Empress Theodora Palaiologina, Wife of Michael VIII

Author(s): Alice-Mary Talbot

Source: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 46, Homo Byzantinus: Papers in Honor of Alexander
Kazhdan (1992), pp. 295-303
Published by: Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University
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Empress Theodora Palaiologina, Wife of Michael VIII

ALICE-MARY TALBOT

Except for her role as the patron of the Lips

nunnery in Constantinople, the late thirteenth-century empress Theodora Doukaina Pa-

laiologina has received little scholarly attention to

date, no doubt because the bits and pieces of information about her life are widely scattered.' It is the
aim of this study to flesh out the heretofore shadowy figure of the empress, and to present a biographical sketch of Theodora, with particular emphasis on her activity as a patron of monasteries,
charitable institutions, and the arts.

riage to the thirty-year-old Michael Palaiologos,

who had already developed a fine military reputa-

tion.

After the premature death of Theodore II Laskaris in 1258, Michael Palaiologos, who at that time

was megas konostaulos, was chosen as the guardian of the child-emperor John IV Laskaris; according to Pachymeres, he was selected on account of
his military experience, his noble birth, and the
fact that both he and his wife were related to the
Laskarids.6 While the family was still living in the

Empire of Nicaea, Theodora bore two sons-Manuel, born sometime between 1254 and 1257, who
Born perhaps ca. 1240, Theodora was a womandied as a young child, and Andronikos, born in
of distinguished ancestry, related by blood or mar-1258-as well as a daughter Irene (born ca. 1260).
riage to many of the ruling families of Byzantium.Sometime after 1 January 1259,7 Michael and
In a chrysobull of 1283 she is referred to as Theo-Theodora were crowned at Nicaea.8 Pachymeres
dora Doukaina Komnene Palaiologina,2 and in hisdoes not specifically mention the coronation of
I. THEODORA AS THE WIFE OF MICHAEL VIII

funeral oration on the empress Theodore Meto-Theodora, but the historian contrasts "those who
chites praises her descent from the Doukas andreceived the crown" (oL t? ot og ( gd[LEvoL), that
Komnenos families.3 According to George Akro-is, the imperial couple, with the young John IV

Laskaris, who had to be content with a band ornapolites,4 she was the daughter of Eudokia Angelina
mented
with pearls and precious stones.
and John Doukas, the son of the sebastokrator
In
August
1261, following the recovery of ConIsaac Doukas, brother of John III (Doukas) Vastantinople
from
the Latins, Theodora, quite pregtatzes. Her father died at a young age, leaving
nant
with
her
fourth
child, joined her husband in
Theodora as his only child. In 1253/4, the Nicaean
his
triumphal
entry
into
the capital; they were also
emperor Vatatzes, her great-uncle, who reportedly

"loved her like a daughter,"5 arranged her mar-accompanied by their son Andronikos and Theodora's mother.9 After the reinstatement of Arsen-

ios as patriarch, Michael was crowned a second

'This study has been facilitated by the assembly of much of time at Hagia Sophia, probably
the relevant bibliography in PLP 9 (Vienna, 1989), no. 21380. 1261. D. Geanakoplos assumes
2S. Petridl's, "Chrysobulle de l'imperatrice Th6odora (1283),"

in the early fall of

that Theodora also

received a second coronation, but this is not ex-

EO 14 (1911), 26.

3Theodore Metochites, Movoqpba E7t t TcothlX(bL OEEo&bg L

tof) paatfoL g itrl(, unpublished oration in Vindo. phil. gr. 95,6Georges Pachymdres. Relations historiques, ed. A. Failler, trans.
fol. 187r (hereafter Metochites, Monodia): aQ6yovot iv ootLV. Laurent, vol. I (Paris, 1984), 95.23-26 (hereafter PachyaotkLheg XELvot ALOxatL xaCt KolvTlvo(, t& xdkktoa xat nE- meres, ed. Failler); cf. A. Failler, "Pachymeriana quaedam,"
QlTgarva PoaatkLXv 6v6[taTa.
REB 40 (1982), 187-91.
4Georgii Acropolitae Opera, ed. A. Heisenberg, vol. I (Leipzig, 7P. Wirth, "Die Begrundung der Kaisermacht Michaels VIII.
1903), 101.6-14.
Palaiologos," JOB 10 (1961), 87-89, 91.
5H. Gregoire, "Imperatoris Michaelis Palaeologi de Vita sua," 8Pachymeres, ed. Failler, I, 145-47.
Byzantion 29-30 (1959-60), 451.
9Pachymeres, ed. Failler, I, 217.2-7.

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296

ALICE-MARY

TALBOT

pressly stated by Pachymeres.'o

chartophylax Bekkos specific instructions
The empr
to invesbirth to Constantine
Porphyrogennet
tigatethe
living conditions
in Serbia.'5 After the projected
marriage
alliance with Serbia fell through,
time during the fall
of
1261.
About the same time Theodora had to confront

Anna was married in 1278 to Demetrios-Michael

Koutroules, a son of Michael II Komnenos Doukas

a crisis in her marriage. According to Pachymeres,
of Epiros; she died before 1301.16 In 1279 Michael
Hohenstaufen, the sister of Manfred of Sicily,
sought
who his wife's advice with regard to the marriage
of their daughter Irene to John III Asen of
was briefly married to John Vatatzes before
his
death. The emperor reportedly first tried toBulgaria.17
persuade Anna to become his mistress; when she reTheodora also used her arts of persuasion to
fused, he offered to divorce Theodora in order
gain to
clemency for courtiers who fell into disfavor.
Thusshe
in 1280 she intervened in the cause of a cermarry her. When Theodora heard the news,

