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The study presents the biographies of fifteen empresses in the period from 1261 to 1450. It also considers the selection of imperial brides and the rituals accompanying their arrival in Constantinople. Finally, the author inquires into these women´s contributions to public, ritual, and ecclesiastical life and reflects on the seasons of their lives.

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With the exception of the wife of Andronikos III Palaiologos, Anna of Savoy, who acted as regent of Byzantium from 1341 to 1347, the lives of the late Byzantine empresses have so far received little scholarly attention. This study presents the biographies of all fifteen empresses of the Palaiologan dynasty and, based on their experiences, follows the development of the role and position of an empress in the last centuries of the empire. The final analysis considers the selection process for imperial brides and the rituals accompanying their arrival in Constantinople. The author also inquires into their role in public, ritual, and ecclesiastical life and their most important social roles at various stages of life.

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Late Byzantine empresses - Biographies - Transformation of an imperial bride into an empress - Empress and rituals of the late Byzantine court - Seasons of life of late Byzantine empresses - Public role of the Palaiologan empresses - Empresses and the Orthodox Church - Integration of foreign-born imperial brides

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Petra Melichar earned her PhD from Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven in 2012. At present, she is a fellow of the Slavonic Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague and editor-in-chief of the journal Byzantinoslavica (since 2015). Her recent work centers on elite women in the Palaiologan period (1261 - 1453).

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