Eudokia Laskarina

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Eudokia Laskarina , sometimes also called Sophia Laskarina , (* 1210 or 1212; † 1247 or 1253) was an imperial princess from the Byzantine Empire of Nikaia and, as the wife of Frederick II the Arguable , hereditary duchess of Austria and Styria for a short time in 1229 .

origin

Eudokia Laskarina came from the nobility, but little prominent Byzantine family of Laskaris , from Constantine Laskaris 1204/1205 for a few weeks emperor of the Byzantine Empire and his brother, I. Theodore Laskaris , from 1205/1208 to 1222 ruler of the Empire of Nicaea was .

In the absence of male offspring, his eldest daughter, Irene Laskarina , became the heiress of the house. The throne and the name Laskaris thus passed on to the family of her second husband, John III. Dukas Vatatzes , who ruled the Byzantine Empire Nikaia until 1261.

Eudokia was a younger daughter of Theodor I. Komnenos Laskaris (* around 1177, † August 1222), who after the conquest of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade in 1204 fled with numerous supporters to the provincial capital Nikaia and there in exile to become Emperor of Byzantium proclaimed and had 1208 crowned. He ruled the Nikaia Empire until 1222 .

Eudokia's mother was Anna Komnene Angelina († 1212), a daughter of Alexios III. Angelos Emperor of Byzantium (1195-1203) and the Euphrosyne Dukaina Kamatera (* around 1143, † around 1211), a daughter of Andronikos Dukas Kamateros († 1185, executed) and the Ne Kantakuzene, who in 1199 was Theodor I. Laskari's second marriage had married.

Life

Eudokia was probably born around 1210/1212, the third child of her parents in Nikaia (now İznik near Bursa in Turkey ). Nikaia / Nicäa, a city since ancient times, famous for the Nicaean creed from 325, was conquered by the Seljuks in 1077 , fell back to Byzantium in 1097 after being besieged by the Crusaders in the First Crusade and since 1204 has served as the capital of the city founded by their father in exile Byzantine Empire of Nikaia .

Childhood in Nikaia

Her childhood was marked by the struggle for control of the fragments of the Byzantine Empire , which had been crushed by the Fourth Crusade in 1204 , with neither external enemies, such as the Sultanate of the Rum Seljuks and the Second Bulgarian Empire under the Assenid dynasty , nor rivalries between the successor states to the inheritance of the Byzantine Empire lacked. The Nikaia Empire was opposed to the Latin Empire of Constantinople , the Trapezunt Empire of Alexios I Megas Komnenos and the Principality of Epirus, created in 1205 by Michael I Komnenos Dukas Angelos . In addition there was the Frankish kingdom of Thessaloniki under the Margraves of Montferrat from the house of the Aleramides and other Frankish rulers in Greece such as the Principality of Achaia or the Duchy of Athens . In spite of these challenges, Eudokia's father managed to defeat the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum near Antioch on the Meander in 1211, despite the fact that Eudokia's grandfather, who fled to Iconium - the overthrown Emperor Alexios III. Komnenos Emperor of Byzantium (1195–1203) - used as a legitimist pretext for his plans for conquest. Alexios III was therefore able to see his granddaughter Eudokia, since he was captured and ended his life in a monastery in Nikaia.

The attacks of the Latin Empire under Emperor Heinrich von Flanders could also be repulsed. The attempt of her father, Emperor Theodor I, to conquer Constantinople failed, but a permanent settlement was found at the end of 1214 with the peace treaty of Nymphaion.

Marriage policy

In view of the difficult situation, marriage policy played an important strategic role. Eudokia therefore had two stepmothers after the death of her mother in 1212:

On November 24, 1214, her father married Philippa of Armenia (* 1183, divorced 1216, † before 1219), daughter of Ruben III. Ruler of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia from the House of the Rubenids .

