Marriage
Michael III had succeeded to the throne in 842, when he was only two years old. His mother Theodora and Theoktistos jointly served as his regents. In 855, Michael III was fifteen years old and had already gained his first mistress in the person of Eudokia Ingerina.
Theodora did not approve of the relationship and organized a bride-show for her son. Dekapolitissa enters history as one of the contenders for marrying the young emperor. Her background is unknown though entry arguably required noble origin and courtly connections.
Theodora herself had been picked in a bride-show by her mother-in-law Euphrosyne. She chose her own daughter-in-law while Michael was not allowed to choose. Dekapolitissa was thus chosen to become empress.
Read more about this topic: Eudokia Dekapolitissa
Famous quotes containing the word marriage:
“What is any respectable girl brought up to do but to catch some rich man’s fancy and get the benefit of his money by marrying him?—as if a marriage ceremony could make any difference in the right or wrong of the thing!”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“Every relationship that does not raise us up pulls us down, and vice versa; this is why men usually sink down somewhat when they take wives while women are usually somewhat raised up. Overly spiritual men require marriage every bit as much as they resist it as bitter medicine.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Some collaboration has to take place in the mind between the woman and the man before the art of creation can be accomplished. Some marriage of opposites has to be consummated. The whole of the mind must lie wide open if we are to get the sense that the writer is communicating his experience with perfect fullness.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)