Irene Doukaina Laskarina

Irene
Empress consort of Bulgaria
Empress consort of Bulgaria
Tenure	1258–1268
Predecessor	Maria Asenina
Successor	Maria Kantakouzena
Born	Unknown Empire of Nicaea
Died	1268 Tarnovo, Bulgaria
Burial	SS. Forty Martyrs Church in Tarnovo
Spouse	Constantine Tikh of Bulgaria
House	Laskaris House of Asen
Father	Theodore II Laskaris
Mother	Elena of Bulgaria

Irene Doukaina Laskarina (Bulgarian: Ирина Ласкарина Асенина, Greek: Ειρήνη Δούκαινα Λασκαρίνα) was empress consort (tsaritsa) of Bulgaria (1258–1268). She was second wife of Tsar Constantine Tikh of Bulgaria.

She was a daughter of Theodore II Laskaris, emperor of Nikaea, and his wife Elena of Bulgaria. Irene was a sister of Byzantine emperor John IV Laskaris. Her maternal grandparents were Tsar Ivan Asen II and Anna Maria of Hungary.

In 1257 Irene was married Bulgarian nobleman Constantine Tikh as his second wife. Her husband was a pretender for Bulgarian crown. Constantine was proud to be married a granddaughter of Tsar Ivan Asen II and he adopted the Bulgarian dynastic name Asen to enhance his position as a legitimate ruler of Bulgaria. On the next year Constantine Tikh Asen was elected Tsar of Bulgaria by a boyar council in Tarnovo and Irene become his consort.

In 1261 Irene's brother, Byzantine emeperor John IV Laskaris, was deposed by Michael VIII Palaiologos, who seized the power in the Byzantine Empire. Tsaritsa Irene was a bitter enemy of the usurper. She became a leader of anti-Byzantine party in the Bulgarian court.

Irene died in 1268. She had no children.

Ancestors

Sources

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• John V.A. Fine, Jr., The Late Medieval Balkans, Ann Arbor, 1987.