Regarding the story how she came to end up in an Ottoman harem, it has been speculated that she was taken by Murad I after the capture of Thessalonica in 1387, or that she was demanded as tribute by their son Bayezid I after defeating Thessalonica in 1391. Later they would be captured by Timur (Tamerlane) in 1402, after the Ottoman defeat in Battle of Ankaraa. Around 1402 the first embassy sent by Henry III of Castile and consisting of Payo González de Sotomayor and Hernán Sánchez de Palazuelos arrived at the court of Tamerlán. At the moment after the return of the ambassadors, Tamerlán sent Angelina and her sister María to the Castilian king, along with another Christian woman, Catalina.