Theodora was one of the daughters of Constantine VIII and the last ruler of the Macedonian dynasty. Her father had tried to marry her off to ensure the succession, but Theodora prefered the monastic life, so her sister Zoe was betrothed to Otto III, maried to Romanos III Argyros, Michael IV and Constantine IX instead. When Zoe's adopted son, Michael V was deposed for deposing Zoe, Theodora was brought out of her monastery to become empress with her sister briefly in 1042, before Zoe married Constantine IX Monomachos, raising him to the rank of emperor. Theodora ruled in her own right after the deaths of Zoe and Constantine, in 1055 until Theodora's own death in 1056.

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