Maria-Irene Palaiologina

For other people with the same name, see Irene Palaiologina.
Irene
Εἰρήνη Παλαιολογίνα
Empress consort of Bulgaria
Born1327
Byzantine Empire
Diedc. 1399
Burial
Mesembria
SpouseMichael Asen IV of Bulgaria
FatherAndronikos III Palaiologos
MotherAnna of Savoy

Irene Palaiologina (Greek: Εἰρήνη Παλαιολογίνα; 1327 – after 1356) was a Byzantine princess and Bulgarian empress consort.[1] She was also known as Maria Palaiologina (Μαρία Παλαιολογίνα).

Her parents were Andronikos III Palaiologos and Anna of Savoy, whilst her siblings were John V Palaiologos[2] and Michael Palaiologos.[3]

She married in 1336 Tsar Michael Asen IV of Bulgaria. In 1355, her husband was killed in battle with the Ottoman Turks near Sofia. Irene decide to stay a nun in the monastery in Mesembria (today Nesebar) and take the name Matiasa. She died around 1399 and was buried in Mesembria.

Nothing else is known about her, except that she was an Orthodox Christian.

  1. ^ Georgios Phrantzes Liber I, 8, p. 39.
  2. ^ Nicol, Donald M. (1993). The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453 (Second ed.). London: Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd. ISBN 0-246-10559-3.
  3. ^ Guilland, Rodolphe (1959). "Recherches sur l'histoire administrative de l'Empire byzantin: Le despote, δεσπότης". Revue des études byzantines (in French). 17: 52–89. doi:10.3406/rebyz.1959.1199. Retrieved 28 May 2011.