Synadene (, ) was a

Byzantine Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic; Greek: ) 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 F ...

woman who briefly acted as

queen consort of Hungary This is a list of the queens consorts of Hungary (), the consorts of the King of Hungary, kings of Hungary. After the extinction of the Árpád dynasty and later the Capetian House of Anjou, Angevin dynasty, the title of King of Hungary has been ...

, 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 The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

commander Theodoulos Synadenos, while her mother was a sister of

Nikephoros III Botaneiates Nikephoros III Botaneiates (; 1002–1081), Romanization of Greek, Latinized as Nicephorus III Botaniates, was Byzantine Empire, Byzantine List of Byzantine Emperors, Emperor from 7 January 1078 to 1 April 1081. He became a general du ...

, who ruled as

Byzantine emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

in 1078–1081. The Byzantine chronicle of ''

Scylitzes Continuatus John Skylitzes, commonly Latinized as Ioannes Scylitzes (, ; , ; early 1040s – after 1101), was a Byzantine historian of the late 11th century. Life Very little is known about his life. The title of his work records him as a '' kouropalat ...

'' states that "the emperor had given his niece the Synadene, daughter of Theodoulos Synadenos, to the 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 ( , ), also known as the Crown of Saint Stephen, named in honour of Saint Stephen I of Hungary, was the coronation crown used by the Kingdom of Hungary for most of its existence; kings were crowned with it since the tw ...

, which depicts a man identified as "

Géza Géza () is a Hungarian given name and may refer to any of the following: As regnal or forename * Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians * Géza I of Hungary, King of Hungary * Géza II of Hungary, King of Hungary * Géza, son of Géza II of Hungar ...

, faithful king of the Hungarians". Géza I's death on 25 April 1077 corresponds to ''Scylitzes Continuatus''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 Continuatus'' 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 a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a constitutional monarch if his power is restrained by f ...

, 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

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References

{{authority control 11th-century Byzantine women 11th-century Hungarian people 11th-century Hungarian women Queens consort of Hungary Synadenos family