• Born: Byzantium
• Married: Between 1065 and 1075

  Research Notes:

Skylitzes records that Emperor Nikeforos Botaneiates married "sororis suæ filiam Synadenen, Theodulo Synadeno genitam" ("τήν αεψιάν αυτου ο βασιλευς") the daughter of Theodoulos Synadenos ("την Συναδηνην, θυγατέρα ουσαν Θεοδουλου του Συναδηνου") to "crali Ungariæ" ("τω κράλη Ουγγρίας είς γυναικα") and that she returned to Byzantium after her husband died. The passage does not name the Hungarian king in question. Kerbl says that Horvát suggested that her husband was Lambert, son of Béla I King of Hungary, although it is unclear how Lambert could have been described as "krali" of Hungary as no other record has been identified that he ever reigned as king. Kerbl also cites Wertner as the first source which proposed that her husband was Géza of Hungary. The narrative of Skylitzes Continuatus ends during the reign of Emperor Nikeforos (who reigned from 1078 until his forced abdication in 1081). This suggests that the husband of --- Synadene must have died before that date, which supports his identification as King Géza. However, it is not impossible that the text was written some years later, and that her return to Constantinople was mentioned because it was of recent date at the time of writing. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that her husband was King László I (who appears to be the only other realistic candidate) whose marriage to Adelheid von Rheinfelden appears to be certain.... The remaining potential difficulty is with the date of the marriage. Wertner suggested that the marriage took place in [Oct 1073/Oct 1074]. Nikeforos Botaneiates (later Emperor Nikeforos III) was Byzantine military commander along the Danube, adjacent to Hungarian territory, from 1064 to before 1067 when he was reassigned as governor of Antioch. Kerbl therefore assesses this as the more likely period during which the marriage took place. However, if it is correct, as stated by Skylitzes, that --- Synadene returned to Byzantium after her husband's death, it is probable that she had no surviving children. If she had had children, it is reasonable to expect that she would have remained with them to protect their interests, especially as the chronology suggests that King Géza's son Kálmán could not in any case have been her son and would therefore have had a superior claim to the throne than any half-brothers. If this is correct, all of King Géza's children must have been born from his first marriage, which would date his second marriage to --- Synadene to the early 1070s at the earliest.. ¹