This book focuses on the Byzantine court in Constantinople and the young females (aged fourteen or younger) who married into the royal and imperial households of Byzantium and medieval Europe to eventually become queens or empresses. Some married within their own culture, while many travelled hundreds of miles from their homes to encounter new customs, languages, and sometimes religion.

Covering the period from the tenth to the fifteenth centuries, this survey addresses a range of neglected areas of study: the crucial importance of children in society in general; the key responsibilities laid on girls and the vital roles of female children in building alliances; and the promotion of political and religious agendas. It addresses both history and art, with evidence drawn from historical sources, religious foundations, manuscripts, wall paintings, ivories, and metalwork.

List of Illustrations

Abbreviations

A Note on Spellings, Transliteration, and Names

Acknowledgements

Introduction. Child Brides, a Perspective

Chapter 1. Peacemakers, Underage Rulers, and Imperial Coups

Chapter 2. Mothers-in-Law and Unexpected Roles in the Holy Roman Empire and in Georgia

Chapter 3. Georgian and Byzantine Female Power in the Doukan and Komnenian Courts

Chapter 4. Queens of Jerusalem, and French and Hungarian Empresses

Chapter 5. A Palaiologan Court, Hungarian and Italian Brides, and a Serbian Sacrifice

Chapter 6. Aristocratic Rivalry, Interfaith Marriages, a Bulgarian Bride, and a Girl from Moscow

Conclusions

Appendix. A Note on the Sources

Bibliography

Index