Styliane Komnena, Augusta

Styliane Komnena (1082-1138) was the second daughter and youngest child of the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Though she had initially desired to enter a convent, Styliane was married against her will in 1101 to her cousin Manuel Komnenos following the death of her elder brother Michael. The marriage was not a particularly happy one, and Styliane gave birth to only a single child, who would later become John II Komnenos. After her husband's accession, Styliane became Empress, but did not perform many of the ceremonial duties of an Augusta, which were largely fulfilled firstly by her husband's mother Eudocia Sklerina and then by her son's wife Theodora of Hungary. She died in 1138, and is buried in the great monastery of St. George at Chalcedon, which was completed under her patronage in 1135.