Zoë Porphyrogenita (980–1050)

Byzantine empress, one of only four women to rule the empire in her own name, who was crucial in establishing the principal of dynastic succession in Byzantium. Name variations: Zoe Prophyrogenita; Zoe of Byzantium. Pronunciation: ZOE-ee por-fear-o-GEN-ituh. Co-empress of Byzantium (r. 1028–1050). Born in 980 in Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire; died in Constantinople in 1050 of illness; second daughter of Constantine VIII, Byzantine emperor (r. 1025–1028), and Helena of Alypia; sister of Theodora Porphyrogenita (c. 989–1056); married Romanus III Argyrus, Byzantine emperor (r. 1028–1034), in November 1028 (died April 12, 1034); married Michael IV the Paphlagonian, Byzantine emperor (r. 1034–1041), on April 12, 1034 (died November 1042); married Constantine IX Monomachus, Byzantine emperor (r. 1042–1055), on June 1042; children: (adopted) Michael V Kalaphates or Calaphates, Byzantine emperor (r. 1041–1042).

Betrothed to Holy Roman Emperor Otto III (1002); became heir to the Byzantine throne upon the death of her uncle, Basil II (1025); married Romanus Argyrus (1028) and became empress that same year upon her father's death; widowed and married Michael the Paphlagonian (November 1034); deposed and forced into a convent by adopted son Michael V (April 1042); reinstated as ruling empress along with her younger sister (April 1042).

On April 19, 1042, a proclamation was read out in the city of Constantinople accusing the aging empress Zoë Porphyrogenita of treason against her adopted son, the emperor Michael V. The day before, guards had dragged Zoë from her chamber, charged her with the crime, and exiled her to a convent on Prinkipo, a small island in the Sea of Marmora. There they cut off her long, blonde hair preparatory to her becoming a nun. When the citizens of Constantinople heard this, they rose in anger and rioted at the treatment of their "Little Mother" Zoë. Michael V hurriedly brought his mother back to the imperial palace and showed her to the people from a high balcony. But in his haste he forgot the magnificent silk robes and jewels of an empress, and she wore the plain garb of a nun. The crowd was further enraged and fearful that Michael would return their empress to the convent as soon as peace was restored to the city. Though Zoë was ready to forgive Michael, the people were not. To secure her dynasty and rid themselves of Michael V, they rushed to a nearby convent, found Zoë's younger sister, Theodora Porphyrogenita , dressed her in the robes and jewels of an empress, and proclaimed her coruler with Zoë. Terrified, Michael fled to the famous Studite monastery and sought sanctuary. But the people were too furious to be merciful. Hauling Michael out of the monastery's chapel, the crowd blinded him, determined to put an end to his claim as emperor; he was then exiled to the monastery of Elcimon. Zoë and Theodora became the rulers of the Byzantine Empire.

Theodora Porphyrogenita (c. 989–1056)

Co-empress of Byzantium. Name variations: Augusta Theodora; Theodora of Byzantium. Co-empress of Byzantium (r. 1042–1056). Born around 989 in Byzantium (some sources cite 981); died in 1056 or 1057 in Byzantium; daughter of Constantine VIII, Byzantine emperor (r. 1025–1028), and Helena of Alypia; sister of Zoë Porphyrogenita (980–1050) and Eudocia (c. 978–?); never married; no children.

Theodora Porphyrogenita was the youngest daughter of Helena of Alypia and Emperor Constantine VIII, who had no surviving sons when he died in 1028. While Theodora became a nun, her older sister Zoë Porphyrogenita became empress and twice married men who co-ruled with her. Despite living in a convent, Theodora aided her sister through her indirect influence, bringing a high sense of morality to the administration and a belief that the ruler of the empire had a obligation to better the life of its citizens. In 1042, rebellion in the empire which caused the dethronement of Michael V forced Theodora to leave the convent to aid her sister. Unfortunately, the sisters did not work well together, and Theodora soon returned to her convent. When Zoë died in 1050, her third husband co-ruled until 1055 as Constantine IX. On his death, popular opinion brought Theodora out of the convent once again and onto the throne. She reigned alone for the next two years. By her firm administration, she frustrated an attempt to supersede her on behalf of the general Nicephorus Bryennius. She controlled the unruly nobles and checked numerous abuses but marred her reputation by being excessively severe towards her enemies and by employing menials for advisers. Even so, she was a well-respected and well-loved empress who left a high standard for moral rule when she died.

sources:

Gies, Frances, and Joseph Gies. Women in the Middle Ages. NY: Harper and Row, 1978.

