Jaquinta

Jaquinta (Serbo-Croatian: Jakvinta/Јаквинта; fl. 1081 – 1118) was an Italian noblewoman and queen consort of Dioclea. She is best known for her role in the Dioclean civil war, where she violently intervened in a succession crisis following the death of her husband, Constantine Bodin.

Jaquinta was the daughter of Archiriz (Argyrus), the Norman governor of Bari (in the County of Apulia and Calabria). The Dioclean king Michael I selected her as wife for his son Constantine Bodin, recently returned from captivity in Antioch, shortly after his coronation in 1077. According to the Annales Barenses, the two wed in April 1078, but the marriage may have taken place any time after. The union cemented the alliance between Dioclea and Norman Sicily against the Byzantine Empire. The couple's sons were Michael, George, Archiriz and Thomas.

Michael died in 1081 and was succeeded as king by Constantine. Queen Jaquinta was a "powerful force and significant influence"; the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja portrays her as the power behind the throne. She saw Michael's nephew Branislav as a threat to her husband and children. Her sons were young (less than 15 or 10 years of age) and thus in a weak position; Jaquinta feared that if Constantine died before they reached majority, Branislav would usurp the throne. She urged her husband to imprison him, and the opportunity was seized when Branislav arrived to the capital Skadar unattended with his brother and son. Branislav died soon after, but six of his brothers and six of his sons were still at liberty. They were granted asylum by the Republic of Ragusa. After Ragusa refused to expel them, Constantine started a siege of the city, during which a favourite of the queen was killed. Enraged, she convinced her husband to have Branislav's imprisoned brother and son beheaded before the city walls; church authorities eventually mediated peace, but Branislav's exiled family continued to seek revenge.

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