Michael became enamored of Anna-Constance of

tainwho
Kaloeidas who was in charge of her treasury
sought the assistance of Patriarch Arsenios,
and had
threatened the emperor with the wrath of God
if been accused of slandering the emperor.
As
a
result
of Theodora's pleas, Kaloeidas escaped
he carried out his plans." Michael yielded to paexecution,
but
was blinded and had his nose cut
triarchal pressure and permitted Anna to leave for
off.'8 On another occasion she sought mercy for
home in December 1261. The emperor's motivaherincousin, Michael Strategopoulos, who had
tion in this affair is unclear: he may have been
fallen or
under suspicion of treachery, and saved him
terested in forming an alliance with Manfred,'2
from of
blinding.19
perhaps hoped that a marriage to the widow

From
John Vatatzes would make him more acceptable
to the time that they were crowned emperor
and empress, Michael and Theodora took a special
supporters of the Laskarid dynasty.
The imperial couple was reconciled and hadinterest
an- in the welfare of monastic communities. A
number
other son, Theodore, born ca. 1263. In addition to of documents survive from the archives of
the Patmos and Lembiotissa monasteries, dating
Irene, they had two more daughters whose birth
dates are less well established, Anna and Eudokia.
between 1259 and 1281 and attesting to active imperial intervention in disputes over monastic propMichael also fathered two illegitimate daughters,
erties or privileges, especially in the region of the
both of whom were married to Mongol rulers.
Dodecanese and Smyrna. Several of these acts are
Maria, whose mother was a certain Diplovatatzina,
horismoi
was first engaged to marry Hulagu, but after
his (preserved only in copies) issued by the
death in 1265 she married Abaga.'3 In order empress
to be herself; the originals bore her seal in wax,
while
one of the copies has a lead seal.20 From
of marriageable age in 1265, it is likely that she
was
these acts we learn that Theodora had been
born before 1253/4, the date of Michael's marriage
granted
to Theodora. The birth date of Euphrosyne,
who the island of Kos as her private property
and had placed it under the control of her treasury
married Nogay in 1269 or 1270, is unknown.'4
(vestiarion).21 She was particularly devoted to the
Little is recorded of the political role of Theomonastery
of St. John the Theologian on Patmos,
dora during her husband's reign (1259-82).
In
issuing
horismoi
between 1259 and 1263 in confir1269 she took an active interest in the negotiations
mation
of
its
possession
of the metochion of Anato marry their daughter Anna to Stefan Milutin,
baseidion on Kos and in 1269 a horismos confirmthe son of Stefan Urov I of Serbia; the empress,

concerned for her daughter's well-being, gave the

'5Pachymeres, ed. Failler, II, 453; cf. A. Failler, "Le projet de

mariage d'Anna Palaiologina avec Milutin de Serbie," RSBS 1

'Pachymeres, ed. Failler, I, 233; cf. D. Geanakoplos, Emperor
(1981), 239-49.
Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258-1282 (Cambridge, Mass.,
16Pachymeres, ed. Failler, II, 559-61; PLP 9, no. 21350.
1959), 121 (hereafter Geanakoplos, Michael). On the date of
Michael's second coronation, see R. Macrides, "The New Con17 Pachymeres, ed. Failler, II, 557-59. Irene bore ten children,
and lived long enough to become a grandmother. She is last
stantine and the New Constantinople-1261?," BMGS 6 (1980),

mentioned in 1307, and had definitely died by 1328; PLP 9, no.

14, note 6.

"Pachymeres, ed. Failler, I, 245-49; Les regestes des actes du

patriarcat de Constantinople, Vol. I. Fasc. IV Les regestes de 1208 a'

1309 (hereafter RegPatr), ed. V. Laurent (Paris, 1971), no. 1363

(to be dated to late 1261 rather than to 1262 as in RegPatr; cf.
Pachymeres, ed. Failler, I, 246 note 3).
'2Cf. Geanakoplos, Michael, 145.
'3Pachymeres, ed. Failler, I, 235; cf. PLP 9, no. 21395.
'4Pachymeres, ed. Failler, I, 243; cf. PLP, Add. 1-8 (Vienna,

1988), no. 91916.

21359.

8 Pachymeres, ed. Failler, II, 621.

19Ibid., II, 615-17.

20These documents were the subject of a special study by F.

Bari'iC, "Povelje vizantijskih carica," ZRVI 13 (1971), 143-93,

with French summary, 194-202. See also Byzantina engrapha tes

Mones Patmou (hereafter Patmou engrapha), ed. E. Vranoussi and

M. Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou, I, (Athens, 1980), 287 f.

21Patmou engrapha, II, 190, 203.

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EMPRESS THEODORA PALAIOLOGINA, WIFE OF MICHAEL VIII 297

otherofByzantine empress, although several speciing the exemptions (exkousseiai) granted to four
are forged copies.29
the monastery's ships. A probable copy of themens
latter
When
document is preserved on Patmos, complete with
a Michael VIII decided to accept a policy of
church
lead seal bearing on one side the image of the
en- union at the time of the Council of Lyons
1274, there is evidence that Theodora originally
throned Virgin with the Christ Child on her in
knees,
on the other the standing figure of the empress
sympathized with the anti-unionists. Nikephoros
holding a scepter in her left hand.22 Documents
Gregoras'
of vita of his uncle John of Herakleia tells
us that her spiritual confessor was a monk named
Theodora's fiscal agents provide the information
that sometime after 1259 she gave the monastery
John who was exiled by Michael in 1275 for his
of the Savior on Kos to the Patmos monastery
as a
opposition
to union.30 Theodora was evidently
metochion.23 The metochion of the Savior, forpowerless to persuade her husband to change his

