Did some research on the family of Stefan Dragutin, a thirteenth century king of Serbia, because it ties into my Fourth Crusade obsession, and HOLY CRAP I'm just mind-boggled at the short generation gaps in this family. The thing is, its all quite well-documented, so we're pretty sure Person Y was the mother of Person X. It's just, even for a medieval royal/noble clan, the immediate ancestors of Stefan Dragutin got married young and had kids young.
As discussed by Gordon McDaniel in his article 'On Hungarian-Serbian Relations in the Thirteenth Century: John Angelus and Queen Jelena' [Seattle (Wash.), published Ungarn-Jahrbuch Band 12, 1982-1983, München. page 43-50.], the marriage license of Anseau de Cayeux and his wife Maria names Maria as the daughter of "Calojohanni" and "imperatore Constantinopolitano, eiusdem Matildis avunculo"; the dispensation for the same marriage identifies her mother as "Matildis dominæ de Posaga, natæ comitissæ Viennensis", that is, Mathilde, daughter of Marguerite de Courtenay (the sister of the Latin emperors Robert and Baldwin II) and Heinrich, count of Vianden.
Helena, the queen of Uroš of Serbia, is described by Akropolites as being born of Ungariæ regis generum, or if you prefer the Greek, ton Hroson Ourov, tou regos Ougrias epi thygatri telounta gambron, implying that the Hungarian king was Uroš' father-in-law. McDaniel points out that neither Andras II nor Bela IV had daughters that can be identified with Helena. The biographer Danilo II, archbishop of Serbia, writing in the early 14th century, says that Queen Helena was from a French family (ot plemene fruskaago) while a continuator of his work adds that she was of imperial descent (ot plemene carska).
On other occasions Charles I of Sicily and Charles II of Sicily addressed the sisters "Jelena et Maria de Chau" in various documents as "consanguinea nostra carissima, cognata nostra, affinis nostra carissima", etc. Helena is identified in one document as Regine Servie karissimorum consanguineorum nostrum. McDaniel's hypothesis is that "Maria de Chau" was the wife of Anseau de Cayeux (who served under Charles I) and that Helena her sister was the wife of Uroš. For more on the Angevin documentation of the sisters, see McDaniel's 'The House of Anjou and Serbia', in 'Louis the Great: King of Hungary and
Poland' (1986).
Kaloioannes himself was well attested as the son of the Byzantine emperor Isaakios II by his marriage to Margit of Hungary, daughter of king Béla III. As his mother was only nine or ten at her marriage in 1185, he was probably born no sooner than 1190, and likely around 1195, when his father Isaakios was deposed and blinded by his own brother, the usurper Alexios III Angelos. Constantinople fell to the Fourth Crusade in 1204 and Kaloioannes' widowed mother married the Crusader lord Bonifazio of Montferrat, became queen of Thessaloniki, and gave birth to another son by this second marriage, Demetrios. Bonifazio was ambushed while campaigning against the Bulgarians and killed in 1207. Margit, now a widow for a second time, married Nicolas de St. Omer and had more children with him.
In 1222, Margit's brother András II gave her lands in Srem. McDaniel suggests she had by then returned to Hungary and likely took Kaloioannes with her. By this time András II was married to Yolandette de Courtenay, the niece of the Latin emperors Baldwin I and Henry, daughter of the would-be emperor Pierre de Courtenay, and sister of the emperors Robert and Baldwin II.
Mathilde von Vianden was a daughter of Marguerite de Courtenay, a sister of Yolandette the queen of Hungary, by her husband Heinrich von Vianden. It it unknown under precisely what circumstances the marriage between Mathilde and Kaloioannes came about. My theory is that she was sent to the Hungarian court to attend on her aunt and make a good marriage there. Here is where the chronology gets tight.
Mathilde's maternal grandparents, Pierre de Courtenay and Yolande of Flanders, married in summer 1193. Her mother, Marguerite, seems to have been the eldest daughter (she is named in Baldwin II's testament of 1247 as the next heir to Namur after his own son Philippe) and may have been the oldest child of Pierre and Yolande's marriage. But the earliest Marguerite could've been born was spring 1194. Marguerite was already a widow and married for a second time to Heinrich, count of Vianden, in 1216. By 1227, Kaloioannes seems to have been politically and militarily active, as the pope had written to him imploring him to move against Bosnian heretics, and he was in possession of Srem by at least 1235. Both Helena and Maria married between 1250-1253 and began having children. Helena's eldest son Dragutin was old enough to be married in 1268. It seems that Helena and Maria must've been born between 1227-1235 (it is tempting to suppose that Helena's godmother was Elena Mstislavovna of Novgorod, wife of Kaloioannes' cousin Prince Andras of Hungary).
