Anna of Moscow

Anna Vasilievna of Moscow (1393 - August, 1417) was the first wife of John VIII Palaiologos. She died while her husband was still the junior co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.

Family

She was a daughter of Vasily I of Moscow and Sophia of Lithuania. Her maternal grandparents were Vytautas the Great and his first wife Anna.

Marriage

She maried John VIII c. 1411. Her husband was the eldest surviving son of Manuel II Palaiologos and Helena Dragaš. John was named Despotes in 1416 and seems to have assumed the position of co-emperor shortly thereafter.

Anna was second in status only to her mother-in-law among the women of the Byzantine court. The history of Doukas records her dying of the "plague" in 1417. She is thought to be a victim of bubonic plague. Following the Black Death this plague continued to strike parts of Europe sporadically until the 17th century, each time with reduced intensity and fatality, suggesting an increased resistance due to genetic selection.

s-ttl|title=Byzantine Empress consort|years=1416–1417
regent1=Helena Dragaš|years1=1416–1417

External links

* [http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/BYZANTIUM%2012611453.htm#IoannesVIIIdied1448 Her listing, along with her husband, in "Medieval lands" by Charles Cawley.]
* [http://nauplion.net/CP-JOHN-MORE.html Wedding Portrait}