merly a stavropegion of the bishop of Kos,

mind,
hadand must have at least feigned a willingness
been abandoned because of attacks by piratestoand
accept the unification of the churches of Rome
brigands, and the empress hoped that its fortunes
and Constantinople, since she was later forced to
would revive under the supervision of Abbotrecant,
Ger- as we shall see below. We do not know, howmanos of the Patmos monastery. In 1271 sheever,
again
if she came to support the Union sincerely;
intervened to recover for the metochion some olive
certainly many members of the imperial family opand oak trees that had been appropriated by the
posed Michael on this issue, even his own sister Eubishopric of Kos when the monastery was given logia.
to
The Raoul brothers, Manuel and Isaac, who
Patmos.24
were imprisoned and blinded for their obstinate
In 1262 Theodora responded to the request of
opposition, were relatives of both Theodora and
her husband.
Gerasimos, abbot of the Lembiotissa monastery

near Smyrna, and issued a horismos confirming all Michael embarked on a program of persecution
its rights, privileges, and immunities.25 In 1270 orof those who opposed his religious policy, espe1285 John Komes, acting on her orders, gave thecially monks, and became extremely unpopular
monastery a piece of property called Hagia.26
among his subjects. Thus few tears were shed at
the time of his death in 1282. In the fall of that
The surviving documents issued by Theodora

and her agents, as well as the allusions in them toyear, when Michael set out on his final campaign
numerous other (now lost) acts issued by the em-in Thrace, the empress, who was concerned about
press, demonstrate her generosity toward and conhis health, strongly urged him to remain in the
cern for religious establishments. Even more strikcapital3' but failed to dissuade him. He died of an

ing is the fact that her acts sometimes confirm

intestinal malady near Rhaidestos on 11 Decem-

those of the emperor, and sometimes address or-ber. Denied funeral rites by the Orthodox Church
ders to his officials. As a result, Barigic has debecause of his unionist position, his body was laid
scribed Theodora as an empress "sharing in the to rest in a church in Selymbria.
imperial power, with the prerogatives of a type of
co-regent." 27 He also concludes that the acts issued II. THEODORA AS DOWAGER EMPRESS (1282-1303)
by Theodora became the standard model for those
The Rejection of the Union of Lyons
subsequently issued by later empresses: the latter
acts are always called horismoi, they bear the wax
Immediately following the death of Michael, his
seal of the empress, and the menologema (dating son Andronikos II began the process of reversing
formula) is written in black ink.28 A further indi- the decisions made at Lyons. At this juncture

cation of the scope of her administrative activity is Theodora (finding herself in a situation parallel to
that more of her seals are preserved than of any
that of her homonym, the wife of the iconoclastic
22F. Miklosich and J. Miller, Acta et diplomata graeca medii aevi
29V. Laurent, Les sceaux byzantins du Midailler Vatican (Vatican
sacra et profana (hereafter MM), VI (Vienna, 1890), 204 f, 225
f; 1962), 12. For a published example of her seals, see G.
City,
Patmou engrapha, I, nos. 31, 32, 36.
Zacos and A. Veglery, Byzantine Lead Seals, I (Basel, 1972), no.
122.
23Patmou engrapha, II, nos. 68, 69.
24Ibid., II, no. 70.

S3V. Laurent, "La vie de Jean, metropolite d'H6racl6e du

Pont," 'AQX.H6vT. 6 (1935), 41.4-7, 45.22-46.1. John of Her26Ibid., 175 f. On the date see Barici', "Povelje vizantijskih
akleia, who as a youth was a favorite of the empress and a discarica," 156 note 38.
ciple of her spiritual confessor, was also forced to leave the
25 MM, IV, 260 f.

27 Barigid, ibid., 196.

28Ibid., 201.

court.

31Pachymeres, ed. Failler, II, 659-61.

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298

ALICE-MARY

emperor
torn

band

TALBOT

Theophilos,
was a little-known
in 843)
instance ofseems
sacrilege, whichto
can
h
her loyalty
perhaps be excused
to the
as motivated
memory
by an excess of
of

between

and her concern

for reportedly
the salvation
piety. Theodora
developed a strong at- of
tachment to an obscure
Iconodule
saint, Michael
and her desire to return
to
Orthodoxy.
of Chalcedon,
whose relics were preserved
at anrec
sister Eulogia greatly
distressed
the

reaved

empress

doomed to eternal damnation.32

otherwise
unattested church of St.
Constantine inMich
by
stating
that

Chalcedon. Desiring to possess a fragment of these

In 1283, at the first council of Blachernai, Theorelics, the empress sent a retainer to the church.
dora was required to recant her previous alle-After bribing one of the priests "with much gold,"

he gained access to the sarcophagus where the

giance to Rome, make a profession of Orthodox
saint lay. But when he tried to cut off Michael's
faith, and acknowledge that she accepted the de-

cision that her husband could never receive Chris-

hand, the saint not only stopped him, but shriveled

tian burial.33 This confession of faith, which sur-up the offender's hand.37

vives in numerous copies, was in the form of a

Relations with Andronikos II

chrysobull that the empress verified by marking Theodora's
a

cross (8Ld otLxLoXFe(Qo oraQo'i) at the beginning Theodora seems to have been on good terms
of the document. A manuscript in Madrid notes
with her eldest surviving son, Andronikos II. They
that the document had a gold seal with an image
evidently agreed on reversing Michael's policy of
of the Virgin and Child on one side and the emchurch union, and she speaks warmly of him in the
press on the other.34 She acknowledged her past
typikon for the Lips nunnery. In turn Andronikos
errors, excusing herself by stating that she did not
grieved greatly at his mother's death and provided
fully comprehend the gravity of the matter and the
lavish funeral rites for her. Nevertheless, Theopotential harm to Christian souls, although she addora did not always have her way with her son, as
mitted to having had grave doubts at the time. In
can be seen in two episodes involving her other
return her name was restored to the diptychs and
surviving sons. Thus Pachymeres states that, unshe was again commemorated in the liturgy.35
like his brother Constantine, Theodore was not

