Empress Theodora: A Holy Mother

Abstract

Empress Adelheid can legitimately be considered the most powerful ruling woman who lived between the reigns of Cleopatra of Egypt and Queen Elizabeth I of England. In the late tenth century, she ruled the Roman Empire alone on four separate occasions, independently of her emperor son and grandson. Her contemporaries called her consors regni; augusta praeclara , imperatrix augusta , and imperatores patres . Unusually for medieval ruling women, her maternal role was seen as equally important, as indicated by her other titles: imperatrix Adelheida, mater Mechtildis ; Adheleida mater Ottonum ; and matrem regnorum . Her main biographer, Abbot Odilo of Cluny, confirmed her governing and parental roles as of equivalent and complementary importance. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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