THEODORA (c. 500–548)
Theodora became empress of Byzantium in 527. She
had been born in poverty and had spent her youth as a
notoriously virtuosic courtesan in Constantinople. But
she reformed, and her cleverness and strong personal-
ity attracted the young Justinian, who made her his
wife and, on his ascent to the throne as Justinian I, his
consort.
Although Theodora differed with Justinian on the-
ology and, as a strong adherent of Monophysitism,
sometimes worked against his policies, she was his
invaluable ally and counselor. Her advice helped him
rescue his throne during the Nika riots (532), and her
death from cancer in 548 was a grievous blow to him
personally and politically.
Theodora had risen from the dregs of society and
never felt totally secure on her throne; she intrigued
constantly to ward off any challenge she saw to her
husband or to her own standing with him. Thus, it is
said, Theodora became jealous of the Ostrogothic queen
of Italy, Amalasuntha, who was famous for cleverness
and beauty, and—anxious lest this woman come to
the capital and attract Justinian—conspired to have
her murdered as a part of the dynastic tangles of the
Ostrogothic court. Theodora’s support of the Mono-
physites was played on by the Roman legate Vigilius,
who promised her his aid in return for her infl uence in
having him made pope (537). However, Vigilius found
it impossible to keep his promise, and Theodora became
his implacable foe. At her urging, Justinian had Vigilius
abducted and brought to Constantinople to be coerced
into supporting religious policies that Theodora had
helped frame. Vigilius’s degradation was Theodora’s
last triumph before her death.
Several portrait busts surviving from this period have
been identifi ed as Theodora, notably one that is now in
the Castello Sforzesco in Milan. Even more striking
is her austere portrayal, together with her retinue, in
a famous mosaic panel in the church of San Vitale in
Ravenna. Fired by the sensational account given of her
by the historian Procopius, artists and writers of modern
times have continued to be fascinated by her image: she
has been the fanciful subject of an opera by Donizetti,
a play by Sardou, numerous novels, and at least one
(Italian) movie.
See also Justinian I
Further Reading
Bridge, Antony. Theodora: Portrait in a Byzantine Landscape.
London: Casseil, 1978.
Browning, Robert. Justinian and Theodora, rev. ed. London:
Thames and Hudson, 1987.
Diehl, Charles. Theodora: Empress of Byzantium, trans. Samuel
R. Rosenbaum. New York: Ungar, 1972. (Originally published
1904.)
Procopius of Caesarea. History of the Wars and Secret History.
Loeb Classical Library Series. London and Cambridge, Mass.:
Heinemann/Harvard University Press, 1914–1935. (With
reprints; translations.)
John W. BarkerTHEODULF OF ORLÉANS (ca. 760–821)
A Goth born in Spain, Theodulf was forced to fl ee
his homeland, coming to the court of Charlemagne in- By 798 he was named bishop of Orléans by Char-
lemagne. In 801 Pope Leo III honored him with the
title of archbishop. Theodulf enjoyed high visibility and
favor in the courts of Charlemagne and his successor,
Louis the Pious. His luck changed, however, in 817,
when he was accused of conspiring against the emperor,
whereupon he was removed from his bishopric and
imprisoned. He died, thus disgraced, in 821.
Although Theodulf is best known today as one of
the preeminent poets of the Carolingian renaissance, he
was probably more valued among his contemporaries
for his theological and pastoral works. Around 800 he
composed his fi rst Capitula, a manual for parish priests,
in an attempt to institute a reform within his diocese,
and a second somewhere between 800 and 813. Forty-
one copies survive throughout Europe and England,
written between the 9th and 12th centuries, attesting to
the popularity of the work. At Charlemagne’s request he
wrote the Libri Carolini under the pretense that it was
actually the emperor’s work. He also wrote De ordine
baptismi and supervised a revision of the Bible at his
scriptorium.
Theodulf’s Capitula was widely used during the
Anglo-Saxon monastic reform and survives in four Eng-
lish manuscripts. In Latin and English it became a stan-
dard work for the clergy and a source for Anglo-Saxon
prose. Vercelli Homily III and Assmann Homilies XI and
XII draw from the Capitula; Ælfric seems to have used it
in his pastoral letters; and Wulfstan used it in composing
his homilies. The De ordine baptismi was also known
to the Anglo-Saxons. The text, surviving in BL Royal
8.C.iii, was used by Wulfstan in Homily VIII.
See also Charlemagne; Wulfstan of York
Further Reading
Primary Sources
Napier, Arthur S., ed. The Old English Version of the Enlarged
Rule of Chrodegang...; An Old English Version of the Capitula
of Theodulf... EETS o.s. 150. London: Kegan Paul, Trench,
Trübner, 1916.
Theodulf. Opera Omnia. PL 105.
Secondary Sources
Gatch, Milton McC. Preaching and Theology in Anglo-Saxon
England: Ælfric and Wulfstan. Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 1977.THEODORA