Fausta Arshakuni

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Fausta Arsakuni (* around 630; † after 668) was a princess from the Arsacid dynasty , who became Emperor of Byzantium (641–668 ) through her marriage to Konstans II (  7 November 630 ; † 15 September 668 in Syracuse ) ) became Empress of Byzantium.

The borders of the Eastern Roman Empire (green) around AD 650

origin

Fausta came from the originally Parthian dynasty of the Arsacids , which existed from about 240 BC. BC ruled the Persian Empire as great kings until 224 AD and ruled the Kingdom of Armenia from 54 AD to 428 .

Her grandfather Johannes Mystakon was married to Placida, a daughter of Anastasios and Juliana. About the latter, Fausta comes from Valentinian III in the 8th generation . (Flavius ​​Placidus Valentinianus), who ruled the Western Roman Empire as emperor from 425 to 455 . The name Valentinos, which is unusual among the Arsacids, goes back to this.

Her father, Caesar Valentinos (Valentinianos / Valentinus) arshakuni, (* around 590; † 644 ) was a Byzantine general, also a pretender to the imperial crown and temporarily regent of the Byzantine Empire under Emperor Konstans II . Neither the name nor the origin of her mother is known.

Life

Constantine II and his son Constantine on a hexagram

Childhood under the influence of the father

Fausta's life was shaped by her origins as a member of one of the most distinguished families of Byzantium and by the proximity to the imperial court, where her father played an important role as treasurer of Herakleios emperor of the Byzantine Empire (610–641). Her father's ambition was to have a decisive influence on Fausta's life. After the death of Emperor Heraclius on February 11, 641 , her father began a military career and distinguished himself in the east of the empire in the fight against the expanding Islamic empire under the second caliph Omar (634-644). In doing so, he created the conditions for intervening in the internal Byzantine power struggle, overthrew Emperor Heraklonas , who ruled for a few months in 641, and forced his young nephew Constans II to be appointed emperor of the Byzantine Empire (641-668). .

Her father's claims to power

But that did not satisfy her father's ambition. He wanted - based on his origins - the imperial crown. His daughter Fausta was therefore chosen to help her father to the throne. In addition, she married Valentinos in 641 with his protégé, the eleven-year-old Emperor Konstans II. Fausta was thereby 641 with the title Augusta Empress of the Byzantine Empire. Not enough with that, her father explained that the defense of the empire against the threatening expansion of the young Islamic State under Caliph Omar could not be left to a child emperor, but would require an experienced general. He therefore demanded to be crowned co-emperor. This attempt to be appointed his son-to co-emperor, but failed because of a revolt by the supporters of the ruling dynasty of Heracleidae Faustas father was 641 compensated with the title of Caesar and the high command of the troops in the east of the empire, but lost 642 Alexandria to the great Arab general Amr ibn al-Ās, who had the walls of Alexandria razed and Fostat , near today's Cairo, built as the new capital of Egypt. In the years 642 and 643, however, Fausta's father exercised de facto rule over the Byzantine Empire for his underage son-in-law.

In the years 643/644 Fausta's father undertook new campaigns against the Islamic expansion as magister militum per Orientem (army master in the east of the empire) . However, the campaign ended with several defeats of the Byzantine troops, which led to a break between him and his son-in-law, Emperor Konstans II. Naturally, this was a dilemma for Fausta, as she was in the middle of the conflict between her father and her husband. Her father, Caesar Valentinos , decided to put everything on one card and, as the Armenian author Pseudo- Sebeos writes, marched with his troops to Constantinople and demanded the imperial crown again. However, he failed because of the resistance of the Patriarch of Constantinople Paul II and a popular uprising against the usurper, who was killed by the angry masses in 644 as an illegal usurper. Fausta thereby her father, to whom she owed her role as empress.

Islamic expansion

In the years that followed, imperial policy was shaped by the defensive struggle against the expansion of the Islamic caliphate, where in 644 Uthman ibn Affan , the son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed , from the house of the Umayyads , took over the caliphate from the deceased caliph Umar ibn al-Chattab . This began with the construction of a fleet that invaded Cyprus and Rhodes in the following years and inflicted a devastating defeat on the Byzantine fleet. Because of the minority of Fausta's husband, the Senate exercised de facto the management of the affairs of state in the following years.

