--- a/markup/template.py
+++ b/markup/template.py
@@ -717,7 +717,10 @@
                             raise BadDirectiveError(name, pos[0], pos[1])
                         directives.append(cls(value))
                     else:
-                        value = list(self._interpolate(value, *pos))
+                        if value:
+                            value = list(self._interpolate(value, *pos))
+                        else:
+                            value = [(TEXT, u'', pos)]
                         new_attrib.append((name, value))
 
                 if directives:

--- a/markup/tests/template.py
+++ b/markup/tests/template.py
@@ -417,9 +417,12 @@
         self.assertEqual('<root> 42 42</root>', str(tmpl.generate(ctxt)))
 
     def test_interpolate_non_string_attrs(self):
-        ctxt = Context()
         tmpl = Template('<root attr="${1}"/>')
-        self.assertEqual('<root attr="1"/>', str(tmpl.generate(ctxt)))
+        self.assertEqual('<root attr="1"/>', str(tmpl.generate()))
+
+    def test_empty_attr(self):
+        tmpl = Template('<root attr=""/>')
+        self.assertEqual('<root attr=""/>', str(tmpl.generate()))
 
     def test_bad_directive_error(self):
         xml = '<p xmlns:py="http://markup.edgewall.org/" py:do="nothing" />'
@@ -434,7 +437,7 @@
         xml = '<p xmlns:py="http://markup.edgewall.org/" py:if="bar\'" />'
         tmpl = Template(xml, filename='test.html')
         try:
-            list(tmpl.generate(Context()))
+            list(tmpl.generate())
             self.fail('Expected SyntaxError')
         except TemplateSyntaxError, e:
             self.assertEqual('test.html', e.filename)