Vataça Lascaris

Lady Vataça Lascaris di Ventimiglia (1268 or c. 1272, in Ventimiglia or Aragon – 1336 or c. 1336, in Coimbra), also referred as Vatatsa Lascaris, Vataça of Ventimiglia, Dona Betaça, Betaça de Grécia, Vatatsa or Vetacia was an Italian princess of Byzantine Greek origin.

Lady Vataça was the daughter of Princess Eudoxia Laskarina (1248–1311) of the Empire of Nicaea and Guillermo Pietro I, Count of Ventimiglia and Lord of Tende (~1230-1283). Eudoxia was the fourth daughter of Theodore II Laskaris and sister of young emperor John IV Laskaris, who was withdrawn from the throne by co-regent Michael VIII Palaiologos in 1261. After the conquest of Constantinople, Michael proclaimed himself sole ruler, blinding and displacing the young emperor and marrying the remaining princesses to foreigners. Eudoxia, still a child, married in 1261 in Constantinople with Count Pedro of the House of Ventimiglia and Tende (a region that retains the Byzantine double-headed eagle as a symbol), traveling then to Liguria.

At the same time must have fled from the Byzantine court Constance II of Hohenstaufen (Ann of Sicily) (1230–1307), widow empress of John III Doukas Vatatzes (c. 1193-1254) Eudoxia's grandfather, returning to her native Sicily were her brother Manfred of Sicily ruled. In 1266, after the death of Manfred and conquest of Sicily by Charles of Anjou, Constance fled to Aragon where her niece Constance of Sicily (1249–1302) was consort of Peter III of Aragon and mother of Elizabeth of Aragon. Eudoxia also sought Aragon to escape Angevin dominance of Genoa or/and by the time her husband died. Both Byzantine noble ladies where protected and respected at the court, probably given their importance in the medieval fights and diplomacy between Aragon, Sicily and Byzantine Empire, thus explaining Vataça and Queen Elisabeth proximity, friendship and interests.

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