politics
March 23, 2026
The Debauched Woman of the Serbian Court! They Called Her the Sinful and Mangy Princess, and No One Could Resist Her Beauty
However, it won't be long before Evdokija earns other epithets. She will be called 'sinful,' 'disobedient,' 'mangy,' her marriage will have a shameful end, and the Byzantine beauty will become the first princess banished from Serbia... all in just a decade.
TL;DR
- Evdokija Anđel was the first foreign princess to marry into the Nemanjić dynasty in Serbia.
- She was the niece of Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos and daughter of Alexios III Angelos.
- Evdokija married Stefan Nemanjić, the second son of Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja, as part of a political agreement.
- She had four children with Stefan Nemanjić, including Radoslav, who was heavily influenced by her Greek upbringing.
- Tensions in her marriage arose when Stefan became heir, and Evdokija sought power, while Stefan accused her of seeking male attention and behaving inappropriately.
- Reasons for her exile vary among historians, including alleged infidelity, contracting scabies, or political maneuvering for a Western alliance and a royal crown.
- Evdokija was the first ruler of Serbia to be exiled, and her marriage was annulled by the church.
- After returning to Byzantium, she had relationships with Alexios Doukas Mourtzouphos and later married him, but he was blinded and executed.
- Her third marriage to Leo Sgourou, a Byzantine nobleman ruling Corinth, also ended tragically when he committed suicide.
- Evdokija eventually retreated to Asia Minor and disappeared from historical records around 1211.
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