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Maria of Antioch (1145-1182) was the daughter of Constance of Antioch and her first husband Raymond of Poitiers. In 1160 Maria's step-father, Constance's second husband Raynald of Chatillon, was taken prisoner by Maj ad-Din, the emir of Aleppo and an ally of Nur ad-Din. Her mother claimed the Principality of Antioch for herself, but the nobles supported her son, Maria's brother Bohemund III. Baldwin III set Bohemund up as prince and appointed as regent the rich and wordly Aimery of Limoges, Latin Patriarch of Antioch and an old opponent of Raynald. Constance protested this decision in Constantinople at the court of the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus, the nominal overlord of Antioch. At the end of 1159, Manuel's wife Empress Irene (originally named Bertha of Sulzbach) had died, and Manuel wanted to marry a princess from one of the Crusader states. John Contostephanus, the chief dragoman (interpreter) Theophylact, and the acolouthos of the Varangian Guard Basil Camateros were sent to Jerusalem to seek a new wife, and the two princesses Maria of Antioch and Melisende of Tripoli, daughter of Raymond II of Tripoli and Hodierna of Tripoli, were offered as candidates. Both were renowned for their beauty, but according to John Cinnamus Maria was the more beautiful of the two; the tall, blonde-haired princess clearly showed her Norman ancestry. Baldwin suggested Melisende, and her brother Raymond III of Tripoli set about gathering an enormous dowry, with gifts from Hodierna and Melisende's namesake, her aunt Queen Melisende. The ambassadors were not satisfied and delayed the marriage for over a year; they had apparently heard rumours concerning Hodierna's infidelity and therefore Melisende's legitimacy. Instead, Manuel chose Maria. Raymond was insulted and in retaliation attacked Cyprus. Meanwhile, an imperial embassy led by Alexius Bryennius Comnenus and the prefect of Constantinople, John Camaterus, came to Antioch to negotiate the marriage. Maria embarked from the port of St. Simeon for Constantinople in September of 1161, and the marriage took place in Hagia Sophia on December 24. Three patriarchs performed the marriage: Luke Chrysoberges, Patriarch of Constantinople; Sophronius, Patriarch of Alexandria, and Athanasius, Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch. The marriage was celebrated with feasts, gifts to the church, and chariot races in the Hippodrome for the people. By this Antioch essentially became an imperial fief. The marriage also strengthened the position of her mother Constance, who now held the regency of Antioch. According to Nicetas Choniates, Maria "...was like unto the laughter-loving, golden Aphrodite, the white-armed and ox-eyed Hera, the long-necked and beautiful ankled Laconian, whom the ancients deified for their beauty, and all the rest of the beauties whose good looks have been preserved in distinguished books and histories." Maria seems to have played some role in the political and diplomatic life of Constantinople. She could understand ambassadors from the west, and according to Choniates, she discovered the treachery of dragoman Aaron Isaakios, who told some western ambassadors not to give in to the emperor's demands. Manuel later had Isaakios blinded. In 1169 Maria gave birth to a son, the future emperor Alexius. After the death of Manuel in 1180 Maria officially became a nun with the name "Xena," but in reality she acted as regent for their son Alexius. Despite being a nun she had many ambitious suitors, but she chose another Alexius, the protosebastos and protovestiarios, nephew of Manuel and uncle of Maria Comnena, former queen of Jerusalem, as an advisor and lover, causing a scandal among the Greek population. As a Westerner who favoured the Italian merchants, Maria was opposed by the Greeks, and her regency was widely considered incompetent. The leaders of the opposition were Maria Porphyrogenita, Manuel and Bertha's daughter, and her husband Renier of Montferrat, though himself a fellow Latin. Maria Porphyrogenita considered herself the rightful heir, as the elder child of Manuel; she was almost as old as her step-mother Maria. Maria and Renier gained the support of the Patriarch and used Hagia Sophia as a base of operations. Alexius had the patriarch arrested, leading to open warfare on the streets of Constantinople. Manuel's cousin Andronicus, who had been exiled during Manuel's reign, was invited back by Maria Porphyrogenita, and marched on Constantinople in 1182. He provoked the citizens into a massacre of the Latin inhabitants, mostly Venetian and Genoese merchants. After gaining control of the city, he had Maria Porphyrogenita and Renier poisoned, and then had Empress Maria arrested and imprisoned her in the monastery of St. Diomedes. The empress tried to seek help from her brother-in-law Bela III of Hungary, to no avail. Andronicus had Alexius II sign the order for her execution, and appointed his own son Manuel and the sebastos George to execute her, but they refused. Instead Maria was strangled to death by the hetairiarch Constantine Tripsychos and the eunuch Pterygeonites. Maria was then buried in an unmarked grave on a nearby beach. Andronicus had himself crowned co-emperor, but Alexius II was soon murdered as well, and Andronicus took full control of the empire. Sometime later Andronicus also defaced or destroyed all the images of Maria in Constantinople. http://en.wikipedia.org
William B.
