Maria Palaiologina, Queen of Serbia

Maria Palaiologina (Serbian: Марија Палеолог / Marija Paleolog) was the Queen consort of Stephen Uroš III Dečanski of Serbia (1324–1331). She was the daughter of panhypersebastos John Palaiologos, and great-niece of Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos (r. 1282–1328). Her maternal grandfather was megas logothetēs Theodore Metochites.

Maria Palaiologina
Queen consort of Serbia
Tenure	1324–1331
Died	7 April 1355
Burial	Skopje
Spouses	Stephen Uroš III Dečanski of Serbia
Issue	Simeon Uroš, Jelena Nemanjić Šubić, Theodora Nemanjić
House	Palaiologos
Father	John Palaiologos
Mother	Irene Metochitissa
Religion	Eastern Orthodoxy

Her father was the governor of Thessaloniki in the early 1320s. Stephen Uroš III had earlier been married to Theodora of Bulgaria, but the marriage ended in with Theodora's death on 20 December 1322. Uroš III then married Maria in 1324. The royal couple's marriage lasted until her husband's death. Stephen Uroš III was defeated by his son Stephen Uroš IV Dušan (from the marriage with Theodora) in 1331, and shortly thereafter died in Zvečan (1332).

The relation between the father and son had been bad, the usurpation was incited by the "younger" nobility. Maria tried to assert the throne for her son Simeon Uroš, through Byzantine aid, but this was unsuccessful. Dušan the Mighty did not harm their family, Maria took monastic vows as Marta, and in 1348, Simeon became a governor of the southern provinces of the Serbian Empire. Maria died on April 7, 1355, and was buried in Skopje. A brief account of her turbulent life inscribed on her gravestone is attributed to her.[1]

Family

She had one son and two daughters by her marriage with Stephen Uroš III:

• Simeon Uroš, rival Emperor of Serbs and Greeks in the southern halve of the Serbian Empire (r. 1359 - 1370)
• Jelena, married Duke Mladen III Šubić of Bribir (r. 1315 - 1348)
• Teodora, married Despot Dejan of Kumanovo (fl. 1355)

Ancestry

Ancestors of Maria Palaiologina, Queen of Serbia

16. Andronikos Palaiologos, megas domestikos 8. Michael VIII Palaiologos 17. Theodora Angelina 4. Constantine Palaiologos, porphyrogénnētos 18. Ioannes Doukas Vatatzes 9. Theodora Doukaina Vatatzaina 19. Eudokia Angelina 2. John Palaiologos 20. Alexios Raoul, protovestiarios 10. John Raoul Petraliphas, protovestiarios 21. Vatatzaina 5. Irene Raoulaina 22. John Kantakouzenos, doux 11. Theodora Palaiologina Kantakouzene 23. Irene Palaiologina 1. Maria Palaiologina 12. George Metochites 6. Theodore Metochites, megas logothetes 3. Irene Metochitissa

See also

• Nemanjić dynasty

References

1. Hawkesworth, Celia (January 2000). Voices in the Shadows: Women and Verbal Art in Serbia and Bosnia. ISBN 9789639116627.

Sources

• Fine, John Van Antwerp (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5.