1193: Marriage of Pierre de Courtenay and Yolande of Flanders.
c.1194: Birth of Marguerite de Courtenay
c. 1195: Birth of Kaloioannes Angelos
1215: Yolandette de Courtenay marries King András II of Hungary
c. 1215: Marguerite de Courtenay marries Heinrich, count of Vianden
c. 1216: Birth of Mathilde von Vianden
1217: Pierre de Courtenay captured by Theodoros of Epiros as his army goes overland to Constantinople, and is never heard from again
1219: Yolande of Flanders, now empress regent in Constantinople, dies
1222: Margit of Hungary granted Srem
c. 1230: Marriage of Kaloioannes Angelos and Mathilde von Vianden.
About this time or a little after Margit either dies or surrenders Srem to her son.
c. 1232: Birth of Helena Angelina of Srem to Kaloioannes and Mathilde.
c. 1235: Birth of Maria Angelina of Srem to Kaloioannes and Mathilde.
1243: Uroš becomes king of Serbia after his brother Vladislav is deposed
c. 1245: Helena marries Uroš of Serbia
c. 1250: Dragutin is born to Helena and Uroš.
1253: Maria marries Anseau de Cayeux
1268: Dragutin marries Katalin of Hungary
1270: Marguerite de Courtenay dies
1276: Dragutin usurps the throne from his father and grants his mother Helena an appanage based in Shkodra (now part of Albania)
1280: Charles of Sicily grants travel documents to Maria, wife of Anseau de Cayeux, so she may travel with her son from Apula to Serbia to visit "her sister the queen of Serbia".
1281: Charles of Sicily issued authorization for "Maria de Chaurs" to return from Serbia with an emissary from the Serbian court, a nobleman named George
1282: Dragutin, son of Helena and Uroš, claims the title 'king of Srem'. He retires as king of Serbia and gives the throne to his younger brother Milutin.
1285: Last documented appearance of Maria Angelina of Srem, widow of Anseau de Cayeux
So yeah, by the time Marguerite de Courtenay died in a convent in Luxembourg, she had great-grandsons who were hell-raising warrior princes and future kings of faraway Serbia, and she may have been a great-great-grandmother (the birthdate of Dragutin and Katalin's son Vladislav is not known, but he could easily have been born about 1269/1270). The physical, generational, and cultural gulf between Marguerite and her Serbian great-grandsons is incredible.
As discussed by Gordon McDaniel in his article 'On Hungarian-Serbian Relations in the Thirteenth Century: John Angelus and Queen Jelena' [Seattle (Wash.), published Ungarn-Jahrbuch Band 12, 1982-1983, München. page 43-50.], the marriage license of Anseau de Cayeux and his wife Maria names Maria as the daughter of "Calojohanni" and "imperatore Constantinopolitano, eiusdem Matildis avunculo"; the dispensation for the same marriage identifies her mother as "Matildis dominæ de Posaga, natæ comitissæ Viennensis", that is, Mathilde, daughter of Marguerite de Courtenay (the sister of the Latin emperors Robert and Baldwin II) and Heinrich, count of Vianden.
Helena, the queen of Uroš of Serbia, is described by Akropolites as being born of Ungariæ regis generum, or if you prefer the Greek, ton Hroson Ourov, tou regos Ougrias epi thygatri telounta gambron, implying that the Hungarian king was Uroš' father-in-law. McDaniel points out that neither Andras II nor Bela IV had daughters that can be identified with Helena. The biographer Danilo II, archbishop of Serbia, writing in the early 14th century, says that Queen Helena was from a French family (ot plemene fruskaago) while a continuator of his work adds that she was of imperial descent (ot plemene carska).
On other occasions Charles I of Sicily and Charles II of Sicily addressed the sisters "Jelena et Maria de Chau" in various documents as "consanguinea nostra carissima, cognata nostra, affinis nostra carissima", etc. Helena is identified in one document as Regine Servie karissimorum consanguineorum nostrum. McDaniel's hypothesis is that "Maria de Chau" was the wife of Anseau de Cayeux (who served under Charles I) and that Helena her sister was the wife of Uroš. For more on the Angevin documentation of the sisters, see McDaniel's 'The House of Anjou and Serbia', in 'Louis the Great: King of Hungary and
Poland' (1986).
