Agnes of Antioch

Agnes of Antioch, (1154 – c. 1184), Queen Consort of Hungary and Croatia.

Agnes was the daughter of Raynald of Châtillon, Prince of Antioch by right of his wife, and his first wife, Constance of Antioch. His father was captured by the Muslims in Nov 1160 and was confined in Aleppo for the next seventeen years.

In 1170, Ágnes went to Constantinople, where her sister Maria has been living as the wife of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Comnenus. She received the name Anna in the imperial court. On the Emperor's request, Agnes got married with "kaiszar" Alexius, who had been engaged with the Emperor's daughter, Maria Comnena till the birth of Manuel's son, Alexius in 1166.

The new couple went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem where they made a donation for the Knights Hospitaller. In the summer, after the death of King Stephen III of Hungary, her husband ascended the throne as King Béla III, and they moved to Hungary.

She was buried in Székesfehérvár. Her remains were confidently identified by archeologists during late 19th century excavations at the ruined cathedral of Székesfehérvár. Her remains were afterwards reinterred at the Mathias Church in Budapest, with those of her husband.

Marriages and children

"# c. 1170:" King Béla III of Hungary (c. 1148 – 23 April 1196), Constance of Antioch
* King Emeric of Hungary (1174 – 30 September/November 1204)
* Margaret (1175 – after 1223), wife firstly of Emperor Isaac II Angelos, secondly of King Boniface I of Thessalonica and thirdly of Nicolas of Saint-Omer
* King Andrew II of Hungary (c. 1177 – 21 September 1235)
* Constance (c. 1180 – 6 December 1240), wife of king Ottokar I of Bohemia

ources

* "Korai Magyar Történeti Lexikon (9-14. század)", főszerkesztő: Kristó Gyula, szerkesztők: Engel Pál és Makk Ferenc (Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1994)