Transcontinental royal intermarriage



This article's aim is to gather examples of transcontinental royal intermarriages, that is, royal intermarriage between royal families originating from different continents. One of the best-known instances of transcontinental royal intermarriage is the one between Alexander the Great, king of Macedon, and his three Persian wives, Roxana, Stateira and Parysatis.

Alexander the Great and the Susa weddings
in 327 BC, during his conquest of the Achaemenid Empire, Alexander the Great fell in love with Roxana, daughter of the bactrian nobleman Oxyartes, and married her despite his companions' opposition. Roxana will later give birth to a son after Alexander's death, Alexander IV of Macedon.

After Alexander defeated Darius III at the battle of Issus, he captured his family, including his daughter Stateira. In 324 BC, during a mass wedding known as the Susa weddings, Alexander married both Stateira and her cousin Parysatis, members of the Achaemenid dynasty. Other notable marriages that occurred during the Susa weddings are the one between Selecus I and the Sogdian noble Apama and the one between Ptolemy I and the Persian noble Artakama

Khazarian dynasties
In 695, the Byzantine emperor Justinian II was deposed and exiled to Crimea. In 703, he escaped and received help by Busir, khagan of Khazaria, who offered him his sister's hand. Justinian accepted and renamed her Theodora, probably after the wife of Justinian I. The couple had one son, co-emperor Tiberius IV.

Around 732, to solidify an alliance with Khazaria, the future emperor Constantine V married Tzitzak, daughter of khagan Bihar. Tzitzak was later renamed "Irene". The marriage produced Byzantine emperor Leo IV, who was given the epithet "the Khazar" referencing his maternal descent.

Armenia and Georgia
Due to the closeness of the empire with the two realms, Byzantine royals often married with Armenian and Georgian dynasties. Here follows a list of documented marriages:
 * Emperor Michael VII and Maria of Alania.
 * Emperor Nikephoros III and Maria of Alania.
 * Hovhannes-Smbat III of Armenia and an Argyra (niece of emperor Romanos III)
 * Constantine I of Armenia and Pokhaina (relative of emperor Nikephoros II Phokas)
 * Theodore I of Nicaea and Philippa of Armenia.
 * David VI of Georgia and Theodora Doukaina Palaeologina (daughter of emperor Michael VIII).
 * Emperor Michael IX and Rita of Armenia.
 * Demetrius II of Georgia and Megale Komnena (daughter of Manuel I of Trebizond).
 * Bagrat V of Georgia and Helene of Trebizond.
 * Bagrat V of Georgia and Anna of Trebizond.

Mongol khanates
Around 1265, Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII attempted to start diplomatic relationships with the Mongol Ilkhanate. A marriage was combined between Ilkhan Hulagu, and Michael's illegitimate daughter, Maria Palaiologina. Maria left Costantinople in 1265, but when she arrived in Caesarea she was informed that Hulagu had died, so it was decided for her to marry Hulagu's son, Abaqa. The Mongols called Maria "Despina Khatun". The marriage produced a daughter, Theodora Ara Qutlugh.

Michael VIII also tried to form an alliance with the Golden Horde. In 1266, he gave another illegitimate daughter, Epuhrosyne Palaiologina, in marriage to the khan Nogai. There are no known children resulting from this marriage.

Failed alliance with the Ayyubids
In a negotiation between Richard the Lionheart and Saladin during the third crusade, it was proposed to arrange a marriage between al-Adil, Saladin's brother, and either Richard's sister Joan or his niece Eleanor. The arrangement however failed for religious reasons.

Cumania
Around 1238, Béla IV of Hungary arranged a marriage between his son, future Stephen V, and Elizabeth, the daughter of a Cuman leader whom he had invited to settle in the plains along the river Tisza. This leader is either khan Köten or a man named Seyhan. The marriage resulted in 4 daughters and 2 sons, among whom there is Laudislaus IV, who succeeded his father, and who was nicknamed "the Cuman" for his mother's origins.

Mongol khanates
In 1315, Yury, prince of Moscow, sealed an alliance with khan Uzbeg of the Golden Horde by marrying his sister Konchaka. Konchaka then converted to orthodoxy and was renamed "Agafiia". She was imprisoned in a war to take the principality of Vladimir and died before she could give Yury any sons.