- Agnes of France (Byzantine empress)
Agnes of France (1171 – after 1204) was a daughter of
Louis VII of France by his third wifeAdèle of Champagne .She was a younger half-sister of
Marie de Champagne ,Alix of France ,Marguerite of France andAlys, Countess of the Vexin . She was a younger full sister ofPhilip II of France .Her Betrothal and Marriage
In early 1178,
Philip, Count of Flanders visitedConstantinople on his way back from theHoly Land . TheEastern Roman Emperor Manuel I Komnenos , who had already entertained Louis VII in Constantinople at Christmas 1147 during theSecond Crusade , was perhaps finally convinced by Philip that France would be a desirable ally inWestern Europe . Over the winter of 1178-1179 an Imperial embassy accompanying Philip, and led by the GenoeseBaldovino Guercio , [Bernardo and Salem Maragone, "Annales Pisani " pp. 68-9 Gentile.] was sent to the French court to secure a match between Agnes and Alexios, the only son andheir apparent of Manuel by his second wifeMaria of Antioch . This or some similar marriage alliance had been favoured byPope Alexander III as early as 1171. [Letter of Alexander III to Archbishop Henry of Reims,28 February 1171 (Patrologia Latina vol. 200 column 783).]It was not uncommon for princesses, when a future marriage had been agreed, to be brought up in their intended husband's family; this, indeed, is why Agnes probably never met her elder sister Alys, who lived in the
Kingdom of England from the age of about nine, when her marriage to the futureRichard I of England was agreed on (though this marriage never took place). Agnes took ship inMontpellier , bound for Constantinople, at Easter 1179. AtGenoa the flotilla increased from 5 to 19 ships, captained by Baldovino Guercio. ["Annales Pisani"; Ottobono, "Annales Genuenses ", 1179.]On arrival in Constantinople in late summer 1179 Agnes was received with lavish festivities. She was greeted with an oration from Eustathios, former Master of the Rhetors and archbishop of Thessalonica. [W. Regel, "Fontes rerum byzantinicarum" (St Petersburg, 1892-1917) p. 84.] She was perhaps now presented with an elaborate volume of welcoming verses by an anonymous author, sometimes called the "Eisiterion".
According to
William of Tyre , Agnes was eight on her arrival at Constantinople, while Alexios was thirteen. William got Alexios's age wrong (he was born on14 September ,1169 ) [For references seeAlexios II Komnenos .] and there is no other source for Agnes's year of birth. If she was in fact eight, she was at least three years too young for marriage, according to most 12th century views. [For example,Irene Doukaina , wife toAlexios I Komnenos and paternal grandmother to Manuel, was twelve years old at her marriage in 1078.Theodora Komnene , niece of Manuel andQueen consort ofBaldwin III of Jerusalem , was thirteen years old at her marriage in 1158.Margaret of Hungary would marryIsaac II Angelos in 1185 when she was approximately ten years old, but this was an exceptional case, Isaac in 1185 being far from secure in his hold on power and having an urgent need for dynastic support.] However,William of Tyre , who was present at the ceremony, seems to describe it as a full wedding ("matrimonii legibus ... copulare"); in this he is followed by some other non-Byzantine sources and by many modern authors. [William of Tyre , "Historia Transmarina" 22.4;Roger of Howden , "Chronicle", year 1180.]The ceremony took place in the
Trullos Hall, in the Great Palace, on2 March ,1180 . Agnes was officially renamed Anna. Eustathios of Thessalonica produced a speech to celebrate the occasion, whose title in the manuscript is "Oration on the Public Celebrations of the Betrothal of the Two Royal Children". [Madrid MS Esc. Gr. 265 [Y.II.10] fols 368-372 (as described in G. de Andrés, "Catálogo de los códices griegos de la Real Biblioteca de El Escorial" Vol. 2 [Madrid, 1965] pp. 120-131).] This ceremony came approximately one month after the wedding of Alexios's half-sister Maria Porphyrogenita toRenier of Montferrat , conducted by the Patriarch of Constantinople, Theodosios.On
September 24 ,1180 , Manuel died and Alexios succeeded him as Emperor. He was too young to rule unaided; his mother, Maria of Antioch, exercised more influence in affairs of state than Alexios or Anna.In 1183 Maria of Antioch was dispaced by a new