In 1219 her father married Maria von Courtenay for the third time ; 1218 regent of the Latin Empire and 1222 regent of the Nikaia Empire , († 1222), daughter of Peter II of Courtenay , Latin Emperor in Constantinople (1216–1219) from the House of Capetians .

Eudokia's sisters were also part of this strategy:

These military and family political successes stabilized her father's empire, which continued the previous Byzantine administration unbroken, so that it was finally recognized as the heir of old Byzantium and the center of Orthodoxy. This although Theodor I Angelos , Despot of Epirus, after conquering the short-lived Latin Kingdom of Thessaloniki in 1224, proclaimed himself Emperor of Byzantium ("Basileus and autocrator of the Rhomeans"), which resulted in four rival empires from the old Byzantine Empire , with additional nor did the tsar of the Bulgarians Ivan Assen II (1218–1241) aspire to a Bulgarian-Byzantine empire with the capital Constantinople.

An important turning point in Eudocia's life was probably the death of her father, Emperor Theodor I, in 1222, to which her brother-in-law John III. Dukas Vatatzes (Batatzes) , followed as the second emperor from Byzantium to Nicaea. However, this transfer of power was challenged by Eudokias' uncles, Alexios Laskaris and Isaakios Laskaris, who tried, with the support of the Latin Empire, to drive out their brother-in-law in order to take over the rule of the Empire of Nikaia themselves. Eudokia was to play an essential role in this plan: she was intended as the bride for the ruling Latin Emperor Robert von Courtenay (1221-1228). The brothers therefore kidnapped the approximately eleven-year-old Eudokia after the death of their father in 1222 to Constantinople and betrothed her to Emperor Robert, who promised to support them with regard to their claim to the throne of Nikaia.

However, the patriarch Manuel von Nikaia opposed this engagement due to the close relatives. This is reported by Georgios Akropolites . This marriage prohibition was probably based on the fact that her father, Emperor Theodor I, was married to Maria von Courtenay, a sister of Emperor Robert's third wife, and Eudokia would therefore have become the sister-in-law of her stepmother.

Eudokia stayed in Constantinople for the time being, where her two uncles were deployed as military leaders of the Latin Empire against the Bulgarians and in 1224 tried to dispute her brother-in-law for the crown with the support of an army of the Latin Empire.

However, Emperor Johannes was able to defeat them in the Battle of Poimanenon , which in 1225 gave him almost the entire territory of the Latins in Asia Minor. Shortly afterwards his fleet was able to subjugate Lesbos, Chios, Samos and Rhodes as well as Adrianople in Thrace. The grip on Constantinople was obvious, but was thwarted by Theodor Angelos, King of Thessalonike and Ivan Assen II, the Tsar of the Bulgarians. John III then ruled until 1254. He is considered the greatest statesman of the Nicean period and one of the most important rulers in Byzantine history, as he succeeded in transforming the provincial small empire into a leading regional power.

Connection with Austria

A new phase of life was to begin for Eudokia in 1229 through his marriage to Frederick II called the arguable , who had been heir to the throne of the duchies of Austria and Styria since the death of his older brother, Heinrich the cruel in 1228 .

A motivation for this third marriage of an Austrian ruler with a Byzantine princess is easy to find: Duke Leopold VI. "The glorious" who arranged the marriage of his son Frederick II was himself married to a princess of Byzantium, Theodora Angela . At the same time it was necessary to protect the borders against Bohemia - whose troops had invaded Austria in 1226 - and against Hungary. This could be achieved through a marriage with a princess of Nikaia, since King Bela IV. "Venerabilis" of Hungary (1235-1270), was married to the princess Maria Laskarina. A marriage with Eudokia Laskarina would therefore make Friedrich II the brother-in-law of this powerful neighbor.

