(First wife of Isaac II Angelos)^[1]

- Bef 1185

• Name	(First wife of Isaac II Angelos)
  Gender	Female
  Died	Bef 1185  [2]
  Person ID	I12399	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of AP, Ancestor of DDB, Ancestor of DGH, Ancestor of DK, Ancestor of JTS, Ancestor of TNH, Ancestor of TSW, Ancestor of TWK, Ancestor of WPF
  Last Modified	6 Jan 2018

  
  

  Father	Demetrios Tornikes,   b. Abt 1121, Thebes, Greece ,   d. Abt 1201  (Age ~ 80 years)
  Mother	(Unknown sister of Euthymios Malakes)
  Family ID	F8086	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Isaac II Angelos, Emperor of Byzantium,   b. Sep 1156, Constantinople ,   d. Jan 1204, Constantinople  (Age ~ 47 years)
  Children	+ 1. Irene Angelina,   b. Abt 1181, Constantinople ,   d. 27 Aug 1208, Hohenstaufen Castle, Bavaria  (Age ~ 27 years)
  Last Modified	22 Jun 2015
  Family ID	F1546	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• 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."

  
  

• Sources

  [S379] "[Eirene?], First Wife of Emperor Isaakios II Angelos, Is a Probable Tornikina and Gateway to Antiquity," by Don C. Stone and Charles R. Owens. Foundations, journal of the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, volume 3, number 5, 2011. [S160] Wikipedia.