Irene of Montferrat

Yolande of Montferrat (c. 1274 – 1317 in Constantinople) (also known as Violante, then Empress Irene) was the second wife of Andronikos II Palaiologos and thus empress of the Byzantine Empire. She was the heir of the Margraviate of Montferrat.

Irene of Montferrat
Byzantine Empress consort
Tenure	1284–1317 (with Rita of Armenia, 1294–1317)
Born	c. 1274 Casale
Died	1317 (aged 42–43) Constantinople
Spouse	Andronikos II Palaiologos
House	Aleramici
Father	William VII, Marquess of Montferrat
Mother	Beatrice of Castile

Born in Casale, she was daughter of William VII, Marquess of Montferrat and his second wife Beatrice of Castile.[1] Her maternal grandparents were King Alfonso X of Castile[1] and his wife Violante of Aragon. Yolande (variation of Violante) was named after her grandmother.

In 1284, Andronikos II, a widower by his first marriage with Anna of Hungary, married Yolanda (who was renamed Eirene as Empress). She and Andronikos II were distant cousins, both being descendants of Andronikos Doukas Angelos (ca. 1122-1185). With her, Eirene brought the Montferrat rights to the kingdom of Thessalonica,[1] a dominion that, despite having been conquered half-a-century before Eirene's birth by the Byzantine state of Epirus, was still claimed by its short-lived (1204–1224) Montferrat royal dynasty.

It was later proven that the Italian Montferrat had no living male heirs of the Aleramici dynasty, and Eirene's sons were entitled to inherit it upon the 1305 death of Eirene's brother John I, Marquess of Montferrat.

The marriage produced the following children:

• John Palaiologos (c. 1286–1308), despotes.[1]
• Bartholomaios Palaiologos (born 1289), died young.
• Theodore I, Marquis of Montferrat (1291–1338).[1]
• Simonis Palaiologina (1294–after 1336),[1] who married King Stefan Milutin of Serbia.
• Theodora Palaiologina (born 1295), died young.
• Demetrios Palaiologos (1297–1343), despotēs.[1] Father of Irene Palaiologina.
• Isaakios Palaiologos (born 1299), died young.

Eirene's stepson, Michael IX Palaiologos was intended to succeed her husband as emperor, but ultimately it was Michael's son Andronikos III Palaiologos, who became the successor instead of Michael. This was largely due to the work Eirene did to ensure some power and property to her own offspring.

Eirene left Constantinople in 1303 and settled in Thessalonica. She set her own court in the city and controlled her own finances and foreign policy until her death fourteen years later. Nicephorus Gregoras portrayed her as an ambitious and arrogant leader in his historical writings.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Irene of Montferrat

8. William VI, Marquess of Montferrat 4. Boniface II, Marquess of Montferrat 9. Berta of Clavesana 2. William VII, Marquess of Montferrat 10. Amadeus IV, Count of Savoy 5. Margaret of Savoy 11. Margaret of Burgundy 1. Irene of Montferrat 12. Ferdinand III of Castile and León 6. Alfonso X of Castile and León 13. Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen 3. Beatrice of Castile 14. James I of Aragon 7. Violant of Aragon 15. Violant of Hungary

References

1. Nicol, Donald M. (1994). The Byzantine Lady: Ten Portraits, 1250–1500. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 48–49. ISBN 0-521-45531-6.

External links

• Marek, Miroslav. "A pedigree of the Montferrat family". Genealogy.EU.
• Cawley, Charles, MONFERRATO SALUZZO SAVONA Yolanda died 1317, Medieval Lands database, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy The project "involves extracting and analysing detailed information from primary sources, including contemporary chronicles, cartularies, necrologies and testaments."