Laura York, M.A. in History, University of California, Riverside, California

Zoë Porphyrogenita, born in Constantinople in 980, was the second of three daughters of Helena of Alypia and Constantine VIII, the last male heir of the great Macedonian Dynasty. As her epithet Porphyrogenita (born in the purple) implies, Zoë's father was co-emperor with his older brother, Basil II, when she was born. (The name originated either from the purple robes of an emperor or from the purple hangings of a room in the imperial palace reserved solely for the birth of the emperor's children.) Such children were considered to be more legitimate heirs than those not "born in the purple" (i.e., to a prince or noble, rather than to an emperor).

Almost from birth, Zoë was the heir to her uncle and father. Her elder sister Eudocia was never seen as the heir, possibly because she was not a Porphyrogenita or because she became a nun at an early age, withdrawing from the world due to facial scarring from smallpox or some other disease. Their youngest sister, Theodora, was also a Porphyrogenita, but she too became a nun. Michael Psellus describes Zoë as having long, golden hair, large, wideset eyes with imposing eyebrows, a somewhat aquiline nose, and very fair skin. She was not tall and inclined to plumpness. Her mosaic portrait in the church of Hagia Sophia matches this description. Zoë showed few signs of aging and was accounted beautiful even in her advanced years. As for her personality, Zoë tended to be vain and frivolous but generous with gifts and money. She was also gullible and never lost her need to love and be loved or her hope of romance.

Byzantine society set a high value on scholarship. Zoë was no exception and received a good education, learning to read and write Greek (certainly the Byzantine dialect of Greek and possibly Classical Greek). She studied at least the basics of the Eastern Orthodox Christian religion. She also studied poetry and, according to Psellus, composed an extemporaneous dirge upon her exile to Prinkipo. She did not, however, learn the skills necessary to govern an empire or how to judge character accurately. This greatly harmed the empire during her rule.

The Macedonian Dynasty took its name from the Byzantine province of Macedonia (parts of modern Greece and Bulgaria), but ethnically the Macedonians were Armenian. Zoë's mother, Helena of Alypia, was from a noble family of Constantinople. By the time of Zoë's birth, the family was well settled in the city and had ruled the Byzantine Empire for four generations. Though her father Constantine VIII was co-emperor with his elder brother Basil II, he had little input into the government. In 996, Basil tried to arrange a betrothal between his niece and heir Zoë and the Holy Roman emperor Otto III, the son of the Byzantine princess Theophano of Byzantium (c. 955–991). Basil hoped that the marriage would reunite the two halves of the ancient Roman Empire which had been separated for at least 500 years. The first attempt failed when Basil's agent meddled in papal politics. Subsequent negotiations were successful, and in 1002 Zoë journeyed to Bari, Italy, to meet her bridegroom, only to discover that he had died. Still unmarried, Zoë returned home to Constantinople. Basil never found another man high enough in rank to be her husband.

When Basil died a childless bachelor in 1025, his elderly brother Constantine VIII became sole emperor. But he too ignored the problem of succession until he was dying. Then and only then did he realize that he needed to find a husband for Zoë. He wanted to marry her to a son of the Dalassenus family, one of the great military families of the provinces which had always been loyal to the Macedonian Dynasty. But the nobles of Constantinople pressured him to chose one of their own: the elderly eparch (mayor) of the city, Romanus Argyrus.

Helena of Alypia (fl. 980s)

Byzantine empress. Name variations: Helena of Alypius. Flourished in the 980s ce; born into a noble family of Constantinople; married Constantine VIII, Byzantine emperor (r. 1025–1028); children: Eudocia (b. 978); Zoë Porphyrogenita (980–1050); Theodora Porphyrogenita (c. 989–1056); possibly Irene of Byzantium (d. 1067).

