Keratsa

1350 – ? · Generation XXXIX

Keratsa. Married Andronikos. Daughter of Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria; wife of Andronikos IV; mother of John VII. She was sent to Constantinople as a child of about eight and married to the young Andronikos as part of a peace between Bulgaria and Byzantium; taking the name Maria, she was educated alongside her husband in the palace. The two grew up close, and she shared in his wars, exile and captivity; one traveller claimed she partly healed the blinding John V inflicted on Andronikos in 1373. She was empress during his reigns of 1376–1379 and 1381–1385, and in 1376 reportedly had a jailer’s wife tortured to foil a Venetian plan to free John V. Widowed, she became the nun Makaria, and when her son John VII was entrusted with Constantinople in 1399 she acted as senior empress, dispensing charity and appointing the head of her monastery of Bassos. She died around 1400.

Partners

Married Andronikos IV Palaiologos (1348 – 1385) — one child together

Children

John VII Palaiologos (1370 – 1408)