Individual

Go to List of Family Names Go to List of People    < Previous Next >

Birth:          ABT 1155 
Death:          1211 

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphrosyne_Doukaina_Kamatera
Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamaterina or better Kamatera (Greek: ??f??s??? ????a??a ?
aµate???a ? ?aµat???, c.?1155 – 1211) was a Byzantine Empress by marriage to the 
Byzantine Emperor Alexios III Angelos.

Euphrosyne was the daughter of Andronikos Doukas Kamateros, a high-ranking official 
who held the titles of megas droungarios and pansebastos and wife, an unknown 
Kantakouzene. She was related to the Emperor Constantine X and Irene Doukaina, 
empress of Alexios I Komnenos. Both of her brothers had rebelled against Andronikos I 
Komnenos; one was imprisoned and the other was blinded.

Life[edit]

Euphrosyne married Alexios Angelos, the older brother of the future Emperor Isaac II 
Angelos in c. 1169. Although Isaac II bestowed many titles and honors upon his 
brother, Alexios seized the throne on April 8, 1195, deposing Isaac and proclaiming 
himself emperor. In this he was assisted by Euphrosyne, who had organized a party of 
aristocratic supporters. Euphrosyne took control of the palace and quelled the 
opposition herself, securing the accession of her husband to the throne by wholesale 
bribery.

Euphrosyne was a dominating woman with a talent for politics, and she virtually ruled 
the Empire in the name of Alexios III, who was concerned primarily with pleasure and 
idle pursuits. She issued commands herself and even altered Alexios' decrees when it 
suited her, and secured the recall of the capable minister Constantine Mesopotamites. 
Euphrosyne and Alexios were criticized for their love of finery and the enrichment of 
their relatives at state expense. Her own brother, Basil Kamateros, and her son-in-law, 
Andronikos Kontostephanos, accused Euphrosyne of adultery with one of her 
ministers, a nobleman named Vatatzes. Alexios III believed the allegations and had 
Vatatzes executed. Euphrosyne was stripped of her imperial robes and banished to a 
convent at Nematarea in October 1196. However, her relatives convinced Alexios to 
reinstate her, and she was recalled six months later in spring 1197.

In 1203, faced with the Fourth Crusade and the return of his nephew, Alexios IV 
Angelos, Alexios III fled Constantinople with a magnificent treasure and some female 
relatives, including his daughter Eirene. Euphrosyne was left behind and was 
immediately imprisoned by the new regime. Alexios IV was soon strangled by Alexios 
Doukas Mourtzouphlos, the lover of Euphrosyne's daughter Eudokia, who then 
proclaimed himself emperor as Alexios V. In April 1204 Euphrosyne fled the city along 
with her daughter and Alexios V, and they made their way to Mosynopolis, where 
Euphrosyne's husband Alexios III had taken refuge. Alexios III had Alexios V blinded 
and abandoned to the crusaders, who had him executed.

Euphrosyne and Alexios III fled across Greece to Thessalonica and Corinth, but were 
finally captured by Boniface of Montferrat and imprisoned. In 1209 or 1210 they were 
ransomed by their cousin Michael I of Epirus, and Euphrosyne spent the remainder of 
her life in Arta. She died in 1210 or 1211.

Family[edit]

By her husband, Alexios III Angelos, Euphrosyne had three daughters:
1.Eirene Angelina, who married (1) Andronikos Kontostephanos; (2) Alexios 
Palaiologos, by whom she was the grandmother of Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.
2.Anna Angelina, who married (1) the sebastokrator Isaac Komnenos, great-nephew of 
Emperor Manuel I Komnenos; (2) Emperor Theodore I Laskaris of Nicaea.
3.Eudokia Angelina, who married (1) King Stefan I Prvovencani of Serbia; (2) Emperor 
Alexios V Doukas; (3) Leo Sgouros, ruler of Corinth.

Parents
DOUKAS Andronikos Kamateros (ABT 1110 - AFT 1176)
----- ----- ()

Siblings
DOUKAINA Euphrosyne Kamatera (ABT 1155 - 1211)

Marriage To ANGELOS Alexios (Alexius) III (ABT 1153 - AFT 1211)
    m. ABT 1169 

Notes

Parents
ANGELOS DOUKAS Andronikos (ABT 1133 - BEF 12 Dec 1185)
KASTAMONITISSA Euphroysne (ABT 1110 - ABT 1190)

Children by ANGELOS Alexios (Alexius) III ABT 1153 - AFT 1211
ANGELINA Anna Komnene (ABT 1176 - 1212)

Produced by Fzip 1.7 6/20/2017