BYZANTINEEMPRESSES, Women and Power in Byzantium,AD 527–1204
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loginThis work presents a series of biographical portraits of the most significantByzantine women who ruled or shared the throne between 527 and 1204.Its primary aim is to present and analyse the available historical data inorder to outline what these empresses did, what the sources thought theydid, and what they wanted to do. In this I am not breaking entirely newground: many of the empresses of this period were introduced to a widereadership through the magnificent essays of Charles Diehl in his two-volumework Figures byzantines. More recently Donald Nicol has constructeddefinitive biographies of ten women of the Palaiologue era in his ByzantineLady. Ninety years of scholarship have, however, passed since Diehl waswriting, and while the present work does not hope to compete with him inreadability, it does attempt to present the reader with the documentationthat he omitted as well as the interpretations of modern scholars. To thosewho have helped me in this task I would like to express my gratitude: inparticular to the staff at Dumbarton Oaks, where this work received its finaltouches, for their assistance; to Richard Stoneman for his patience; and tomy husband, as always, for his encouragement.