Despite her apparent lapse of faith in 1274,successful in acquiring the title of despotes despite
Theodora is treated with respect and even praise
the entreaties of his mother.3 Second, when her
by contemporary and later authors. A fifteenth- son Constantine the Porphyrogennetos was accentury source, John Eugenikos, referring tocused of treachery at Nymphaion in 1293 and kept
Theodora as hagia, suggests that Andronikos was
under house arrest by Andronikos, Theodora
strongly encouraged in his religious policy by hisfailed to secure his freedom. In fact, Gregoras remother.36 We shall never know for sure her attilates that when Andronikos went to Thessaloniki
tude toward the Union of Lyons, but, as will be
in 1299 to escort his daughter Simonis to her mardiscussed below, her words and deeds in later years

riage with Stefan Urol II Milutin of Serbia, he

suggest that she was sincerely repentant and re-took along his brother Constantine to ensure that
jected her husband's views.
Theodora did not take advantage of the emperor's
absence from the capital to arrange Constantine's
The Episode of the Relics of St. Michael of Chalcedon release."3

In addition to her brief flirtation with Unionist

policy, the only other "scandal" in Theodora's life The Monastic Foundations of Theodora
32Georgii Pachymeris De Michaele et Andronico Paleologis libri tre- Sometime

after the death of Michael VIII,

decim, Bonn ed. (1835), II, 16.6-11 (hereafter Pachymeres,

Theodora restored the Lips monastery (Fenari Isa

Bonn ed.).
Camii), which had been originally founded in the
"3Pachymeres, Bonn ed., II, 55.5-10; cf. D. Nicol, "The Byztenth century, and established there a nunnery
antine Reaction to the Second Council of Lyons, 1274," Studies
in Church History 7 (1971), 140 f.

dedicated to the Theotokos. In reconstructing the

34L. Petit, "La profession de foi de l'imperatrice Theodora,"

convent she added a second church, of St. John the
EO 18 (1916-19), 287. This is apparently the only chrysobull
known to have been issued by an empress. The fact that Theodora marked the sign of the cross but did not append her sig-37F. Halkin, "Saint Michel de Chalcedoine," REB 19 (1961),
163, chap. 6; cf. R. Janin, Les iglises et les monastOres des grands
nature suggests that she may not have known how to sign her
name.

centres byzantins (Paris, 1975), 60.

38Pachymeres,
Bonn ed., II, 181.14-18.
351Ptrid's, "Chrysobulle," 25-28; Petit,
"L'imperatrice,

39Nicephori Gregorae Byzantina historia, Bonn ed. (1829), I,

203.19-24
(hereafter
Greg.). Cf. also F. Barigi', "Konstantin
6 S. Lampros, Palaiologeia kai Peloponnesiaka,
I (Athens,
1912),

286 f.
130.4-9.

Porfirogenit Paleolog," ZRVI 22 (1983), 43-58.

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EMPRESS THEODORA PALAIOLOGINA, WIFE OF MICHAEL VIII 299

sisters,
the others responsible for housekeeping
Baptist, adjoining the south side of the
tenthduties. It was to be fully independent, but under
century church of the Theotokos. A twelve-bed
of the emperor. The convent was
hospital for the treatment of laywomen the
wasprotection
also

served
included in the complex. We are unusually
well by
in-four priests, two assigned to each
church.
Nuns held such positions as skeuophylakformed about this nunnery, since it is one
of the

issa (sacristan),
ekklesiarchissa, and docheiaria
relatively few Byzantine monasteries for
which

(treasurer), but the steward was to be a layman

both the church and the typikon survive.40
a salary for his services.
The typikon was written subsequent to who
the received
completion of the restoration, certainly afterTheodora
Decem-had various motivations for establishber 1282, since Theodora states that her ing
husband
the convent of Lips. She was impelled by piety

is deceased and has been succeeded by her

toson
found
Ana monastery where noble women desirdronikos, and before February 1303, when
ous ofTheotaking monastic vows could find a haven of
dora died. There are other clues that enable us to
tranquillity and pray for the salvation of their own
souls and that of their fellow Christians. She foredate the typikon even more precisely. First of all,
Theodora refers in the document to Michael IX

saw the possibility that her own daughters and

Palaiologos, and describes him as "ruling together

granddaughters might gradually retire there. The
with Andronikos," as her "ornament and consolaconvent was also a charitable institution in that it

tion," and as the "heir to his (Andronikos') power

made regular distributions of food to the poor and

and crown."41 This suggests a date after 21 May

included a hospital for the care of sick women.
1294, when Michael IX was crowned co-emperor
Last but not least, the church of St. John the Bapand received the title of autokrator; an earlier date
tist was consciously designed as a mausoleum for

is not completely ruled out, however, since Michael

the Palaiologan family, most probably in imitation
of the church of St. Michael at the Pantokrator
was named co-emperor in 1281 while still a child.
Second, Theodora states that she had prepared
a
monastery,
which had been built in the mid-twelfth
tomb at Lips for one of her daughters who had
century by John II Komnenos to house the tombs
already died. This must have been Anna, who died
of his family. The first member of the Palaiologan
sometime before 1301, since Irene is known to
dynasty, Michael VIII, had been denied Christian
have survived her mother, while Eudokia died in burial; Theodora, as dowager empress and ma-

