Let op: Leeftijd bij trouwen (5 juni 830) lag beneden de 16 jaar (15).
Theodora (Grieks: Te?d??a) (+ 867 of later), een dochter van de Paphlagonische edelman Marinus Mamikonian, was de vrouw van de Byzantijnse keizer Theophilus. Zij schonk hem twee zonen, de vroeggestorven Constantinus en Michael, en vijf dochters, Thecla, Anna, Anastasia, Pulcheria en Maria.
Na de dood van haar man in 842 werd zij regentes voor haar minderjarige zoon, keizer Michael III. Haar voornaamste raadgevers waren haar broers Bardas en Petronas, haar oom Sergius Nicetiates, en haar gunsteling, de logotheet Theoctistus, die in 843 de anderen opzijschoof. Samen zorgden zij voor een stabiele regering.
Zowel met de Bulgaren als met de Arabieren leefde zij over het algemeen in vrede (hoewel de Byzantijnen Kreta aanvielen en in 853 Damietta plunderden). De Slaven die zich in Griekenland en in het bijzonder de Peloponnesos hadden gevestigd, pacificeerde zij.
Theodora was een voorstandster van de iconenverering, en had hierover conflicten gehad met Theophilus. Bij het begin van haar regentschap herriep zij dadelijk alle iconoclastische wetten en zette zij de patriarch Johannes de Grammaticus af. In maart 843 liet zij de nieuwe patriarch Methodius I een concilie bijeenroepen dat de bepalingen van het Tweede Concilie van Nicaea (787) opnieuw bekrachtigde. Het herstel van de iconen als voorwerpen van verering wordt tot op heden jaarlijks door de Orthodoxe kerk herdacht met de Triomf van de orthodoxie (eerste zondag van de Grote vasten), en Theodora zelf werd voor haar aandeel hierin heilig verklaard. Haar feestdag is op 11 januari.
De overgang van iconoclasme naar iconenverering verliep vreedzaam. Tegen de sekte der gnostisch-christelijke paulicianen, die in het oosten van Anatolië sterk stond, werd daarentegen hard opgetreden. Vele duizenden kwamen om het leven, en massas paulicianen weken uit naar het door moslims bestuurde Melitene (Malatya).
Theodora hield haar zoon Michael III ver van de macht; bovendien drukte zij zwaar op zijn privéleven: zij scheidde hem van zijn maîtresse Eudocia Ingerina en dwong hem in 855 te huwen met Eudocia Decapolita. In november 855 pleegde Michael samen met zijn oom Bardas een staatsgreep: Theoctistus werd vermoord, en Theodora werd op 15 maart 856 officieel afgezet. Enkele jaren later werd zij, net als eerder al haar nog levende dochters, naar een klooster verbannen.
Theodora (Greek: Te?d??a, c. 815 after 867) was a Byzantine Empress as the spouse of the Byzantine emperor Theophilos, and regent of her son, Michael III, from Theophilos' death in 842 to 855. For her restoration of the veneration of icons, which ended the Byzantine Iconoclasm, she is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church; her Feast Day is February 11. She is the patron Saint of Churches.
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Family
Originally from Paphlagonia, Theodora was of Armenian aristocratic descent.
The names of her parents were preserved in Theophanes Continuatus, the continuation of the chronicle started by Theophanes the Confessor. They were Marinos, a drungarios, and Theoktiste Phlorina. Genealogies attribute Mamikonian ancestry to Marinos; he is an alleged son of Artavazd Mamikonian, who was head of the House in the 770s. Manuel the Armenian, a leading general of Theophilos, was her uncle.
Theodora was a sister of Bardas and Petronas. Theophanes also records three sisters: Kalomaria, Sophia and Irene. Irene reportedly married Sergios, brother of Patriarch Photios I of Constantinople.
Marriage
Modern representation of Theophilos' choice
In 829, Theophilos succeeded to the throne. He was sixteen-years-old and unmarried. The following year his stepmother, Euphrosyne, proclaimed a bride-show. Potential brides from every theme travelled from their homelands to Constantinople, Theodora among them. The poet Kassia was said to have taken part.
The bride-show took place in May, 830, and Theodora was chosen to become empress, probably by her new mother-in-law. The marriage took place on 5 June 830, in Hagia Sophia. Euphrosyne soon retired to a convent and Theodora remained the only Augusta.
Empress consort
Theodora as depicted in the Menologion of Basil II
The family of Theodora seems to have followed her to court. Her brothers became officials and her sisters married into the court aristocracy. During her own marriage she bore Theophilus five daughters and two sons, the younger of whom became the future Michael III.
Despite the fact that Theophilus was an iconoclast, Theodora held fast to the veneration of icons which she kept in her chambers in the imperial palace. One story holds that a servant witnessed her venerating her icons and reported her to the emperor. When her husband confronted her about the incident she stated that she had merely been "playing with dolls." Two of her icons are kept at the monastery of Vatopedi on Mount Athos to this day and are referred to as "Theodora's Dolls". They are displayed annually on the Sunday of Orthodoxy.
Theodora is said to have intervened to save Lazarus Zographos from further torture under her husband. Whether their opposing religious beliefs strained their relationship is unclear. Theophilus' health however eventually failed and he died on 20 January 842. He was about twenty-nine years old.
Regent
Gold solidus of Theodora's regency, with her on the obverse and her son Michael, the nominal emperor, and her daughter Thekla on the reverse.
Following the death of her husband, Theodora served as regent for her son Michael. She overrode Theophilus' ecclesiastical policy and summoned a council under the patriarch Methodius, in which the veneration, but not worship, of icons (images of Jesus Christ and the saints) was finally restored and the iconoclastic clergy deposed.
She carried on the government with a firm and judicious hand; she replenished the treasury and deterred the Bulgarians from an attempt at invasion. However, it was during her regency that a vigorous persecution of the Paulician heresy commenced.
In order to perpetuate her power she purposely neglected her son's education, and therefore must be held responsible for the voluptuous character which he developed under the influence of his uncle Bardas, who was Theodora's brother and likewise of Mamikonian heritage.[1]
Theodora endeavoured in vain to combat Bardas's authority; in 855 she was displaced from her regency at his prompting, and being subsequently convicted of intrigues against him was relegated to the monastery of Gastria. She died after his assassination at the hands of Basil I, thus witnessing the end of the dynasty she had worked so hard to preserve. She was sainted in recompense for her zeal on behalf of the restoration of icons as objects of veneration. Her feast day is February 11.
Zij is getrouwd met Theophilos van Byzantium.
Zij zijn getrouwd op 5 juni 830 te Hagia Sophia, Constantinopel, zij was toen 15 jaar oud.Bron 2
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