Eudokia, wife of Constantine V
| Eudokia | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Byzantine empress | |||||
| Born | 8th century | ||||
| Died | 8th century | ||||
| Spouse | Constantine V | ||||
| Issue | Nikephoros, Christopher, Niketas, Anthimos, Evdokimos, Saint Anthousa the Younger | ||||
|
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| Dynasty | Isaurian Dynasty | ||||
| Full name | |
|---|---|
| Eudokia |
Eudokia was the third Empress consort of Constantine V of the Byzantine Empire. According to the chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor, Eudokia was a sister-in-law of Michael Melissenos, strategos of the Anatolikon Theme. Her sister and brother-in-law were parents to Patriarch Theodotos I of Constantinople.
Constantine V was Emperor since 741. His first wife Tzitzak gave birth to their only known son, Leo IV the Khazar, on 25 January 750. There is no further mention of her and by the following year, Constantine was already married to his second wife Maria. Lynda Garland has suggested Tzitzak died in childbirth.
Maria died childless not long after her own marriage. Though the year of the marriage of Constantine and Eudokia is not known, it can be placed between late 751 and 769. According to Theophanes, in April 1, 769 Constantine named her an Augusta. The following day two of her sons were named Caesars and a third made nobilissimus, which would place the ceremony several years following their marriage.
Theophanes points out the existence of a thrice-married emperor as unusual. On the occasion of the marriage of Leo VI the Wise to his own third wife Eudokia Baïana in 899, George Alexandrovič Ostrogorsky points that a third marriage was technically illegal under Byzantine law and against the practices of the Eastern Orthodox Church at the time. This would presumably also affect the legality of Eudokia's marriage.
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