Eudokia Makrembolitissa
2nd wife of the East Roman (Byzantine) emperor Constantine X Doukas
1021 CE to 1096 CE
Eudokia Makrembolitissa (or Eudocia Macrembolitissa (c.1021 – 1096) is the second wife of the Byzantine emperor Constantine X Doukas.
After his death in 1067 she acts as regent.
She marries Romanos IV Diogenes in 1068 and he becomes her co-emperor.
She is also the niece of Michael Keroularios, Patriarch of Constantinople, whose sister had married John Makrembolites.
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Constantine, already old and unhealthy when he came to power, dies on May 22, 1067.
His final act had been to demand that only his sons succeed him, forcing his wife Eudokia Makrembolitissa to take a vow not to remarry.
Eudokia, the daughter of John Macrembolites and niece of the late Patriarch Michael Cerularius, is confirmed as regent for their sons Michael VII and Konstantios, along with Constantine's brother, the Caesar John Doukas.
Michael VII is just old enough to rule on his own, but nevertheless is considered co-emperor with his younger brother, while Eudokia runs the administration of the empire, wisely and moderately and personally taking charge of the education of the heir apparent.
The emergency lends weight to the military aristocracy in Anatolia who, on January 1, 1068, finally secure the election of one of their own number, the Cappadocian Romanos Diogenes, as emperor.
As Emperor Romanos IV, he marries the widowed Empress Mother Eudokia Makrembolitissa later in the year.
John Doukas, after serving as a counselor and supporter of his brother, had come to the fore after his brother's death in 1067 as the natural protector of the rights of his nephew Michael VII Doukas.
His position as Caesar and his family’s influence in the Senate means that he is behind the opposition of the court officials to the Empress and her marriage to Romanos.
Romanos' captivity gives John the opportunity to return to court at the request of Eudokia Makrembolitissa.
Joining forces with Michael Psellos, the Caesar makes the Empress share power with her son, and then forces her to become a nun and retire from court affairs in October 1071.
He soon becomes the de facto head of the Government in the name of Michael VII, ordering the empire not to acknowledge Romanos as emperor, declaring that Romanos had been elevated to the throne to act for Michael, who is now able to administer the empire.
Alp-Arslan's goal is not to destroy the Empire: he is content with the rectification of boundaries, the promise of tribute, and an alliance.
He allows Romanos to buy his freedom after signing a treaty.
The Caesar sends his sons Andronikos and Constantine to capture Romanos IV, who had been released from captivity, and thus ensures the sole rule of his nephew Michael VII.
John Doukas initially agrees to allow Romanos to resign the purple and retire to a monastery, but his hatred of Romanos is so great that he reneges on the agreement and orders that Romanos be blinded and exiled to the island of Prote in the Sea of Marmara, sending him a mocking message congratulating him on the loss of his eyes as he lies dying from the infected wound.
With the elimination of Romanos, John and Michael Psellos are supreme at court.
Andronikos Doukas, son of the Caesar John Doukas and Eirene Pegonitissa, is a nephew of the late Emperor Constantine X Doukas.
Andronikos himself is a first cousin of Michael VII Doukas.
In 1071.
Andronikos had commanded a section of the imperial army in the campaign of Romanos IV Diogenes against the Seljuq Turks of Alp Arslan.
Commanding the rearguard of the army during the Battle of Manzikert, Andronikos had announced that the emperor had been cut down and deserted from the battlefield.
He is widely blamed for causing the crushing defeat of the imperial forces and the subsequent capture of Romanos IV by the enemy.
After Romanos had been released by Alp Arslan, Andronikos and his brother Constantine had been sent outin 1072 by Michael VII and their father the Caesar John to intercept him.
They had defeated Romanos and hunted him down in Cilicia.
It was Andronikos who had finally obtains Romanos' surrender and conducted him towards Constantinople, having stipulated that the life of the Emperor will be spared if he resigns the purple and retired into a monastery.
Romanos had agreed, and this agreement had been ratified at Constantinople.
However, John Doukas had reneged on the agreement and had sent men to have Romanos cruelly blinded on June 29, 1072, before sending him into exile to the Monastery of the Transfiguration in the Sea of Marmara.
In spite of his former hatred for the deposed emperor, Andronikos is said to have opposed his blinding.
Without medical assistance, his wound becomes infected, and he soon endures a painfully lingering death.
The final insult is delivered a few days before his death, when Romanos receives a letter from Michael Psellos, congratulating him on the loss of his eyes.
He finally dies in misery on August 4, 1072, praying for the forgiveness of his sins.
His wife Eudokia is permitted to honor his remains with a magnificent funeral.
Andonikos Doukas is recorded in an act of 1073, with his titles as protoproedros, protovestiarios and megas domestikos, which Michael Attaleiates clarifies as being the post of domestikos ton scholon of the East, which he had been given when sent against Diogenes.
Together with his father, Andronikos commands the imperial army in 1074 against the rebel mercenaries led by Roussel de Bailleul.
Both are captured by the rebels, who release the badly wounded Andronikos to allow him to seek proper medical treatment in Constantinople.
Here he recovers for a few years, but will die of an edema in October 1077.