Nikephoros I Komnenos Doukas

Nikephoros I Komnenos Doukas (c. 1240–c. 1297), son of Michael II and Saint Theodora of Arta, ruled Epirus from 1267/8. The Nicaean emperor John III Vatatzes made him despot around 1249, and he later married Anna Kantakouzene, niece of Michael VIII.

He swung between Constantinople and the Angevin kings, becoming vassal of Charles I in 1279 until the Sicilian Vespers of 1282 broke Angevin power. In 1294 he wed his daughter Thamar to Charles II's son Philip of Taranto, with coastal fortresses as her dowry. He died c. 1297, leaving his young son Thomas under Anna's regency.