Bertha of Sulzbach
Bertha of Sulzbach | |
---|---|
Byzantine Empress Consort | |
Tenure | 1146 - 1159 |
Born | c. 1110s Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Hesse, Holy Roman Empire |
Died | 1159 Constantinople, Byzantine Empire |
Spouse | Manuel I Komnenos (m. 1146-1159) |
Issue | Maria Komnene Anna Komnene |
Father | Berengar II of Sulzbach |
Mother | Adelheid of Wolfratshausen |
Bertha of Sulzbach[a] (1110s – 1159), also known as Irene, was a Byzantine empress by marriage to Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos.
Life
She was born in Sulzbach, a daughter of Berengar II, Count of Sulzbach (c. 1080 – 3 December 1125) and his second spouse Adelheid of Wolfratshausen.[1] He was one of the rulers who signed the Concordat of Worms.
Empress
Emissaries of the Byzantine emperor John II Komnenos arrived in Germany, seeking an alliance against Roger II of Sicily. To seal the alliance, the emissaries requested that Conrad send a princess of his family to be married to the emperor's son, Manuel. Instead, Conrad selected his sister-in-law, Bertha,[2] and after legally adopting her as his daughter,[3] sent her to the Byzantine Empire escorted by Emicho von Leiningen, the Bishop of Würzburg.
By the time Bertha arrived at the Imperial court in Constantinople, the emperor John was dead, and his son Manuel was now the reigning emperor. Manuel delayed marrying her for three years, until shortly after Epiphany 1146, at which point she became empress and was renamed "Irene/Eireni" (Εἰρήνη),[3] a common name for foreign-born princesses. As an introduction for her to the Hellenic culture she was marrying into, John Tzetzes wrote his Allegories on the Iliad.
Bertha-Irene was noted for shunning the frivolity of the luxurious Byzantine court; Basil of Ochrid, the archbishop of Thessalonica, praised her for her modesty and piety, and Nicetas Choniates (53sq.) noted that she did not wear face-paint. The patriarch of Constantinople, Cosmas II Atticus, who had been accused of heresy, allegedly cursed Bertha-Ireneʻs womb in 1147 to prevent her bearing a son.
Bertha-Irene died in Constantinople in 1159.[4] Her husband Manuel was described as "roaring like a lion" in grief at her death, despite his infidelities during her lifetime. He remarried, in 1161, to Maria of Antioch.
Issue
She and Manuel had two daughters:
- Maria Comnena (1152–1182), who married Renier of Montferrat[5]
- Anna Comnena (1154–1158)[6]
Notes
- ^ In German: Bertha von Sulzbach; In Greek Βέρθα του Ζούλτσμπαχ, Bertha tou Zoultsbach
References
- ^ Chalandon 1923, p. 360.
- ^ Magdalino 1993, p. 38.
- ^ a b Freed 2016, p. 48.
- ^ Hodgson 2007, p. 88.
- ^ Magdalino 1993, p. table 1.
- ^ Magdalino 1993, p. 243.
Sources
- Chalandon, Ferdinand (1923). "The Later Comneni". In Tanner, J.R.; Previte-Orton, C.W.; Brooke, Z.N. (eds.). The Cambridge Medieval History:The Eastern Roman Empire. Vol. IV. The Macmillan Company.
- Freed, John B. (2016). Frederick Barbarossa: The Prince and the Myth. Yale University Press.
- Hodgson, Natasha R. (2007). Women, Crusading and the Holy Land in Historical Narrative. The Boydell Press.
- Magdalino, Paul (1993). The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 1143-1180. Cambridge University Press.
- Otto of Freising, Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa
- Choniates, Nicetas, Historia, ed. J.-L. Van Dieten, 2 vols., Berlin and New York, 1975; trans. as O City of Byzantium, Annals of Niketas Choniates, by H.J. Magoulias, Detroit; Wayne State University Press, 1984.
- Garland, Lynda. Byzantine Empresses, 1999
- Garland, Lynda, & Stone, Andrew, "Bertha-Irene, first wife of Manuel I Comnenus", De Imperatoribus Romanis (external link)
Bertha of Sulzbach Born: 1110s Died: 1159 | ||
Royal titles | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by | Byzantine Empress consort 1146–1159 | Succeeded by |
- v
- t
- e
27 BC – AD 235
- Livia
- Livia Orestilla
- Lollia Paulina
- Milonia Caesonia
- Messalina
- Agrippina the Younger
- Claudia Octavia
- Poppaea Sabina
- Statilia Messalina
- Galeria Fundana
- Domitia Longina
- Pompeia Plotina
- Vibia Sabina
- Faustina the Elder
- Faustina the Younger
- Lucilla
- Bruttia Crispina
- Flavia Titiana
- Manlia Scantilla
- Julia Domna (w. Fulvia Plautilla)
- Julia Cornelia Paula
- Aquilia Severa
- Annia Faustina
- Sallustia Orbiana
235–285
284–610
- Prisca
- Eutropia
- Galeria Valeria
- Flavia Maximiana Theodora
- Minervina (?)
- Fausta
- Valeria Maximilla
- Flavia Julia Constantia
- Eusebia
- Faustina
- Helena
- Charito
- Marina Severa
- Justina
- Domnica
- Constantia
- Laeta
- Aelia Flaccilla
- Galla
Western Empire 395–480 | |
---|---|
Eastern Empire 395–610 |
|
Byzantine Empire
610–1453
- Fabia Eudokia
- Martina
- Gregoria
- Fausta
- Anastasia
- Eudokia
- Theodora of Khazaria
- Maria
- Tzitzak
- Maria
- Eudokia
- Anna
- Irene of Athens
- Maria of Amnia
- Theodote
- Theophano of Athens
- Prokopia
- Theodosia
- Thekla
- Euphrosyne
- Theodora
- Eudokia Dekapolitissa
- Eudokia Ingerina
- Theophano Martinakia
- Zoe Zaoutzaina
- Eudokia Baïana
- Zoe Karbonopsina
- Helena Lekapene
- Theodora
- Theophano
- Theodora
- Helena
- Zoë
- Theodora
- Catherine of Bulgaria
- Eudokia Makrembolitissa
- Maria of Alania
- Irene Doukaina
- Irene of Hungary (w. Dobrodeia of Kiev)
- Bertha of Sulzbach
- Maria of Antioch
- Agnes of France
- Margaret of Hungary
- Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamatera
- Eudokia Angelina
- Anna Komnene Angelina
- Philippa of Armenia
- Maria of Courtenay
- Irene Laskarina
- Anna of Hohenstaufen
- Elena Asenina of Bulgaria
- Theodora Palaiologina (w. Anna of Hungary)
- Irene of Montferrat
- Rita of Armenia
- Irene of Brunswick
- Anna of Savoy
- Helena Kantakouzene
- Irene Asanina (w. Irene Palaiologina)
- Keratsa of Bulgaria
- Irene Gattilusio
- Helena Dragaš (w. Anna of Moscow)
- Sophia of Montferrat
- Maria of Trebizond