Editing Theophanu (section)

===Consolidation of power===
Theophanu ruled the Holy Roman Empire as regent for a span of five years, from May 985 to her death in 991, despite early opposition by the Ottonian court. In fact, many queens in the tenth century, on an account of male rulers dying early deaths, found themselves in power, creating an age of greater diversity. Her power as queen, empress and regent was based on the basis of Saxon tradition (which assigned the women an equal role in the family), Byzantine influence (which presented a model of a female counterpart to the emperor) and her mother-in-law Adelaide's legacy.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Görich |first1=Knut |title=Imperial Ladies of the Ottonian Dynasty (reviewed by Knut Görich) – recensio.net |website=www.recensio.net |date=2021 |pages=89, 91–93 |url=https://www.recensio.net/rezensionen/zeitschriften/german-historical-institute-london-bulletin/vol-xliii-2021/2/ReviewMonograph715948032 |access-date=9 July 2022 |language=en |archive-date=15 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715211753/https://www.recensio.net/rezensionen/zeitschriften/german-historical-institute-london-bulletin/vol-xliii-2021/2/ReviewMonograph715948032 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Norris |first1=Harper J. |title=Empress Theophanu: The Politics of Power at the Intersection of Byzantium and the Ottonian Empire |date=2020 |publisher=University of Central Florida |pages=27, 29 |url=https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1746&context=honorstheses |access-date=31 July 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mckitterick |first1=Rosamond |date=1993 |title=Ottonian intellectual culture in the tenth century and the role of Theophanu |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-0254.1993.tb00010.x |journal=Early Medieval Europe |language=en |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=53–74 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0254.1993.tb00010.x}}</ref> Theophanu and her mother-in-law, Adelaide, are known during the empress' regency to have butted heads frequently—[[Adelaide of Italy]] is even quoted as referring to her as "that Greek empress."<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Ottonian Queenship|last=Maclean|first=Simon|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2017|isbn=978-0-19-880010-1|location=Oxford, United Kingdom}}</ref> However, according to historian and author Simon Maclean, Theophanu's rivalry with her mother-in-law is overstated. Theophanu's "Greekness" was not an overall issue. Moreover, there was a grand fascination with the culture surrounding Byzantine court in the west that slighted most criticisms to her Greek origin.<ref name=":1" />

Theophanu did not remain merely as an image of the Ottonian empire, but as an influence within the Holy Roman Empire. She intervened within the governing of the empire a total of seventy-six times during the reign of her husband Otto II—perhaps a foreshadowing of her regency.<ref name=":02"/> Her first act as regent was in securing her son, Otto III, as the heir to the Holy Roman Empire. Theophanu also placed her daughters in power by giving them high positions in influential nunneries all around the Ottonian-ruled west, securing power for all her children.<ref name=":02" /> She welcomed ambassadors, declaring herself "imperator" or "imperatrix", as did her relative contemporaries [[Irene of Athens]] and [[Theodora (wife of Theophilos)|Theodora]]; the starting date for her reign being 972, the year of her marriage to the late Otto II.<ref name="Davids (2002) 26, 38">Davids (2002), pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Db9Z_BagLw8C&pg=PA26 26], [https://books.google.com/books?id=Db9Z_BagLw8C&pg=PA38 38].</ref> Theophanu's regency is a time of considerable peace, as the years 985-991 passed without major crises.