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From: David Hall < >
Subject: Re: EMPRESS THEOPHANO
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 1996 22:54:30 +1100


Since I first asked the question re the Empress Theophano, I
stumbled across two books just to confuse the issue. The
first book was called "The empress Theophano" edited by Adelbert
Davids. These were papers presented at a symposium in the
Netherlands in 1991, and the section that deals with the
parents of Theophano was presented by Professor Adelbert
Davids who is Professor of Patristics and the History
of the Early Church, University of Nijmegen.

"..After another embassy to the new emperor John Tzimiskes it was
finally a Theophano, hitherto unknown, who arrived in Italy
and was married to Otto 11 and crowned....This Theophano was not
a porphyrogennete. In the marriage charter (14 April 972) she is
called 'neptis clarissima' of the emperor; it is only in later
western sources that she is known as 'daughter of the emperor'.
There had been much discussion about her identity until Gunther
Wolf firmly established that she belonged to the family of the
Skleroi through her father Constantine, brother-in-law of John
Tzimiskes, and to the family of Phokades through her mother Sophia;
Maria Skleraina, sister of Theophano's father, had been
the first wife of John Tzimiskes; Theophano's grand-father
on her mother's side was a brother of the emperor Nikephoros
11 Phokas." There are many references listed for this section. If
anyone would like them just let me know.

Now a completely different approach. In "Byzantium: The Imperial
Centuries AD610-1071" Romilly Jenkins supports the view that
Theophano was the daughter of Romanus. He argues that Otto's
announcement of his marriage to the niece of John, rather than the
daughter of Romanus, is understandable given John's pre-eminence
at the time. Jenkins also dismisses the statement by the nearly
contemporary German chronicler Ditmar that when Theophano arrived
in Rome she was found to be not the "virgo desiderata" (the girl
they wanted) because he cannot believe for one moment that Otto
would have tolerated a substitute nor that John would have
attempted to play such a trick.

It is a very intricate dilemma!

Best wishes from Sydney, Australia

David Hall

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