In 648, however, Fausta's husband, Emperor Konstans II, took over the rule himself at the age of 18. He was ambitious and - despite Fausta's misgivings - personally took care of the defense of the eastern and southern territories of the empire against the Arab advance. This, however, with little success, since he lost Armenia , Cyprus , and large areas in the provinces south and east of the Mediterranean in the following years .

Fausta saw her husband more often after 656, because after the assassination of the caliph Uthman on June 17th for Byzantium there was a détente on this front. This is because due to internal conflicts in the Muslim camp between Ali ibn Abi Talib (c * 598th; † 661 in Kufa) (the fourth Caliph of the Sunnis and the first Imam of the Shiites ) the nephew and son of the Prophet Mohammed, and Muawiya I. , the Governor of Damascus from the House of the Umayads when civil war broke out. However, this phase of relative peace ended in 661 with the victory of Muawiya and the assassination of Caliph Ali. However, the new caliph Muawija was so weakened that he had to commit to paying tribute to Fausta's husband for the time being.

Religious disputes

There were also eventful times in the area of ​​domestic politics, when in the Byzantine Empire there was a violent dispute between the Monophysites (doctrine that Christ has only one nature, namely a divine one) and the Orthodox (Christ has a dual nature according to the Council of Chalcedon (451) , one divine and one human) broke out.

It is not known what position Fausta took personally, but since this question was at the forefront of the intellectual debate in Constantinople at the time, it can be assumed that she personally took part in the debates and shared the opinion of her husband on this issue. This dispute was so violent that Emperor Konstans II. 648 declared the relevant debates to be over by decree. However, this did not lead to peace, but to an alliance between the Orthodox and the Pope who, at a synod in Rome in 649, condemned monophysitism and also the monotheletism represented by Constans II himself (doctrine that Christ has two natures - one divine and one human - but has only one will) enforced. The emperor was not personally condemned by the Pope, but felt his authority was attacked. He had the leader of the Orthodox Maximus and Pope Martin I captured and taken to Constantinople. Maximus was sentenced there, his tongue and both hands were cut off and he was exiled to the eastern provinces. Pope Martin I escaped mutilation, but was exiled to Chersonese (in the Crimea ) and died there a few years later.

In 652 - ten years after their marriage - Fausta gave birth to her husband Konstans II. Heir to the throne and later Emperor Constantine IV in Constantinople and later his brothers Heraclius and Tiberius, who were appointed co-emperors in 659.

Imperial residence in Syracuse

Soon after his power was consolidated, the new Caliph Muawija continued the expansive policy of his predecessor towards the Byzantine Empire. Instead of devoting himself again to warding off the impending danger in the east, Emperor Konstans turned his interest to the west. He marched with an army via Thessaloniki to Athens and crossed to Italy . He was the first emperor of Byzantium to visit Rome - the old capital of the empire - since the division of the empire in 395 , withdrew from Rome after collecting large taxes - allegedly taking along the copper church roofs - and tried to conquer the Lombard principality of Benevento withdrew after the failure of the siege of Benevento to Sicily , where he made Syracuse his residence city for the rest of his rule.

The reason for turning away from Constantinople may be that thanks to the military setbacks and high taxes - and not least because of the murder of his younger brother Theodosius on his behalf in 659/60 - he was extremely unpopular there and therefore better off in Sicily felt lifted.

Fausta and the children were to follow the emperor's wish to Sicily. However, this was not allowed by those responsible in the capital. This version can also be found with Judith Herrin. Charles Cawley, based on Theophanes' Chronicle, is different ; after the emperor Constans II decided to move the imperial seat to Rome. He actually left Constantinople and went to Syracuse in Sicily, accompanied by his wife and three children. The solution to the contradiction may lie in the fact that Fausta was only in Syracuse for a short time, but later returned to Constantinople. Constans II was murdered in Syracuse on July 15, 668 by a member of his court in the bath.

