Irene Doukaina Laskarina

Who was Irene Doukaina Laskarina?

Irene Doukaina Laskarina was empress consort of Bulgaria. She was second wife of Tsar Constantine Tikh of Bulgaria.

She was a daughter of Theodore II Laskaris, emperor of Nikaea, and his wife Elena of Bulgaria. Irene was a sister of Byzantine emperor John IV Laskaris. Her maternal grandparents were Tsar Ivan Asen II and Anna Maria of Hungary.

In 1257 Irene was married Bulgarian nobleman Constantine Tikh as his second wife. Her husband was a pretender for Bulgarian crown. Constantine was proud to be married a granddaughter of Tsar Ivan Asen II and he adopted the Bulgarian dynastic name Asen to enhance his position as a legitimate ruler of Bulgaria. On the next year Constantine Tikh Asen was elected Tsar of Bulgaria by a boyar council in Tarnovo and Irene become his consort.

In 1261 Irene's brother, Byzantine emeperor John IV Laskaris, was deposed by Michael VIII Palaiologos, who seized the power in the Byzantine Empire. Tsaritsa Irene was a bitter enemy of the usurper. She become a leader of anti-Byzantine party in the Bulgarian court.

Irene died in 1268. She had no children.