Maria Komnene (Montferrat)

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Maria Komnene (Μαρία Κομνηνή, * March 1152 in Constantinople ; † July 1182 ) was the daughter of Emperor Manuel I and Berta / Irene and heir to the throne of Byzantium until the birth of her brother Alexios in 1171.

She was 12 years old in 1164 with the later Hungarian King Béla III. engaged, but the contract was canceled after five years. She was then betrothed to Wilhelm II of Sicily, but was then married in 1180 to Rainer von Montferrat , who was just eighteen years old , probably to integrate the Margraves of Montferrat (Mons Ferrati) into an alliance against Friedrich Barbarossa . We owe Wilhelm of Tire a description of the wedding celebrations. The young bridegroom was given the Greek name John and was made Caesar, probably primarily to make this unequal marriage more palatable to Mary.

Thessaloniki probably belonged to Maria's dowry or was assigned to Rainer as a pronoia . Later authors who knew little about the Byzantine administration wanted to see him as King of Salonica. Rainer von Montferrat died in 1183, not yet 25 years old. Allegedly he was poisoned by Andronikos I.

literature

  • Jürgen Hoffmann: Rudiments of territorial states in the Byzantine Empire. Munich 1974.