Theophanu (955–991) was a Byzantine princess who became Holy Roman Empress through marriage to Emperor Otto II. As the trusted political partner of her husband and later the regent of her young son Otto III, she left a remarkable legacy as one of the most powerful female rulers of the Ottonian era as well as of the Holy Roman Empire's history in general. Her reign is associated with the exchange of political, religious and cultural ideas and international activities between the Western Empire and the East, including the Byzantine Empire as well as the Slavic countries. Although the empress's personal role in some aspects of these processes (especially the contact between the Macedonian Renaissance and Ottonian Renaissance) is a subject of debate, she is often depicted in historiography and (recently revitalized) artistic portrayals as a cultured, spirited woman who had to adapt to a difficult situation after her husband's death and whose political vision was unfulfilled due to the early deaths of herself and her son. This image is also influenced by the masculine posture she adopted in her lifetime as coimperatrix and even imperator (she was the only Roman-German empress associated with these titles).
Historiography
There is discussion regarding whether her title coimperatrix and the power associated with it were the result of Frankish and Saxon traditions or Byzantine influence. On one hand, it seems the portrayal of a female counterpart to an imperator or emperor had Byzantine origins, her education blended Byzantine and Ottonian element with some authors such as Simon MacLean opine that the Ottonian court played the main role. Harper Norris notes that, "The Ottonians were a Saxon dynasty, and the grants of land two years into her consortship highlight that Theophanu was being vested with power as a Saxon ruler, connecting her to the rest of the Saxon line".
Zubin Mistry remarks that like her mother-in-law Adelheid, Theophanu relied on a network that went beyond their already advantageous roles as mothers and wives of the emperors, whose stronger authority supported them. Even when being sidelined or even pushed out of official functions, they could rely on association with the magnates, friends and ecclesiastical connections, such as when Theophanu wielded power in Pavia.
Bunker opines that while in her lifetime, Theophanu benefitted from an empowered concept of female rulership inherited from Adelheid, the latter's longevity and popularity partly negated her posthumous legacy, even though Theophanu influenced imperial policy even in death through her descendants.