Maria of Trebizond

Maria Megale Komnene (Greek: Μαρία Μεγάλη Κομνηνή), known as Maria of Trebizond (Greek: Μαρία της Τραπεζούντας), (died 17 December 1439) was a Byzantine Empress consort by marriage to the Byzantine emperor John VIII Palaiologos (r. 1425–1448). She was the last empress consort of the Byzantine Empire.

She was one of three daughters of Alexios IV of Trebizond and Theodora Kantakouzene.

In September, 1427, Maria married John VIII Palaiologos in Constantinople, having arrived by ship from Trebizond on the last day of August; the connection had been negotiated through ambassadors sent from Constantinople the previous year. George Sphrantzes describes her as Maria Komnene, daughter of Alexios the Emperor of Trebizond, and places the ceremony in year 6936 of the Byzantine calendar, thus establishing the date. The Ecthesis Chronica calls her Maria Katakouzene (Katakouzene was a variant of Kantakouzene) and extols her exceptional beauty which caused John VIII to love her dearly. The wedding by the Patriarch Joseph was recorded in the history of Doukas, who simply calls her Maria, daughter of Alexios Komnenos, Emperor of Trebizond.

Bertrandon de la Brocquière, who saw her in Constantinople in 1432, likewise praised her beauty, stating, "I should not have had a fault to find with her had she not been painted, and assuredly she had not any need of it."

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