Irene Lekapene

Irene Lekapene
Irene Lekapene
	Seal depicting Irene with Peter I
Empress consort of Bulgaria
Born	Unknown; Byzantine Empire
Spouse	Peter I of Bulgaria
Issue	Plenimir, Boris II, Roman
Father	Christopher Lekapenos
Mother	Augusta Sophia

Irene Lekapene (born Maria; Bulgarian: Ирина Лакапина, Greek: Μαρία/Ειρήνη Λακαπηνή, died ca. 966) was the Empress consort of Peter I of Bulgaria. She was а daughter of Christopher Lekapenos, son and co-emperor of Romanos I Lekapenos, and his wife Augusta Sophia.[1]

To prove himself a worthy successor to his father both at home and in the eyes of foreign governments, Bulgaria's new emperor Peter I made a show of force by invading Byzantine Thrace in May 927, but showed himself ready to negotiate for a more permanent peace. Romanos seized the occasion and proposed a marriage alliance between the imperial houses of Byzantium and Bulgaria to end the War of 913–927. Romanos arranged for a diplomatic marriage between his granddaughter Maria and the Bulgarian monarch.[2] For the first time in Byzantine history, a Byzantine princess was to be married to a foreign ruler; decades later, Romanos' son-in-law and co-ruler Constantine VII criticized Romanos for this concession. In October 927 Peter arrived near Constantinople to meet Romanos and signed the peace treaty, marrying Maria on November 8.[3] To signify the new era in Bulgaro-Byzantine relations, Maria was renamed Irene ("peace").

Irene and Peter I of Bulgaria had several children, including:

Plenimir
Boris II, who succeeded as emperor of Bulgaria in 969
Roman, who succeeded as emperor of Bulgaria in 977

References

Charles William Previté-Orton (1975) Cambridge Medieval History, Shorter: Volume 1, The Later Roman Empire to the Twelfth Century. Volume 1 of The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History, ISBN 0-521-09976-5 p. 256
Milan Loos (1974). Dualist Heresy in the Middle Ages. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 382.
MARIA Lekapene. "The wife of Tsar Peter is the (unnamed) daughter of Christoforos according to Liudprand, the marriage taking place just after the Tsar's accession after which she adopted the name IRINA."

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[b1-1] Charles William Previté-Orton (1975) Cambridge Medieval History, Shorter: Volume 1, The Later Roman Empire to the Twelfth Century. Volume 1 of The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History, ISBN 0-521-09976-5 p. 256

[2] Milan Loos (1974). Dualist Heresy in the Middle Ages. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 382.

[3] MARIA Lekapene. "The wife of Tsar Peter is the (unnamed) daughter of Christoforos according to Liudprand, the marriage taking place just after the Tsar's accession after which she adopted the name IRINA."