Thekla 1 was a daughter of Theophilos 5 (the emperor Theophilos) and Theodora 2; the emperor Michael III (Michael 11) was her brother, and she had four sisters, Anastasia 2, Anna 2, Poulcheria 1 and Maria 4: Theoph. Cont. III 5 (p. 90), Leo Gramm. 237, 242, 256, Georg. Mon. Cont. 823, 828, 842, Ps.-Symeon 628, 658, 675, Zon. XV 26. 4. She was the eldest of Theophilos 5's daughters: Theoph. Cont. III 44 (p. 147). She and her sisters used to visit their grandmother (either Euphrosyne 1 or Theoktiste 1; probably the latter, since Euphrosyne 1 was their stepgrandmother) at the monastery of Ta Gastria but were stopped after Theophilos 5 found that they were being encouraged to venerate icons by her: Ps.-Symeon 628 (Euphrosyne 1), Theoph. Cont. III 5 (pp. 90-91) (Theoktiste 1), Zon. XV 26. 4-8. Described as co-ruler in 845, when the martyrs of Amorion were killed: Mart. XLII Amor. (BHG 1209) p. 52, line 9 (and cf. the imperial seals and coins cited below, with Ostrogorsky, History, p. 219).

After Michael 11 fell out with his mother (Theodora 2), Thekla 1 was exiled from the palace, at first to the palace of Ta Karianou with Anastasia 2 and Anna 2, later with Poulcheria 1 to the monastery of Ta Gastria where they were all tonsured: Leo Gramm. 237, Georg. Mon. Cont. 823, Ps.-Symeon 658, Zon. XVI 3. 4-6 (in Ta Gastria during the reign of Basil I, Basilios 7), Genesius IV 11. She was later given to Basilios 7 (the future emperor Basil I) by her brother (Michael 11) to be Basilios 7's mistress, at the same time as Basilios 7 had to take the emperor's mistress Eudokia 2 as his legal wife: Leo Gramm. 242, Georg. Mon. Cont. 828, Ps.-Symeon 675. On this, see further Mango, ZRVI 14/15 (1973), pp. 22-23 (= Mango, Byzantium and its Image XV) (citing Eutychius, Annales, in Vasiliev, Byzance et les Arabes II 2, p. 25, and Leo Gramm. 256, and Jenkins, DOP 19 (1965), p. 95). Later, when Basilios 7 was emperor, she sent one of her men on some business to Basilios 7 who enquired of him who her lover was; the man named Neatokomites, who was accordingly seized, beaten and tonsured by Basilios 7 and made a monk, while Thekla 1 was also beaten and her property all seized by the emperor: Leo Gramm. 256, Georg. Mon. Cont. 842. She built the cubiculum at Blachernai, where there was an oratory of the martyr Thekla, and it was there that she died, bed-ridden: Theoph. Cont. III 44 (pp. 147-148).

Thekla 1 is included with her brother (Michael 11) and her mother (Theodora 2) on imperial seals from the beginning of her brother's reign: Zacos and Veglery 54a and b, Likhachev, "Nekotorie" 533ff. The editors propose to date them c. 842/843. The names read: Μιχαήλ καὶ Θεοδώρα καὶ Θέκλα ἐκ Θεοῦ βασιλεῖς Ῥωμαίων. Her name is also recorded on the coinage, both during the reign of her father (Theophilos 5) and in the early years of the reign of her brother (Michael 11): Grierson, Catalogue III 1, pp. 428, 461-462, 464-465, Wroth, Byzantine Coins II 418, 431, and cf. Ostrogorsky, History, p. 219, nn. 1 and 2. Cf. also Const. Porph., De Cer. II 42.

Thekla 1 was one of the children of Theodora 2 (τὰς τῆς Θεοδώρας ... παῖδας): Scyl., p. 52, line 75. She had siblings Anna 2, Anastasia 2, Poulcheria 1, and Maria 4: Scyl., p. 52, line 75. Thekla 1 was influenced by her mother's mother Theoktiste 1 into the veneration of icons: Scyl., p. 52, lines 76-81. Thekla 1 visited Theoktiste 1's house which was later to become the Gastrion monastery: Scyl., p. 52, lines 74-75. Thekla 1 had feelings of disgust for her father's heresy and felt drawn to the form of the Holy Icons (αἵρεσιν ... εἰκόνων μορφάς): Scyl., p. 52, lines 80-81. Thekla 1 did not betray the icons to her father Theophilos 5: Scyl., p. 52, lines 84-86.

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