Synadene ( el, Συναδηνή, hu, Szünadéné) was a

Byzantine Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Ottoman c ...

woman who briefly acted as

queen consort of Hungary This is a list of the queens consorts of Hungary ( hu, királyné), the consorts of the kings of Hungary. After the extinction of the Árpád dynasty and later the Angevin dynasty, the title of King of Hungary has been held by a monarch outs ...

, probably in the 1070s. She was most likely married to King Géza I.

Husband's identity

Synadene's first name is unknown. Her father was the Byzantine commander Theodoulos Synadenos, while her mother was a sister of Nikephoros III Botaneiates, Byzantine emperor since 1078. ''Scylitzes Continuatus'', believed to have been written by Synadene's compatriot

John Skylitzes John Skylitzes, commonly Latinized as Ioannes, la, Johannes, label=none, la, Iōannēs, label=none Scylitzes ( el, Ἰωάννης Σκυλίτζης, ''Iōánnēs Skylítzēs'', or el, Σκυλίτση, ''Skylítsē'', label=none ; la, ...

, states that "the emperor had given his niece the Synadene, daughter of Theodoulos Synadenos, to the krales of Hungary for a wife; upon his death she returned to Byzantium." The king's name, much like her own, is not mentioned. An important clue to the identity of Synadene's husband lies in one of the enamel plaques contained in the

Holy Crown of Hungary The Holy Crown of Hungary ( hu, Szent Korona; sh, Kruna svetoga Stjepana; la, Sacra Corona; sk, Svätoštefanská koruna , la, Sacra Corona), also known as the Crown of Saint Stephen, named in honour of Saint Stephen I of Hungary, was the c ...

, which depicts a man identified as " Géza, faithful king of the Hungarians". Géza I's death on 25 April 1077 corresponds to Skylitzes's narration, with the queen dowager returning to the Byzantine Empire by late 1079. The only possible alternative is Géza's brother and successor, Ladislaus I, in which case the marriage would have taken place in and her return to Hungary as a widow in 1095. However, Scylitzes mentions no other events from the mid-1090s, which makes it likely that Géza I was the king whom Synadene married.

Marriage date

The date of Synadene's marriage is even less certain than the identity of her husband. R. Kerbl suggested the period between 1064 and 1067. He referred to the union as a "private arrangement" between Duke Géza and those Byzantine commanders (including Synadene's uncle, who had not yet become emperor) who were in charge of Balkan and Danubian territories. Géza then possibly ruled south-eastern part of Hungary, on the border of the Byzantine Empire, and had a poor relationship with his cousin,

King Solomon King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the ti ...

, making the marriage with Synadene politically advantageous. However, given that Synadene returned to Byzantium upon Géza's death, it is likely that the marriage produced no issue, and that the mother of his children, born in the 1060s, was his first wife, Sophia. It is thus safe to assume that the marriage took place in the mid-1070s.

Sources

{{authority control 11th-century Byzantine women 11th-century Hungarian people Hungarian queens consort Byzantine queens consort Synadenos family