Maria Asanina Palaiologina (, died 19 December 1477), better known as Maria of Mangup or Maria of Doros, was the second wife of Prince Stephen the Great (reigned 1457–1504) and as such Princess consort of Moldavia from September 1472 to 1475 or 1477. Of uncertain parentage, but most likely a descendant of imperial Bulgarian and Byzantine dynasties, she belonged to the ruling class of the small Crimean Principality of Theodoro. Her close relatives included both warring princes of Theodoro, Alexios II and Isaac, as well as Zuan Tzamplakon, diplomat and leader of Stratioti.
With her arrival in Moldavia, Maria underscored the relative impact of Byzantine politics and culture at Stephen's court. She also accepted Byzantine communion with the Catholics, acting as an agent of Catholic influence before returning to Eastern Orthodoxy. Stephen likely married her for political reasons, hoping to conquer the principality, though he lost interest in her when that proved impossible. According to conflicting readings, the Prince either divorced her to marry the Wallachian Maria Voichița (who in any case became her successor), or she lived estranged from Stephen without a formal separation. Her portrait is mysteriously absent from a miniature of the Humor Monastery Gospel, possibly removed by her husband.
Various late records place Maria Asanina in Eastern Moldavia or on Mount Athos. Her marriage to Stephen had produced as many as five children, of whom only one daughter, Ana, is believed to have survived into adulthood. Maria's elaborate burial shroud, featuring her portrait and Palaiologan insignia, is preserved in Putna Monastery, where she was buried. It endures as a significant landmark in medieval Romanian art, synthesizing Western and Eastern handicrafts. Maria's marriage was fictionalized by Mihail Sadoveanu in Frații Jderi. This 1935 novel is the basis for a 1974 feature film, in which Maria was portrayed by Violeta Andrei.
Biography
Origins
A daughter of the ruler of the Principality of Theodoro (or "Gothia") in the Crimea, on her mother's side she was a likely descendant of two imperial houses, the Palaiologos dynasty of the Byzantine Empire and the Asen dynasty of the Second Bulgarian Empire. Scholars such as Ivan Bozhilov argue that, on her father's side, Maria also descended from the Gabras aristocratic family of Byzantium. This is dismissed as "groundless" by another historian, Ștefan S. Gorovei, who notes that Maria's blood links with the Palaiologos and the Byzantine branch of the Asenids were likely strong. She is mentioned in the Gustynskaia Chronicle as cousins ("second sisters") with Sophia Palaiologina of Muscovy. Through this connection, she was probably a niece of Trebizond's reigning couple, Emperor David and Empress Maria. Historians such as A. D. Xenopol, Orest Tafrali, and Constantin Gane also held the belief that Maria was a Komnenid. The notion was preserved in later academia by Răzvan Theodorescu, who sees Maria as having "the blood of Greek basileis, Komnenes and Palaiologoi". According to Octavean-Radu Ivan, she "had tight connections" with the Komnenids through the Trebizond dynasty.
Beyond his being a Prince of Theodoro, her father's exact identity is disputed among historians. According to Aurelian Sacerdoțeanu, such mentions refer to Olubei, son of Alexios I. Bozhilov describes Maria as the daughter of either Olubei or his direct predecessor John, who was married to a Maria Tzamplakina Palaiologina Asanina. Similarly, genealogist Marcel Romanescu lists her as the daughter of "John Olubei" and "Maria Asen Palaiologos", and Xenopol simply as Oludbei's daughter. Gane refers to "Maria's father, Olobei Comnen". Alexander Vasiliev sees her as a sister of Isaac, who was probably Olubei's son, and of Alexios II. A more skeptical view was offered in 1981 by historian D. Năstase, who believed that Maria was the daughter of a lesser Byzantine refugee in the Republic of Venice, Zuan Tzamplakon "Palaiologos". Her "imperial ascendancy, real or fake, was nonetheless Byzantine." According to Gorovei, Tzamplakon was in reality one of Maria's uncles, and himself not a full member of the Palaiologos clan.