Born: 19 January 398 or 399, Turkey
Died: July 453
Country most active: Turkey
Also known as: Aelia Pulcheria
Aelia Pulcheria ruled as regent of the Eastern Roman Empire during the minority of her brother Theodosius II and then empress in her own right from July 450 to her death in 453. In 414, the 15-year old Pulcheria became the chief guardian of her younger brother Theodosius II and was also proclaimed “augusta” (empress). Pulcheria had significant, though changing, influence and political power during her brother’s reign. When Theodosius II died on 26 July 450, she regained the throne. Pulcheria married Marcian on 25 November 450, while maintaining her vow of virginity. She died three years later, in July 453.
Pulcheria greatly influenced the Christian Church and its theological development by guiding two of the most important ecumenical councils in ecclesiastical history, Ephesus and Chalcedon, in which the Church ruled on christological issues. The Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church later recognized her as a saint.