December 1302 in Trebizond and was surely bur- triarch of the family, no doubt was determined to
ied there. It is therefore probable that the typikon make provision for proper burial for herself and
was written sometime between 1294 and 1301. If
her descendants. Thus the typikon specifies the location in the new church of her own tomb, that of
we assume that the typikon was composed shortly
after the completion of the repairs and new conher mother and daughter, and a place for her son
struction, then we should conclude that the con- Andronikos if he chose to be buried there.42 She

vent was restored during the last decade of the

also anticipated that her children and grandchil-

thirteenth century.

dren and their spouses would find their final rest-

The cenobitic convent of Lips was intended to

ing place at the Lips monastery and would be com-

house fifty nuns, of whom thirty were to be choir

memorated annually by the nuns.43 In his monody
on the death of Empress Theodora, Theodore Me40The church is described in a series of articles in DOP tochites
18
notes that she prepared her tomb several
(1964), 249-315: T. Macridy, "The Monastery of Lips (Fenari
years before her death, commissioning the manuIsa Camii) at Istanbul"; A. H. S. Megaw, "The Original Form of
facture of Lv~a'ra, nErQLTd6LOLt otyaL, itnlTha xathe Theotokos Church of Constantine Lips"; and C. Mango and
E. J. W. Hawkins, "Additional Notes." The typikon was pub-

TCtTOz[3Lt, and 8e&eOLg iv yQdCLtOL, terms which

lished by H. Delehaye, Deux typica byzantins de l'poque des Palgoshould probably be translated as a "covered tomb"
logues (Brussels, 1921), 14-16, 106-36, 172-85 (hereafter De-

(i.e.,
lehaye, Deux typica). The typikon was not actually written by

arcosolium?) with "funerary furnishings" and

Theodora herself but was drafted by a "ghostwriter," as "written

we
petitions" (probably a reference to an ep-

learn from the verses he wrote in the margin of an 11 th-century

itaph).44

ms. of ps.-Dionysios the Areopagite, Vat. gr. 1787, fol. 4v:

The
TrwuoyQcLoroag UQooJayfi cpaLok(6og/Tfig Aouxo4vogS eseoI3PoSg

interior of the church of John the Baptist

Eo) b~o8Cxag/Q at g ovaxacg ;g X;Ce d)v f~yv E(oCoag.... ; cf. P.

Canart, Codices Vaticani graeci 1745-1962, I (Vatican City, 1970),
42 Indeed Andronikos was buried at the Lips convent after his
135. The anonymous writer presented the codex to the Lips
death in 1332 (Greg. I, 463), as was Constantine in 1306 (Pachy-

convent as a gift. The Theodora to whom he alludes mustmeres,

be
Bonn ed., II, 425.4-8).
the dowager empress, rather than Theodora Synadene, the
43Delehaye, Deux typica, 130.
foundress of the convent of the Theotokos tes Bebaias Elpidos,
44Metochites, Monodia, fol. 184v. C. Mango (DOP 18 [1964],

because she is called basilis.

41Delehaye, Deux typica, 108.18-21.

301) suggests that the "written petitions" may be a reference to

the typikon, but since they are so closely connected with the

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300

ALICE-MARY

underwent
riod

of

TALBOT

numerous
alterations
duri
found at Fenari
Isa Camii may be the remains
of

Turkish

occupation,
wellmust
as
the tomb of Theodora, butas
this hypothesis
be be

the
that
today
rejectedresult
since the woman
commemorated
in theit
inscription bore tomb
the monastic name
of Theodo-ce
to identify Theodora's
with
sia.49 it is the arcosolium
Mango argues that

aged

by

fire,

with

cated in the east niche of the south aisle.45 The

Attached to the typikon for the Lips nunnery as

a sort
of appendix is a brief rule for the Constanback wall of the niche was originally covered
with
mosaic, but most of the tesserae have fallen. tinopolitan
It is
convent of the Hagioi Anargyroi, or
Sts. Kosmas and Damian, for whose restoration
still possible to make out part of a standing female
Theodora
was also responsible.50 She notes that
figure, her arms folded over her chest.46 The
imthis nunnery was in a state of ruin as a result of the
age was flanked by two columns of an inscription,
Latin conquest of 1204 and had lost the properties
at least thirteen lines in length, but now indecioriginally donated to it by a certain logothetes tou
pherable.47 It is possible, however, that Theodora's
dromou.
Theodora not only reconstructed its
tomb was actually the one in the west niche of
the
buildings, but had a circuit wall built around the
south aisle, where traces of a figure and inscription
complex
are also preserved in the setting bed on the
back for security, and gave the nunnery "treasures"
(i.e., sacred vessels?) and sufficient estates to
wall. Mango deciphered the phrase ... v(a
tovsustain it.51 The rule drafted by Theodora is not
aXc, suggested the reconstruction 'AvWovLa ovdesigned
aXl or E'yev(Ca ovaXC , "the nun Antonia" or
"the to be a complete set of regulations for the
Anargyroi
nunnery, but rather a supplement to
nun Eugenia," and identified the tomb as that
of
original typikon, including a listing of donated
Theodora's daughter Anna. It is now known,the
however, that Theodora's monastic name was Euproperties. She states clearly that she undertook
the commitment to revive the Anargyroi convent
genia,48 so she may have been buried in this niche
after she had founded the nunnery at Lips; thus
instead of that to the east. Mango and Hawkins
its reconstruction must date to the very end of the
have suggested that fragments of a sarcophagus

thirteenth century. The convent of Kosmas and

Damian was to be independent, and the nuns were

description of her tomb furniture, it seems much more prob-to follow a way of life similar to that at Lips. It was
able that the term means an epitaph.

smaller, housing only thirty nuns (eighteen of

45C. Mango and E. J. W Hawkins, "Additional Notes," DOP

them choir sisters), and it was served by only two
18 (1964), 302.
46 In addition to Theodora's image on seals, her only surviving
priests.

