Simonida

Simonida Nemanjić (; – after 1336), born Simonis Palaiologina (, sr. Симонида Палеолог, Simonida Paleolog), was a Byzantine princess and queen consort of the Kingdom of Serbia as the fifth wife of Serbian king Stefan Milutin (r. 1282–1321). She was a daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos (r. 1282–1328) and Irene of Montferrat. In Medieval Serbia Simonida is best remembered as a patron of the Arts, Music and Literature.

Life Simonida was born in Constantinople . In 1298, as a result of a Byzantine defeat, her father Emperor Andronikos II promised a marriage alliance to the Serbian ruler Stefan Milutin. Initially, Andronikos II intended to wed his sister Eudokia, the empress-dowager of Trebizond, but after she refused, his very young daughter Simonida was proposed instead. Church circles in Constantinople opposed the marriage, but the emperor was determined to push the deal through, and in late 1298 he sent his trusted minister Theodore Metochites to Serbia to conduct the negotiations. On his part, Milutin too was eager to accept, and even divorced his fourth wife, Ana Terter, the daughter of the Bulgarian tsar George Terter. The marriage was celebrated in Thessalonica in spring 1299, and the couple departed for Serbia in April.

Milan Rakić wrote a lyric poem about her named Simonida, Asteroid 1675 Simonida discovered by Serbian astronomer Milorad B. Protić was named after her.

Ancestry