Editing Theophanu (section)

==Historiography and depictions in arts==
{{Main|Cultural depictions of Theophanu}}

Theophanu has always attracted considerable controversy from chroniclers and historiographers. While praised by [[Thietmar of Merseburg]] and [[Bruno of Querfurt]], she was also criticized by some other scholars, notably [[Odilo of Cluny]], the hagiographer of her mother-in-law and rival [[Adelaide of Italy|Adelaide]]. Odilo even blamed her for the failed Italian expedition of [[Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto II]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Walter |first1=Katherine Clark |title=The Profession of Widowhood: Widows, Pastoral Care, and Medieval Models of Holiness |date=2018 |publisher=CUA Press |isbn=978-0-8132-3019-1 |page=119 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2S93DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA119 |access-date=22 August 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Conference |first1=State University of New York at Binghamton Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies |title=Saints: Studies in Hagiography |date=1996 |publisher=Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies |isbn=978-0-86698-179-8 |page=70 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MhjaAAAAMAAJ |access-date=22 August 2022 |language=en}}</ref> Her modern historiographers are similarly divided, although {{ill|Knut Görich|de}} sees the general trend as leaning towards the positive. Some see her as passive, reactive and conservative while the others see her as extremely future-oriented and energetic; still others like Jestice opine that current evidences are not enough to definitely conclude that Theophanu and the other prominent female Ottonian rulers were extraordinarily talented as individuals or not but it is clear that the Ottonian society (which basically treated women and men as equals, except in physical prowess) allowed women the chance to succeed.{{sfn|Görich|2021}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Theophanu: Von einer byzantinischen Prinzessin zur römisch-deutschen Kaiserin |url=https://mein-weg-ins-museum.de/theophanu-kaiserin/ |website=Mein Weg ins Museum |access-date=22 August 2022 |language=de-DE |date=26 March 2021 |archive-date=15 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815041859/https://mein-weg-ins-museum.de/theophanu-kaiserin/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Jestice |first1=Phyllis G. |title=Imperial Ladies of the Ottonian Dynasty: Women and Rule in Tenth-Century Germany |year=2018 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-77306-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gHRVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA268 |access-date=22 August 2022 |language=en}}</ref> Her personal role or non-role in the contact or merging between the [[Macedonian Renaissance]] and [[Ottonian Renaissance]] inspires a lot of debate as well.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cohen |first1=Adam |title=Abbess Uta of Regensburg: Patterns of Patronage Around 1000 |year=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9hhIAQAAIAAJ |access-date=22 August 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Graham |first1=Mark W. |title=Review of The Empress Theophano: Byzantium and the West at the Turn of the First Millennium |journal=Medieval Prosopography |date=1996 |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=275–280 |jstor=44946221 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44946221 |access-date=21 August 2022 |issn=0198-9405}}</ref>