It was to celebrate feast days less lavishly

portrait is a badly damaged fresco in the exonarthex of athan the Lips nunnery, which was distinguished as
church at Apollonia in Albania, where she is accompanied by

Michael, Andronikos, and the Virgin (H. and H. Buschhausen,the

Die Marienkirche von Apollonia in Albanien [Vienna, 1976], 17,ited

mausoleum of the Palaiologoi and a place visby the emperor and high court officials. Theo-

143-82, fig. 19, pls. XXI-XXII). In the 17th century C. Dudora did leave instructions, however, that comcange (Familiae augustae byzantinae [Paris, 1680], 233, repromemorative services for deceased members of the

duced in his Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, X [Niort,

1877], pl. VI) published an engraving of a picture of Theodora Palaiologan family were to be held at Anargyroi as
and Michael flanking their son Constantine (it is noteworthy
well, but on a lesser scale than at Lips. She envisthat he is depicted instead of Andronikos), which may be the
aged the two convents as sister (but unequal) estabmosaic portrait that Clavijo saw at the Peribleptos Church in the
early 15th century (C. Mango, Art of the Byzantine Empire [Tolishments, whose superiors and stewards would
ronto-Buffalo-London, 1986], 217 and note 164).
consult with each other on a frequent basis.
47 The mosaic panel may have been similar in format and content to the fragmentary funerary inscription in marble found in Theodora may also have restored the church at
Istanbul in 1917, and now housed in the Istanbul Archaeologi-

cal Museum. W. H. Buckler ("The Monument of a Palaiolo-

gina," in M9langes offerts d M. Gustave Schlumberger, II [Paris, 49C. Mango and E. J. W. Hawkins, "Additional Finds at Fenari
1924], 521-26) has reconstructed this memorial slab as a blockIsa Camii, Istanbul," DOP 22 (1968), 181.
0.74 m square, which was set vertically into a wall. It contained 50The rule is edited in Delehaye, Deux typica, 136-40. See also
the relief image of a female figure with a 14-verse epitaph in R. Janin, La gdographie eccldsiastique de l'empire byzantin. I. Le siege
two columns, one on each side of her. The poem, written in thede Constantinople et le patriarcat oecuminique, 3. Les gglises et les
first person, was the prayer of a nun named Maria, the sebaste monastires (Paris, 1969), 285 f. B. Aran proposed that the Atik
daughter of a Palaiologos, to be accepted by Christ as his bride Mustafa Camii in the Blachernai region should be identified
and to be allowed to enter the heavenly bridal chamber. Bucklerwith the church of the Anargyroi convent ("The Nunnery of
dates the monument between 1275 and 1325 on the basis of its the Anargyres and the Atik Mustafa Pasha Mosque," JOB 26
letter forms. Macridy assumes that the slab came from the south [1977], 247-53), an identification rejected by T. Mathews and
church of the Lips monastery (DOP 18 [1964], 271).
E. J. W. Hawkins ("Notes on the Atik Mustafa Papa Camii in
48J. Gouillard, "Le Synodikon de l'Orthodoxie," TM 2 (1967), Istanbul," DOP 39 [1985], 134).
101.864.

51 Delehaye, Deux typica, 136 f.

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EMPRESS THEODORA PALAIOLOGINA, WIFE OF MICHAEL VIII 301

the convent of the Theotokos ta Mikra Romaiou

Manuscripts Commissioned by Theodora

where the relics of St. Thomais were preserved. In

In addition to her sponsorship of the construchis enkomion of Thomais, Constantine Akropoltion
ites, who served Andronikos II from 1294 to 1321, or restoration of churches and monasteries,
there are some indications that Theodora took an

as logothetes tou genikou and as megas logothetes,

interest in promoting scholarship and in soliciting
prayed to the saint to bless "the pious and Christthe
loving empress (anassa) who out of love for God production of manuscripts. In 1265/6, for example, soon after the recovery of Constantinople,
restored this church and many others which were

ruined and who built others from the founda-

she commissioned the monk Arsenios to translate

into Greek a work on geometry by the Persian phitions. . . .52 It seems most likely that the anassa
losopher al-Zanati. The tract is preserved in Nashould be identified with the dowager empress
ples (II C 33) with a note providing the informaTheodora Palaiologina, since she is known to have

tion about Arsenios and Theodora.55

been the ktetor of the nunneries of Lips and the
Anargyroi, and is also praised by Theodore Meto-In his monody on the dowager empress Theodora, in the same sentence in which he praises her
chites as the founder of churches and monasterconstruction of churches and monasteries, Theo-

ies.53 Another possible candidate for the anassa,

Andronikos' second wife, Irene-Yolanda of Mont-

dore Metochites alludes to her "careful ornamen-

tation of holy scriptures and books" and "of vessels

ferrat, is not recorded as having shown any interand cups perfect in their purity."56 The manuest in the patronage of monasteries.