Eudocia (b. 978)

Byzantine royal. Born around 978 ce; daughter of Constantine VIII, Byzantine emperor (r. 1025–1028), and Helena of Alypia ; sister of Zoë Porphyrogenita (980–1050) and Theodora Porphyrogenita (c. 989–1056).

There were several problems to overcome before Zoë and Romanus could be married. First, Romanus was already married and was not eager to divorce his wife of many years; he would agree to a divorce and marriage to Zoë only when the nobles controlling Constantine VIII threatened to kill him if he refused. Second, he and Zoë were too closely related: their great-grandfathers had married two daughters of the emperor Romanus I, making them cousins within the prohibited degree of kinship for marriage. The patriarch of Constantinople solved this problem by giving them a dispensation. Thus, in November 1028, Zoë and Romanus married, and together ascended the Byzantine throne upon the death of Constantine VIII. Romanus (who ruled as Romanus III) became emperor by virtue of his marriage to Zoë. She was technically his co-ruler and the source of his monarchic legitimacy.

Zoë entered her first marriage hoping for true love and children. Neither were likely. Her husband, who was over 60, cared little for her, and Zoë was 48. It would have been a true miracle if she had borne children, especially since Romanus had no living children (and it is probable that he had fathered none). Finally realizing that he would found no dynasty of his own, Romanus began to shirk his marital duties and took a mistress. He also ignored and neglected Zoë outside the bedchamber. But Zoë, who had not given up her hopes for romance, looked elsewhere. When the eunuch John Orphanotrophus introduced Zoé to his younger brother, the handsome 30-year-old Michael the Paphlagonian, the two became lovers, at first quietly and secretly, then more openly.

[Zoë] was very regal in her ways … the one who was most like an empress.

—Michael Psellus

Neither Zoë nor Romanus III were capable of ruling the Byzantine Empire, even without the distraction of Michael. Basil II was a hard, driven man who, in the words of Psellus, wanted "to make his realm subject to himself." Basil's government was an autocracy: he had no advisors and made all policy decisions. But none of his successors possessed his military and administrative abilities. After Basil's death, the aristocratic families of Constantinople dominated his weaker brother, Constantine VIII. The military families in the provinces had hated Basil because he had tried to break both their stranglehold on military power and their monopoly of power on their great estates through heavy taxation and other repressive measures. Constantine VIII was unable to keep up this repression. Neither could Zoë and Romanus III. The two rulers completely abandoned the policies of taxation that had kept the provincial military families in check. The families became richer and dispossessed the smaller landowners, while the small landowners became poorer and more heavily indebted to the wealthy. Poor families forced off their land moved to the towns in search of jobs. These problems did not bring about the collapse of the Macedonian Dynasty, but they would intensify, along with the competition between the city aristocrats and the great military families.

However, a more subtle problem troubled the last part of the reign of Zoë and Romanus: the issue of succession. Neither Zoë nor Romanus had children who could be named heir. When Romanus fell into a lingering illness beginning in early 1034, the problem was still unsettled. According to Psellus, the emperor died very suddenly in his bath—half drowned. While Psellus hints that poison was the cause, historian Georgius Cedrenus (also known as Skylitzes) is more definite, claiming that Zoë and Michael administered the toxin.

That same day, April 12, 1034, Zoë took control of the government and married Michael the Paphlagonian; thus, another man was raised to the throne through marriage to Empress Zoë. As with Romanus III, Zoë and Michael IV were corulers. After the coronation, at which she crowned him either with her own hands or through the agency of the patriarch of Constantinople, they both sat on similar thrones wearing similar robes and were acclaimed joint rulers of the empire.

At first, Zoë was blissfully happy and much in love with her new husband, but Michael soon lost interest. He kept her under close guard in the women's quarters of the palace and, like Romanus, curtailed her spending: Zoë was no longer able to give out lavish presents as she pleased. Michael also prevented her from participating in ruling, despite the fact that his legitimacy to rule came through her. Eventually, he even put an end to his conjugal visits. This was partly due to the increasing frequency and severity of epileptic attacks from which he had suffered for many years. Lingering guilt at their treatment of Romanus III also seems to have affected Michael.

