Danielis

Who is Danielis?

Danielis was a widowed Byzantine noblewoman from Patras. According to the written tradition she was an extremely wealthy landowner, owning a significant part of the Peloponnese, as well as a flourishing carpet and textile industry. Her estate, which she eventually bequeathed to the Emperor Leo VI, an estate ‘exceeding any private fortune and barely inferior to that of a ruler’, included 80 domains and over 3000 slaves whom the emperor sent as colonists to southern Italy.

Danielis became acquainted with the future emperor Basil I the Macedonian during a visit he made in Patras when he was still an attendant of an imperial delegate. For some reason or other, Danielis offered Basil lavish gifts and land property which proved useful in his subsequent ascent to the imperial throne. She also travelled to Constantinople with a large retinue, in order to visit Basil after he became emperor, in what the chronicles describe as an extravagant journey. Her loyalty to the throne was rewarded with the title of King Mother. She outlived Basil I and named Basil's son Leo VI the Wise as her heir. Leo released 3,000 of her slaves and sent them to settle in Southern Italy.