The Fifth Crusade , to which - after much hesitation - Emperor Friedrich II. - probably by Duke Leopold VI. pushed by Austria - set out in 1228 - despite the church ban. Duke Leopold was closely related by marriage to Emperor Friedrich II through the marriage of his daughter Margarethe of Austria to the Roman-German King Heinrich VII , the son of Emperor Friedrich II. Emperor Friedrich II., Who crowned himself King of Jerusalem on March 18, 1229 in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher , maintained good relations with Emperor John III. He wrote to him, among other things, that he admired the Greeks, who “this so-called high priest [the Pope] dares shamelessly to blaspheme as a heretic, even though the Christian faith originated from them.” This relationship proved to be permanent, as John III. after the death of his first wife Irene Laskaris, Eudokia's sister, Konstanze von Hohenstaufen , married a legitimate daughter of Emperor Friedrich II.

The marriage, about which Alberich von Trois-Fontaines reports that “dux Austrie” married one of the daughters of “Lascarum Grecum”, and Lechner mentions, will probably have come about, although there are also suspicions that it was just one Betrothal, which was broken in 1229.

In any case, the marriage did not last long, as Duke Frederick the Quarrelsome soon rejected it, and in the same year married Agnes Princess of Meranien (divorced 1240, † 1260), an heir to Duke Otto I, Duke of Meranien .

Years later Eudokia appeared again in evidence as she 1239/47 as his third wife with Anseau de Cayeux (1195 or 1205 † 1273 or 1276 *) married (v), the 1237-1239 regent of the Latin Empire was . She died in 1247/1253.

Marriages and offspring

Eudokia married in 1229 Friedrich II. The arguable , Duke of Austria and Styria (* 1210, † falls on June 15, 1246 in the Battle of the Leitha as the last of his house) s. Through this marriage Eudokia became the hereditary duchess of Austria and Styria.

Eudokia married Anseau de Cayeux (V), (* 1195/1205, † between May 13, 1273 and March 1276), who was regent of the Latin Empire from 1237–1239, in 1229/39.

Child:

Eudokia had no children from her second marriage but had a daughter from her first marriage:

  • Eudokia / Marie de Cayeux, † v. 1275

oo Dreux de Beaumont seigneur de Sainte-Genevieve, Marshal of Sicily, 

† 1276/77 (S. v. Adam II seigneur de Beaumont-en-Gatinais & Isabelle de Mauvoisin)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andreas Thiele: Narrative genealogical family tables on European history Volume III: European imperial, royal and princely houses, supplementary volume , plate 207
  2. ^ Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, Byzantine nobility, Kamateros
  3. ^ Georg Ostrogorsky: Byzantine History . P. 367
  4. ^ Georg Ostrogorsky: Byzantine History . P. 371
  5. ^ Georg Ostrogorsky: Byzantine History . P. 373
  6. ^ Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, Nikaia Notes 71 and 72
  7. ^ Georg Ostrogorsky: Byzantine History. P. 372
  8. ^ Karl Lechner: The Babenberger - Margraves and Dukes of Austria 976-1246 . P. 216
  9. ↑ Steven Runciman: History of the Crusades. (Translation), DTV-Verlag Munich, 2nd edition 1997, p. 966
  10. ^ Georg Ostrogorsky: Byzantine History . P. 379
  11. ↑ Chronica Albrici Monachi Trium Fontium 1221, MGH SS XXIII, p. 911.
  12. ^ Karl Lechner: The Babenberger - Margraves and Dukes of Austria 976-1246 . P. 276.
  13. ^ Foundation for Medieval Genealogy: Evdokia Laskarina
  14. ^ Karl Lechner: The Babenberger - Margraves and Dukes of Austria 976-1246 . P. 155
  15. ↑ Detlev Schwennike: European family tables . New series, Verlag JA Stargardt Volume II, plate 183

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Eudokia Laskarina
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Evdokia Laskarina
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine princess, Duchess of Austria
DATE OF BIRTH around 1210
PLACE OF BIRTH Nikaia (Nicea)
DATE OF DEATH around 1250