Theodora Komnene (daughter of Alexios I)

Theodora Komnene (Greek: Θεοδώρα Κομνηνὴ; born 15 January 1096) was a Byzantine noblewoman, being the fourth daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Irene Doukaina. She married Constantine Angelos, by whom she had seven children. Byzantine emperors Alexios III Angelos and Isaac II Angelos were her grandsons, thereby making her an ancestor of the Angelos dynasty.

Family

Theodora was born in Constantinople at 3 after midnight on 15 January 1096, the fourth of the five daughters, and seventh child overall, of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118) and Irene Doukaina.^[1] In c. 1111 she married Constantine Kourtikes, but her husband died soon after—Theodora is mentioned as a widow in 1118—and the marriage remained childless.^[2] In c. 1122, certainly after the death of Alexios I, she married a second time, to Constantine Angelos, a minor noble from Philadelphia. He was exceedingly beautiful, but Empress Irene apparently disapproved of it, and it seems to have soured her relations with Theodora, who is listed last and with the least favourable provisions in the typikon that Irene granted to the Kecharitomene Monastery.^[3] Theodora herself is mentioned for the last time in October 1136, and it is unknown when she died. ^[4] Her husband went on to hold a series of not very successful military commands under Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143–1180). He is last attested in 1166.^[5]

Children

Through her second marriage to Constantine Angelos, Theodora had seven children:^[6] Through her sons, Theodora was the progenitor of the Angelos dynasty, which produced three Byzantine emperors, as well as the first dynasty of the Despotate of Epirus.^[7]

• John Doukas (c. 1125/27 – c. 1200), had several children by one or two marriages, and a bastard son. The latter, Michael I Komnenos Doukas, would go on to found the Despotate of Epirus, and was succeeded by his half-brothers.^[8]
• Maria Angelina (born c. 1128/30), married Constantine Kamytzes, by whom she had a number of children, including Manuel Kamytzes.^[9]
• Alexios Komnenos Angelos (born c. 1131/32), married and fathered one son.^[10]
• Andronikos Doukas Angelos (c. 1133 – before September 1185), married Euphrosyne Kastamonitissa, by whom he had nine children including emperors Alexios III Angelos and Isaac II Angelos.^[11]
• Eudokia Angelina (born c. 1134), married Basil Tzykandeles Goudeles. The couple had no children.^[12]
• Zoe Angelina (born c. 1135), married Andronikos Synadenos. The couple had several children, whose names are unknown.^[13]
• Isaac Angelos Doukas (born c. 1137), married and had at least four children.^[14]

Among her numerous descendants was Irene Angelina, wife of Philip of Swabia; thus Theodora is an ancestress of every modern royal house in Europe.

Ancestry

References

Sources

• Varzos, Konstantinos (1984). Η Γενεαλογία των Κομνηνών [The Genealogy of the Komnenoi] (PDF) (in Greek). A. Thessaloniki: Centre for Byzantine Studies, University of Thessaloniki.