“She Hated all Romans”: Reception and Translation of Foreign Women into Characters in Late Byzantine Historical Accounts

The emperor and his retinue riding on the walls of Constantinople accompanying the ship bringing the foreign bride, the magnificently embroidered tent, the purple dress, the splendid wedding in Hagia Sophia, the birth of the heir-to-the throne … Although much has been written about the lives of foreign imperial brides in late medieval Byzantium, the complex process of the creation of their literary characters has been little studied. The present paper centres on the multiple translation process, in which the foreign princesses arrive in Byzantium and must first translate themselves, their understanding, knowledge, looks and views into a new environment having only a limited control over what they keep, discard and change. The results of this process are then observed by the people surrounding the empresses and form their own interpretations of the women and their actions. Finally, the historians listen to these accounts from the palace, witness events, deal (or do not) with the resulting impressions and emotions, with their own prejudice and preconceptions about foreigners before making the final translation of the empresses and their stories to literary characters of their accounts.