Irene Palaiologina of Trebizond
| Irene Palaiologina | |
|---|---|
| Reign | 1340-1341 |
| Predecessor | Basil Megas Komnenos |
| Successor | Anna Anachoutlou |
| Born | c. 1315 |
| Father | Andronikos III Palaiologos |
Irene Palaiologina (Greek: Ειρήνη Παλαιολογίνα, Eirēnē Palaiologina), (c. 1315 – after 1341) was Empress of Trebizond from April 6, 1340 to July 17, 1341. She was an illegitimate daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos, and she married Emperor Basil of Trebizond in 1335.
Soon after the marriage, however, Basil took a mistress, also named Irene, and in 1339 divorced Irene Palaiologina with the connivance of the local clergy. Irene Palaiologina's cause was backed by Patriarch John XIV of Constantinople and she probably still retained some position of influence in Trebizond. On April 6, 1340, she probably poisoned Basil and seized the throne for herself by what reads in the account of Nicephorus Gregoras as a palace coup. Her position was tenuous because of the means by which she gained the throne, and because she was not a member of the ruling Komnenian dynasty. To shore up her position, she sent off her dead husband's second wife and sons to Constantinople where they could be watched over by her father.
In spite of her precipitous actions, Irene believed the Empire needed a man to rule it, and appealed to her father to send her a husband from amongst the Byzantine nobles. However Andronikos III was away from Constantinople -- William Miller describes how messengers searched Thessaloniki and Akarania for him—and he died on June 15, 1341 before he could answer his daughter's request. Meanwhile, a rumor circulated in Trebizond that the Empress had taken the megas domestikos as her lover, which led to widespread rioting.
The first round of the civil war began shortly after her accession. Three opposing parties had formed: first was that of Irene, the family of Amytzantarioi, and her Byzantine mercenaries provided courtesy of her father; second was of the opposing archons under the sebastos Tzanichites, the captain-general of the Scholarioi and a part of the imperial bodyguard loyal to the memory of their late Emperor; and the third party was that of megas doux John the Eunuch, who held the fortress of Limnia. The archons under Tzanichites encamped themselves in the Monastery of St. Eugenios within the walls of the city, near the imperial palace but sufficiently impregnable. For two months this party sat watching the faction of Irene and her supporters, engaging in daily skirmishes to no permanent result, until July 2, 1340 when the megas doux decided for Irene. John the Eunuch directed his siege engines against the monastery, destroying it almost completely, and defeating the rebels. Tzanchites was amongst the rebels taken as prisoners and sent to Limnia where they were executed a year later.
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