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Catherine of Bulgaria

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Byzantine empress from 1057 to 1059
Catherine
Augusta
Byzantine Empress consort
Tenure1057–1059
SpouseIsaac I Komnenos
FatherIvan Vladislav of Bulgaria
MotherMaria

Catherine of Bulgaria (Church Slavonic: Єкатерїна, Greek: Αἰκατερίνη, romanizedAikaterini, Bulgarian: Екатерина, romanizedEkaterina; died after 1059) was empress consort to Byzantine emperor Isaac I Komnenos and co-regent of Constantine X for a period after the abdication of her spouse in 1059. She was a daughter of Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria and his wife Maria, and thus a sister of Presian and Alusian. Catherine was also a paternal aunt of Maria of Bulgaria.

Life

Catherine was a daughter of Ivan Vladislav (reigned 1015–18), the last Tsar of Bulgaria. She married the general Isaac Komnenos. After he became emperor in 1057, Isaac raised her to Augusta.

Isaac abdicated the throne on November 22, 1059. He retired to the Stoudios Monastery and spent the remainder of his life, until his death in late 1060 or 1061, as a monk. Following her husband's abdication, she appears to have co-reigned for a while with Constantine X, but eventually she too retired to the Myrelaion monastery under the monastic name of Xene.

Family

Catherine had at least two children with Isaac:

  • Manuel Komnenos (ca. 1030 – 1042/57), probably the "son of Komnenos" recorded as having been engaged to the daughter of the protospatharios Helios. He died sometime between 1042 and 1057.
  • Maria Komnene (born ca. 1034), her beauty is remarked upon by Psellos, but she remained unmarried, and retired with her mother to the Myrelaion.

References

  1. ODB, "Aaronios" (A. Kazhdan), pp. 1–2; "Isaac I Komnenos" (C. M. Brand, A. Cutler), pp. 1011–1012.
  2. ^ ODB, "Isaac I Komnenos" (C. M. Brand, A. Cutler), pp. 1011–1012.
  3. Varzos 1984, p. 44.
  4. Varzos 1984, pp. 42–43.
  5. Varzos 1984, pp. 46–47.
  6. Varzos 1984, p. 47.
  7. Varzos 1984, p. 58.
  8. Varzos 1984, pp. 58–59.

Bibliography

External links

Catherine of Bulgaria Comitopuli dynastyBorn: 11th century Died: after 1059
Royal titles
Preceded byHelena Byzantine Empress consort
1057–1059
Succeeded byEudokia Makrembolitissa
Roman and Byzantine empresses
Principate
27 BC – AD 235
Crisis
235–285
Dominate
284–610
Western Empire
395–480
Eastern Empire
395–610
Eastern/
Byzantine Empire

610–1453
See also
Italics indicates a consort to a junior co-emperor, underlining indicates a consort to an emperor variously regarded as either legitimate or a usurper, and bold incidates an empress regnant.
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