Agnes of France, Byzantine Empress
| Agnes of France | |
|---|---|
| Byzantine Empress | |
| Tenure | 1180/83–1185 |
| Born | 1171 |
| Died | after 1204 |
| Spouse |
Alexios II Komnenos Andronikos I Komnenos Theodore Branas |
| Issue | Wife of Narjot de Toucy |
| House | Capet |
| Father | Louis VII of France |
| Mother | Adèle of Champagne |
Agnes of France, renamed Anna (1171 – after 1204) was a Byzantine Empress by marriage to two Byzantine emperors, Alexios II Komnenos and Andronikos I Komnenos. She was a daughter of Louis VII of France by his third spouse Adèle of Champagne.
In early 1178, Philip, Count of Flanders visited Constantinople on his way back from the Holy Land. The Eastern Roman Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, who had already entertained Louis VII in Constantinople at Christmas 1147 during the Second Crusade, was perhaps finally convinced by Philip that France would be a desirable ally in Western Europe. Over the winter of 1178-1179 an Imperial embassy accompanying Philip, and led by the Genoese Baldovino Guercio, was sent to the French court to secure a match between Agnes and Alexios, the only son and heir apparent of Manuel by his second wife Maria of Antioch. This or some similar marriage alliance had been favored by Pope Alexander III as early as 1171.
It was not uncommon for princesses, when a future marriage had been agreed, to be brought up in their intended husband's family; this, indeed, is why Agnes probably never met her elder sister Alys, who lived in the Kingdom of England from the age of about nine, when her marriage to the future Richard I of England was agreed on (though this marriage never took place). Agnes took ship in Montpellier, bound for Constantinople, at Easter 1179. At Genoa the flotilla increased from 5 to 19 ships, captained by Baldovino Guercio.
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