Martina (Byzantium)

Martina ( Middle Greek Μαρτίνα ; * around 595; † after September 641 in Rhodes ) was the second wife of the Eastern Roman emperor Herakleios .

Life

Martina was the daughter of Herakleios' sister Maria and thus a niece of the emperor. After the death of his first wife Fabia on August 13, 612, Herakleios married the considerably younger Martina in 613 (according to other information not until 622) and made her Augusta (Empress). The marriage exposed Herakleios to the suspicion of incest (the marriage also contradicted both secular and ecclesiastical law), which is why the emperor was partially reprimanded by the church, but nevertheless prevailed. It actually seems to have been a love marriage. The couple had at least nine children: the sons Konstantin (?), Fabius, Theodosius, Heraklonas , David Tiberios and Martinos as well as the daughters Augustina, Anastasia (and / or Martina) and Febronia. Fabius and Theodosius were born disabled, which was seen as God's punishment for incestuous marriage.

Martina was a determined and ambitious woman. After the emperor's death in 641, she strove to rule over her son Heraklonas and herself. Perhaps she was also responsible for the early death of her stepson Herakleios Konstantin , in any case she subsequently exercised the power of government together with Heraklonas. However, both were overthrown after a few months (the information fluctuates between September 641 and January 642), mutilated (her tongue was cut off, his nose was cut off ) and sent into exile on the island of Rhodes. Herakleios' grandson Constans II succeeded him .

literature

• Lynda Garland: Byzantine Empresses. Women and power in Byzantium, AD 527-1204 . Routledge, London / New York 1999, ISBN 0-415-14688-7 , pp. 61-72 ( full text in the Google book search).
• Ralph-Johannes Lilie , Claudia Ludwig, Thomas Pratsch, Ilse Rochow, Beate Zielke: Prosopography of the Middle Byzantine Period . 1st department: (641−867). Volume 3: Leon (# 4271) - Placentius (# 6265). Created after preliminary work by F. Winkelmann . Published by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. De Gruyter, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-11-016673-9 , p. 181 No. 4842 .
• John Robert Martindale: Martina 1. In: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (PLRE). Volume 3B, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1992, ISBN 0-521-20160-8 , pp. 837-838.
• Constantin Zuckerman: On the title and the office of the Byzantine basileus. In: Travaux et Mémoires du Center de recherche d'Histoire et Civilization de Byzance. Vol. 6 (= Mélanges Cécile Morrisson ), 2010, ISSN  0577-1471 , pp. 865-890 ( online ; PDF; 1.4 MB ).

Web links

• Lynda Garland: Short biography (English) at De Imperatoribus Romanis (with references).