Irene of Hungary

Family

Piroska was born in 1088, the daughter of King Ladislaus I of Hungary and Adelaide of Rheinfelden.^[2][7][1] She was orphaned at an early age, while still a child: her mother died in 1090, and her father died on 29 July 1095. King Ladislaus I was succeeded by his nephew, Coloman.^[2] Piroska spent her youth under the supervision and at the court of her cousin, King Coloman of Hungary, known as Coloman the Learned, where she received a thorough education.^[7] At the age of 16, she met the customary fate of medieval princesses, becoming the fiancée of a man she had never personally met, and shortly thereafter she became his wife in 1104. The chosen groom was the dynastic heir of the Byzantine Komnenos dynasty.^[7]

Empress consort of the Byzantine Empire

In an effort to improve relations with Emperor Alexios I Komnenos of the Byzantine Empire, King Coloman of Hungary arranged the marriage of his cousin, Piroska, to John "the Beautiful" Komnenos, the eldest son of Alexios I and Irene Doukaina, who had been co-ruler with his father since 1092 and was expected to succeed him. In her historical work, Anna Komnene mentions a treaty between Alexios and Coloman in which the emperor refers to the Hungarian king as sympentheros (co-father-in-law), however, this term simply reflects the dynastic marriage of the Hungarian princess and the fact that the family tie served to strengthen political relations between the two rulers.^[2] The negotiations were successful and Piroska married John in 1104.^[7][8] The marriage was recorded by Joannes Zonaras and John Kinnamos.^[8] During the marriage, John was already the designated heir to the throne, so it was known that Piroska would later be crowned Empress of the Roman Empire (the term "Byzantine Empire" is a modern historiographical designation, at the time, the state was regarded as the Roman Empire, and its people called themselves Romans).^[2]

When the Hungarian princess arrived in her new homeland, the Komnenos dynasty and Byzantium itself was at its height. Her husband, John II, succeeded his father in 1118 and was later regarded as the greatest of the Komnenian emperors.^[2] Upon her settlement in Constantinople, Piroska was renamed Irene. As Byzantine empress, she was required to convert to the Eastern Orthodox faith, a name also borne by her mother-in-law, Irene Doukaina, as well as several other Byzantine empresses of the time.^[2][8] Greek authors generally mention her foreign origin, which was unusual for the period, as she was the first Western empress to sit on the Byzantine throne in a long time.^[2] A lifelong and harmonious relationship developed between John and Irene, as attested by numerous contemporary written sources.^[7]

Greek sources record that she gave birth to eight children, four sons and four daughters. In 1106, she gave birth to twins in Thessaloniki,^[2] Alexios and Maria. Irene's fourth and youngest son, had been born in 1118, the very year his parents ascended the throne, he later inherited the imperial crown from his father as Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (1143–1180).^[9] The contemporary Byzantine writer Theodore Prodromos composed a poem for the 1119 coronation of the imperial couple's first son, Alexios Komnenos, as co-emperor.^[10][2] A substantial portion of the work is devoted to the praise of the empress, with Irene of Hungary's lineage celebrated in highly extravagant terms. He described her as the "Mistress of the entire West", presenting the imperial union in an almost cosmic dimension as the symbolic unification of East and West.^[2]

Foreign delegations were frequently received at the court of Irene, she welcomed pilgrims from the Holy Land as well as envoys from Hungary, and on several occasions acted as a mediator in political affairs between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Byzantine Empire. During the reign of King Stephen II of Hungary (1116–1131), the son of King Coloman, Byzantine–Hungarian relations deteriorated. Between 1127 and 1129, a Byzantine–Hungarian War was fought, partly due to injuries suffered by Hungarian merchants, and partly because the Byzantine court had granted asylum to the blinded Prince Álmos, the uncle of Coloman. During the reign of King Béla II of Hungary, son of Álmos, a renewed period of peace prevailed between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Byzantine Empire.^[9]

Irene played little part in government, devoting herself to piety and her many children. She was, with her husband, the patron of the construction of the Monastery of Christ Pantokrator in Constantinople (now Zeyrek Mosque, Istanbul). The monastery contained three churches and a hospital of 5 wards, which was open to people of all social classes.^[11] Irene devoted herself to extensive charitable activities from the very beginning,^[2][7] much like many other female saints of the House of Árpád. She was the principal initiator of the construction of the Pantokrator Monastery complex, and continuously oversaw the project throughout its development.^[7] Hagiographic sources describe the Monastery of the Pantokrator as the greatest accomplishment of her life, alongside its religious function, the complex also housed a hospital and a residence for the elderly.^[2]

The hospital section of the complex was exceptionally large by the standards of its age, and the regulations governing its operation have survived. These documents show that already at the beginning of the 12th century the institution functioned according to remarkably advanced medical and administrative principles. Comparable hospitals in Western Europe adopted similar practices only much later, possibly influenced by knowledge of the Pantokrator complex. For this reason, the Pantokrator monastery-hospital, closely associated with the life's work of Empress Irene, may be regarded as one of the important precursors of modern European healthcare.^[7]

Until the end of her life, Empress Irene remained devoted to supporting the poor, the vulnerable, and the sick, although she did not live to see the consecration of the Pantokrator monastery-hospital.^[7]

Death

Irene died unexpectedly on 13 August 1134 in Bithynia region, where she had accompanied her husband, John II Komnenos, on his campaign against the Seljuk Turks. The emperor had his wife buried in the Monastery of the Pantokrator and later chose it as his own final resting place. The monastery became the burial site of the Komnenos and later the Palaiologos dynasties.^[2] Irene was later venerated as Saint Irene.^[12]

John declares that the monastery had been the initiative of his late wife and, in moving words, expresses his grief:^[2]

I offer to You [God] what is already Yours – she through whom I found a companion in planning and execution, my partner in life and my helper – even though, before the work was fully completed, she departed from this world according to Your mysterious decree, and by her departure left me here torn in two.

I descend from blessed ancestors, from the kings of the entire Western Empire; I was raised by the Julius Caesars and crowned with beauty by the Graces.

After the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the Monastery of the Pantokrator was converted into a mosque, and the old imperial tombs subsequently fell into decay.^[2]

Sainthood and veneration

Irene was canonised during the reign of her son, Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, most likely in 1166, making her the only canonised empress of 12th-century Byzantium. At the time of Irene's canonisation, Prince Béla (the future King Béla III of Hungary), a relative of Irene, was living at the Byzantine court as heir to the imperial throne. Later on Béla initiated the canonisation of Irene's father, King Ladislaus I of Hungary, later venerated as Saint Ladislaus.^[2][7][9]

Irene's sainthood was first recognized by the Orthodox Christian Church, and later also by the Catholic Church, both of which venerate her as a saint.^[7] Although she was canonized by the Eastern Orthodox Church, in Hungary (which belong to Western Catholic Church) Piroska is venerated as a Hungarian saint.^[5]