Bertha of Sulzbach

To seal the alliance, the emissaries requested that Conrad send a princess of his family to be married to the emperor's son, Manuel.

Instead, Conrad selected his sister-in-law, Bertha,[2] and after legally adopting her as his daughter,[3] sent her to the Byzantine Empire escorted by Emicho von Leiningen, the Bishop of Würzburg.

Manuel delayed marrying her for three years, until shortly after Epiphany 1146, at which point she became empress and was renamed "Irene/Eireni" (Εἰρήνη),[3] a common name for foreign-born princesses.

Bertha-Irene was noted for shunning the frivolity of the luxurious Byzantine court; Basil of Ochrid, the archbishop of Thessalonica, praised her for her modesty and piety, and Nicetas Choniates (53sq.)

The patriarch of Constantinople, Cosmas II Atticus, who had been accused of heresy, allegedly cursed Bertha-Ireneʻs womb in 1147 to prevent her bearing a son.