scripts and vessels are so closely linked in the

text with the monasteries and churches that it

Properties Donated by Theodora to the Lips Convent
seems logical to assume that Metochites was referThe typikon for the Lips convent includes a list ring to liturgical vessels and books specially made

of the properties that Theodora donated to her for the new religious establishments that she
newly restored foundation to support the nuns founded.

and for the maintenance of the monastic complex

The only surviving codex that can be linked to
and the hospital. The inventory suggests the enor- Theodora with certainty is British Library Add.

mous wealth Theodora had at her disposal as the 22748, which contains the typikon for the Lips

only child of an aristocratic couple and as a dowa-

nunnery with the attached rule for the convent of

ger empress. Theodora records that she acquired Kosmas and Damian. Unfortunately, the manu-

her property in various ways: some land was "ancestral" and inherited, some was given her by her
son Andronikos, some was purchased. It should be
noted that none of the donated property had been

script, dated to the fourteenth century by Delehaye, has been mutilated by the removal of many

of the decorative headpieces at the beginning of

chapters, and its folios are badly jumbled, but it is

given to her by Michael. Theodora's donations still clear that this was a deluxe codex, probably the
were estates in the regions of Pergamum, Smyrna, original version of the typikon. The parchment foand Lopadion (including mills, vineyards, gar- lios, measuring 26 x 19.5 cm, contain only nine or
dens, and a fish hatchery); a village called Nym- ten lines of writing on each page, so that the indi-

phai near Constantinople; a village called Skotei- vidual letters are very large, and there are only
non in Macedonia; and houses and workshops in three to five words in each line. The titles of chapthe capital. Theodora's mother, Eudokia Angelina, ters and chapter numbers are in gold, while the
also made substantial contributions of immovable illuminated initials are in gold, blue, red, and

property to the convent.54

green, with white highlights. The more elaborate

headpieces have been cut out (resulting in the loss
of text on the other side of the page), but one ex52ActaSS Nov. 4 (Brussels, 1925), 246F. See also A. M. Talbot,
"Old Wine in New Bottles: The Rewriting of Saints' Lives in theample of pseudo-Kufic ornament is preserved on
Palaiologan Period," in The Twilight of Byzantium (Princeton,
fol. 70r, as well as a number of simple headbands
1991), 15-26.

53Metochites, Monodia, fol. 184v: xat t( jlXo 1Jv OL tO6 zTeev-

TaxLov TO6 Xd6v(Ov ooanboi6ta Tv keQ)V (Ot TvE x6) at CL X- 55G. Pierleoni, Catalogus codicum graecorum Bibliothecae Nationo0tyov oLxMov xcat dov6v tl?oxaXaa uadoa; A contemporary
alis Neapolitanae, I (Rome, 1962), 284; see also P. Kunitzsch, "Die
source, Pachymeres (Bonn ed., II, 378.1), also refers to Theo-'Unwettersterne' und die 'Geomantie' des Zanati," BZ 60 (1967),

dora as anassa.

309-17.

54Delehaye, Deux typica, 131-33; cf. also G. Weiss, "Verma56 Metochites, Monodia, fol. 184v: xat ieFQ6v oy((v xat p3((ovy
gensbildung der Byzantiner in Privathand: Methodische FraFLCXXig
oqXi?oLg 0xa...O'cUlo (velotLrz a xat T6)v axvdyv(ov
gen einer Quantitativen Analyse," Byzantina 11 (1982), 90.
oXv6)V Ten7txl
xat 'xa(OC6T(OV.

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302

ALICE-MARY

composed

terminal leaf tendrils.57

of

TALBOT

dation of the
Lips convent in the 1290s
accords
alternating
diamonds
and
circ

perfectly with the dates (1285-1300) posited by

The dowager empress Theodora may also have Buchthal and Belting for the production of the
commissioned the production of several deluxe group of deluxe manuscripts. Furthermore, Nelbiblical and liturgical manuscripts of the late thir- son and Lowden have pointed out similarities beteenth century. In the 1970s Hugo Buchthal and tween the initial letters and decorative strips of the
Hans Belting studied a group of fifteen illumi- Lips typikon and those to be found in manuscripts
nated service books and assigned them to the "ate- of the atelier, including the use of pseudo-Kufic
lier of the Palaiologina" on the basis of a mono- ornament.63 The script of the Lips typikon differs
gram found in one of the manuscripts.58 The markedly from that of the manuscripts of the "ategroup includes three large lectionaries "intended lier," but this is not surprising since the typikon was

for service in Constantinople itself, and clearly for a legal document rather than a liturgical book. It
use in major churches or monasteries." 59 Buchthal is quite conceivable that the empress patronized
and Belting proposed that the most likely candi- different workshops when she commissioned the
date for the "Palaiologina" was Theodora Raou- production of different kinds of manuscripts. It
should also be noted that Nelson and Lowden arlaina, a niece of Michael VIII, a known bibliophile
and the ktitor of the nunnery of St. Andrew in gue that more than one patron commissioned the
Krisei.60 Raoulaina died in 1300 and thus fits the
manuscripts produced by the "atelier."64
time frame of the late thirteenth century to which
the authors assign the group of codices. AlthoughThe Death and Funeral of Theodora
Buchthal and Belting concluded that "certainly no In 1303 Theodora fell ill and died on 25 Februother member of the imperial family has an equal
ary.65 Her son Andronikos arranged magnificent
claim to our consideration,"61 I submit that the
funeral rites, and she was laid to rest in the newly
dowager empress Theodora should also be viewed
constructed church of John the Baptist, where she
as a candidate for the mysterious "Palaiologina."62
had prepared her tomb some years earlier. The fuAs an empress married to the first emperor of the
neral oration was delivered by Theodore Meto-

