Descent from Antiquity

[Loren Varga]

Dear Group:
Christian Settipani in his book "Byzance et L'Etranger (2021) p.141 lays out a stemma for the wife of Isaac Angelos being of the Tornik Family!
Regards:
Loren

[Peter Stewart]

On 27-Jul-23 11:58 PM, Loren Varga wrote:
> Dear Group:
> Christian Settipani in his book "Byzance et L'Etranger (2021) p.141 lays out a stemma for the wife of Isaac Angelos being of the Tornik Family!

His placement of Isaac II's first wife in the Tornikes family is the
most likely solution to the puzzle in my view, but his suggestion that
her name may have been Helena is not. Her name is given as "Herina" in
the necrology of Speyer cathedral, the only known source in which she is
not left anonymous - like most others, I suppose this to represent the
Greek name Eirene and used to think it was a wrong assumption by the
Speyer obituarist that she had the same given name as her second
daughter, since this would flout a longstanding Byzantine custom that
amounted to a virtual taboo by the 12th century. However, the Speyer
entries of family anniversaries were established by her daughter, and
the names for Eirene-Maria's father Isaac and siblings Manuel and
Euphrosyne are accurately rendered (as Ysaak, Manuel and Effrosina
respectively), suggesting that Herina is probably the name she gave for
her own mother. I will post again on this question when I have more time.

Peter Stewart


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