Danelis

   Wealthy widow and patron of future emperor Basil I (qq.v.). When Basil was in the Peloponnesos (q.v.) on a mission for Theophilitzes, an official in the service of Michael III (q.v.), he met Danelis, who had vast estates in the region of Patras, making her perhaps the wealthiest person in Greece (q.v.). Convinced by a monk's prophecy that Basil would one day become emperor, she became his patron, and he became a spiritual brother to her son. Her wealth, which was enormous, included vast estates and slaves (q.v.). Modern scholars have suggested that the source of her wealth lay in textile production, perhaps the weaving of silk (q.v.), or of woolen goods.