Sophia of Montferrat (or Sophia Palaiologina; died 21 August 1434) was a Byzantine empress by marriage to

John VIII Palaiologos John VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( gr, Ἰωάννης Παλαιολόγος, Iōánnēs Palaiológos; 18 December 1392 – 31 October 1448) was the penultimate Byzantine emperor, ruling from 1425 to 1448. Biography John VIII was ...

Life

Sophia was a daughter of Theodore II Palaiologos, Marquess of Montferrat, and his second wife, Joanna of Bar. Through her father, Sophia was a relative of the reigning

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

Palaiologi dynasty. On 26 January 1404, Sophia was betrothed to Filippo Maria Visconti. He was a son of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan and his second wife Caterina Visconti. The marriage contract was eventually broken. On 19 January 1421, Sophia was married to

. He was the eldest surviving son of

Manuel II Palaiologos Manuel II Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( gr, Μανουὴλ Παλαιολόγος, Manouēl Palaiológos; 27 June 1350 – 21 July 1425) was Byzantine emperor from 1391 to 1425. Shortly before his death he was tonsured a monk and received the n ...

and

Helena Dragaš Helena Dragaš ( sr, Јелена Драгаш, ''Jelena Dragaš'', el, , ''Helénē Dragásē''; c. 1372 – 23 March 1450) was the empress consort of Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos and mother of the last two emperors, John VIII ...

. He was at the time co-ruler with his father. The marriage was recorded by both

Doukas The House of Doukas, Latinized as Ducas ( el, Δούκας; feminine: Doukaina/Ducaena, Δούκαινα; plural: Doukai/Ducae, Δοῦκαι), from the Latin title '' dux'' ("leader", "general", Hellenized as 'ðouks'', is the name of a Byzan ...

and

George Sphrantzes George Sphrantzes, also Phrantzes or Phrantza ( el, Γεώργιος Σφραντζής or Φραντζής; 1401 – c. 1478), was a late Roman (Byzantine) historian and Imperial courtier. He was an attendant to Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, ''p ...

in their respective chronicles. Sphrantzes records

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...

as its location. Manuel had sent Nicholas Eudaimonoioannes as ambassador to the Council of Constance while seeking Papal permission for the marriage, as the issue was the conversion of the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

bride to the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops vi ...

. The permission was granted by Pope Martin V. Apparently although Sophia was a particularly pious individual, unfortunately for her marriage, she was also considered unattractive by the standards of her time, described by

as "Lent in front and Easter behind". John VIII, not content in his marriage, made every effort to avoid her, and as a result, Sophia spent much of her time in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

isolated from her husband. On 21 July 1425, Manuel II died and John VIII succeeded him. Sophia replaced her mother-in-law as senior empress. However, Sphrantzes records that in August 1426 Sophia "fled the City onstantinopleand returned to her homeland", and that a little more than a year later John VIII made Maria of Trebizond his wife.Sphrantzes, ch. 14; translated in Philippides, ''The Fall of the Byzantine Empire'', p. 30 Sophia never remarried and died eight years later.

Footnotes

Sources

, ''Historia Bizantina'' *

, Chronicle * Nicol, D.M., ''The Last Centuries of Byzantium 1261-1453'' (Cambridge University Press, 1993) * Vasiliev, A.A., ''History of the Byzantine Empire, 324-1453 (University of Wisconsin Press, 1958) , - {{end 1434 deaths Palaiologos dynasty 15th-century Byzantine empresses Year of birth unknown