Miniature of the sebastokrator Constantine Palaiologos and his wife Irene, from the so-called Lincoln Typicon, ca. 1350

Irene Komnene Laskarina Branaina (Greek: Ειρήνη Κομνηνή Λασκαρίνα Βρανᾶίνα; died around 1271) was a Byzantine noblewoman and wife of sebastokrator Constantine Palaiologos, half-brother of Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos. She seems to have followed suit after her husband's retirement to a convent, and taken the monastic name of Maria. She probably died as a nun.

Marriage and family

Irene was the granddaughter of Byzantine General Theodore Branas and Agnes of France,^[1] though the Branas genealogy is poorly recorded.

Irene was married c. 1259/60 to Constantine Palaiologos,^[2] by whom he seems to have had five children"

• Michael Komnenos Branas Palaiologos^[3]
• Andronikos Branas Doukas Angelos Palaiologos^[4]
• Maria Komnene Branaina Laskarina Doukaina Tornikina Palaiologina.^[5] Married Isaac Komnenos Doukas Tornikios.^[6]
• Theodora. Married John Komnenos Doukas Angelos Synadenos and had three children. Later became a nun under the name Theodoule.
• Daughter (name unknown). Married Smilets of Bulgaria.^[7]

Footnotes

References

• Bekker, I. (ed.) (1835) Georgii Pachymeris De Michaele et Andronico Palaeologis, Corpus Scriptorum Historiæ Byzantinæ (Bonn) Vol I, De Michaele Palaeologo, Liber II, 5, p. 97.
• George Pachymeres, De Michaele Palaeologo & Andronicus Palæologus
• George Acropolites, Annals
• Bartusis, Mark C. (1997). The Late Byzantine Army: Arms and Society 1204–1453. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-1620-2.
• Cheynet, Jean-Claude; Vannier, Jean-François (1986). Études Prosopographiques (in French). Paris, France: Publications de la Sorbonne. ISBN 978-2-85944-110-4.
• Hooper, N. & Bennett, M., The Cambridge Illustrated Atlas of Warfare (Cambridge University Press, 1996) ISBN 0-521-44049-1, ISBN 978-0-521-44049-3
• 'Typikon of Theodora Synadene for the Convent of the Mother of God Bebaia Elpis in Constantinople' (trans. Alice-Mary Talbot), from Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents: A Complete Translation of the Surviving Founder's Typika and Testaments, Thomas, J. & Hero, A.C. (eds.) (Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington D.C. 2000)
• Guillaume Saint-Guillain, Identities and Allegiances in the Eastern Mediterranean after 1204 (Routledge, 2016) ISBN 1317119134, ISBN 978-1-317-11913-5