Yolande of Montferrat ( – 1317 in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

) (also known as Violante, then Empress Irene) was the second wife of

Andronikos II Palaiologos , image = Andronikos II Palaiologos2.jpg , caption = Miniature from the manuscript of George Pachymeres' ''Historia'' , succession = Byzantine emperor , reign = 11 December 1282 –24 May 1328 , coronation = 8 Novemb ...

and thus Empress of the Byzantine Empire. She was the heir of the Margraviate of Montferrat. Born in Casale, she was daughter of William VII, Marquess of Montferrat and his second wife Beatrice of Castile. Her maternal grandparents were King

Alfonso X of Castile Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Ger ...

and his wife Violante of Aragon. Yolande (variation of Violante) was named after her grandmother. In 1284, Andronikos II, a widower by his first marriage with Anna of Hungary, married Yolanda (who was renamed Eirene as Empress). She and Andronikos II were distant cousins, both being descendants of Andronikos Doukas Angelos (ca. 1122–1185). With her, Eirene brought the Montferrat rights to the kingdom of Thessalonica, a dominion that, despite having been conquered half-a-century before Eirene's birth by the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

state of

Epirus sq, Epiri rup, Epiru , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Historical region , image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg , map_alt = , map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinri ...

, was still claimed by its short-lived (1204–1224) Montferrat royal dynasty. It was later proven that the Italian

Montferrat Montferrat (, ; it, Monferrato ; pms, Monfrà , locally ; la, Mons Ferratus) is part of the region of Piedmont in northern Italy. It comprises roughly (and its extent has varied over time) the modern provinces of Province of Alessandria, ...

had no living male heirs of the Aleramici dynasty, and Eirene's sons were entitled to inherit it upon the 1305 death of Eirene's brother John I, Marquess of Montferrat. The marriage produced the following children: * John Palaiologos (c. 1286–1308), ''despotes''. * Bartholomaios Palaiologos (born 1289), died young. * Theodore I, Marquis of Montferrat (1291–1338). * Simonis Palaiologina (1294–after 1336), who married King

Stefan Milutin Stefan Uroš II Milutin ( sr-cyr, Стефан Урош II Милутин, Stefan Uroš II Milutin; 1253 – 29 October 1321), known as Stefan Milutin ( sr-cyr, Стефан Милутин, Stefan Milutin), was the King of Serbia between 1282&nd ...

of Serbia. * Theodora Palaiologina (born 1295), died young. * Demetrios Palaiologos (1297–1343), ''despotēs''. Father of Irene Palaiologina. * Isaakios Palaiologos (born 1299), died young. Eirene's stepson, Michael IX Palaiologos was intended to succeed her husband as emperor, but ultimately it was Michael's son

Andronikos III Palaiologos , image = Andronikos_III_Palaiologos.jpg , caption = 14th-century miniature.Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek. , succession = Byzantine emperor , reign = 24 May 1328 – 15 June 1341 , coronation = ...

, who became the successor instead of Michael. This was largely due to the work Eirene did to ensure some power and property to her own offspring. Eirene left Constantinople in 1303 and settled in

Thessalonica Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

. She set her own court in the city and controlled her own finances and foreign policy until her death fourteen years later. Nicephorus Gregoras portrayed her as an ambitious and arrogant leader in his historical writings.

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* * The project "involves extracting and analysing detailed information from primary sources, including contemporary chronicles, cartularies, necrologies and testaments." {{DEFAULTSORT:Irene of Montferrat 1274 births 1317 deaths People from Casale Monferrato Palaiologos dynasty 13th-century Byzantine empresses 14th-century Byzantine empresses 13th-century Italian nobility 14th-century Italian nobility 13th-century Italian women 14th-century Italian women Aleramici Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Roman Catholicism Italian people of Portuguese descent Italian people of German descent Italian people of French descent Italian people of Hungarian descent Italian people of English descent Italian people of Spanish descent Burials at Lips Monastery