Epiphania Melissene

**Epiphania Melissene Kantakouzene** (Greek: Επιφανεία Μελισσηνή Καντακουζηνή, born c. 1268) was a Byzantine noblewoman of the late 13th and early 14th centuries. She was the daughter of Basil Melissenos, Domestic of the Schools, and granddaughter of Byzantine emperor Romanos V Melissenos. She married general Michael Kantakouzenos and was the mother of the Byzantine statesman, scholar and historian John Melissenos Kantakouzenos.

## Biography

Epiphania was born to Basil Melissenos and his wife Theochariste Petraliphaina, and raised at Philadelphia alongside her family. Unlike her older sister Maria, her grandfather Romanos did not harbor greater ambitions for her, instead merely preparing her for a marriage to an Eastern general and a mundane life in the provinces. As the daughter of the Domestic of the East, Epiphania was highly sought after in Asia, although Romanos the Elder ultimately failed to negotiate a marriage with the Great Komnenids of Trebizond, who had been his earlier preference. Instead, at age ten Epiphania was betrothed to Nikephoros Raoul, a young scion of a dynatoi family with distant connections to the purple. At twelve, they were married and Epiphania moved to her new husband's home at Pergamon to conclude her education with her mother-in-law, but their union was left unconsummated until later. Her first marriage would end in tragedy as Nikephoros, one of the Archontopoulai of Emperor Skantarios' personal guard, was injured at the infamous Battle of Seleucia. Trampled down by the Deerslayers' horses, he would die in agony four days later. She was left as a childless widow at age eighteen, broken-hearted.

Nevertheless, Epiphania was summoned to court by her grandfather, the new Emperor Romanos V, to take her place in the imperial family. She obeyed, reluctantly leaving Pergamon and the Raouloi, who were still favored by the new regime due to their past kinship nevertheless. As the Empress' sister, Epiphania attained high rank in the Imperial Gynaeceum and was caught between loyalty to her family and her unlikely and newfound friendship with the girl Sophia Laskarina Porphyrogenneta. Against all odds, Epiphania was able to win over the former megali domestikissa and then Zoste Patrikia Theodora Palaiologina Kantakouzene, George Mouzalon's widow, whose acquaintance was proven useful when the time came for her second marriage. Seeking to bind himself to the Western army, Romanos V arranged a match to Michael Kantakouzenos, the son of the wealthy general John Kantakouzenos, in 1287. After her wedding, her new father-in-law was promoted to Domestic of the Western Schools, at the same time as Epiphania gladly quit the turbulent capital. Her main residence is her husband's large country estate near to Arcadiopolis in Thrace, although Epiphania has been known to accompany the despotes Michael to his posts as a thematic Doux. They have two daughters, Theodora and Sophia, and one son, John Melissenos Kantakouzenos, who is an imperial page at Blachernae. Epiphania is also the proud owner of a silk shop at Pergamon, part of her first husband's inheritance.

## Family

Her first marriage to Nikephoros Raoul was childless.

By her second husband Michael Kantakouzenos, Epiphania was the mother of:

* Theodora Melissene Kantakouzene,
* John Melissenos Kantakouzenos, who later rose to the rank of *despotes*,
* Sophia Melissene Kantakouzene.