Martina

Martina (Greek: Μαρτίνα; died after 641) was an empress of the Byzantine Empire, the second wife of her uncle the emperor Heraclius, and regent in 641 with her son. She was a daughter of Maria, Heraclius' sister, and a certain Martinus. Maria and Heraclius were children of Heraclius the Elder and his wife Epiphania according to the chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor. Empress Eudokia, the first wife of Heraclius, died on 13 August 612. According to the Chronographikon syntomon of Ecumenical Patriarch Nikephoros I of Constantinople, the cause of death was epilepsy. According to Theophanes, Martina married her maternal uncle not long after, placing the marriage in 613 at the latest. However, Nikephoros places the marriage during the wars with the Eurasian Avars which took place in the 620s. The marriage was considered to fall within the prohibited degree of kinship, according to the rules of Chalcedonian Christianity concerning incest. This particular case of marriage between an uncle and a niece had been declared illegal since the time of the Codex Theodosianus. Thus the marriage was disapproved by the people of Constantinople and the Church. The unpopularity of the marriage was further exacerbated by the populace's adoration for the previous empress.