Irene Palaiologina Asenina

Irene Palaiologina Asenina was a daughter of the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos. At the beginning of 1278 she was married to John Asen — the son of Tsar Mitso — whom Michael VIII raised up as Bulgarian tsar (Ivan Asen III); in 1279–1280 Irene was Bulgarian empress in Tarnovo.

Their brief reign ended in flight: in 1280 Ivan Asen III and Irene left Tarnovo and settled in Byzantium, on an estate near the Skamandros. There Irene became the foundress of the Byzantine branch of the family — mother of five sons (Michael, Andronikos, Isaac, Manuel and Constantine) and several daughters, from whom descended the entire Asanes (Asen) family in the Empire.

Through her children Irene found herself at the heart of high Byzantine politics. In 1303–1304 her daughter Maria was married to the Catalan leader Roger de Flor, and Irene herself stayed in the Catalan camp at Gallipoli. After the murder of Roger de Flor (1305), Pachymeres reports that around 1308 her brother, Emperor Andronikos II, ordered her confined in the palace on suspicion of inciting against him over the Catalan leader's death. The year and circumstances of her death are unknown; Manuel Philes dedicated an epitaph to her.