Anna of Constantinople

Anna of Constantinople (c. 888 – 912) was a Byzantine princess, daughter of Leo VI from the Macedonian dynasty,[1] who married King Louis III, hence she became the Queen of Italy and Provence, Holy Roman Empress and Burgundian royal consort.

For other uses, see Anna of Constantinople (disambiguation).

Early life

Anna belonged to the Macedonian dynasty, established by her grandfather Basil I. Her maternal grandfather, Stylianos Zaoutzes, was of Armenian descent, who was a civil servant under Basil I, and lobbied for the release of Leo VI from prison. At this time, the future Emperor Leo VI and Stylianos' daughter, Zoe, were already having an affair. However, Zoe was forced to marry another man, Theodore Gouniatzizes. Meanwhile, Leo VI was married to Theophano Martinakia.[2] Nevertheless, the two lovers still had a daughter, Anna, around 888 during their respective marriages.

Before the age of seven, children were the responsibility of their mother. Then, she began her primary education as required by Byzantine custom.[3] She had to learn reading and writing through the study of religious texts and this gave her the foundations of Orthodox Christianity.

By the death of her mother Zoe in May 899, Anna was named as Augusta, due to the fact that her father was forbidden from a third marriage, which would bring him heavy canonical sanctions. Leo VI had this decree passed while his first wife was still alive. After the death of his second wife, the emperor found himself unable to marry for a third time. But the empire needed an Augusta, which meant that Anna became the empress.

Marriage and descendants

Anna was betrothed to Louis III around 899 and was married in 900.[4] At that time, marriage was intended, through the alliance between their two families, to create political ties within the empire or with an external force.[5] By joining forces, they strengthened their positions. These were fairly quick engagements considering that Byzantine society placed great importance on this period, as the children were engaged at the age of seven and did not marry until 22 years later. Indeed, the legal age for the marriage of young girls was fixed at a minimum of twelve years, but in fact, it was rather achieved around the age of twenty-five. At the time of her engagement, Anna was about twelve years old and probably thirteen years old at the time of the marriage.[6]

Several theories attempted to explain the reasons for that marriage. One of them was based on the personal motivations of Anna's father, since he could not remarry for a third time, until letting his daughter to be married to a foreigner, in order to be able to celebrate a new wedding, and thus he had the chance to see a male heir born, as Anna was his only living child and bore the title of empress.[7] Another theory invoked religious reasons, as it seemed that the marriage between the two royals hid religious motives, and an attempt by Leo VI and Patriarch Antony II to bring the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church closer together, and thus reconciling with Pope John IX.[4] There was also a theory that tended to prove that this alliance came from the West,[7] in which the reasons that pushed Louis to marry an oriental princess were political.

In February 901, Louis was crowned as Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Benedict IV. With his marriage to Anna, it seemed that Louis III harbored the dream of an empire like the ancient Roman Empire of the East and West.

The proof of their marriage rested in a letter from Nicholas Mystikos, Patriarch of Constantinople. That document emphasized that the fourth marriage of Leo VI was an aberration, since he sold his only daughter to a Frankish lord with the aim of marrying a third time.[8]

However, the royal couple had Charles Constantine. The dating of his age remains unclear. Some reported it around 901, shortly after his parents' marriage.[9] They also had a daughter, Anna of Provence, who later married King Berengar I of Italy.

Death

Anna died around 912, and was buried in Constantinople. However, some historians argued that she did not marry Louis III, and had never left her father's court.[10]

References
  1. Bouchard 2000, p. 334.
  2. Kaplan 2010, p. 101.
  3. Kaplan 2010, p. 167.
  4. Previté-Orthon 1914, p. 705.
  5. Kaplan 2010, p. 171.
  6. Kaplan 2010, p. 168.
  7. Settipani 2013, p. 51.
  8. Settipani 2013, pp. 50–51.
  9. Settipani 2013, p. 55.
  10. Tougher 1997, p. 148.

Sources
  • Bouchard, Constance Brittain (2000). "Burgundy and Provence, 879–1032". In Reuter, Timothy (ed.). The New Cambridge Medieval History, Volume 3, c.900–c.1024. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 328–345. ISBN 9781139055727.
  • Kaplan, Michel (2010). Byzantium (in French). Paris: Les Belles Lettres.
  • Previté-Orthon, Charles (1914). Charles Constantine of Vienne. Vol. 29. English Historical Review.
  • Settipani, Christian (2013). Martin Aurell (ed.). Stratégies matrimoniales en question : quelques unions atypiques dans les royaumes carolingiens aux ixe-xie siècles [Matrimonial strategies in question: some atypical unions in the Carolingian kingdoms in the 9th–11th centuries] (in French). Brepols. ISBN 978-2-503-54923-1.
  • Tougher, Shaun (1997). The Reign of Leo VI (886–912): Politics and People. Brill.
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