Theodora III
980 – 1056 · Generation XXVI · Empress (r. 1055–1056)
Theodora (AD 980 – 1056). Empress (r. 1055–1056). Daughter of Constantine VIII; last sovereign of the Macedonian dynasty; never married. While her sister Zoe reigned with successive husbands, Theodora lived under watch in the palace; twice accused of conspiracy — once with a Bulgarian prince, once with the governor of Sirmium — she was shut up in the Petrion monastery in 1031 and made to take the veil. The uprising that toppled Michael V in 1042 dragged her from the cloister: a delegation exchanged her habit for imperial robes, and she was crowned alongside Zoe. Their uneasy partnership lasted barely two months before Zoe's marriage to Constantine IX passed the government to him. On Constantine's death in 1055 the aged Theodora, defying the courtiers who had schemed to pass her over, reclaimed the throne, purged her opponents, presided in person over the Senate, and governed alone until an intestinal illness killed her in 1056 — the last of the Macedonian line.
Line of descent: Basil I → Leo VI → Constantine VII → Romanos II → Constantine VIII → Theodora III.
Parents
- Constantine VIII (960 – 1028)
Siblings
- Zoe (978 – 1050)