Anna Palaiologina
Anna Palaiologina was the daughter of the Byzantine aristocrat Andronikos Angelos Palaiologos, a grandson of Emperor Michael VIII. Around 1323 she married John II Orsini, Despot of Epirus, and bore him Nikephoros and Thomais. When John died suddenly in 1335, believed poisoned by Anna, she ruled as regent for the young Nikephoros.
In 1338 Andronikos III annexed Epirus and imprisoned her at Thessalonica; escaping in 1341, she was confined at Arta by John Angelos. Freed after the Serbian conquest c. 1347, she married John Komnenos Asen, lord of Valona, around 1350, and later went to live with her daughter Thomais at Trikala.