Constantina

560 – 605 · Generation XI · Empress

Constantina (AD 560 – 605). Empress. Married Maurice around AD 582. Daughter of Tiberius II Constantine and Ino Anastasia; wife of Maurice; executed c.605 under Phocas. Born Augusta, she took the name Constantina at her betrothal in August 582, when her dying father matched her with the general Maurice and her sister Charito with Germanus. Maurice succeeded within days, and the couple married that autumn, Constantina being proclaimed augusta alongside the dowager Sophia and her own mother. She bore nine children, among them Theodosius, said to be the first son born to a reigning emperor since 401. In 601 an Easter crown that she and Sophia gave Maurice, which he hung over the altar of Hagia Sophia, caused a rift in the marriage. When mutiny toppled Maurice in 602, he and five of their sons were executed at Chalcedon, but she was spared. Exiled with her daughters to a monastery, she was later caught plotting with Germanus against Phocas, tortured, and put to death with all three girls.

Parents

Tiberius II (535 – 582)
Ino (520 – ?)

Partners

Married Maurice (539 – 602) in 582 — one child together

Children

Theodosius (583 – 602)

Life

560 — Born
582 — Married Maurice
605 — Died