Irene of Montferrat
Yolande of Montferrat (* 1273/74, † 1317 in Drama ) was named Irene an empress of the Byzantine Empire, as the second wife of Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos. She was a daughter of the Marquis William VII of Montferrat and his second wife Beatrice of Castile. Yolande was also known as Violante, as her maternal grandmother, Violante of Aragon.
Life
Irene married in 1284 as a ten- year-old with the Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos just widowed, she received from her father to the title and inheritance of a " Queen of Thessaloniki" as dowry. The Kingdom of Thessaloniki was founded in 1204 as a result of the Fourth Crusade by her great-great grandfather, Boniface of Montferrat. However, it was her family already lost again in 1224, so it was preserved from then on only in their titulary. With the transfer of the title to the house of Montferrat Irene now renounced his rights to this defunct Kingdom in favor of the Byzantine emperor, which in turn could feel ownership of Thessaloniki secure itself.
From the marriage with Andronicus several children were born, four of whom reached adulthood:
- John Palaiologos († 1307 )
- Theodoros Palaiologos († 1338 ), Margrave of Montferrat
- Simonida Palaiologina († 1340), ∞ 1300 with the King of the Serbs Stefan Uroš II Milutin († 1321 )
- Demetrios Palaiologos ( † after 1343 )
After the birth of her first son in 1286 Irene was formally crowned Empress. The Greek historian Nicephorus Gregoras handed down a very negative character image about them. So Irene has become scheming, domineering and arrogant with age. Also they have harmed with their on yourself as well as related to their sons ambitions to the State. Irene pursued plans for an inheritance to their sons in the empire and thus against her stepson Michael IX. , Which, however, in 1303 led to a break with her husband. She moved to Thessaloniki, from where they henceforth acted in cahoots with its Serb son in law against her husband, albeit unsuccessfully. Their second son was able to compete in 1305 the succession in the Margraviate of Montferrat and thus justify the Italian branch of the Byzantine imperial house of Palaiologos.
Irene died in 1317 after a fever on her country estate in Drama and was buried at the instigation of her daughter in the Pantokrator Monastery of Constantinople Opel. The poet Manuel Philes and Theodoros Metochites ever written a poem on their lives.