Michael tried to be a good ruler; according to Psellus, he "devoted himself entirely to thought for his Empire." More likely it was his brother, the eunuch John, who saw to the daily business of government, since Michael's epileptic seizures made it difficult for him to hold audiences or attend to much other business. Nonetheless, Michael would personally lead his troops to put down a rebellion in Bulgaria. Unrest in Bulgaria began around 1037 when the head of the Bulgarian Church, the archbishop of Ochrid, died and was replaced by a Greek rather than another Bulgarian. Outright rebellion broke out in 1040 when the empire changed its tax policies in the Balkans; the people could no longer pay their taxes in goods or produce; instead, they had to pay in cash which was often difficult to obtain.

The Bulgarian rebellion ended in 1041 with victory for the empire, but Michael returned very ill, immediately entered the monastery of the Holy Anargyroi in Constantinople, and became a monk. Though Zoë was released from the women's quarters of the palace and visited the monastery, Michael refused to see her before his death in November 1041.

Once again Zoë was a widow, but this time there was no problem with the succession. Sometime earlier, probably in 1040 or early 1041, the eunuch John had persuaded Zoë to adopt his sister's son, Michael Kalaphates (son of the ship-caulker), as her son and heir. When Michael IV died, Michael Kalaphates ascended the throne as Michael V. At first he flattered Zoë, promising that she could rule in person or through him, whichever she chose; true power would remain in her hands while he remained emperor in name only. According to Psellus, he kept his word "for the first day, at any rate."

Within five months, he turned against both Zoë and his uncle John. Fearing their power and jealous of Zoë's popularity with the people of Constantinople, Michael V had John exiled to a distant monastery (Cedrenus claims that he was exiled by Zoë before Michael V's coronation) and had Zoë taken to the island of Prinkipo in the Sea of Marmora. She stayed only a day or so, however.

When the people of Constantinople discovered what had happened, they rose in rebellion. Even the women, who usually confined their attention to home and hearth, joined the rioters in great number. So did children. In Psellus' words, the women cried out that Zoë "alone is noble of heart and alone is beautiful… she who alone of all women is free, the mistress of all the imperial family, the rightful heir to the Empire." To them, Zoë, not Michael V, was the true ruler of the Byzantine Empire. The riot soon became a rebellion, and Michael V, fearing for his life, brought back his adoptive mother. Though Zoë could forgive Michael and longed to return to the status quo, the people wanted to be rid of him. Thus, despite Zoë's protests, they proclaimed her younger sister, Theodora, empress.

This led to an awkward situation. There were now two empresses, Zoë in the palace and Theodora in the cathedral church of Hagia Sophia. Zoë had the greater claim to the throne because she was already crowned empress. The Byzantine Senate, which traditionally chose the ruler when the succession was disputed, felt that Theodora was the one who had ended the bloody fighting in the city. Moreover, she had been proclaimed empress by the people of Constantinople. With over 3,000 men already dead, no one wanted more fighting. As a properly crowned empress and the elder of the two sisters, it was really Zoë's decision as to how to resolve the matter. She obviously understood the fears of the Senate and the hopes of the people, for she went to Hagia Sophia, embraced Theodora affectionately, and made her co-empress. Nobles of the court escorted both back to the palace. Theodora, though ostensibly equal to Zoë, always deferred to her and took the role of junior empress.

Zoë and Theodora became the sole rulers of the empire after the overthrow of Michael V in April 1042. This was the first time the Byzantine Empire had been ruled by two empresses and only the second time an empress held supreme power. These events underscore the true importance of Zoë (and Theodora): the final establishment of dynastic inheritance as the means of succession in the Byzantine Empire. Though the Byzantines allowed women to inherit power, position, wealth, and land from their fathers, no emperor's daughter had followed him to the throne as ruling empress before Zoë. Even though she is rarely recognized as such, she was co-ruler with her husbands Romanus III and Michael IV: marriage to her gave them the right to rule. Michael V obtained his legitimacy from her adoption of him as her son and heir, but she was technically the senior ruler. When Michael V overstepped his limits, he was removed, but no one attempted to proclaim another man emperor. As long as Zoë and Theodora lived, they perpetuated the hold on the throne of the Macedonian Dynasty, even though they were women. No other family could legitimately claim the throne or be set in place of the Macedonian Dynasty unless every heir, male or female, were dead. Before this, the only way a new family could come to power was through marriage to the female heir or by overthrowing the ruling dynasty. This broader interpretation of dynastic succession became a part of the Byzantine political system.

