Family

The primary source about her is the account "On the Origin of the Ottoman Emperors" (1538) by Theodore Spandounes. Theodore was related to the Kantakouzenoi. He was a son of Matthew Spandounes and Eudokia Kantakouzene. His father was a soldied of the Republic of Venice

Republic of Venice

The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...

. His mother was a daughter of Theodore Kantazouzenos and Helena Kantakouzene, both parents members of the same extended family.

Theodore was a son of Georgios Palaiologos Kantakouzenos, "Sachatai" (d. circa 1456–59), a scholar and military commander who defended Smederevo

Smederevo

Smederevo is a city and municipality in Serbia, on the right bank of the Danube, about 40 km downstream of the capital Belgrade. According to official results of the 2011 census, the city has a population of 107,528...

 during a Hungarian

Kingdom of Hungary

The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...

 attack in 1456. Georgios was married to Maria Razi (or Ralli). Georgios was a son of a senior Theodore Kantakouzenos and Euphrosyne Palaiologina. The senior Theodore is considerec a possible son of Demetrios I Kantakouzenos.

Spandounes names Helena as a sister of Georgios and Empress of Trebizond. This is contradicted by "Dell'Imperadori Constantinopolitani", a manuscript held in the Vatican Library

Vatican Library

The Vatican Library is the library of the Holy See, currently located in Vatican City. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts. Formally established in 1475, though in fact much older, it has 75,000 codices from...

. The document is also known as the "Massarelli manuscript" because it was found in the papers of Angelo Massarelli

Angelo Massarelli

Angelo Massarelli was a notable Roman bishop, notable for having kept the Acts of the Council of Trent, which were the minutes of the council, and published only 300 years after the council was held....

 (1510–1566). Masarelli is better known as the general secretary of the Council of Trent

Council of Trent

The Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It convened in Trent between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...

, who recorded the daily occurrings of the council. This document agrees that a sister of Georgios married an Emperor of Yrebizond. But identifies her as Theodora Kantakouzene

Theodora Kantakouzene, wife of Alexios IV of Trebizond

Theodora Kantakouzene was the Empress consort of Alexios IV of Trebizond.-Family:Theodora and her relations are named in Dell'Imperadori Constantinopolitani, a manuscript held in the Vatican Library. The document is also known as the "Massarelli manuscript" because it was found in the papers of...

, wife of Alexios IV of Trebizond

Alexios IV of Trebizond

Alexios IV Megas Komnenos or Alexius IV , , Emperor of Trebizond from March 5, 1417 to October 1429. He was the son of Emperor Manuel III and Gulkhan-Eudokia of Georgia.- Reign :...

 and mother of David. The marriage of David to a maternal aunt is considered improbable. Spandunes had probably confused the Empresses of Trebizond.

Empress

According to the account of Spandounes, Helena the last Empress of Trebizond. On 15 August 1461, Mehmed II

Mehmed II

Mehmed II , was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire for a short time from 1444 to September 1446, and later from...

 of the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 captured Trebizond. David and his family were settled in Edirne

Edirne

Edirne is a city in Eastern Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the Edirne...

, receiving the profits of estates in the Struma

Struma

The Struma was a ship chartered to carry Jewish refugees from Axis-allied Romania to British-controlled Palestine during World War II. On February 23, 1942, with its engine inoperable and its refugee passengers aboard, Turkish authorities towed the ship from Istanbul harbor through the Bosphorus...

 valley, comprising an annual income of some 300,000 pieces of silver. In 1463, David was accused of conspiring against Mehmed. He was executed along with his sons.

According to Spandounes, Helena survived her husband and sons. She was however condemned to pay a fine of 15,000 ducat

Ducat

The ducat is a gold coin that was used as a trade coin throughout Europe before World War I. Its weight is 3.4909 grams of .986 gold, which is 0.1107 troy ounce, actual gold weight...

s or be executed herself. Helena paid the fine but was reduced to poverty. The corpses of her family were reportedly left exposed to the elements outside the Walls of Constantinople

Walls of Constantinople

The Walls of Constantinople are a series of defensive stone walls that have surrounded and protected the city of Constantinople since its founding as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire by Constantine the Great...

. Helena took to living in a straw

Straw

Straw is an agricultural by-product, the dry stalks of cereal plants, after the grain and chaff have been removed. Straw makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat. It has many uses, including fuel, livestock bedding and fodder, thatching and...

 hovel in close proximity to the corpses. Dressed in sackcloth, Helena started secretly digging graves for her family. In the absence of tools, she dug the graves with her own hands. She completed the task, buried the corpses and died herself days later.

The Masarelli manuscript ignores her existence and no other soutce mentions her. Her existence is doubtful. The account of Spandounes may instead relate to Maria of Gothia

Maria of Gothia

- Family :She was a daughter of Alexios II of Theodoro, ruler of the Principality of Theodoro in Crimea. Her native state was also known as Gothia because its territory had previously belonged to the Crimean Goths. The Goths had undergone Hellenization under the influence of the Byzantine Empire...

, the wife mentioned in the mansuscript.

The children of David have been attributed variously to Maria or Helena by various genealogies. They included Basil, Manuel and George Komnenos, princes decapitated by orders of Mehmed II in 1463. Their sister Anna married first Mohammed Zagan Pasha, Beglerbeg of Macedonia and secondly to Sinan Beg, son of Ilvan Beg. Another daughter reportedly married Mamia II, Prince of Guria

Principality of Guria

The Principality of Guria was a historical state in Georgia. Centered on modern-day Guria, a southwestern region in Georgia, it was located between the Black Sea and Lesser Caucasus, and was ruled by a succession of twenty-two princes of the House of Gurieli from the 1460s to 1829. The...

. Cyril Toumanoff

Cyril Toumanoff

Cyril Leo Heraclius, Prince Toumanoff was an United States-based historian and genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armenia, the Byzantine Empire, and Iran...

 gives Maria, a third daughter, as wife of Constantine Mourousis

Mourousis family

The Mourousis or Moruzi are a family which was first mentioned in the Empire of Trebizond. Its origins have been lost, but the two prevalent theories are that they were either a local family originating in a village which has a related name or else one that arrived with the Venetians during the...

.