EudokiaPorphyrogenita (Greek:Ευδοκία Πορφυρογέννητη,romanized: Evdokía Porphyrogénnētē;c. 976/7 - after 1001) was the eldest daughter of theByzantine EmperorConstantine VIII andHelena Alypia, and part of the last generation of theMacedonian dynasty along with her younger sistersZoe andTheodora.
Her uncleBasil II was the senior Emperor until his death in 1025, and did not allow his nieces to marry Byzantine aristocrats to avoid giving their would-be husbands a claim to the throne. Accordingly, Eudokia, like her sisters, lived in relative obscurity in the imperialgynaeceum. According toMichael Psellos, at some point in her youth, Eudokia contracted an infectious illness that disfigured her face,[1] and subsequently became a nun. The exact timing of these events is unclear, but in 1001 Eudokia was rejected as a potential bride for theHoly Roman EmperorOtto III in favor of Zoe, on account of her disfigurement.[2][3] Nothing further is recorded about her.
Ronald Wells, a modern genealogist, has suggested that Eudokia did not remain a nun for life. He has theorised an identification of Eudokia with the otherwise unnamed wife of AndronikosDoukas - aPaphlagonian nobleman who may have served as governor of the theme ofMoesia - making Eudokia the mother ofConstantine X andCaesarJohn Doukas.
Wells has further suggested two daughters of the above proposed union. The first suggested daughter isMaria, the wife ofIvan Vladislav.Christian Settipani has however posited a more robustly argued descent of Maria fromBoris II of Bulgaria.[4] The second daughter is "Sophia", an alleged wife ofManuel Erotikos Komnenos. Manuel was the father ofIsaac I Komnenos and John Komnenos, the latter being the father ofAlexios I Komnenos.
The claim, which provides no references or argumentation, apparently serves as a way to trace the ancestry of theDoukas andKomnenos families to theMacedonian dynasty. There is however no proof for any such relationship of Eudokia in primary sources or contemporary sigillography[5] and modern historical and prosopographical authorities remain equally silent on the matter,[6][7] making the asserted descent appear entirely unlikely.