Irene of Montferrat
| Irene of Montferrat | |
|---|---|
| Byzantine Empress consort | |
| Born |
c. 1274 Casale |
| Died | 1317 (aged 42–43) Constantinople |
| Spouse | Andronikos II Palaiologos |
| House | House of Aleramici |
| Father | William VII, Marquess of Montferrat |
| Mother | Beatrice of Castile |
Yolande of Montferrat (c. 1274 – 1317 in Constantinople) (also known as Violante, then Empress Irene) was the second Empress-Consort of Andronikos II Palaiologos, the ruler of Constantinople and the entire Byzantine Empire, and heiress of the Margraviate of Montferrat.
Born in Casale, she was daughter of William VII, Marquess of Montferrat and his second wife Beatrice of Castile. Her maternal grandparents were King Alfonso X of Castile and his wife Violante of Aragon. Yolande (variation of Violante) was named after her grandmother.
In 1284, Andronikos II, a widower by his first marriage with Anna of Hungary, married Yolanda (who was renamed Eirene as Empress). She and Andronikos II were distant cousins, both being descendants of Andronikos Doukas Angelos (ca. 1122-1185). With her, Eirene brought the Montferrat rights to the kingdom of Thessalonica, a dominion that, despite having been conquered half-a-century before Eirene's birth by the Byzantine state of Epirus, was still claimed by its short-lived (1204–1224) Montferrat royal dynasty.
It was later proven that the Italian Montferrat had no living male heirs of the Aleramici dynasty, and Eirene's sons were entitled to inherit it upon the 1305 death of Eirene's brother John I, Marquess of Montferrat.
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