Maria of Alania

Maria
Greek: Μαρία
Georgian: მართა
Byzantine Empress
Tenure 1071-1081
Predecessor Eudokia Makrembolitissa
Successor Irene Doukaina
Spouse Michael VII (1065-1078), Nicephorus III (1078-1081)
Issue
Constantine Doukas
House House of Bagrationi (Birth)
Doukas dynasty(Marriage)
Father Bagrat IV of Georgia
Mother Borena of Alania, Queen Consort of Georgia
Born 1053
Georgia
Died 1118
Byzantine Empire

Maria of Alania[1] (born Princess Martha of Georgia;[2] Georgian: მართა) was a Georgian princess and a two-time empress consort of the Byzantine Empire through her marriage with emperors Michael VII Doukas and later, Nikephoros III Botaneiates. At the time of her marriage, Maria was one of only two non-Greek princesses to marry into the Byzantine Imperial family, along with Bertha (Eudoxia) of Italy,[3] and the only one to give birth to an heir.[4] Her ascension to the Imperial throne of the Eastern Roman Empire was considered a significant success for a newly-unified kingdom like Georgia, which would achieve regional influence comparable to that of Byzantium only during the reign of Martha's nephew, King David IV.

Contents

Early years and ascension to the throne

Being a daughter of the Georgian monarch, Bagrat IV, Martha was in line of succession to the Georgian throne behind her brother, future George II of Georgia. At a fresh age of 15 she was sent Constantinople to further her education at the Byzantine court under the patronage of Empress Theodora in 1056. The latter, however, died later in the year and Martha returned home to Georgia. In 1065 she married the future emperor Michael, a son of Constantine X Doukas, and became an empress when Michael was enthroned in 1071. Their marriage was an important exception because members of the Byzantine imperial family usually married only Greeks, and the only case of them marrying non-Greek "barbarians" was Romanus II's marriage to Bertha of Italy.

This period of Maria's marriage was marred by Michael's military failures in Anatolia against the Seljuk Turks, as well as currency devaluation, which caused growing dissatisfaction and culminated in a 1078 coup that ousted Michael and enthroned Nikephoros III Botaneiates. Michael was forced to become a monk at the Stoudios Monastery and Maria went to a Petrion monastery with her son Constantine, but she did not become a Nun, possibly hinting that she had some future plans at the imperial court.

Second marriage

The new emperor Nicephorus' wife died shortly before his accession to the throne and he announced his intention to remarry, which triggered a fierce competition among all the unmarried girls of Constantinople, and even between Maria, her former mother-in-law Eudocia Macrembolitissa, and Eudocia's daughter Zoe. The new emperor was first inclined to marry Eudocia but Maria received a strong support of her Doukas in-laws, who convinced Nicephorus to select her because of her beauty and the benefits of having a foreign-born wife with no domestic relatives who could interfere in Nicephorus' rule.[5] In addition, by this move Nicephorus would pacify the loyalists of the ousted Doukas.[6]

Because Maria's first husband Michael was still alive, even as he was a monk, her marriage to the new emperor was considered adulterous by the Orthodox Church, and one of Maria's prominent supporters John Doukas even had to demote a priest who refused to perform the marriage and substitute him with another one who agreed to marry the couple in 1078.[7] As part of the marriage deal, Maria was promised that her son Constantine would be named an heir to the empire but Nicephorus reneged on this promise at a later point. Despite this, during his reign Maria was treated as an equal and received enormous lands and property, with Nicephorus going as far as to give her brother, George II of Georgia, a title of a Caesar to acknowledge his close ties to the imperial family.[8]

Maria and the second imperial coup

According to princess Anna Komnene, daughter of emperor Alexius who was under care of Maria, despite all the influence the empress wielded at the court, she remained dissatisfied with Nicephorus' refusal to name her son Constantine as an heir: "[Nicephorus] would have ensured his own safety to the end... the empress, moreover, would have had more confidence in him; she would have been more loyal. The old man did not realize the unfairness and inexpediency of his plans, unaware that he was bringing evil on his own head".[9] The empress became an important part of a plot organized by the general Alexios Komnenos, who was rumored to be her lover. Alexios forced Nikephoros to abdicate the throne and was himself crowned emperor in 1081. Alexios had Constantine proclaimed heir to the throne and later betrothed his daughter, Anna Komnene, to Constantine. This situation changed drastically when Alexios had a son, the future emperor John II Komnenos, by the Empress consort Irene Doukaina in 1087: Anna’s engagement with Constantine was dissolved, the latter was deprived of his status of heir-apparent and Maria forced to retire to a monastery. Years of Maria's influence at the court, however, manifested itself in the fact that Constantine received a status of a co-emperor, a higher title than that of Emperor's older brother Isaac, and Maria received guarantees of personal safety.[10] Maria was also charged with the care of young imperial princess Anna Komnene who was very fond of her and shared all her secrets with the former empress.[11]

