Pulcheria of Constantinople (399-453 CE) reshaped Rome and Christianity, forging the Virgin Mary's cult and saving Byzantium. Hers is an untold history of power, faith, politics. She sparred with courtiers, bishops and emperors, and she ruled as empress of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Pulcheria did something no empress before, or since, has done. She leveraged her gender – and her virginity – into a new source of imperial power that braided politics and religion in a way that would flourish for a millennium. She faced down own of the Church's greatest theological controversies and was fundamental in shaping how the Virgin Mary is worshipped to this day.

Her story brings the richness of the Byzantine world vividly to life, and Pulcheria establishes this largely forgotten woman empress as a key figure in the history of Byzantium and the Christian Church.



'If ever there was an ancient political and religious leader who should be better known today it would be the fifth-century Byzantine Empress Pulcheria, as Guy Collins persuasively shows in his riveting and learned new study. She managed to hold the Eastern Roman Empire and the Catholic Church together in the face of internecine political and religious conflict that makes Game of Thrones seem like an English tea party. And she did all this by wielding only the weapons of her own holiness, righteousness, and learning. Today, she is honored as a saint by both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches but not the Anglican Church. Guy Collins' new book could change that.'



'A riveting account of Pulcheria, a barely known empress of fifth-century Constantinople. Guy Collins deftly demonstrates this woman's acumen in both the world of politics and theology.'



'Enthralling, beautifully written and keeps the reader turning the pages… an astonishing achievement.'