Bertha of Sulzbach
| Bertha of Sulzbach | |
|---|---|
| Byzantine Empress Consort | |
| Tenure | 1146 - 1159 |
| Born | c. 1110s Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Hesse, Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 1159 Constantinople, Byzantine Empire |
| Spouse | Manuel I Komnenos (m. 1146-1159) |
| Issue | Maria Komnene Anna Komnene |
| Father | Berengar II of Sulzbach |
| Mother | Adelheid of Wolfratshausen |
Bertha of SulzbachByzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos.
Life
She was born in
Berengar II, Count of Sulzbach (c. 1080 – 3 December 1125) and his second spouse Adelheid of Wolfratshausen.[1] He was one of the rulers who signed the Concordat of Worms
.
Empress
Emissaries of the
Bishop of Würzburg
.
By the time Bertha arrived at the Imperial court in
Epiphany 1146, at which point she became empress and was renamed "Irene/Eireni" (Εἰρήνη),[3] a common name for foreign-born princesses. As an introduction for her to the Hellenic culture she was marrying into, John Tzetzes wrote his Allegories on the Iliad
.
Bertha-Irene was noted for shunning the frivolity of the luxurious Byzantine court;
patriarch of Constantinople, Cosmas II Atticus
, who had been accused of heresy, allegedly cursed Bertha-Ireneʻs womb in 1147 to prevent her bearing a son.
Bertha-Irene died in Constantinople in 1159.[4] Her husband Manuel was described as "roaring like a lion" in grief at her death, despite his infidelities during her lifetime. He remarried, in 1161, to Maria of Antioch.
Issue
She and Manuel had two daughters:
- Maria Comnena (1152–1182), who married Renier of Montferrat[5]
- Anna Comnena (1154–1158)[6]
Notes
- ^ In German: Bertha von Sulzbach; In Greek Βέρθα του Ζούλτσμπαχ, Bertha tou Zoultsbach
References
- ^ Chalandon 1923, p. 360.
- ^ Magdalino 1993, p. 38.
- ^ a b Freed 2016, p. 48.
- ^ Hodgson 2007, p. 88.
- ^ Magdalino 1993, p. table 1.
- ^ Magdalino 1993, p. 243.
Sources
- Chalandon, Ferdinand (1923). "The Later Comneni". In Tanner, J.R.; Previte-Orton, C.W.; Brooke, Z.N. (eds.). The Cambridge Medieval History:The Eastern Roman Empire. Vol. IV. The Macmillan Company.
- Freed, John B. (2016). Frederick Barbarossa: The Prince and the Myth. Yale University Press.
- Hodgson, Natasha R. (2007). Women, Crusading and the Holy Land in Historical Narrative. The Boydell Press.
- Magdalino, Paul (1993). The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 1143-1180. Cambridge University Press.
- Otto of Freising, Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa
- Choniates, Nicetas, Historia, ed. J.-L. Van Dieten, 2 vols., Berlin and New York, 1975; trans. as O City of Byzantium, Annals of Niketas Choniates, by H.J. Magoulias, Detroit; Wayne State University Press, 1984.
- Garland, Lynda. Byzantine Empresses, 1999
- Garland, Lynda, & Stone, Andrew, "Bertha-Irene, first wife of Manuel I Comnenus", De Imperatoribus Romanis (external link)
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