Life after leaving the throne

After her dethronement and a period at a monastery, Maria lived in the Mangana palace, where she organized "an alternative court" as mother of the co-emperor and mother-in-law designate of the emperor's eldest daughter. Despite being officially a nun and wearing a veil, this transition made little difference to Maria's lifestyle and she continued her usual charitable activities, including donations to the Georgian monastery of Iviron on Mount Athos, and the building of a convent named Kappatha at Jerusalem with her mother Borena. Maria's commanded great wealth and owned the Mangana palace, as well as the Hebdomon Monastery, the burial place of Basil II.[12] She was also patron of numerous literary figures, including Theophylact of Ohrid, future Archbishop of Bulgaria, and a Georgian neo-Platonist John Petrici.

Final years

After Maria's teenage son Constantine died in 1096, she finally moved herself to a monastery, purportedly in a heavily Georgian-influenced area like North Eastern Anatolia. She remained revered in her native Georgia, resulting in an increase in future marriages between the Georgian and Byzantine royalty, and strengthening of ties between the two countries.[13] Maria was also an influence for Commnenian women who were impressed by her past political involvement and charitable work. [14]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Maria of Alania
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 16. Gurgen of Georgia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8. Bagrat III of Georgia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 17. Gurandukht of Abkhazia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4. George I of Georgia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9. Martha
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2. Bagrat IV of Georgia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10. John-Senekerim II Artsruni, King of Vaspurakan
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5. Mariam of Vaspurakan
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1. Maria of Alania
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3. Borena of Alania
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Maria of Alania
Born: c. 1050 Died: after 1103
Royal titles
Preceded by
Eudokia Makrembolitissa		 Byzantine Empress consort
1071–1081		 Succeeded by
Irene Doukaina
Empress-Mother of the Byzantine Empire
1078

References

  1. ^ She is known in Western sources as Maria of Alania in apparent confusion with her mother Borena of Alania, the second wife of King Bagrat of Georgia.
  2. ^ On a list of commemorations given to prominent Georgians at the 1103 Georgian ecclesiastic council of Ruis-Urbnisi, organized by Maria's nephew David IV, Empress Maria is hailed as "Our Queen Martha, the Augusta". Dolidze, Kartuli samartlis dzeglebi, 126.
  3. ^ Byzantine empresses: women and power in Byzantium, AD 527-1204. Lynda Garland. p180
  4. ^ Bertha died before her marriage consummated
  5. ^ Alexiad 3.2.3-5 (Leib 1.107-8); Bryennius, Historia, 253-5; Scylitzes Cont. 181; Zonaras, Epitome, 3.722.
  6. ^ Grierson. Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection, vol. 3.2 (Washington DC, 1973), 829
  7. ^ Scylitzes Cont. 177-8, 181-2; Zonaras, Epitome, 3.722; Bryennius, Historia, 253-5;
  8. ^ S. Rapp Jr., Imagining History at the Crossroads: Persia, Byzantium and the Architects of the Written Georgian Past (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan 1997), 567-70.
  9. ^ Bryennius, Historia, 221 speaks of Anna's 'ancient hatred' towards the Caesar and his family; cf. Alexiad 3.2.1 (Leib 1.106).
  10. ^ Alexiad 3.4.6 (Leib 1.115-16); Zonaras, Epitome, 3.733; cf. Dölger, Regesten, 1064. Theophylact in his Paideia Basilike, perhaps delivered in 1085/86, addresses Constantine as basileus, 'emperor' (Oratio 4, ed. Gautier 1.179).
  11. ^ Alexiad 3.1.4 (Leib 1.105)
  12. ^ Alexiad 2.4.6-7 (Leib 1.73-4)
  13. ^ I. Dolidze, Kartuli samartlis dzeglebi, 126.
  14. ^ Zonaras, Epitome, 3.761

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