Mary of Trebizond
Maria von Trebizond (also Maria Megale Komnena ; * before 1404; † December 17, 1439 ) was the third wife of the Byzantine emperor John VIII. Palaiologos (ruled 1425–1448).
Life
Mary of Trebizond, about whose life only sparse information is available, came from the ruling family of the Great Comnenes . She was the daughter of Emperor Alexios IV of Trebizond and his wife Theodora Kantakuzena , the daughter of Theodoros Kantakuzenos and Euphrosyne Palaiologina. In September 1427 Maria married the Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaiologus after he had cast out his second wife, the allegedly ugly and therefore ugly Sophia of Montferrat .
Apparently Maria was Johannes' favorite wife, but no children and therefore no heir to the throne resulted from their twelve-year marriage. Maria died in 1439; According to the English historian Steven Runciman , the cause of death was the bubonic plague . At the time of her death, her imperial husband was at an ecumenical council in Florence to negotiate the union of the Greek Orthodox with the Roman Catholic Church . Apparently bent by the loss of his wife, he did not have the strength after his return home to enforce the ecclesiastical union, which met with great resistance from the Greeks.
Mary was buried in the Pantocrator Monastery in Constantinople . She was supposed to be the last Byzantine empress. The Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453, which also ended the era of the Byzantine Empire.
literature
- Barbara Morgan: Maria of Trebizond . In: Anne Commire (Ed.): Women in World History . Vol. 10 (2001), p. 340.
Remarks
- ^ "Medieval lands" by Charles Cawley
- ↑ Barbara Morgan, in: Women in World History . Vol. 10 (2001), p. 340.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mary of Trebizond |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Maria Megale Komnena |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Wife of the Byzantine emperor John VIII. Palaiologos |
| DATE OF BIRTH | before 1404 |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 17, 1439 |