• Born: Abt 1183, Constantinople
• Married: 25 May 1197
• Died: 27 Aug 1208, Hohenstaufen, Schwaben, Bayern

  Research Notes:

Niketas Choniates records that Emperor Alexios had "ex priore coniuge…filiabus duabus et uno filio", of whom "[filiam] alteram" married "Siciliam regis Tangris filio". On the basis of her first marriage in 1192, it is unlikely that Eirene was born much later than 1184 at the latest. One possibility is that her mother died while giving birth to Eirene, which...would provide the best explanation for mother and daughter having had the same names in apparent contradiction with Byzantine naming practices. If this is correct, she would of course have been her parents’ youngest child. The Ryccardus de Sancti Germano Chronica in 1191 record the marriage at Brindisis of "Ysacho Constantinopolitano imperatorie de Urania filia sua" and Roger elder son of Tancredo. The Annales Casenses record the marriage in 1193 of "filiam imperatoris Constantinopolitani" and "Roggerus filio suo [=Tancredi]".

She was among those taken as prisoners by Emperor Heinrich VI King of Germany when he invaded Sicily in 1194. Niketas Choniates records that "Irene Isaacii imperatoris filia" was abducted from Sicily and married to "notho fratri Alemanniæ Philippo". Her second marriage is recorded by William of Tyre (Continuator), who names her father without naming her. The Continuatio Admuntensis records the marriage of "Tanachredus Tanachredi filius viduam, Constantinopolitani imperatoris filiam" and "Philippus Romanorum imperatoris germanus". She adopted the name MARIA on her second marriage.

The necrology of Speyer cathedral records the death "VI Kal Sep" of "Maria regina Philippi regis contectalis, nata de Grecia" and the donations which she made to found the anniversaries "in octava Martini [18 Nov]…patris eius et matris eius…Ysaac et matre Herina" and "fratris…eius et sororis eius tercia die post festum Michahelis [1 Oct]…Manuel fratre, Effrosina sorore". ¹