Fausta's life experienced a decisive turning point in 668, when Emperor Konstans was transferred to Constantinople and solemnly buried in the Apostle Church. This was the most important church in Constantinople after Hagia Sophia , but was destroyed by the Ottomans in 1461 to make way for the Sultan Mehmet Fatih mosque .

Fausta survived her husband and died in Constantinople. However, the exact date of her death is not known. She was buried with her husband in the Apostle Church.

Marriage and offspring

Fausta was married to Constans II, Emperor of Byzantium (641–668), from 641 onwards. This was a son of the Emperor Constantine III. (641) from the Heraclean dynasty and his wife Gregoria (* c. 612; † after 650). Gregoria was a daughter of the general Nicetas, who performed important military services against the usurper Phokas (602–610) and against the Persian Empire of the Sassanids to his cousin, Emperor Herakleios .

Fausta was related to the Persian imperial family of the Sassanids through this marriage , since the sister of her husband Emperor Konstans II., Manyanh, with Yazdegerd III. (632–651), the last Sassanid great king of Persia , was married. If the children of Yazdegerd III. came from this marriage, Fausta would be according to a later tradition about his daughter Shahr Banu with Al-Husain ibn 'Alī , the second Imam of the Shiites, who fell in the battle of Kerbala on October 10, 680, and about his sister Izundat with Bostanai , the first exile (head of the exiled Jews in Babylonia from the house of King David ) by marriage.

Their sons were:

  • Constantine IV (* 648; † 14 September 685), ruled as emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 668 to 685 , ∞ Anastasia († n. 711), (? T. v. Johannes Athalarich (* c. 600; † n . 637), illegitimate son of the emperor Herakleios I of Byzantium and usurper of the throne.) His sons:
    • Justinian II , Emperor of Byzantium (685–695 and 705–711)
    • Herakleios, Prince, † n. 681/83
  • Herakleios , co-emperor from 659 to 681, was dethroned and mutilated by his eldest brother, Emperor Constantine IV, † n. 681/83
  • Tiberios , co-emperor from 659 to 681, was dethroned at the same time as his older brother

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christian Settipani: Continuité des élites à Byzance durant les siècles obscurs; Les princes Caucasiens et l´empire du VIe au IXe siècle. De Boccard, Paris 2006, ISBN 978-2-7018-0226-8 , p. 118
  2. ↑ Christian Settipani: op. Cit. P. 126
  3. ^ Christian Settipani, op. Cit. P. 117
  4. ↑ Pseudo-Sebeos, chapter 44 (according to chapter counting in: Robert W. Thomson (translation), James Howard-Johnston (commentary): The Armenian History Attributed to Sebeos . 2 vols. Translated Texts for Historians . Liverpool 1999, p. 106f. )
  5. ↑ John J. Norwich: "Byzantium - Rise and Fall of a World Empire" (translation of the American original edition); Econ Ullstein List Verlag, 2002; ISBN 978-3-548-60620-0 , p. 169
  6. ↑ Ralph-Johannes Lilie: "Byzantium, the second Rome"; Siedler Verlag Berlin, 2003, ISBN 3-88680-6936 . Pp. 102/103
  7. ↑ Ralph-Johannes Lilie: op cit. Pp. 102/103
  8. ↑ a b Ralph-Johannes Lilie: op.cit. P. 103
  9. ↑ Ralph-Johannes Lilie: op. Cit. P. 104
  10. ^ Judith Herrin: Women in Purple, Rulers of medieval Byzantium . London 2002.
  11. ↑ KONSTANTINOS III 641, KONSTANS II 641-668, KONSTANTINOS IV 668-685, IUSTINIAN II 685-695, 705-711 . BYZANTIUM 395-1057 .
  12. ^ Theophanes, AM 6153.
  13. ^ Charles Cawley, op. Cit.
  14. ^ Charles Cawley: op cit.
personal data
SURNAME Fausta Arshakuni
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Empress of Byzantium
DATE OF BIRTH around 630
DATE OF DEATH after 668
Place of death Constantinople