Maria Skleraina (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Μαρία Σκλήραινα; died c. 1045 CE), often referred to as ''the Skleraina'', was the political adviser, official mistress, and potentially wife of the Byzantine Emperor

Constantine IX Monomachos Constantine IX Monomachos (; 980/ 1000 – 11 January 1055) reigned as Byzantine emperor from June 1042 to January 1055. Empress Zoë Porphyrogenita chose him as a husband and co-emperor in 1042, although he had been exiled for conspiring agai ...

. He controversially gave her the title of '' Sebastē''. Of the prominent

Skleros family The Skleros (; plural: Σκληροί, ''Skleroi''), latinized Sclerus, feminine form Skleraina (Σκλήραινα), Latinized Scleraena, was a noble Byzantine family active mostly in the 9th–11th centuries as members of the military aristo ...

, she was known for her charming appearance and character, and was possibly married to Constantine IX prior to his succession to the throne, but the marriage was not considered legal by the church. Constantine became emperor in 1042 by his marriage to empress

Zoë Porphyrogenita Zoe Porphyrogenita (also spelled Zoë; , "life"; 978 – 1050) was a member of the Macedonian dynasty who briefly reigned as Byzantine empress in 1042, alongside her sister Theodora. Before that she was enthroned as empress consort or emp ...

, who - being 20 years older than him, and marrying him for purposes of securing succession rather than childbearing - accepted his continued relationship with Maria Skleraina. Skleraina was not acknowledged as Constantine's wife but stayed at court officially as his mistress. She played an important role at court, acting as the political adviser of Constantine IX and benefitting the career of her brother Romanos Skleros. She was unpopular with the public. In March 1044, a riot broke out in Constantinople because the public feared that Constantine was planning to kill Zoe in order to marry Skleraina.

References

{{Reflist * Nicolas Oikonomidès: Byzantium from the Ninth Century to the Fourth Crusade: Studies, Texts, Monuments, Variorum, 1992 *

Lynda Garland Lynda Garland (born 13 October 1955) is a scholar and professor at the University of Queensland. Her research focuses on female images in the Late Antiquity period and Byzantine Society. Biography Professor Lynda Garland is currently the Hono ...

:
Byzantine Empresses: Women and Power in Byzantium AD 527-1204
', 1999

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

1045 deaths 11th-century Byzantine women 11th-century Byzantine people Royal mistresses Wives of Byzantine emperors Mistresses of Byzantine royalty