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Agnes of France, renamed Anna (1171 – after 1204) was a daughter of Louis VII of France by his third wife Adèle of Champagne and Empress-consort to two Byzantine emperors, Alexios II Komnenos and Andronikos I Komnenos. She was a younger half-sister of Marie de Champagne, Alix of France, Marguerite of France and Alys, Countess of the Vexin. She was a younger full sister of Philip II of France. == Betrothal and marriage == In early 1178, Philip, Count of Flanders visited Constantinople on his way back from the Holy Land. The Eastern Roman Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, who had already entertained Louis VII in Constantinople at Christmas 1147 during the Second Crusade, was perhaps finally convinced by Philip that France would be a desirable ally in Western Europe. Over the winter of 1178-1179 an Imperial embassy accompanying Philip, and led by the Genoese Baldovino Guercio,〔Bernardo and Salem Maragone, ''Annales Pisani'' pp. 68-9 Gentile.〕 was sent to the French court to secure a match between Agnes and Alexios, the only son and heir apparent of Manuel by his second wife Maria of Antioch. This or some similar marriage alliance had been favored by Pope Alexander III as early as 1171.〔Letter of Alexander III to Archbishop Henry of Reims, 28 February 1171 (Patrologia Latina vol. 200 column 783).〕 It was not uncommon for princesses, when a future marriage had been agreed, to be brought up in their intended husband's family; this, indeed, is why Agnes probably never met her elder sister Alys, who lived in the Kingdom of England from the age of about nine, when her marriage to the future Richard I of England was agreed on (though this marriage never took place). Agnes took ship in Montpellier, bound for Constantinople, at Easter 1179. At Genoa the flotilla increased from 5 to 19 ships, captained by Baldovino Guercio.〔''Annales Pisani''; Ottobono, ''Annales Genuenses'', 1179.〕 On arrival in Constantinople in late summer 1179 Agnes was met by seventy high-ranking ladies〔Garland. p. 5.〕 and lavish festivities were organized for her. She was greeted with an oration from Eustathios, former Master of the Rhetors and archbishop of Thessalonica.〔W. Regel, ''Fontes rerum byzantinicarum'' (St Petersburg, 1892-1917) p. 84.〕 She was perhaps now presented with an elaborate volume of welcoming verses by an anonymous author, sometimes called the ''Eisiterion''. According to William of Tyre, Agnes was eight on her arrival at Constantinople, while Alexios was thirteen. William got Alexios' age wrong (he was born on 14 September 1169)〔For references see Alexios II Komnenos.〕 and there is no other source for Agnes' year of birth. If she was in fact eight, she was at least three years too young for marriage, according to most 12th-century views.〔For example, Irene Doukaina, wife to Alexios I Komnenos and paternal grandmother to Manuel, was twelve years old at her marriage in 1078. Theodora Komnene, niece of Manuel and Queen consort of Baldwin III of Jerusalem, was thirteen years old at her marriage in 1158. Margaret of Hungary would marry Isaac II Angelos in 1185 when she was approximately ten years old, but this was an exceptional case, Isaac in 1185 being far from secure in his hold on power and having an urgent need for dynastic support.〕 However, William of Tyre, who was present at the ceremony, seems to describe it as a full wedding (''matrimonii legibus ... copulare''); in this he is followed by some other non-Byzantine sources and by many modern authors.〔William of Tyre, ''Historia Transmarina'' 22.4; Roger of Howden, ''Chronicle'', year 1180.〕 The ceremony took place in the Trullo Hall, in the Great Palace, on 2 March 1180. Agnes was officially renamed Anna. Eustathios of Thessalonica produced a speech to celebrate the occasion, whose title in the manuscript is ''Oration on the Public Celebrations of the Betrothal of the Two Royal Children''.〔Madrid MS Esc. Gr. 265 () fols 368-372 (as described in G. de Andrés, ''Catálogo de los códices griegos de la Real Biblioteca de El Escorial'' Vol. 2 (1965 ) pp. 120-131).〕 This ceremony came approximately one month after the wedding of Alexios' half-sister Maria Porphyrogenita to Renier of Montferrat, conducted by the Patriarch of Constantinople, Theodosios. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Agnes of France, Byzantine Empress」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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