For the first time the military families and the nobles of Constantinople worked together under Zoë and Theodora, even though both groups were waiting to further their own interests. The empresses abolished the sale of offices and brought many new men into the Senate. But the two sisters' hold on the empire was weak, and Theodora was only a few years younger than her 62-year-old sister. After two months, they decided the empire needed an emperor.

Theodora declined to marry, so Zoë looked for a third husband. Her choice fell on Constantine Monomachus, a handsome and charming man, 20 years her junior, from one of the civilian noble families. Constantine was related to her first husband, Romanus III. But the couple needed a dispensation from the patriarch of Constantinople to marry, as it would be an uncanonical third marriage for both of them. Patriarch Alexius was a firm supporter of the idea of dynastic succession and wanted to use the old, established families (like the Monomachus family) to reduce the power and influence of the military families and the nouveau riche, so the dispensations were granted without delay. Zoë and Constantine were wed and he became Emperor Constantine IX Monomachus in June 1042.

Theodora almost immediately retired from public life, though she did not give up her title of empress. Zoë, too, left most state matters to Constantine. He, however, was smart enough always to give the empresses precedence whenever they appeared together and to insist that he was the most junior of the three rulers.

Zoë's last years passed pleasantly, as related by contemporary sources. She was no longer confined under guard and had a great deal of money at her disposal to spend or give away. Zoë's generosity is seen in many ways, but the most striking is her willingness to give Constantine's mistress, Sclerina , an official position at court as a sort of empress-consort (with no power to rule, only influence over Constantine). Zoë also gave Sclerina apartments in the palace near those of the three rulers. When Sclerina died, her position and titles passed to a foreign princess. Free access to money also allowed Zoë to indulge in her expensive hobby of making perfumes and scented oils. As well, Zoë's interest in religion intensified in her old age. She had a small image of Christ made out of some valuable metal (Psellus says only "bright metal") which she used as an object of veneration and as a sort of oracle which gave answers to her questions by changing color.

Zoë Porphyrogenita died of illness in 1050 at the age of 70, leaving Constantine IX and Theodora as co-rulers. When Constantine IX died of pneumonia in 1055, Theodora, then in her middle 70s, became the last ruler of the Macedonian Dynasty. She never married and only adopted an heir, the elderly bureaucrat Michael Bringas, when she became mortally ill in 1056. After her death, there was no strong ruler until Alexius I Comnenus took the Byzantine throne in 1081.

The period of Zoë's rule, 1028 to 1050, was an important one for the Byzantine Empire. The Bulgarian rebellion of 1040–41 was potentially serious. The Seljuk Turks and the nomadic Patzinaks invaded the eastern lands of the empire after 1042, and the permanent schism between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches occurred in 1054. The extravagant spending of Zoë and Constantine IX exhausted the treasury, and they had to debase the coinage to meet expenses. Yet Zoë did little to address these problems; her interests were strictly personal and familial. She was the focus for a new, stronger definition of dynastic succession, but the Macedonian Dynasty survived her by only six years. Her legacy was one of potential, not actions.

sources:

Head, Constance. Imperial Byzantine Portraits: A Verbal and Graphic Gallery. New Rochelle, NY: Caratzas Brothers, 1982.

Hussey, J.M., ed. The Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. 4: The Byzantine Empire, Part 1: Byzantium and its Neighbors. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966.

Ostrogorsky, George. History of the Byzantine State. Rev. ed. Trans. by J.M. Hussey. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1969.

Psellus, Michael. Fourteen Byzantine Rulers: The "Chronographia" of Michael Psellus. Translated by E.A.R. Sewter. NY: Penguin, 1966.

suggested reading:

Angold, Michael. The Byzantine Empire 1025–1204: A Political History. London: Longmans, 1984.

Pamela G. Sayre , Instructor in History, Henry Ford Community College, Dearborn, Michigan