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| − | {{Infobox_Character |
| + | #REDIRECT [[Irene II Palaeologa]] |
| − | subject_name=Empress Irene II | photo=http://members.optusnet.com.au/a_marrington/ns/byzantineempress.jpg |
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| − | caption1=Birth | field1=13 January 1550 |
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| − | caption2=Accession | field2=30 June 1567 |
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| − | caption3=Death | field3=27 November 1592 |
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| − | caption4=Titles | field4=By the Grace of God, Empress of Pantocratoria, Autocrator of the Romans, Augusta, Equal of the Apostles, God's Vicegerent on Earth, Porphyrogenitus, Queen of Quens Ruling over those who Rule }}
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| − | == Empress Irene II ==
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| − | Her Imperial Majesty Empress Irene II was the only child of [[Demetrius VI Palaeologus|Emperor Demetrius VI]] and his consort Empress Helena. She was the last Palaeologi sovereign, and the first Empress Augusta in the history of [[Pantocratoria]] (there having been several in the history of [[Wikipedia:Byzantine Empire|Byzantium]]). At the age of sixteen (in 1566) she was married to one of her father's generals, her cousin, [[Constantine XIII Comnenus|Constantine]].
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| − | In 1567 [[Demetrius VI Palaeologus|Irene's father]] died, and she and her husband were crowned joint rulers. Her marriage was a happy one, despite early misgivings about [[Constantine XIII Comnenus|Constantine]]'s past and the fact that the marriage was political in nature. Irene gave birth to three children and miscarried two more. Her eldest child, named [[Constantine XIV Comnenus|Constantine]] after his father, was born the year after her coronation, when Irene was eighteen years old. Just one year later she gave birth to a second son, [[Demetrius VII Comnenus|Demetrius]], named after Irene's own father. Two years after that she gave birth to a daughter, named Irene (who would eventually marry the junior Emperor [[Constantine XV Angelus]]). She would carry no more children to term.
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| − | Throughout the life of her husbane, Irene left most of the business of government entirely in his hands, but always at least observed the process of ruling. She was a doting mother, and was especially protective of her eldest child, [[Constantine XIV Comnenus|Constantine]], who suffered from some mental illness which made him very difficult to get along with, especially for the other children at the [[Imperial Court of Christ Pantocrator]]. It was she who arranged his coronation as co-emperor in 1580 when there was talk of passing him over in favour of [[Demetrius VII Comnenus|Demetrius]]. Crowned co-emperor before he even had a chance to be crowned [[Despot of New Constantinople]], there could be little doubt that Irene intended her eldest son to succeed her husband as senior emperor.
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| − | Irene was devasted by her husband's brutal murder on the 13th of August, 1589. She stayed by his bed for the long and painful hours as he bled to death from his emasculating wound, weeping piteously. She told on-lookers after [[Constantine XIII Comnenus|Constantine]]'s death that "Had not my husband pardoned him, I would have that wretched villain ripped apart and broken up for what he did", in regard to the assassin. She was quick to ensure that her eldest son, [[Constantine XIV Comnenus|Constantine XIV]], was proclaimed as Emperor Augustus.
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| − | Knowing her son to be incapable of rulership, Irene now took up the reigns of rulership in [[Pantocratoria]], which she had long left to her husband. She was well equipped for it, and she managed both the empire and its myriad of co-emperors with equal skill. The death of her beloved [[Constantine XIV Comnenus|Constantine XIV]] after a botched medical proceedure less than a year after the murder of her husband devastated Irene, however. She almost completely stopped eating, and was constantly found grieving about the grounds of the [[Imperial Court of Christ Pantocrator]]. She died of a cold in 1592, her body too weak from the two years spend mourning to resist the illness. She was forty-two.
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| − | [[Category:Pantocratoria]]
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| − | == Emperors of Pantocratoria ==
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| − | {| border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" style="margin:0.5em;" align="center"
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| − | | width="33%" |
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| − | *'''Previous Emperor:''' [[Demetrius VI Palaeologus]]
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| − | | width = "33%" |
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| − | *'''Co-Emperor Augustus:''' [[Constantine XIII Comnenus]]
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| − | *'''Co-Emperor:''' [[Constantine XIV Comnenus]] (junior emperor, later made senior emperor on Constantine XIII's death)
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| − | *'''Co-Emperor:''' [[Constantine XV Angelus]]
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| − | *'''Co-Emperor:''' [[Demetrius VII Comnenus]]
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| − | *'''Co-Emperor Augustus:''' [[Constantine XVI Comnenus]]
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| − | | width="33%" |
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| − | *'''Next Emperor:''' [[Constantine XVI Comnenus]]
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| − | |}
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