Cultural depictions of Theophanu (original) (raw)

Theophanu (955–991) was a Byzantince princess who became Holy Roman Empress through marriage to Emperor Otto II. As the trusted political partner of her husband and later the regent of her young son Otto III, she left a remarkable legacy as one of the most powerful female rulers of the Ottonian era as well as of the Holy Roman Empire's history in general. Her reign is associated with the exchange of political, religious and cultural ideas and international activities between the Western Empire and the East, including the Byzantine Empire as well as the Slavic countries. Although the empress's personal role in some aspects of these processes (especially the contact between the Macedonian Renaissance and Ottonian Renaissance) is a subject of debate, she is often depicted in historiography an