Irene Angelina

Greek: Ειρήνη. Also known, after her second marriage, as Maria.

Events

Date of Birth: about 1180 to 1184.

Place of Birth: unknown (presumably Constantinople).

The date is given by Cawley. Hiestand gives about 1181-1182.

Date of Death: 27 August 1208.

Place of Death: Burg Staufen.

The date and place are given by Weller (p. 167).

Place of Burial: Lorch Abbey.

The date is given by Weller (p. 167).

Relationships

Father: Byzantine emperor Isaac II Angelos.

This relationship is given by Hucker, by Weller (p. 157), and by Schreiner.

Mother: uncertain (Her name is recorded as "Herina").

Irene Tornikaina is given by Cawley, who states, citing an article by Don Stone and Charles Owens, that the most likely parents for Irene were Demetrios Tornikes and a daughter of Euthymios Malakes. Georgios Palaiologos Komnenodoukas is suggested as Irene (the elder's) father by Hiestand.

Spouse: Roger III, king of Sicily. Married July or August 1192 in Brindisi.

This relationship is given by Schreiner and by Weller (pp. 157-158).

Spouse: Philip of Swabia, king of the Germans. Married 25 May 1197.

This relationship is given by Hucker, by Weller (pp. 158-159), and by Schreiner.

Children (by Philip):

(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project. Most information below comes from Cawley.)

Beatrice (1198 - 11 August 1212) married Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor.

Maria married Henry II, duke of Brabant.

Cunigunde (1202 - 13 September 1248) married Wenceslaus I, king of Bohemia.

Elisabeth (1205 - 5 November 1235) married Ferdinand III, king of Castile, León, and Galicia.

References

Cawley, Charles. “EIRENE Angelina” in Medieval Lands: A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families.

Hiestand, Rudolf. “Die erste Ehe Isaaks II. Angelos und seine Kinder” in Jahrbuch der österreichischen Byzantistik (volume 47, Vienna, 1997) pp. 199-208.

Hucker, Bernd Ulrich. “Philipp von Schwaben” in Neue Deutsche Biographie 20 (2001) S. 370-372 [Onlinefassung].

M. Jeffreys et al., Prosopography of the Byzantine World (2011) “Eirene 132” [consulted 31 July 2014].

Schreiner, P. Dynastie der Angeloi genealogical table in volume 9 of Lexikon des Mittelalters. Munich: LexMA-Verlag, 1980-1998.

Weller, Tobias. Die Heiratspolitik des deutschen Hochadels im 12. Jahrhundert. (2004: Böhlau Verlag).