An eloquent woman in the council of men : Theodora Kantakouzene - princess, politician and prisoner in the era of the Byzantine civil wars (1321-1342)

Overseeing family estates, advising the emperor and his officials, financing war, and enduring torture – this article follows the life and activities of an exceptional fourteenth-century Byzantine princess, Theodora Angelina Palaiologina Kantakouzene, one of very few late medieval women involved in the political affairs of the empire. In piecing together this unusual biography, the author seeks to understand Theodora's life within the cultural and political context of the late Byzantine Empire, inquiring in the final passage as to why she was never chastised for her actions within the unarguably masculine domains of politics and war.