Theofano (Empress of the Holy Roman Empire)

For a long time it was believed that Feofano was the daughter of the emperor of Byzantium (either Roman II and his wife Feofano , or Konstantin VII Bagryanorodny ). However, there is no mention of its “ porphyrogenicity ”. Most sources do not speak of its royal origin, and the annals of Monte Cassino speak of Feofano as the niece of Emperor John I of Tzimiskes ^[1] .

According to modern studies, Feofano's father was Konstantin Sklir ( Greek Κωνσταντίνος Σκληρός ), brother of the famous military leader Varda Sklir (d. 991), who rebelled several times against the emperor Vasily II the Bulgarian Slayer . Feofano's mother was Sophia Fokina ( Greek Σοφία Φώκαινα ), niece of Emperor Nicephorus II Foki . The sister of Konstantin Sklir, Maria Sklirena ( Greek Μαρία Σκλήραινα ) was the first wife of Emperor John I Tzimiskes, who, thus, turned out to be Feofano's uncle by marriage.

Nothing is known about her childhood. She received a good education, her contemporaries described her as a modest, beautiful, smart, eloquent and educated girl. ^[2] She was fluent, along with her native Greek , Latin , and later quickly learned German . She was a connoisseur of ancient masters, knew the work of poets and thinkers of her time.

Since 967, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I the Great negotiated with Byzantium the marriage of his son and heir, Otto II , crowned the emperor’s crown in the same year, with the Byzantine Princess Anna , daughter of Emperor Roman II. For this, Otto I was ready to return Byzantium to his subordinate Apulia . However, only after the assassination of Emperor Nicephorus II Foki in 969 did negotiations move forward. The new emperor, John I of Tzimiskes , was interested from internal political considerations in peace with Otto. As a result, in 972, the parties came to an agreement whereby Otto refused Apulia, but retained Benevento and Capua , for which his son was promised the hand of the Byzantine princess. However, she was not Anna ^[3] , but Feofano, the niece of John himself.

At the beginning of 972, Feofano, accompanied by a large retinue and with gifts from the Byzantine emperor, arrived in Puglia, from where, accompanied by a special embassy sent by Otto I to meet her, she was escorted to Rome, where the emperor’s court was at that time. April 14, 972 in the Cathedral of St. Peter Theophanos was married to Otton II by Pope John XIII , who also anointed and crowned her with the imperial crown.

During the reign of her husband, Feofano appeared in documents as his co-ruler (“ consors regni ” or “ coimperatrix ”). It is known that she constantly accompanied her husband on his campaigns and had a considerable influence on him.

After the death of her husband on December 7, 983, the new ruler of the empire was their young son, Otto III , who was crowned the royal crown in Aachen on Christmas Day 983 ^[4] . Since Feofano and the mother of Otto II, Adelheid , had not yet returned from Italy, the three-year-old king was temporarily transferred to the care of Archbishop Cologne Varin . Claims for custody of Otton were immediately claimed by several people, including the former Duke of Bavaria, Henry II the Grumpy , the closest male relative of Otton III ^[5] . Henry for the uprising against Otto II was deprived of his possessions and sent to Utrecht under the supervision of the bishop, but after the death of the emperor he freed himself and took the little king from Varin. Most nobles initially supported Heinrich, but after he was proclaimed king by his supporters on March 23, 984, a group of nobles was formed, led by Archbishop Mainz Willigiz . As a result of his efforts, with the support of the Saxon nobility, Otton III was transferred to his mother, Feofano, who returned from Italy.

Feofano, together with Adelheidu, began to manage the Empire. Adelheida was soon sent to Pavia, from where she administered the kingdom of Italy ^[6] . The main assistants to Feofano were Archbishop Willigiz, Archbishop of the Empire, and Hildebrand, Bishop of Worms and Chancellor.

In June 985, a final reconciliation was reached in Frankfurt with Heinrich, who received Bavaria back. After this, Feofano, accompanied by her son and a huge retinue, made a detour of the kingdom, having visited the Rhine region, Saxony and Bavaria.

In Easter of 986, in Quedlinburg, Feofano held a meeting of the nobility, which confirmed the royal rights of the six-year-old Otto. Then the coronation feast and, possibly, the “solemn coronation” took place.

Governing the kingdom on behalf of her son, Feofano pursued a prudent and successful policy, preventing the weakening of central authority due to Otton's infancy. She also managed to save Lorraine , which the kings of the West Frankish kingdom Lothar and Louis V Lazy tried to capture, but after their death in 987, peace was made with the new king, Hugo Capet . As a result of a trip to Italy in 989 - 990, she managed to get the local nobility to reckon with the dominance of her son, where his power was not initially taken seriously. To do this, in Rome, in which the power was in the hands of the Krescentsii family, and in the Ravenna archbishopric, she used the imperial rights, and in the documents she called the men's title “Emperor Augustus” (“ imperator augustus ”) ^[7] . According to historians, this journey was the climax of her reign.

But just a year after returning to Germany, on June 15, 991, Feofano died in Nimwegen . The management of the empire passed to Adelheide. Theofano was buried in the monastery church of St. Panteleimon in Cologne .

Husband: from April 14, 972 ( Rome , St. Peter's Basilica ) Otto II the Red ( 955 - December 7, 983 ), emperor of the Holy Roman Empire .

• Adelheid ( 977 - January 14, 1044 ), abbess in Quedlinburg since 999
• Sofia ( 978 - January 30, 1039 ), abbess in Handersheim since 1002 and Essen since 1011
• Matilda ( November 979 - November 4, 1025 ), husband: Ezzo ( May 955 - May 21, 1034 ), Palatinate of Lorraine
• Otto III ( 980 - 1002 ), emperor of the Holy Roman Empire since 983
• daughter ( 980 - until October 8, 980 ), twin sister of Otto III, who died in infancy.

• Balakin V.D. Creators of the Holy Roman Empire. - M .: Young Guard , 2004 .-- 356 p. - (The Life of Wonderful People : A Series of Biographies; Issue 1095 (895)). - 5,000 copies. - ISBN 5-235-02660-8 .
• Bulst Tile Maria Louise, Jordan Karl, Fleckenstein Joseph. The Holy Roman Empire: the era of formation / Per. with him. Drobinskaya K. L., Neborskaya L. N. edited by I. Ermachenko - St. Petersburg. : Eurasia, 2008 .-- 480 p. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-8071-0310-9 .
• Davids, Adelbert. The Empress Theophano: Byzantium and the West at the turn of the first millennium . - Cambridge University Press, 2002 .-- 344 p. - ISBN 0-521-52467-9 . (eng.)
• Hans K. Schulze. Die Heiratsurkunde der Kaiserin Theophanu: Die griechische Kaiserin und das römisch-deutsche Reich 972–991. - Hannover: Hahnsche Buchhandlung, 2007 .-- P. 119. - ISBN 978-3-7752-6124-1 . (German)

• Byzantium 395-1057: Theophano (English) . Foundation for Medieval Genealogy . Date of treatment December 21, 2011. Archived March 25, 2012.
• Theophano Sklerina (German) . Genealogie des Mittelalters . Date of treatment December 21, 2011. Archived March 25, 2012.