Elusive Empress: Anna of Byzantium (Part One)
by She was left out of most historical accounts and had the misfortune of ending up on the losing end twice over. But she was one of the few women in history to be made an Empress by marriage twice. The historical traces of her are rare, and Wikipedia has her story mostly wrong in any language I am able to read.
Anna was born around 889 AD as a daughter of Emperor Leo VI Philosophos of Byzantium and Zoe Zautzina. The births of girls at the time were almost never recorded; even the year of birth has often to be deducted from contemporary or later sources. In Anna’s case it is possible (but not proven) that the year of her birth might have been as early as 884, but polite Byzantine court historians moved it to 889.
They were not being polite to Anna. The real problem was that in 884, Leo was still married to Empress Theophanu Martiniakissa, while Zoe officially moved into the palace in 889. This still made Anna illegitimate as Zoe was married to Leo as late as 898. But at least it made her birth seem ‘almost’ legal by a live in concubine. Even though she was not born porphyrogenita she would now be a valuable asset in a later marriage.
After defeating Emperor Berengar I, King Louis of Lower Burgundy was crowned King of Italy in 900 and the court at Constantinople decided that Louis would be the next Roman Emperor. Descended from the Carolingians and adopted by Emperor Charles the Fat, he was a sure bet. Probably in 900, he was married to Anna of Byzantium. The exact date for the marriage is again not known, but the birth of their son Charles Constantine in 903 made the books. In 901, Louis was crowned emperor of Rome. In 902, he was handed a crushing defeat by Berengar and had to retreat to his kingdom under oath never to return to Italy.
Let me regress: The date of the marriage must be between 900 and 902 as Louis would have been of no interest to Byzantium before his victory or after his defeat; normally, the Byzantine court did not give any princesses in marriage below the age of 16 except in exceptional circumstances; even in exceptional circumstances, they would at least be 14. 889 as a birth date for Anna is therefore unlikely.
Louis made a second attempt on Italy in 905; as the adopted son of Charles the Fat he was after all the rightful heir to the imperial crown. This turned out to be a bad decision. Again, he was defeated by Berengar; worse, he was taken captive and blinded. He then was sent back to Lower Burgundy while Count Hugo of Arles took over the government.
Of Anna’s time in Lower Burgundy almost nothing is known. Louis got married to Adelheid of Upper Burgundy in 914. Anna had just disappeared from the radar. There is no record of her death, no indication of a funeral or where she might be buried.
Related articles
King Louis The Blind and a Muddled Succession
The Machinations of Count Hugo of Arles (Part I)
The Machinations of Count Hugo of Arles (Part II)
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