Asens in Byzantium
Marco de Bernardo Asen
Son of Irene Asenina and the Venetian Paolo de Bernardo; a gasmoulos by origin (of a mixed Italian-Greek marriage). A Byzantine subject, known from a document of 1395.
Biography
Marco de Bernardo Asen was a son of Irene Asenina and the Venetian Paolo de Bernardo. By origin he belonged to the so-called gasmouloi — descendants of mixed marriages between Italians and Greek women.
Born probably around 1370–1375, he remained a Byzantine subject, unlike his father, who was a "civis Veneciarum." He is known from a document of 1395 in which he acknowledges a sum received and acts on the basis of a power of attorney from his mother Irene.