Zoe (Byzantium)
Zoe ( Middle Greek Ζωή ; * around 978; † June 1050 in Constantinople ) was Byzantine Empress from April 21 to June 12, 1042 (together with her younger sister Theodora ) and daughter of Emperor Constantine VIII .
Zoe was probably the princess that Emperor Otto III. was promised. However, due to the early death of the emperor, a marriage did not take place. After his father's death in 1028, Zoe led the Macedonian royal dynasty by marrying the older senator Romanos III. Argyros left, who tolerated their numerous affairs; Konstantin Dalassenos was left behind. In April 1034, in all likelihood, she encouraged her favorite Michael IV to murder her husband. She married the perpetrator and had him crowned emperor, but the marriage was not happy. Zoe was forced to adopt her husband's nephew of the same name, who became the new emperor after her uncle's death in 1041. Michael V immediately tried to banish Zoe to a monastery on the Princes' Islands (April 18/19), which sparked a popular uprising, through which he was deposed. Zoe was then together with her sister Theodora III. destined to be empress. After three months of rule marked by mutual distrust, Zoe married Constantine IX. Monomachus, who then took over the business of government. He first put down the rebellion of Theophilos Erotikos in Cyprus , who had taken advantage of the chaos of the throne in Constantinople to make himself independent.
literature
- Charles Diehl : Byzantine empresses . London, Elek Books 1963, pp. 136-173.
- Lynda Garland: Byzantine Empresses. Women and power in Byzantium, AD 527-1204 . Routledge, London / New York 1999, ISBN 0-415-14688-7 , pp. 136–157 ( limited preview in Google book search).
- Barbara Hill: Imperial Women and the Ideology of Womanhood in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries. In: Liz James (Ed.): Women, Men and Eunuchs. Gender in Byzantium . Routledge, London / New York 1997, pp. 76-99, ISBN 0-582-30352-4 .
- Ralph-Johannes Lilie , Claudia Ludwig, Thomas Pratsch, Beate Zielke, Harald Bichlmeier, Bettina Krönung, Daniel Föller, Alexander Beihammer , Günter Prinzing : Prosopography of the Middle Byzantine Period . 2nd department: (867-1025). Volume 6: Sinko (# 27089) - Zuhayr (# 28522). Created after preliminary work by F. Winkelmann . Published by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. De Gruyter, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-11-020635-7 , pp. 762-763 No. 28508.
- Kathryn M. Ringrose: The Perfect Servant. Eunuchs and the Social Construction of Gender in Byzantium. University of Chicago, Chicago / London 2003, ISBN 0-226-72015-2 .
- Klaus-Peter Todt : Zoe, byz. Empress. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 14, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-073-5 , Sp. 559-564.
Web links
- Zoe in the Prosopography of the Byzantine World
- Lynda Garland: Short biography (English) at De Imperatoribus Romanis (with references).
predecessor | Office | successor |
---|---|---|
Michael V. |
Empress of Byzantium 1042 |
Constantine IX |
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Zoe |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Zoë; Ζωή |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Byzantine empress |
DATE OF BIRTH | at 978 |
DATE OF DEATH | June 1050 |
Place of death | Constantinople |