when Eudokia's opposition became strong enough to depose her, especially after news of Romanos release arrived at the capital. Michael VII was then proclaimed sole autokrator by John Doukas, who forced Eudokia to retire to a monastery as a nun.

Later life

Eudokia continued to be influential even after her exile in 1071. Soon after her deposition, she allied with Anna Dalassene, a sister-in-law of Isaac I Komnenos who had also been exiled, to restore Romanos IV and depose John Doukas. However, Doukas soon fell from grace as a result of the schemes of eunuch Nikephoritzes, who was close to the Komnenos family. Eudokia later performed a memorable funeral and burial for Romanos IV, who died on 4 August 1072.

After Michael VII was deposed in 1078 by Nikephoros III Botaneiates, Eudokia was recalled to Constantinople by the new emperor, who offered to marry her. This plan did not come to pass, mainly due to the opposition of John Doukas, who returned to power after Nikephoritzes's exile. However, Nikephoros still sent her many rewards and gifts of gratitude. Her date of death is unknown, but it was sometime after the accession of Alexios I Komnenos in 1081. Her last known action is the adoption of one of the cousins of Patriarch Michael I Cerularius.

Attributed to Eudokia is a dictionary of history and mythology, called ' (i.e., Collection or Bed of Violets). It is prefaced by an address to her husband, Romanos Diogenes, and the work is described as "a collection of genealogies of gods, heroes, and heroines, of their metamorphoses, and of the fables and stories respecting them found in the ancients; containing also notices of various philosophers". However, the book is now thought to be a modern (16th-century) compilation, falsely attributed to Eudokia, and compiled by the counterfeiter Constantine Paleocappa 1540. The sources from which the work was compiled include Diogenes Laërtius and the Suda.

<gallery widths="200px" heights="190px">

Image:Constantine X and Eudokia in St. Demetrius' reliquary (detail).jpg|Constantine X and Eudokia in a reliquary of Demetrius of Thessaloniki, by John Autoreianos.

File:Constantine X, Michael VII and Eudokia.jpg|Miniature of Constantine X and Eudokia alongside their son and co-emperor Michael VII Doukas.

File:Romanus IV. und Eudocia.jpg|Gold tetarteron of Romanos IV Diogenes and Eudokia.

</gallery>

Issue

By her first husband, Eudokia had seven children, four sons and three daughters:

  • Michael VII Doukas, co-emperor from 1060 and senior emperor after 1071.
  • A son who died in infancy.
  • Anne Doukaina, nun.
  • Andronikos Doukas, co-emperor from 1068 to 1078.
  • Theodora Doukaina, who married Domenico Selvo, Doge of Venice.
  • Konstantios Doukas, co-emperor from 1060 to 1078, died in battle with the Normans in 1081.
  • Zoe Doukaina, who married Adrianos Komnenos, a brother of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. They had a son, Alexios, and two daughters, maybe named Anne and Alexia.

By her second husband, she had two sons, most likely twins:

  • Nikephoros Diogenes, blinded by order of Alexios I Comnenus on charges of treason.
  • Leo Diogenes, died in battle.

Notes

References

Bibliography

Primary sources

Secondary sources