Helena Kantakouzene
1333 – 1396 · Generation XXXVIII · Empress · Kantakouzenos
Helena Kantakouzene was the wife of the emperor John V Palaiologos and the mother of Manuel II. Her parents were John VI Kantakouzenos and Irene Asanina, and she was probably the youngest of their three daughters. Her marriage ended a civil war: when the two Johns made peace in 1347, John VI became senior emperor, and the settlement was sealed by her wedding to John V on 28 or 29 May 1347, when she was about thirteen and he was not yet fifteen.
The peace held only until 1352, when her husband went to war with her father, who abdicated in 1354. In 1376 her son Andronikos IV deposed John V and imprisoned him with his sons Manuel and Theodore. When they escaped in 1379, Helena was blamed, and Andronikos fled to Galata taking her, her elderly father and her sisters as hostages. They were held in hardship through the siege of Galata until a treaty in May 1381 freed them, and they were welcomed back to Constantinople with great enthusiasm.
After John V died in 1391, she became a nun at the convent of Kyra Martha under the name Hypomone, but she stayed active in affairs of state, and in 1393 she served as regent while Manuel II went to meet the Ottomans at Serres. She died in 1396. She and John V had at least ten children, among them the emperors Andronikos IV and Manuel II, Theodore, Despot of the Morea, and several daughters married into the Ottoman house.
Place in the family
- Helena Kantakouzene was a 8× great-granddaughter of Alexios I Komnenos.
- Helena Kantakouzene was the younger of 2 children of John VI Kantakouzenos and Irene Asanina recorded in this archive.
- The archive records 10 of her descendants, across 3 generations.
One of 3 people of Kantakouzenos (from 1001) in this archive. A rival house raised by civil war, which ruled beside the Palaiologoi.
Line of descent: Manuel Komnenos → John Komnenos → Alexios I Komnenos → Theodora Komnene → Andronikos Angelos Doukas → Alexios III Angelos → Irene Angelina → Theodora Palaiologina → Michael VIII Palaiologos → Irene Palaiologina → Andronikos Asen → Irene Asanina → Helena Kantakouzene.
Parents
- John VI Kantakouzenos (1292 – 1383)
- Irene Asanina (1297 – ?)
Siblings
- Matthew Kantakouzenos (1325 – 1383)
Partners
- Married John V Palaiologos (1332 – 1391) in 1347 — 2 children together
Children
- Andronikos IV Palaiologos (1348 – 1385)
- Manuel II Palaiologos (1350 – 1425)
Life
- 1333 — Born
- 1347 — Married John
- 1396 — Died
Sources
- Helena Kantakouzene · Wikipedia
- John V Palaiologos · Wikipedia