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The father-in-law is said not to have been very happy at first.

Because the perhaps 17-year-old woman who was introduced to him as the bride for his son did not correspond to his ideas at all, at least in one central point.

Theophanu (approx. 955–991) was a Byzantine princess, but not one who was born “in the purple”, that is, as the daughter of the emperor in the palace in Constantinople, but she was only a distant niece of the emperor Johannes I. Tzimiskes.

But Otto the Great, King of the East Franconian Empire and Emperor of the West since 962, wanted to finally catch up with this.

For years he had negotiated with Ostrom, had been held back again and again, so that there had even been fights.

Only a change of power on the Bosporus brought the breakthrough, not least because of the advance of a common enemy, the Saracens.

The wedding of Otto's son of the same name and a “purple-born” princess should document the recognition of the Western Empire by Byzantium.

But Theophanu, whom Otto's negotiator had brought to Rome from Constantinople, could not serve this purpose.

Otto II and Theophanu, ivory relief (around 982/983)

Source: picture alliance / akg-images

Otto's entourage therefore advised to send the lady back immediately.

But the emperor was a real politician enough to put on a good face at the Byzantine game, and he was planning the wedding.

Otto (II.) And Theophanu were on April 14, 972 by Pope John XIII.

married in St. Peter's Church in Rome and even raised to the status of “partner in the empire”.

And the greats of the country from which the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation was to emerge formed the festival society.

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There were good reasons for Otto to get over the ruse of the Eastern Roman colleague.

The south of his empire, which bordered Byzantine southern Italy, was secured, as was his status as the new emperor.

And the graceful, highly educated princess, influenced by the exquisite culture of Byzantium, is likely to have appealed to virile instincts in the 59-year-old emperor.

His 17-year-old son was apparently just as enthusiastic about his wife.

Their relationship is described - unusual for the time - as good to cordial.

Not least five children testify to it.

Empress Theodora with entourage on the famous mosaic in San Vitale

Source: Universal Images Group via Getty

On the way back, the imperial family stopped in Ravenna.

In late antiquity the city was the capital of the Roman Empire and later the seat of a Byzantine governor.

In the church of San Vitale, Theophanu may have admired the mosaic of the most famous empress of Byzantium, Theodora (approx. 500–548), who on the side of Justinian I had restored the empire to its former size.

The great role model was possibly in mind when in 983 she was given the thankless task of securing the crown for her three-year-old son Otto (III).

Because her husband had died in Rome after a catastrophic campaign against the Saracens.

And in the “German” empire Heinrich “the brawler” registered claims to the throne.

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Theophanu cleverly succeeded in eliminating her power-conscious mother-in-law Adelheid and her sister-in-law Mathilde, the abbess of Quedlinburg, in the struggle for regency.

In the office she showed prudence and skill.

She was able to keep the losses in the great Slav uprising within limits and even pave the way for her son to be crowned emperor by traveling to Italy by presenting herself as "Emperor Augustus".

Shortly after her return, she died in Nijmegen in June 991.

The princess from Greece went down in history as one of the greatest Roman-German empresses.

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