Zoe
978 – 1050 · Generation XXVI · Empress (r. 1042)
Zoe (AD 978 – 1050). Empress (r. 1042). Married Romanos around AD 1028. Married Michael around AD 1034. Married Constantine around AD 1042. Daughter of Constantine VIII; married Romanos III, then Michael IV, then Constantine IX; adopted Michael V. A match with the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III was planned for her in 996 and came to nothing, and Zoe passed decades in the palace before dynasty required her: her father, without sons, wed her to Romanos Argyros when she was fifty, and she took the throne the next day at his death. When Michael V, the nephew she had adopted, dared to exile her, Constantinople rose, dethroned him, and installed Zoe and her sister Theodora as joint empresses; after two months her third marriage passed the working of power to Constantine IX, though she remained empress and heir of her line. Her years on the throne saw the Roman army decline and the first Turkish incursions into eastern Anatolia.
Line of descent: Basil I → Leo VI → Constantine VII → Romanos II → Constantine VIII → Zoe.
Parents
- Constantine VIII (960 – 1028)
Siblings
- Theodora III (980 – 1056)
Partners
- Married Romanos III Argyros (968 – 1034) in 1028
- Married Michael IV (1010 – 1041) in 1034
- Married Constantine IX Monomachos (1000 – 1055) in 1042
Life
- 978 — Born
- 1028 — Married Romanos
- 1034 — Married Michael
- 1042 — Married Constantine
- 1050 — Died