Gender in the Early Medieval World: East and West, 300-900. „The bride show described in this saint's life is the one which resulred in the marriage of Philareros' granddaughrer, Maria of Amnia, to Constantine VI, the son of the empress Eirene, in 788.” a magnate from the Armeniakon Theme known for his charitable activities, a relation mentioned in his hagiography. The name of her father is unknown and her mother has been identified as Hypatia by Christian Settipani. Maria was born in Amnia, Paphlagonia.
|
|
Euphrosyne (Greek: Εὐφροσύνη; 790 – after 836), was a Byzantine empress by marriage to Michael II. She was a daughter of Byzantine emperor Constantine VI, the last representative of the Isaurian dynasty, and his empress Maria of Amnia.
|
|
Maria of Amnia ( 770 – after 823) was a Byzantine empress, the first wife of Constantine VI.Warren T. Treadgold (1988). The Byzantine Revival, 780-842. Stanford University Press. She was a granddaughter of Saint Philaretos,Leslie Brubaker, Julia M. H. Smith (2004).
|
|
Joseph Genesius records Theophobos marrying the sister of the Emperor Theophilos. Whether Helena was sister or sister-in-law to Theophilos is thus unclear. After the death of Thekla, in c. 823, Michael II married Euphrosyne, a daughter of Constantine VI and Maria of Amnia.
|
|
Depiction of Tarasios by an unknown fresco painter About a decade later, Tarasios became involved in a new controversy. In January 795, Emperor Constantine VI divorced his wife, Maria of Amnia, and Tarasios reluctantly condoned the divorce. The monks were scandalised by the patriarch's consent. The leaders of the protest, Abbot Plato of Sakkoudion and his nephew Theodore the Studite, were exiled, but the uproar continued.
|
|
Also in 794, Emperor Constantine VI (r. 776–797) decided to separate from his first wife, Maria of Amnia, and to marry Maria's kubikularia (Lady-in-waiting), Theodote, a cousin of Theodore the Studite.She was the daughter of Anna, a sister of Theoktiste. () Although the Patriarch may initially have resisted this development, as a divorce without proof of adultery on the part of the wife could be construed as illegal, he ultimately gave way.
|
|
His former Armenian supporters revolted after he had blinded their general Alexios Mosele. He crushed this revolt with extreme cruelty in 793. He then divorced his wife Maria of Amnia, who had failed to provide him with a male heir, and married his mistress Theodote, an unpopular and possibly illegal act, although the Patriarch ignored it. By his actions Constantine had lost all support, both of the ruling orthodox and the iconoclast opposition.
|
|
His former Armenian supporters revolted after he had blinded their general Alexios Mosele. He crushed this revolt with extreme cruelty in 793. He then divorced his wife Maria of Amnia, who had failed to provide him with a male heir, and married his mistress Theodote, an unpopular and canonically illegal act which sparked off the so-called "Moechian Controversy". Although the Patriarch Tarasios did not publicly speak against it, he did refuse to officiate the marriage.
|
|
By 794, Theodote served as a lady-in-waiting (koubikoularia) of Irene. Irene was the widow of Leo IV the Khazar and mother of his heir Constantine VI. Irene had served as regent from 780 to 790 and still held the title of Empress. Constantine was married to Maria of Amnia and the imperial couple had two daughters, Euphrosyne and a younger Irene. However, according to the chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor, Constantine had turned against his first wife at some point.
|
|
The method to select a bride for the emperor through the method of Bride-show is known to have been used at least from the 8th century onward. Irene of Athens was likely chosen for Leo IV the Khazar by this method, though it has not been confirmed. The first recorded bridal show in Byzantine was however the one in 788, in which Maria of Amnia was selected for emperor Constantine. The method was regularly used in the 8th and 9th centuries.
|
|
After serving as consul, he was appointed Praefectus Urbi of Rome, serving from 299 until 1 March 300.Chastagnol, pg. 33 It is postulated that Faustus married the noblewoman Amnia Demetrias,Christian Settipani, Continuité gentilice et continuité familiale dans les familles sénatoriales romaines à l’époque impériale: mythe et réalité, Linacre, UK: Prosopographica et Genealogica, 2000. ILL. NYPL ASY (Rome) 03-983 with whom he probably had at least two sons: Amnius Anicius Julianus, Consul in 322, and Sextus Anicius Faustus Paulinus, the consul of 325.
|
|
Some historians have suggested that Niketas wrote the hagiography in order to legitimize the family and increase its prestige. Maria of Amnia, Philaretos's granddaughter, had married Emperor Constantine VI of the Byzantine Empire largely at the insistence of his powerful mother Empress Irene in the first recorded bride-show. The bride-show might have been an attempt by Irene to marry her son to a girl with no substantial connections and thus to reduce his power. Empress Irene relentlessly maintained her power even as her son matured and the regency ended.
|
|
In 788, Staurakios is recorded as attending as a judge in the bride show for the 17-year-old Constantine VI, along with Irene and the young Byzantine emperor himself. Maria of Amnia was chosen, although Constantine was unhappy about the breaking up of his earlier betrothal with Rotrude, Charlemagne's daughter. From this point on, he began to resent his mother's control over state affairs and the power of her eunuch officials... Along with a few trusted conspirators, Constantine planned to arrest Staurakios and exile him to Sicily, while he would assume his position as effective co-ruler of the Byzantine Empire. Their plans were preempted by Staurakios, however: he persuaded Irene to arrest, torture, exile or imprison Constantine's associates, while Constantine himself was placed under house arrest.
|
|