Empress Pulcheria

Pulcheria
Empress of the Byzantine Empire
Coin of Aelia Pulcheria
Reign	Augusta 414 – 450, 28 July 450 – July 453
Coronation	28 July 450
Predecessor	Aelia Eudocia
Successor	Verina
Born	19 January 398 or 399 Constantinople
Died	July 453 Probably Constantinople
Spouse	Marcian
Full name Aelia Pulcheria
House	House of Theodosius
Dynasty	Theodosian
Father	Arcadius
Mother	Aelia Eudoxia

St. Aelia Pulcheria /ˈiːliə pʌlˈkɪriə/ (19 January 398 or 399 – July 453) was the second (and oldest surviving) child of Eastern Roman Emperor Arcadius and Empress Aelia Eudoxia.

In 415, the fifteen-year old Pulcheria took over the reins of government as the guardian of her younger brother Theodosius II and was also proclaimed "Augusta" (Empress). Pulcheria had significant, though changing, political power during her brother's reign. When Theodosius II died on 26 July 450, Pulcheria provided a successor by marrying Marcian on 25 November 450, while simultaneously not violating her vow of virginity. She died three years later, in July 453.

Pulcheria greatly influenced the Christian Church and its theological development by guiding two of the most important ecumenical councils in ecclesiastical history, namely those of Ephesus and Chalcedon, in which the Church ruled on christological issues. The Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church subsequently recognized her as a saint.

Pulcheria was born into the royal House of Theodosius, a dynasty of the later Roman Empire, ruling in Constantinople. Her parents were Eastern Roman Emperor Arcadius and Empress Aelia Eudoxia. Pulcheria's older sister, Flaccilla, was born in 397 but probably died young. Her younger siblings were Arcadia (born in 400), Theodosius II, the future emperor (born in 401) and Marina (born in 401).