Martina (* Μαρτίνα,; - , ) - Byzantine Empress , the second spouse of Emperor Heraclius I , was the daughter of his sister Mary [1] .
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Life Story
Occurred from the Armenian noble family. Daughter of Martin and Mary (daughter of Heraclius the Elder , Exarch of Africa ). Born about 595 years. According to various sources, she married her uncle, Emperor Heraclius, in 613 or 615, after Eudoxia , Heraclius's first wife, died in 612 from epilepsy. This marriage, according to the code adopted at the Council of Chalcedon and in accordance with the Code of Theodosius, was illegal; the clergy and the population of Constantinople opposed it. However, Patriarch Sergius I of Constantinople married Martin to the emperor. After that, she received the title of Augusta [2] .
The young wife had a considerable influence on the emperor, whom she accompanied in the 620s and 630s in military campaigns against Persia and the Arab Caliphate . Martina, due to pressure on her husband, forced him to refuse his eldest son Constantine III , as the successor to the throne. On July 4, 638, the 12-year-old Heraclius II , the youngest son of the emperor, was declared heir [2] .
February 11, 641 Emperor Heraclius died. From this point on, the widow of Martin became the regent of the empire under the minor emperor, although she was forced to share the board with Constantine III , who was declared co-ruler along with Heraclius II according to the will of the emperor Heraclius . Martina, according to the testament, was honored to be the empress and mother of both. May 25, 641 Constantine III died of tuberculosis. Rumors were spread in the city about the involvement of Martin in the death of the co-ruler [2] .
Before his death, Constantine III managed to appoint his 11-year-old son Constant II as co-regent, but Martina was forced by the Senate to recognize only Heraclius II as heir to the government. At the same time, under her influence, the Patriarch of Constantinople Pierre I resumed the Monothelitist policy [2] .
On September 14, 641, residents of the capital, at the instigation of the nobility and the Senate, rebelled against Martina and broke into the imperial palace. The Empress had her tongue pulled out, and her son, the co-ruler Heraclius II , had a nose, after which they were subjected to exile to the island of Rhodes . Here they soon either died or were killed. Thus, a revolution occurred in the empire, and power was transferred to Constant II , the minor son of Constantine III [2] .
Family
Spouse - Heraclius , the emperor
Martina and Heraclius had at least 10 children, but the data differs in sources and is not straightforward:
- Constantine (615-631)
- Fabius (616–631)
- Theodosius (622-640)
- Iraklon (d / n — 641), emperor
- David (630-641)
- Marin (632-641)
- Augustine (634 — d / n)
- Anastasia (636 — d / n)
- Fevronia
Of these, at least two were disabled , which was considered as a punishment for the illegality of marriage and could be a consequence of incest .
Notes
- ↑ Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire , Vol. 3
- 2 1 2 3 4 5 Roman Emperors - DIR Martina . www.roman-emperors.org. The appeal date is March 17, 2019.
Literature
- Lynda Garland . Byzantine Empresses. Women and power in Byzantium, AD 527-1204. Routledge, London / New York 1999, ISBN 0-415-14688-7 , S. 61-72
- Christian Settipani . Continuité des élites à Byzance durant les siècles obscurs. Les Princes caucasiens et l'Empire du vie au ixe siècle, 2006