Maria Angelina Doukaina Palaiologina

Maria Angelina Doukaina Palaiologina, also known as Marija Angelina Nemanjić or Anna Maria Angelina Doukaina Palaiologina (, ; 1349 – 28 December 1394), was a Byzantine Greek-Serbian aristocrat and self-proclaimed basilissa (Greek: βασίλισσα; Empress or queen) of Epirus from 1384 to 1385, succeeding the rule of her murdered husband, Thomas Preljubović. Maria and her husband were a famed couple and patrons of the arts during Thomas's rule of Ioannina from 1366 to 1384. She is depicted in icons.

Life Maria was the daughter of the Serbian Emperor of Thessaly, Simeon Uroš, the half-brother of Emperor Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia (of the Nemanjić dynasty), and Thomais Orsini. Her maternal grandfather was John Orsini of Epirus. In 1361, Maria, then only 12 years old, married Thomas Preljubović, who was appointed governor (despot) of Epirus in Ioannina by her father in 1366. Popular with her subjects, she was allegedly mistreated by her husband and is said to have connived in his murder on 23 December 1384.

The population of Ioannina acclaimed Maria as a ruler. She used the title of basilissa, the female form of basileus. She summoned her brother John Uroš Doukas Palaiologos (later tonsured as a monk at the Meteora monastery under the name Joasaph), to advise her in the affairs of state, although he did not stay long.

John Uroš suggested that Maria marry Esau de' Buondelmonti, one of the Latin noblemen captured by Thomas in 1379. It has been alleged that Maria was already enamored of the captive before the murder of her husband, and that this affair led to the assassination of Thomas.

The Chronicle of Ioannina, so hostile towards Thomas Preljubović, describes Maria in very flattering terms; the Byzantine historian Laonikos Chalkokondyles, however, portrays her as an unfaithful wife of questionable morality. Both accounts may reflect authorial bias. Maria does not appear to have had surviving children from either marriage.