Eirene Tornikina

Events 

Date of Birth: unknown.

Place of Birth: unknown.

Date of Death: about 1185.

Place of Death: unknown.

Relationships

Father: Demetrios Tornikes.

Mother: a sister of Euthymios Malakes.

See the Commentary section.

Spouse: Isaac II Angelos.

See the Commentary section.

Children: 

(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)

Euphrosyne, a nun.

Alexios IV (born about 1080 to 1083, died 1204, after 28 January), co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.

Irene (born probably in 1084/5, died 27 August 1208) married (1) Roger III, king of Sicily; married (2) Philip, king of Germany.

Commentary

Stone and Owen note that Konstantinos Tornikes was called the theios (uncle) of Emperor Alexios IV Angelos in December 1202 in an act of the monastery of Patmos. They analyze possible relationships which could account for this description, concluding that Eirene being Konstantinos’s sister was by far the most likely. This relationship is also supported by Konstantinos’s father Demetrios being called an oikeios (member of the household or family) of Emperor Isaakios II Angelos in a report on a synod held in 1191. 

It has been suggested that Eirene may have been a sister of Andronikos Palaiologos, who was called a beloved gambros (usually meaning brother-in-law or someone else related through marriage to a female relative) in the same 1191 synod report, but Stone and Owens note that it is at least as likely that gambros described another relationship, such as Andronikos being married to a cousin or niece of Isaakios, or Andonikos’s wife being a sister of Eirene.

References

Settipani, Christian. Les liens dynastiques entre Byzance et l'étranger à l'époque des Comnènes et des Paléologues (2021).

Stone, D C and Charles R Owens. “[Eirene?], First Wife of Emperor Isaakios II Angelos, is a Probable Tornikina and Gateway to Antiquity” in Foundations (Jan. 2011).