| Irene Kantakouzene Branković Ειρήνη Καντακουζηνή Јерина Бранковић |
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| Tenure | 1414– |
| Spouse | Đurađ Branković |
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| Lazar Branković | |
| House | Kantakouzene |
| Father | Theodore Kantakouzenos |
| Mother | Euphrosyne Palaiologina |
| Born | c. 1400 Constantinople |
Irene Kantakouzene (Greek: Ειρήνη Καντακουζηνή, Byzantine Greek: [iriˈni kantakuzziˈni]; Serbian: Јерина Бранковић, Jerina Branković, pronounced [jɛ̌rina brǎːŋkɔʋit͡ɕ], c. 1400 – May 2/May 3, 1457 at Rudnik) was the wife of Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković. In Serbian folk legends, she is the founder of many fortresses in Serbia.
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Irene and her relations are named in "Dell'Imperadori Constantinopolitani", a manuscript held in the Vatican Library. The document is also known as the "Massarelli manuscript" because it was found in the papers of Angelo Massarelli (1510–1566).[1] Masarelli is better known as the general secretary of the Council of Trent, who recorded the daily occurrings of the council.[2]
Her parents were Theodore Kantakouzenos and Euphrosyne Palaiologina. The Massarelli manuscript names her brothers in order of birth as Demetrios, Manuel, George, Andronikos and Thomas. Andronikos in noted as father to a younger Theodore Kantakouzenos. This Theodore married Maria Notaraina, a daughter of Loukas Notaras and his wife Palaiologina. Theodore was executed along with his father-in-law by orders of Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire in 1453. Thomas is given as a son-in-law of a Holy Roman Emperor but the manuscript does not clarify which one. He is noted as dying in 1463.[3]
Theodora is given as the youngest daughter of her parents. Her older sisters are given as Theodora Kantakouzene and Maria Kantakouzene. Maria was married to Alexios IV of Trebizond. Theodore Spandounes, a 16th century historian, names another sister of Irene as Helena Kantakouzene. He calls her wife of David of Trebizond, a son of Theodora. The marriage of an aunt to a nephew was within the prohibited degree of kinship as defined by the Eastern Orthodox Church. Spandounes was possibly confused on which Emperor of Trebizond was brother-in-law to Eirene.[3]
The manuscript is silent on which member of the Kantakouzenoi was the paternal grandfather of Theodora. Byzantine naming conventions named the eldest grandson of a couple by the name of a grandparent. Since in this case the eldest was named Demetrios, the paternal grandfather was likely also named Demetrios Kantakouzenos. Demetrios I Kantakouzenos has been suggested.[3] Later genealogies have depicted Demetrios I as the father of Irene, ignoring the Massarelli manuscript.[4]
Demetrios was in turn a son of Matthew Kantakouzenos and Irene Palaiologina.[5] Matthew was a son of Byzantine Emperor of John VI Kantakouzenos and Irene Asanina.[6]
Irene married Đurađ Branković, Prince of Serbia on December 26, 1414. They had at least six children [7]:
Being a Greek and with her brothers very influential to the new despot, people began to dislike her, attributing to her many vicious and evil characteristics including that building of Smederevo was her caprice. In folk poetry she has been dubbed Prokleta Jerina (the "Damned Jerina" or "Jerina the Cursed"), but nothing of this can be confirmed from historical sources.
The Maglič fortress, nearby Kraljevo in Serbia is also known as the fortress of damned Jerina. It was built in 13th century. Damned Jerina, who used to throw her lovers into the deep well inside the walls, built it, the legend reads.[8] [9]
The Užice fortress has the legend similar to this. In local tradition she is described as a cruel queen who threw children from highest tower to dark river Đetinja. The meaning of river's name can be translated as "of the children".
Vuk Stefanović Karadžić wrote several Serbian folk songs where she is mentioned: "Đurđeva Jerina", "Dva Despotovića", "Ženidba Đurđa Smederevca", "Kad je Janko vojvoda udarao Đurđa despota buzdohanom", "Oblak Radosav"[10] and "Starina Novak i knez Bogosav".
The anthroponym Irina became Jerina and it can be seen from three aspects: (1) From the aspect of phonetic adaptation of the anthroponym: the Greek name Irina became the Serbian name Jerina; (2) from the aspect of derivation of the appellative jerina (the ruins of an old town) from the anthroponym Jerina, and (3) from the aspect of the change in the meaning of the name Irina (meaning "peace" in Greek) into the name which bears a negative connotation in Serbia and the name that becomes a protective name: that is, the new-born female children, in the families which have no male children, are named Jerina in order to stop the birth of further female children.
Serbian writer Vidan Nikolić wrote a novel Prokleta Jerina about her life. Some earlier versions of this novel had a title "The Shadow of the despotess"[11]
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| Preceded by Helena Gattilusio |
Despotess of Serbia 1414– |
Succeeded by Helena Palaiologina |