

Aelia Pulcheria Augusta (born January 19, 399 in Constantinople , † February 18, 453 ibid), daughter of Emperor Arcadius and Aelia Eudoxia , granddaughter of Emperor Theodosius I , was an Empress of the Eastern Roman Empire .

Life

When Emperor Arcadius died in 408, Theodosius II , who was only seven years old, was named Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire. Aelia Pulcheria, his eldest sister, who was nine at the time, seems to have had a great influence on him from an early age. At the beginning of 414 her twelve-year-old brother was persuaded to dismiss the powerful praetorium prefect Anthemius , who had effectively been in charge of the reign since 408 , and instead to entrust Pulcheria with the supervision of the young emperor. From then on she seems to have played an even more important role and took care of her younger siblings. So that no one could try to lay claim to the throne by marrying Pulcheria, she also had to vow to remain a virgin forever.

Theodosius also awarded her the title Augusta in 414 . In doing so, she did not formally become co-regent of her underage brother - according to the Roman understanding, women were fundamentally not allowed to rule - who continued to head the empire as Emperor Caesar Augustus . But she was now entitled to imperial dignities and honors. Before that, as a nobilissima (the title was only available to the daughters of an emperor), she already enjoyed privileges over other members of the imperial family. Pulcheria effectively ruled the Eastern Roman Empire as the “virgin princess” by leading her younger brother Theodosius until he came of age at the end of 416. Possibly it played an important role in 420 in the outbreak of a two-year Persian War , which was evidently also justified religiously on the Roman side (Holum 1977). In the following years Pulcheria's influence waned. In 443 she was still able to assert herself against her sister-in-law and rival, the Emperor's wife Aelia Eudocia , who was also elevated to Augusta ; but in 447 conflicts with the powerful praepositus sacri cubiculi Chrysaphius led Pulcheria to leave the imperial court for some time and live in monastic solitude in the palace of Hebdomon . After her brother's accidental death in 450, she played a role in arranging his succession. How decisive their influence was here is disputed (Burgess 1993/94). She married - probably under pressure - the new Emperor Marcian , the Sun to the Theodosian dynasty could join, resulted because of their ancient chastity vow but demonstratively a Josef marriage and lived up to the 453rd

government

Pulcheria never led an independent government in the narrower sense; she was always tied either to her brother or later to her husband.

Aelia Pulcheria was on the one hand very social. She was praised for her generosity to the poor and was caring to monks and clerics. On the other hand, in her sometimes excessive Christian zeal, she was very intolerant of people of other faiths. At her instigation, Jews and pagans were expelled from Roman officials and the army. It is also said to have advocated laws that encourage violence against people of different faiths.

The invitation of the imperial couple to Pope Leo I to take part in the Council of Chalcedon in 451, one of the largest Christian church assemblies in history, was particularly significant . Conversely, this religious commitment earned Pulcheria the hostility of the Monophysites , whose position was condemned in 451; While therefore pro-Caledonian (i.e. Catholic and Orthodox) sources idealize the empress very strongly, anti-Caledonian texts offer the exact opposite picture. According to some researchers, the actual role played by Augusta may have been greatly exaggerated by both sides, albeit for different reasons. Pulcheria therefore served contemporaries and later as a projection surface.

The imperial couple is venerated as holy in the Roman and Orthodox Churches. A portrait head of Pulcheria from the middle of the 5th century is in the Castello Sforzesco Museum in Milan . Her picture with scepter , crown and lily in the painting by Guido Reni in the Capella Paolina by S. Maria Maggiore in Rome is also worth mentioning .

literature

• Christine Angelidi: Pulcheria. La castità al potere (c. 399 - c. 455) (= Donne d'Oriente e d'Occidente. Vol. 5). Jaca Book, Milan 1996, ISBN 88-16-43505-4 ( standard work ).
• Anja Busch: The women of the Theodosian dynasty. Power and representation of imperial women in the 5th century (= Historia - individual writings. Volume 237). Steiner, Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-515-11044-0 , pp. 110–135 ( specialist review by H-Soz-Kult ).
• Richard W. Burgess : The accession of Marcian in the light of Chalcedonian apologetic and monophysite polemic. In: Byzantine Journal . Vol. 86/87, 1993/1994, pp. 47-68.
• Kenneth G. Holum: Pulcheria's Crusade and the Ideology of Imperial Victory. In: Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies. Vol. 18, 1977, ISSN  0017-3916 , pp. 153-172.
• Kenneth G. Holum: Theodosian Empresses. Women and Imperial Dominion in Late Antiquity (= The Transformation of the Classical Heritage. Vol. 3). University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 1982, ISBN 0-520-04162-3 , pp. 79-111 (also: Chicago, University, dissertation).
• Fergus Millar : A Greek Roman Empire. Power and Belief under Theodosius II (408-450) (= Sather Classical Lectures. Vol. 64). University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 2006, ISBN 0-520-24703-5 .

Web links

• Geoffrey Greatrex : Short biography (English) at De Imperatoribus Romanis (with references).
• Aelia Pulcheria in: Ökomenisches Heiligenlexikon