Theophano

Reference: 2331

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INDEX

Notes

Weis' "Ancestral Roots. . ." (147:20) states : "Moriarity mms. at NEHGS pp.

88-89, cites Benrath, "Wer war die Kaiserin Theophano" (1939), shows

THEOPHANA prob. dau. of LEO POHOCAS, son of SOPHIA PHOKAS by her

husb. CONSTANTIN SKLEROS, brother of MARIE, 1st wife of the BASILEUS

JOHN TSIMICES.

"Andrew S. Kalinkin" posted to

GEN-MEDIEVAL-L-request@rootsweb.com on 01 Jan 1999

Subject: Re: Theophano, wife of Otto II of Germany:

. . . "I also would be interested in this Phocas hypothesis. Does AR give

any source to it? And if the same book dates this marriage 972, it is

even more interesting. Theoretically such marriage was possible in

963-969, during the reign of Nicephorus II, but in 972? What was the

point for Otto to marry his son to a daughter of defeated and convicted

rebel?"

"Colonial & Revolutionary Lineages in America" shows her as the dau. of

the Emporer ROMANUS II and his wife THEOPHANA.

Todd A. Farmerie posted to the GEN-MEDIEVAL

Internet mailing list on 22 Jan 1996 : ". . .The data is ambiguous, and

these represent two different possible solutions to the problem. Brook

accepts her as daughter of Romanus (the nomenclature is deceptive, the

Byzantines not being very original when it came to female names), but I

don't know that a contemporary source calls her anything more than

niece of John Tsimices, who also married a sister of Romanus if I recall

correctly. Considering that there are other instances of Byzantine

'princesses' of less than clear parentage, I don't know that the question

can definitively be answered, and I would not be too quick to accept the

simple Romanus solution. There are similarities to the Comnena

princess married to William of Montpellier and the Monomacha married

to Mstislav Harold of Kiev, where they have traditionally been called

daughters of Michael Comnenus and Constantine Monomachus

respectively, but turn out to have been female relatives of indeterminant

closeness."

rgbor@cyllene.uwa.edu.au (Richard Borthwick) posted to

GEN-MEDIEVAL-L@rootsweb.com on 1 Jan 1999

Subject: Re: Theophano, wife of Otto II of Germany:

. "Nikephoros II would be an unlikely candidate as a father for the

western empress Theophano. His habits were described as monk-like. No

Byzantine source I know of credits him with porphyrogenetic offspring.

It is likely, however, that he was a great-uncle of Theophano. If Gunther

Wolf's arguments are seen as clinching the solution to Theophano's

origins, then she was the daughter of Konstantinos Skleros (brother of

the notorious Bardas) and Sophia Phokaina (who was daughter of Leon

Phokas and niece of Nikephoros II). A Davids has this to say about Wolf's

hypothesis: "There had been much discussion about her [Theophano's]

identity until Gunther Wolf firmly establishedthat she belonged to the

family of the Skleroi through her father Constantine, brother-in-law of

John Tzimiskes; Theophano's grandfather on her mother's side was a

brother of the emperor Nikephoros II Phokas. ..." (pp.107-108)

. The one explicit genealogical detail we know about Theophano (and

that from the best primary source!) is that in the imperial marriage

diploma of 14 Apr 972 she is described as the emperor John Tzimiskes'

"neptis" or niece. (John's first wife was Maria Skeraina, Theophano's

putative paternal aunt.) Given the prime western requirement that the

bride should be a porphyrogennete, if Th. had been the daughter

(porphyrogennete or otherwise) of an emperor the marriage diploma

would have proclaimed the fact (in addition to any relationship she may

have had to the reigning Byzantine emperor). Whatever one's position on

Wolf's hypothesis, one thing seems clear - Theophano was unlikely to be

a daughter of Romanos II or any other emperor."

Created by Sparrowhawk 1.0 (4/17/1996) on Wed Aug 27 01:31:15 2003

Theophano

Notes

Bartholowmew PARTRIDGE

Notes