power behind the throne ,Andronikos I Komnenos . Andronikos was a first cousin of Manuel and was known to have harbored imperial ambitions for himself. He is believed to have arranged the deaths by poisoning of Maria Porphyrogenita and her husband Renier; he certainly imprisoned, and soon afterwards executed, Maria of Antioch. [For details, with references to sources, seeMaria of Antioch .] Andronikos was crowned co-ruler with Alexios; then, in October of the same year, he had Alexios strangled. Anna was now 12, and the approximately 65-year-old Andronikos married her.Andronikos had previously been married (his first wife's name is unknown). He had had sexual relationships with two nieces (Eudokia Komnene and
Theodora Komnene ) and with Philippa of Antioch. Philippa was a daughter ofConstance of Antioch and her first husband and consort Raymond of Poitiers; she was also a sister ofMaria of Antioch and thus maternal aunt of Alexios. Andronikos had two sons by his first wife; he also had a young son and daughter from his affair with Theodora. His eldest son, Manuel already had a son of his own, the future Alexios I of Trebizond.Anna was Empress consort for two years, until the deposition of Andronikos in September 1185. In an attempt to escape the popular uprising that ended his rule, Andronikos fled from Constantinople with Anna and his mistress (known only as "Maraptike"). They reached Chele, a fortress on the
Bithynia n coast of theBlack Sea , where they tried to take ship for theCrimea . Their ship was prevented from sailing by contrary winds. Andronikos was eventually captured and returned to the capital, [Niketas Choniates , "Histories" p. 347 van Dieten.] where he was tortured and killed onSeptember 12 ,1185 .Her later life
Anna survived his fall and is next heard of in 1193, when she is said by a Western chronicler to have become the lover of
Theodore Branas , [Alberic of Trois-Fontaines , "Chronicle" 1193.] a military leader who fought on the Empire's northern frontier. They did not at first marry, perhaps because by marrying a commoner she would have lost her dowry.They remained together and eventually married, at the urging of the Latin emperor
Baldwin I of Constantinople , in summer 1204. [Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, "Chronicle" 1204. According to the Crusade memoir of Robert of Clari they were already married; however, Alberic's information appears more soundly based.] Theodore Branas continued to fight for theLatin Empire , and is last heard of in 1219, by which time Agnes has already disappeared from the historical record. They had at least one daughter, who married Narjot de Toucy. [Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, "Chronicle" 1205 and 1235.]Agnes of France in historical legend and in modern fiction
The crusader
Robert of Clari , writing only 25 years after the event, is clear about the rich entourage that accompanied Agnes to Constantinople::then the king arrayed his sister very richly and sent her with the messengers to Constantinople, and many of his people with her ... When they were come, the emperor did very great honor to the damsel and made great rejoicing over her and her people ...
Robert then betrays his ignorance of a period which for him was already legendary in attributing the embassy to Agnes's brother,
Philip II of France . In fact Philip did not succeed to the French throne until18 September ,1180 .Agnes is the subject of the historical novel "Agnes of France" (1980) by Greek writer
Kostas Kyriazis (1920 - ). The novel describes the events of the reigns of Manuel, Alexios and Andronikos through her eyes. She is also part of the cast of thesequel s "Fourth Crusade " (1981) and "Henry of Hainaut" (1984). All three have been in print inGreece since their first edition.Notes
ources
*
Nicetas Choniates , "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).Bibliography
* Cartellieri, Alexander. "Philipp II. August, König von Frankreich". Vols 1-2. Leipzig: Dyksche Buchhandlung, 1899-1906.
* Magdalino, Paul. "The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos". 2002.
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