Irene Komnene

Irene Angelos Komnene or Eirene Komnenos (Greek: Ειρήνη Κομνηνή, Bulgarian Ирина Комнина / Irina Komnina) was a Bulgarian tsarina and the third wife of the Bulgarian tsar Ivan Assen II , as well as the mother of their son, the tsar Michael II .

Irene Angelos Komnene is the daughter of the despot of Epirus Theodoros I Angelos and Maria Petraliphaina. In 1230, after the Battle of Klokotnitsa , Irene and her family were captured and taken to the Bulgarian capital, Tarnowo , by the troops of Tsar Ivan Assen II . Irene grew up there in the Tsar's palace, where she caught the eye of the widowed Tsar because of her beauty and where both married in 1237. According to a Byzantine author, Tsar Ivan Assen II loved Irene no less than Mark Antony Cleopatra, and she was his mistress even before 1237.

With the marriage of Irene, the Bulgarian tsar violated the church canon, as his daughter Marija was married to Irene's uncle Manuel Komnenos Dukas Angelos from his first marriage . For this reason, the Bulgarian Patriarch Vizarion refused the blessing of the marriage, which ultimately cost him his life.

Irene and Iwan Assen II had three children:

1. Michael II. Assen (* approx. 1238; † 1256) Tsar of Bulgaria (1246–1256)
2. Teodora-Anna ∞ Sebastokrator Pjotr
3. Maria Assenina ∞ Boyars Mizo Assen

Ivan Assen II died in 1241 and was succeeded by his son Kaliman I Assen , born from his second marriage to Anna Maria of Hungary. Kaliman I Assen was poisoned in 1246 and the underage son of Irene, Michael II Assen, was elected as the new tsar.