Palaiologan dynasty, she was entitled to use the

chites, who at that time was logothetes ton oikeia-

monogram Palaiologina; she had substantial

kon. The text of his oration, entitled Monody on the

wealth at her disposal; on the evidence of MetoEmpress Theodora, the Mother of the Emperor, is pre-

chites' monody, she commissioned manuscripts forserved in Vindo. phil. gr. 95, fols. 179r-189r, but
use in monasteries; she was a contemporary of
has never been published.66 The monody, couched
Raoulaina, as her death in 1303 attests; her founfor the most part in generalities of praise of the

deceased empress and lamentation at her death,

contains little concrete information. Most of the

"5This manuscript, listed in the Catalogue of Additions to the

Manuscripts in the British Museum in the Years MDCCCLIVimportant passages, regarding Theodora's founMDCCCLX (London, 1875), 727, has never been properly catadation of monasteries and preparation of her
logued. Hence for its description I have had to rely on inspectomb
at the Lips convent, have already been mention of a microfilm, supplemented by Delehaye's brief descriptioned above. Metochites does allude to the fact
tion (Deux typica, 14), and cursory notes made when I saw the
manuscript in London in 1983. After submitting this article,
I
that
she took the monastic habit before her
discovered that Robert Nelson and John Lowden had written
death.67
The logothete's description of her funeral
an article entitled "The Palaeologina Group: Additional Manucorroborates the evidence of Pachymeres: the rites
scripts and New Questions;' DOP 45 (1991), 59-68. It includes
a more detailed description of the typikon's script (which they

were made resplendent with hymns, incense, and

identify as a variant of the Fettaugen-Mode and link with the im-

perial chancellery), initials, and ornamental decoration.

58H. Buchthal and H. Belting, Patronage in Thirteenth-Century 63 Nelson and Lowden, "The Palaeologina Group," 65-66.
64 Ibid., 67-68.
Constantinople: An Atelier of Late Byzantine Book Illumination and

65This date for her death was recently established by A.

Calligraphy (Washington, D.C., 1978) (hereafter Buchthal and
Failler, "Chronologie et composition dans l'Histoire de PachyBelting), reviewed by G. Vikan in ArtB 63 (1981), 325-28.
m6r6s, REB 48 (1990), 51 note 177.
59Buchthal and Belting, 9. Since the publication of their book,
scholars have assigned a number of additional manuscripts, in-661 have been unable to locate a copy of A. Sideras, Die byzantinische Grabreden (Gottingen, 1982), where the oration is discluding more lectionaries, to the group; for details, see Nelson
cussed on pp. 378-81. I am indebted to Ihor ?evienko for
and Lowden, "The Palaeologina Group."
60Buchthal and Belting, 100 f.

61 Ibid., 100.

lending me a microfilm of the Vienna manuscript.

67Metochites, Monodia, fol. 184v: xat T6 E0ov LETCatL&oao-

62The same conclusion was reached independently by the

08aL tig oQav(lov 7hoXLTcE(ag vv&ta. .... We know from the Synodikon of Orthodoxy that her monastic name was Eugenia; cf. note
present author and by Nelson and Lowden, "The Palaeologina
48 above.
Group."

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EMPRESS THEODORA PALAIOLOGINA, WIFE OF MICHAEL VIII 303

in the
Lips typikon, the almost total omission of
torches; the funeral was attended by high
officials,
any reference
clergy, and monks; the coffin was carried
throughto Michael is striking. He is conspicuously
absent from the list of those members of
muddy streets in a sleet storm to the Lips
convent,
the Palaiologan
where the funerary ceremonies lasted for
days.68 family to be commemorated on the
anniversary of their death, and of course no proIII. CONCLUSION

vision was made for his tomb in the mausoleum

church of St. John the Baptist since he was denied

Christian burial. In her one allusion to Michael,
phases: (1) the thirty-year period of her marriage
Theodora referred to him not as her husband but
Theodora's career can be divided into two

to Michael VIII, during which she was aasdutiful

the father of Andronikos, and made the exwife, produced seven children, took an interest in
traordinary statement that during the joint rule of
the marriage alliances of her sons and daughters,
father and son she prayed for the time when Anoccasionally intervened with her husband to seek
dronikos would be the sole emperor.69 In the perclemency for a favorite, and oversaw the adminisoration to the typikon, Theodora declared that she
tration of her estates; and (2) the twenty years of
had dedicated some of her property to the convent
her widowhood, during which she attempted to
"in expiation of my sins in this life."70 Although
distance herself from her late husband. She abthis might normally be viewed as a mere commonjured her earlier acceptance of the Union of
place, in light of Theodora's history one suspects
Lyons, devoted herself to good works, especially
that it may have been a sincere expression of her
the construction of monasteries, and gave away
hope that through good works she might attain salmuch of her property to support charitable causes.
vation in the hereafter, despite the fact that she
There are some indications in the sources that her
was tainted by her marriage to Michael and by her
works of piety and charity were intended to atone
brief acceptance of the Catholic faith.
for her sin of accepting the Union of Lyons in
1274, and that she was sincerely repentant for
acceding to the religious policy of Michael. Thus
68Pachymeres, Bonn ed., II, 377 f. Metochites, Monodia, esp.

fols. 185r-186r.

Cleveland Heights, Ohio

69Delehaye, Deux typica, 108.14-18.
70Ibid., 135.4-7.

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