Thomais Orsini

Thomais Orsini (born c. 1330 - ) was the queen consort of the Serbian tsar and ruler of Epirus and Thessaly, Simeon Uroš Nemanjić.

[1] Born Thomais Komnene Angelina in the early 1330s, she lost her father John II Orsini in 1335, when he was poisoned, allegedly by his wife, Anna Palaiologina, a scion of the ruling Palaiologos dynasty of the Byzantine Empire.

To consolidate his position with the local population, Simeon decided to marry Thomais, the descendant of the former ruling Epirote apostolic line of the Orsini family.

To make matters worse, in the same year, Nikephoros II overthrew the Serbian governor of Thessaly, Gregory Preljub, gained the support of the local population and soon aspired to reclaim his ancestral throne in Epirus as well.

Success escaped Simeon on the field as well: in the summer of 1358, he advanced on Zeta but was stopped at Scutari, where his army of 5000 men was defeated by the Serbian nobility.