Helena Lekapena (c. 920–961)

Byzantine empress. Name variations: Helen Lecapena or Lecapenus. Born around 920 in Constantinople; died on September 19, 961 (some sources cite 960); daughter of Romanos I Lekapenos also known as Romanus I Lecapenus (r. 919–944, who reigned as co-emperor with Constantine VII), and Theodora (fl. early 900s); sister of Theophylaktos, patriarch of Constantinople; married Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (c. 906–959), Byzantine emperor (r. 913–959), on April 27, 919; children: Romanos or Romanus II, Byzantine emperor (r. 959–963); and five daughters, including Agatha and Theodora (late 900s, who married John I Tzimiskes, emperor of Byzantium [r. 969–976]).

After Romanus I married off his young daughter Helena to the 13-year-old Constantine (VII Porphyrogenitus), he had himself proclaimed senior co-emperor (919); the joint reign lasted 25 years. In 944, during a short-lived coup, two of Helena's brothers whisked their father off to an island of exile; Constantine then had them join their father in the pleasures of gardening. All five daughters born of the marriage of Helena and Constantine shared in their father's intellectual pursuits and served as secretaries in the compilation of some of his books. Their only son, however, was a wild boy with none of his father's scholarly tendencies. By the time he ascended the throne as Romanus II, he had married the head-strong Theophano (c. 940–?). The 18-year-old Theophano's first official act was to banish Helena from court and have her five daughters sent to distant convents; Helena died in sorrow some months later.