Maria of Alania

Early years

A daughter of the Georgian monarch Bagrat IV, Martha, at the age of 5 years, was sent as a hostage to Constantinople to ensure her father's good behavior and 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.

Empress of Michael VII Doukas

In 1065 she married the junior emperor Michael, a son of Constantine X Doukas, and became an empress when Michael became the senior emperor in 1071.

Maria's first 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.

Empress of Nikephoros III

Because Maria's first husband Michael was still alive, even as a monk, her marriage to the new emperor was considered adulterous by the Orthodox Church. The ceremony took place in 1078; a priest who refused to marry the couple was demoted, by order of Maria's prominent supporter John Doukas, and replaced with another priest who was more cooperative. As part of the marriage deal, Maria was promised that her son Constantine would be named an heir to the empire, but Nikephoros reneged on this promise at a later point. He otherwise treated Maria generously, granting her extensive lands and property and giving her brother, George II of Georgia, the title of Caesar, to acknowledge his close ties to the imperial family.

Second imperial coup

According to princess Anna Komnene, daughter of emperor Alexios Komnenos who was under care of Maria, despite all the influence the empress wielded at the court, she remained dissatisfied with Nikephoros' refusal to name her son Constantine as an heir: "[Nikephoros] 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". 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.

Reign of Alexios

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 commanded great wealth and owned the Mangana palace, as well as the Hebdomon Monastery, the burial place of Basil II. She was also patron of numerous literary figures, including Theophylact of Ohrid, future Archbishop of Bulgaria, and the Georgian neo-Platonist Ioane Petritsi.

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. 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.

Anna Komnene describes Maria's beauty in her medieval biographical text Alexiad. She writes about Maria the following:

Final years

After Maria's 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. Maria was also an influence for Komnenian women who were impressed by her past political involvement and charitable work.

References

Sources

• Lynda Garland, Byzantine Empresses: Women and Power in Byzantium AD 527–1204, first edition (1999), Routledge, , pages 180–186
• Lynda Garland (2006), Byzantine Women: Varieties of Experience, 800–1200 p. 91–124,
• J. M. Hussey, editor, The Cambridge Medieval History, Volume IV The Byzantine Empire, Part 1 Byzantium and Its Neighbours (Bentley House, 200 Euston Road, London: The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press, 1966), p. 793

References

1. Maria's mother was [[Borena of Alania]], the second wife of Bagrat of Georgia, although she herself was from [[Georgia (country). Georgia]].
2. On a list of commemorations given to prominent Georgians at the 1103 Georgian ecclesiastic [[David the Builder#David.27s revival of the Georgian State. 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. "Mary 'of Alania': Woman and Empress Between Two Worlds" by Lynda Garland and Stephen Rapp from the book Byzantine Women: Varieties of Experience AD 800-1200
4. [[Alexiad]] 3.2.3–5 (Leib 1.107-8); [[Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger. Bryennius]], Historia, 253-5; Scylitzes Cont. 181; [[Zonaras]], Epitome, 3.722.
5. Grierson. ''Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection'', vol. 3.2 (Washington DC, 1973), 829
6. [[Scylitzes]] Cont. 177-8, 181–2; [[Zonaras]], Epitome, 3.722; Bryennius, Historia, 253-5;
7. 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.
8. Bryennius, Historia, 221 speaks of Anna's 'ancient hatred' towards the Caesar and his family; cf. Alexiad 3.2.1 (Leib 1.106).
9. [[Alexiad]] 2.4.6–7 (Leib 1.73-4)
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. [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/AnnaComnena-Alexiad03.asp Medieval Sourcebook: Anna Comnena: The Alexiad: Book III] ''The Accession of Alexius and Interfamily Power Struggles''
13. [[Kingdom of Georgia]] where she came from.
14. I. Dolidze, Kartuli samartlis dzeglebi, 126.
15. [[Zonaras]], Epitome, 3.761