Maria Palaiologina, Queen of Serbia

Maria Palaiologina Марија Палеолог
Queen consort of Serbia
Tenure	1324–1331
Died	7 April 1355
Burial	Skopje
Spouse	Stephen Uroš III Dečanski of Serbia
Dynasty	Palaiologos→Nemanjić
Father	John Palaiologos
Mother	Irene Metochitissa
Religion	Eastern Orthodoxy

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.

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.

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

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.