Empress
As regent, Michael was self-appointed Megas Doux in late Summer, 1258 and Despotes in November. On 1 January 1259, Michael was proclaimed co-emperor at Nymphaion. He was still supported by members of his old aristocratic faction and also by a new ally, the Republic of Genoa. Theodora was the only empress at the time.
On 25 July 1261, Alexios Strategopoulos captured Constantinople, capital of the Latin Empire. Most troops of the rival Empire were in campaign and would never return to their capital. Latin Emperor Baldwin II of Courtenay escaped in a Venetian galley to Negropont and would remain in exile for the rest of his life.
Michael took advantage of the success of his general. He entered Constantinople on 15 August 1261 and was soon followed by Theodora and their children. In September, Michael was crowned Emperor, Theodora an Augusta and their eldest surviving son Andronikos a co-emperor.
John IV was left behind in Nicaea. He was deposed and blinded on 25 December 1261, his eleventh birthday. He spent the rest of his life as a monk and died c. 1305.
Theodora remained Empress consort until the death of her husband on 11 December 1282. She survived him by almost twenty-one years. His mistress Diplovatatzina was probably related to Theodora but Pachymeres does not state the exact relation of the two women. "Diplo" is Greek for "double".
Read more about this topic: Theodora Doukaina Vatatzaina
Famous quotes containing the word empress:
“The Empress is Legitimist, my cousin is Republican, Morny is Orleanist, I am a socialist; the only Bonapartist is Persigny, and he is mad.”
—Napoleon Bonaparte III (1808–1873)
“We never really are the adults we pretend to be. We wear the mask and perhaps the clothes and posture of grown-ups, but inside our skin we are never as wise or as sure or as strong as we want to convince ourselves and others we are. We may fool all the rest of the people all of the time, but we never fool our parents. They can see behind the mask of adulthood. To her mommy and daddy, the empress never has on any clothes—and knows it.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)