Eudokia macrembolitissa
Eudokia makrembolitissa ( medium Greek Εὐδοκία Μακρεμβολίτισσα , * 1021 , † 1096 ) was the daughter of John Makrembolites , niece of Patriarch Michael I Kerularius and wife of Byzantine Emperor Constantine X. After she married his death Romanos IV. It bore the title Basilissa and basilis romaion , so ruled in its own right.
Life
Constantine made Eudokia Augusta after his coronation in 1059 . She also appears on coins with him. The copper folles show Constantine and Eudokia holding the labarum between them . The couple had three sons, Michael , Andronikos and Konstantios . According to Psellos, her husband considered her the wisest woman of her time and in 1066, when he became seriously ill, entrusted her with the upbringing of his sons.
Eudokia had sworn to Constantine X on his deathbed before the Patriarch, the Senate and the Synod not to remarry, not to bring relatives to the government and not to affect the position of Caesar John, a brother of Constantine, and Romanos Diogenes, the was suspected of coveting the throne, imprisoning it and having it banished. Constantine passed away in May 1067, and Eudokia took over the rule for the nominal heir to the throne Michael. Psellos emphasizes that she ran the government herself and did not rely on others. She shows the gold coin struck at this time with her sons Konstantios and Michael. When Eudokia realized that she would not be able to repel the Seljuks who threatened Anatolia, she wanted to revoke her oath. The Patriarch of Constantinople, John VIII. Xiphilinos , however, was quite averse to this. In order to change his mind, she proposed to the patriarch that she could marry his brother Bardas. Xiphilinos appears to have been pleased with the proposal and submitted it to the Senate. Eventually, however, he agreed to the imperial widow's marriage to Romanus IV Diogenes, presumably because his brother was generally viewed as an unsuitable spouse, as reported by historian Johannes Skylitzes .
Romanos was crowned on January 1, 1068. The Histamena of this period show Eudokia and Romanos on the reverse and the three sons of Constantine X, Michael, Andronikos, and Konstantios on the obverse. The golden tetarteron, on the other hand, shows Eudokia obvers with the labarum and the globe and Romanos revers with akakia and the globe. Only the silver miliaresion shows Romanos alone with the Blessed Mother on the obverse.
Romanos came from a respected Anatolian family and was Count of Serdica . He was able to restore the finances that had been shattered by Constantine and stabilize the military situation on the eastern border. However, he was unpopular with the high nobility of Constantinople, especially with the influential Dukai family headed by the emperor Johannes Dukas .
After Romanos was first captured in Seljuk captivity after his defeat in the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 , he was captured by General Andronikos Dukas after his release . He died in 1072 after being brutally tortured and blinded. Eudokia was forced to vacate the throne by Johannes Dukas by force of arms and banished to the Piperoudion Monastery she founded on the Bosporus , which was consecrated to the Mother of God ( Michael Attaleiates : Historia 169.2-9 / 125.13-18). Here she passed away after 25 years.
Representations
Eudokia and Romanos IV may be depicted on the Romanos ivory plate that is kept in the Cabinet des Médailles in Paris. It shows a standing figure of Christ touching the crowns of the two rulers. Presumably the coronation of Romanos is depicted. Recently, however, due to stylistic considerations, the view has been increasingly expressed that Romanos II and his wife Bertha von der Provence, who took the name Eudokia after their marriage, are represented. An octagonal silver reliquary kept in Moscow shows Eudokia with Constantine X.
progeny
From Constantine X .:
- Michael VII Dukas
- Andronikos Dukas, co-emperor 1068-1078
- Anna Dukaina (nun)
- Theodora Dukaina, wife of Domenico Silvo , Doge of Venice
- Konstantios Porphyrogennetos, co-emperor 1060-1078, † 1081
- Zoe Porphyrogenneta (1062–1136), wife of Adrianos Komnenos, a brother of Alexios I Komnenos.
From Romanos IV Diogenes:
reception
Eudokia's reputation and education led to a mythological lexicon called Ionia ("violet garden ", from Greek τὸ ἰόν to ion "violet", Latin violarium ) circulating under her name. The editio princeps of the work was published in 1781 by Jean-Baptiste Gaspard d'Ansse de Villoison . After the authorship of Eudokia was often doubted, Paul Pulch proved in his doctoral thesis in 1880 that the lexicon had been compiled from several other works in the 16th century, including the Suda and the Lexicon of Varinus Favorinus . Two years later, Pulch identified the Greek scribe Konstantin Palaiokappa (active in the mid-16th century) as the actual author of the Ionia .
literature
- Jadran Ferluga: Eudokia Makrembolitissa . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 4, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-7608-8904-2 , column 74 f.
- Ioli Kalavrezou-Maxeiner: Eudokia Makrembolitissa and the Romanos Ivory. In: Dumbarton Oaks Papers . Volume 31, 1977, pp. 305-325 ( online )
- N. Oikonomides: Le serment de l'imperatrice Eudocie (1067): an episode de l'histoire dynastique de Byzance . In: REB . Volume 21, 1963, pp. 101-128.
- Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Vol. 2: Baanes-Eznik of Kolb . Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2008, ISBN 978-2-503-52377-4 , pp. 414-415.
| predecessor | Office | Successor |
|---|---|---|
| ? |
Empress of Byzantium 1068-1096 |
Mary of Alania |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Eudokia macrembolitissa |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Eastern Roman Empress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1021 |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1096 |