Kaloioannes himself was well attested as the son of the Byzantine emperor Isaakios II by his marriage to Margit of Hungary, daughter of king Béla III. As his mother was only nine or ten at her marriage in 1185, he was probably born no sooner than 1190, and likely around 1195, when his father Isaakios was deposed and blinded by his own brother, the usurper Alexios III Angelos. Constantinople fell to the Fourth Crusade in 1204 and Kaloioannes' widowed mother married the Crusader lord Bonifazio of Montferrat, became queen of Thessaloniki, and gave birth to another son by this second marriage, Demetrios. Bonifazio was ambushed while campaigning against the Bulgarians and killed in 1207. Margit, now a widow for a second time, married Nicolas de St. Omer and had more children with him.
In 1222, Margit's brother András II gave her lands in Srem. McDaniel suggests she had by then returned to Hungary and likely took Kaloioannes with her. By this time András II was married to Yolandette de Courtenay, the niece of the Latin emperors Baldwin I and Henry, daughter of the would-be emperor Pierre de Courtenay, and sister of the emperors Robert and Baldwin II.
Mathilde von Vianden was a daughter of Marguerite de Courtenay, a sister of Yolandette the queen of Hungary, by her husband Heinrich von Vianden. It it unknown under precisely what circumstances the marriage between Mathilde and Kaloioannes came about. My theory is that she was sent to the Hungarian court to attend on her aunt and make a good marriage there. Here is where the chronology gets tight.
Mathilde's maternal grandparents, Pierre de Courtenay and Yolande of Flanders, married in summer 1193. Her mother, Marguerite, seems to have been the eldest daughter (she is named in Baldwin II's testament of 1247 as the next heir to Namur after his own son Philippe) and may have been the oldest child of Pierre and Yolande's marriage. But the earliest Marguerite could've been born was spring 1194. Marguerite was already a widow and married for a second time to Heinrich, count of Vianden, in 1216. By 1227, Kaloioannes seems to have been politically and militarily active, as the pope had written to him imploring him to move against Bosnian heretics, and he was in possession of Srem by at least 1235. Both Helena and Maria married between 1250-1253 and began having children. Helena's eldest son Dragutin was old enough to be married in 1268. It seems that Helena and Maria must've been born between 1227-1235 (it is tempting to suppose that Helena's godmother was Elena Mstislavovna of Novgorod, wife of Kaloioannes' cousin Prince Andras of Hungary).
1193: Marriage of Pierre de Courtenay and Yolande of Flanders.
c.1194: Birth of Marguerite de Courtenay
c. 1195: Birth of Kaloioannes Angelos
1215: Yolandette de Courtenay marries King András II of Hungary
c. 1215: Marguerite de Courtenay marries Heinrich, count of Vianden
c. 1216: Birth of Mathilde von Vianden
1217: Pierre de Courtenay captured by Theodoros of Epiros as his army goes overland to Constantinople, and is never heard from again
1219: Yolande of Flanders, now empress regent in Constantinople, dies
1222: Margit of Hungary granted Srem
c. 1230: Marriage of Kaloioannes Angelos and Mathilde von Vianden.
About this time or a little after Margit either dies or surrenders Srem to her son.
c. 1232: Birth of Helena Angelina of Srem to Kaloioannes and Mathilde.
c. 1235: Birth of Maria Angelina of Srem to Kaloioannes and Mathilde.
1243: Uroš becomes king of Serbia after his brother Vladislav is deposed
c. 1245: Helena marries Uroš of Serbia
c. 1250: Dragutin is born to Helena and Uroš.
1253: Maria marries Anseau de Cayeux
1268: Dragutin marries Katalin of Hungary
1270: Marguerite de Courtenay dies
1276: Dragutin usurps the throne from his father and grants his mother Helena an appanage based in Shkodra (now part of Albania)
1280: Charles of Sicily grants travel documents to Maria, wife of Anseau de Cayeux, so she may travel with her son from Apula to Serbia to visit "her sister the queen of Serbia".
1281: Charles of Sicily issued authorization for "Maria de Chaurs" to return from Serbia with an emissary from the Serbian court, a nobleman named George
1282: Dragutin, son of Helena and Uroš, claims the title 'king of Srem'. He retires as king of Serbia and gives the throne to his younger brother Milutin.
1285: Last documented appearance of Maria Angelina of Srem, widow of Anseau de Cayeux
So yeah, by the time Marguerite de Courtenay died in a convent in Luxembourg, she had great-grandsons who were hell-raising warrior princes and future kings of faraway Serbia, and she may have been a great-great-grandmother (the birthdate of Dragutin and Katalin's son Vladislav is not known, but he could easily have been born about 1269/1270). The physical, generational, and cultural gulf between Marguerite and her Serbian great-grandsons is incredible.