View source for Theodora Doukaina Selvo

{{Short description|Byzantine princess and dogaressa}}
'''Theodora Doukaina''' ({{langx|el|Θεοδώρα Δούκαινα|Theodṓra Doúkaina}}), renamed '''Anna''' (1058– after 1075{{sfn|Polemis|1968|p=54}}), was a [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] [[princess]] and [[dogaressa]].

==Life==
Born in [[Constantinople]], Theodora Doukaina was the second daughter of [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] emperor [[Constantine X Doukas]] by his second wife, [[Eudokia Makrembolitissa]].{{sfn|Polemis|1968|p=54}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Norwich |first=John Julius |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1RLm2eHVNDsC&q=A+History+of+Venice |title=A History of Venice |date=2003-07-03 |publisher=Penguin Books Limited |isbn=978-0-14-193678-9 |pages=69 |language=en}}</ref> After 1071 she became the wife of [[Domenico Selvo]], [[Doge of Venice]], who received the title of ''[[protoproedros]]'' at the occasion.{{sfn|Polemis|1968|p=54}}

As she is mentioned as alive in the work of [[Michael Psellos]] (1075), it is assumed she died after this last date.{{sfn|Polemis|1968|p=54}} It is not known if she had children, and she is not mentioned otherwise.{{sfn|Polemis|1968|p=54}}

== Confusion with Maria Argyropoulina ==
[[Peter Damian]], the [[Cardinal Bishop of Ostia]], wrote a chapter entitled "De Veneti ducis uxore quae prius nimium delicata, demum toto corpore computruit" ("Of the Venetian Doge's wife, whose body, after her excessive delicacy, entirely rotted away.") about an unnamed Byzantine princess whose manners<ref>"she scorned even to wash herself in common water, obliging her servants instead to collect the dew that fell from the heavens for her to bathe in. Nor did she deign to touch her food with her fingers, but would command her eunuchs to cut it up into small pieces, which she would impale on a certain golden instrument with two prongs and thus carry to her mouth. Her rooms, too, were so heavy with incense and various perfumes (...)" (Damianus as cited by {{Cite book |title=A history of Venice |last=Norwich |first=John Julius |date=1982 |publisher=Knopf |isbn=0394524101|edition=1st American |location=New York|oclc=8033556}})</ref> he considered scandalously lavish and which brought to her a horrible death as a divine punishment.{{sfn|Polemis|1968|p=54}}

This woman has been mistakenly (since Damian died 1072) identified with Domenico Selvo's wife by later Venetian chroniclers (incl. Andrea Dandolo and [[Marino Sanuto the Younger]]) followed afterwards by various modern authors;<ref>such as [[Samuele Romanin|Romanin]] (''Storia documentata di Venezia''), Molmenti (''la Dogaressa''),  Staley (''The Dogaressas of Venice''), [[Heinrich Kretschmayr|Kretschmayr]], Henisch (''Fast and Feast: Food in Medieval Society''), Pertusi (''Venezia e Bisanzio'') etc</ref> however since the work in which Damianus' chapter is contained is dated ca 1059 it refers probably to [[Maria Argyropoulaina]] who had died a half century before.<ref>Hodgson, p.192</ref>{{sfn|Polemis|1968|p=54}}<ref>Nicol, pp.46-47</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{Polemis-The Doukai}}
* Hodgson, Francis Cotterell. The Early History of Venice: From the Foundation to the Conquest of Constantinople, A.D. 1204. G. Allen, 1901. pp.&nbsp;191–192 ([https://archive.org/details/earlyhistoryofve00hodg/page/192])
* {{Byzantium and Venice: A Study in Diplomatic and Cultural Relations|pages=46–47}}

=== Works confusing Theodora and Maria ===
*Henisch, Bridget Ann (1976), ''Fast and Feast: Food in Medieval Society'' {{ISBN|0-271-01230-7}}
*Staley, Edgcumbe (c1910), ''The Dogaressas of Venice''

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{{S-vac|reason=Unconfirmed predecessor|last=[[Grimelda of Hungary]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Dogaressa|Dogaressa of Venice]]|years=1075–1083}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Cornella Bembo]]}}
{{S-end}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Doukaina, Theodora}}
[[Category:1050s births]]
[[Category:Daughters of Byzantine emperors]]
[[Category:Doukid dynasty]]
[[Category:Keroularios family]]
[[Category:11th-century Byzantine women]]
[[Category:Dogaressas of Venice]]
[[Category:11th-century Venetian women]]