Catherine Zaccaria

Catherine Asenina Zaccaria
Despoina of Morea
Reign1430–1460
Byzantine Empress consort
Reign1453–1462
Died1462
Corfu, Venice
SpouseThomas Palaiologos
Issue
HouseZaccaria
FatherCenturione II Zaccaria
MotherPalaiologina Asenina
ReligionGreek Orthodox

Catherine Asenina Zaccaria or Catherine Palaiologina (Medieval Greek: Αἰκατερίνα Παλαιολογίνα; died 26 August 1462) was the daughter of the Prince of Achaea, Centurione II Zaccaria and a Byzantine lady hailing from the prestigious houses of Asen-Palaiologos and the house of Tzamblakon.[1] In September 1429 she was betrothed to the Byzantine Despot of the Morea Thomas Palaiologos, and married him in January 1430 at Mystras.[2][3]

Sphrantzes in his Short History mentions a Kydonides Tzamblakon next to Thomas Palaiologos, that he calls the most beloved uncle of his wife. In 1459, this man aroused Thomas in a war against his brother Demetrios Palaiologos.[4] Kydonides Tzamblakon was married to a sister of Catherine's mother.[1] In Kalavryta there survives a palace known in the region as "the palace of Palaiologina," that according to tradition, was given as a personal gift by Constantine Palaiologos to his sister-in-law Catherine, and as such, received its name from her.[5]

Catherine remained in the Morea as Thomas' consort until the Ottoman conquest in 1460, after which she fled with her husband and children to the Venetian-held island of Corfu. George Sphrantzes acted as a servant of Catherine's household for some time.[6] Eleni Tzamblakina, the wife of Sphrantzes, was a second cousin of Catherine, from the side of her Asenina-Palaiologina mother.[1] She died on 26 August 1462 and was buried in the Monastery of Jason and Sosipatros.[2] The erudite and later professor of the Greek language Hermonymos Georgios wrote an eulogy for Catherine.[7] Hermonymos was close to the family of Thomas. He said that he wrote the epitaph for Catherine not out of duty, but out of his deep admiration for her. In it he laments her death and praises her as "a divine empress" and "the most modest and bravest of women".[8]

Family

By her marriage with Thomas, she had four children, the sons Andreas and Manuel and the daughters Helena (wife of Lazar Branković of Serbia) and Zoe (wife of Ivan III of Russia).[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c Sturdza, Mihail Dimitri (1999). Grandes familles de Grèce: d'Albanie et de Constantinople. pp. 372–373.
  2. ^ a b c Trapp, Erich; Beyer, Hans-Veit; Kaplaneres, Sokrates; Leontiadis, Ioannis (1989). "21342. Παλαιολογίνα Αἰκατερίνα". Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit (in German). Vol. 9. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
  3. ^ Setton, Kenneth M.; Hazard, Harry W., eds. (1975). A History of the Crusades, Volume III: The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. Madison and London: University of Wisconsin Press. p. 792. ISBN 0-299-06670-3.
  4. ^ Sphrantzes, Georgios (2006). Short History (in Greek). Athens: Kanakis. p. 227. ISBN 960-7420-94-2.
  5. ^ ekalavrita-Το Αρχοντικό της Παλαιολογίνας Archived 2021-05-10 at the Wayback Machine, ανακτήθηκε 26 Ιανουαρίου 2019
  6. ^ Sphrantzes, Georgios (2006). Short History (in Greek). Athens: Kanakis. p. 16. ISBN 960-7420-94-2.
  7. ^ https://www.miet.gr/en/book-list/book-Hermonymos-A-study-in-scribal-literary-and-teaching-activities-in-the-fifteenth-and-early-sixteenth-centuries Hermonymos. A study in scribal, literary and teaching activities in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.
  8. ^ Kalatzi, Maria (2009). Hermonymos. A study in scribal, literary and teaching activities in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. p. 36.


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