Early Life
She was the youngest daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VIII and Helena, daughter of Alypius. Her position as an eligible imperial princess saw her considered as a possible bride for the Holy Roman Emperor in the west, Otto III in 996. Apparently a very plain woman, she was overlooked in favour of her sister Zoe, who was selected as the potential bride, but Otto III died before she could be wed. From that point onwards, Theodora lived a life of virtual total obscurity in the imperial gynaeceum until circumstances (her uncle Basil II dying childless and her dying father not siring any sons) forced her into the centre of imperial politics. Intelligent, and possessing a strong and austere character, Theodora defied her father by refusing to marry the man he had chosen to succeed him, Romanos Argyros, on the pretext that, firstly, Romanos was already married – his wife having become a monastic to allow Romanos to marry into the imperial family. Secondly, she claimed that since Romanos and she were third cousins, it was too close a blood relationship for marriage to occur. Consequently, Constantine VIII was forced to choose Theodora’s sister, Zoe, who married Romanos instead in 1028.
With the accession of Romanos, Theodora prudently retreated back into the gynaeceum, with its daily religious routines, but this did not preserve her from her sister’s jealousy. Never having forgiven Theodora for being their father’s first choice, Zoe persuaded her husband to appoint one of his own men as the chief of Theodora’s household, with orders to spy on her. Shortly afterwards, Theodora was accused of plotting to usurp the throne with Presian of Bulgaria. Although Presian was blinded and then sent to a monastery, Theodora was not condemned, but in 1031 she was again implicated in another conspiracy, this time with Constantine Diogenes, the Archon of Sirmium. She was accused of being part of the conspiracy, and was forcibly confined in the monastery of Petrion. Zoe later visited her sister and forced her to take Holy Orders. She would remain there for the next thirteen years, as Zoe managed the empire with her husbands, Romanos III and, after his death, Michael IV.
Read more about this topic: Theodora (11th Century)
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