Theodora Palaiologina

Theodora Palaiologina (c. 1240–1303), or Theodora Vatatzaina, was great-niece of the Nicaean emperor John III Vatatzes, who raised her and in 1253 married her to general Michael Palaiologos. She became empress when Michael VIII recovered Constantinople in 1261.

With Patriarch Arsenios's help she foiled Michael's plan to divorce her. She arranged her daughters' marriages and sought clemency for disgraced courtiers.

Initially sympathetic to opponents of the 1274 Union of Lyons, she apparently later supported Michael's policy and was forced to recant publicly in 1283. As dowager empress she restored Constantinople's Lips monastery and died on 4 March 1303.