Irene Laskarina

Empress consort of Nicaea
Irene Laskarina
Seal of Irene Laskarina
Empress consort of Nicaea
Tenure1222–1240
Died1240
SpouseAndronikos Palaiologos
John III Doukas Vatatzes
IssueTheodore II Vatatzes
HouseLaskaris
FatherTheodore I Laskaris
MotherAnna Angelina

Irene Laskarina (born c. 1194-1199 CE, died 1240 CE) (Greek: Εἰρήνη Λασκαρίνα, Eirēnē Laskarina) was Empress consort of Nicaea.[1][2] She was a daughter of Theodore I Laskaris,[3] emperor of Nicaea and Anna Komnene Angelina. Her maternal grandparents were Alexios III Angelos and Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamatera.[4] Her sister, Maria Laskarina, married Béla IV of Hungary.

In 1204 CE, during Irene Laskarina's childhood, the city of Constantinople fell to a Crusader army during the Sack of Constantinople.[1] Much of the nobility, including Irene's family, fled, and re-established a capitol in Nicaea; this became the Nicaean empire.[1]

Irene first married the general Andronikos Palaiologos, and after his death became the wife of Theodore's designated successor, the future John III Doukas Vatatzes[3] in 1212.[2][5] They had a son, the future Theodore II Laskaris. After the latter's birth, she fell from a horse and was so badly injured that she was unable to have any more children. She retired to a convent, taking the monastic name Eugenia, and died there in summer of 1240, some fourteen years before her husband.[6]

Irene is praised by historians[like whom?] for her modesty and prudence and is said to have brought about by her example a considerable improvement in the morals of her nation.[3]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Sweeney, Naoíse Mac (2023-05-23). The West: A New History in Fourteen Lives. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-593-47219-4.
  2. ^ a b Saint-Guillain, Guillaume (2016-09-17). Identities and Allegiances in the Eastern Mediterranean after 1204. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-11913-5.
  3. ^ a b c "Theodore Lascaris s.v. Irene Lascaris" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 766.
  4. ^ "The Aristocracy and the Empire of Nicaea", Identities and Allegiances in the Eastern Mediterranean after 1204, Routledge, pp. 87–98, 2016-09-17, doi:10.4324/9781315587738-13, ISBN 978-1-315-58773-8, retrieved 2024-08-20
  5. ^ Monte, Francesco Maria del (2024-06-22). Byzanz in Trümmern: Strategien und Widerstand der byzantinischen Staaten nach dem vierten Kreuzzug (in German). tredition. ISBN 978-3-384-26935-5.
  6. ^ Murata, Koji; Ichikawa, Kohei; Fujii, Yuri I.; Hayakawa, Hisashi; Cheng, Yongchao; Kawamoto, Yukiko; Sano, Hidetoshi (2021), "Cometary records revise Eastern Mediterranean chronology around 1240 CE", Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, 73: 197–204, arXiv:2012.00976, doi:10.1093/pasj/psaa114
Irene Laskarina
Born:  ? Died: 1240
Royal titles
Preceded by Empress consort of Nicaea
1221–1240 		Succeeded by
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Principate
27 BC – AD 235Crisis
235–285Dominate
284–610
Western Empire
395–480
Eastern Empire
395–610
Eastern/
Byzantine Empire
610–1453
See also
Italics indicates a consort to a junior co-emperor, underlining indicates a consort to an emperor variously regarded as either legitimate or a usurper, and bold incidates an empress regnant.