The Byzantine Lady Ten Portraits, 12501500 [Paperback]

A lively collection of ten biographies of aristocratic women of the Byzantine empire in its final years.Some were ambitious mothers, others unhappy wives or nuns or scholars... A lively collection of ten concise illustrated biographies of aristocratic ladies of the Byzantine empire demonstrates the enterprise of Byzantine women in the male-dominated society of their time.Some were ambitious mothers, others unhappy wives or nuns or scholars... A lively collection of ten concise illustrated biographies of aristocratic ladies of the Byzantine empire demonstrates the enterprise of Byzantine women in the male-dominated society of their time.This is a lively collection of ten short, annotated and illustrated biographies of aristocratic ladies of the final years of the Byzantine empire. Some were ambitious mothers; others, unhappy wives; some were nuns or scholars; one became the wife of a Turkish sultan and the stepmother of a famous son; another the champion of the Greek refugees in Venice after the Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453. Their stories demonstrate the enterprise of some Byzantine women in the male-dominated society of their time.Introduction; 1. Helena Doukaina, Queen of the Two Sicilies, 12581266; 2. Thamar, Princess of Taranto 12941309; 3. Theodora Raoulaina, nun and scholar, c. 12401300; 4. Eirene Palaiologina (Yolanda of Montferrat), Empress, 1288/91317; 5. Eirene-Eulogia Choumnaina Palaiologina, princess and abbess, died c. 1355; 6. Eirene Asenina Cantucuzene, Empress, 13471354; 7. Anna of Savoy, regent and Empress, 1341c. 1365; 8. Anna Notaras Palaiologina, died 1507; 9. Mara Brankovic of Serbia, Sultanina, c. 14121476; 10. Helena Cantacuzene Kommene, Empress of Trebizond, died c. 1463.'& highly readable book.' The Times Higher Education Supplement'& construct[s] in vivid detail the history of the Paelaeologan epoch.' Anglo-Hellenic Review