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How did negotiations with Byzantium lead to Otto II’s marriage to Theophano?

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Stone sculptures of Otto I and his wife Edith, both crowned and seated, displayed side by side in the cathedral at Magdeburg, Germany. — Otto I Otto I and his wife Edith, sculptures in the cathedral at Magdeburg, Germany.

Following his coronation as emperor in 962, Otto I sought to gain recognition from the Byzantine Empire, as his imperial title was viewed by the Byzantines as a direct affront to their own unique authority.1

Initial diplomatic efforts to secure a marriage alliance between his son, the future Otto II, and a Byzantine princess were met with scornful rejection. In 968, Otto I sent Liutprand of Cremona to Constantinople to negotiate such a union, but the mission failed due to the hostile reception of the Byzantine emperor Nicephorus II Phocas.12

However, the diplomatic situation eventually shifted under the successor of Nicephorus, John I Tzimisces. John relented and agreed to the marriage, leading to the union between Otto II and the Byzantine princess Theophano in 972. While this arrangement provided Otto I with a significant diplomatic triumph and recognition, it did not imply that the Byzantine Empire accepted Western claims to the imperial title.134