| Notes |
- The origins of Isaac II Angelos's first wife are not known. She is frequently called "Irene", or some variant thereof, because her name is given as "Herina" in the necrology of Speyer Cathedral, where her son-in-law Phillip, Duke of Swabia and King of Germany, second husband of her daughter Irene Angelina (also called Eirene-Maria), is buried. But this is problematic because in this period of Byzantine history, it was a well-established custom that children were never given the names of her parents.
In this database we have followed, for her origins, the hypothesis set forth in "Eirene?, First Wife of Emperor Isaakios II Angelos, Is a Probable Tornikina and Gateway to Antiquity," by Don C. Stone and Charles R. Owens, citation details below, which puts forth the argument that "the first wife of Emperor Isaakios II Angelos was very likely a daughter of Demetrios Tornikes. We believe that our solution is the simplest way to accommodate all the evidence we have reviewed." Stone and Owens continue:
"We believe that the biographical information [...] provides additional support for this conclusion, showing, for example, political alliances that correlate with postulated family relationships. We noted that Demetrios Tornikes as judge of the velum opposed Andronikos Komnenos and almost paid for this resistance with death. The opposition of Isaakios Angelos, the future emperor, and his family to Andronikos Komnenos seems even more likely if the Angeloi were angered over Andronikos Komnenos' treatment of Demetrios Tornikes, father-in-law of Isaakios. Andronikos Komnenos' uncharacteristic lack of response to Angeloi opposition also seems more likely if Andronikos knew that Demetrios Tornikes was the father-in-law of Isaakios and understood the family's anger."
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Nielsen Hayden genealogy
- Bef 1185
d. Abt 1201 (Age ~ 80 years)